20230618 Runde

At 6am we finished packing and took a short walk around the south side of the city before the breakfast buffet opened at 7. The city was much nicer without thousands of festival goers swarming the streets but their presence was still evident in the streets. The gutters and sidewalks were littered with broken bottles, vomit, and the carabiner clips from blue plastic bottles which were either on sale or had been handed out to thousands of people.

The street brought us to the university of Bergen and we wandered through the gardens and water features near the nearest building for a half hour before heading back.

At the hotel we got in line for the breakfast buffet, eating our fill and stashing more into tupperware and paper napkins for later. I told Amanda we were just getting into the viking spirit by raiding their pantry. The slices of meat, cheese, granola and bread were our lunch and dinner that day.

With our pockets bulging with breakfast foods we walked back across the city to the bus station to wait for our double decker bus to arrive. We took seats on the upper level and I was worried enough by the giant stack of barf bags installed next to each seat to take a pre-emptive Dramamine.

It turns out I shouldn't have bothered. Despite the wild coastline the bus ride was surprisingly smooth and from our vantage on the second level it was the prettiest leg of our journey. If you're looking for scenery I'd recommend the bus ride between Bergen and Ålesund over the train journey from Oslo which is often portrayed as the most dramatic and scenic line in Europe. From the bus we could see better and there was more time to take pictures before driving into another tunnel. The bus windows gave our pictures a strange tilt-shift effect like we were looking in on a diorama. We traveled through the fjords along the coastline or through long tunnels and in two places we had to use ferries to cross larger stretches of water.

Though the website said there were 133 stops along this bus line we only stopped a dozen times on the trip to pick up passengers, board ferries, and we had a 40min break for lunch. At one stop Amanda saw an Eurasian oystercatcher in a parking lot and got off the bus with her camera to get pictures. I had to call her back before the bus pulled away. She had no luggage and wasn't carrying her phone or wallet. I wasn't sure what I would have done if we'd left her there. We were still hours from Ålesund and I had no good way of going back for her. As it turns out Eurasian oystercatchers are not nearly as timid as our west coast counterparts and we saw plenty during the visit.

When we stopped for lunch a pair of common gulls came up to beg for crumbs from our raided breakfast stuff. Common gulls are smaller and cuter than the gulls in California and the one most persistent would give a little whistle of thanks after receiving every crumb. I gave each a crumb of granola in turn until a third gull landed causing the first to become outraged. When I tossed the newcomer a crumb the first bird screamed in frustration and attacked it, driving it away.

We crossed two stretches of water on electric ferries. In both cases the bus pulled up on the ferry and a few minutes later, without any sound or apparent motion we were underway. The ferries moved surprisingly fast between between the charging stations on either side of the bay. There was no delay for charging, the ferry pulled up, cars drove off and on, then it left for the other side. These passages were usually short, only 10-15min long but they had a cafeteria and a sitting area where you could buy snacks and stare out at the bay.

When the ferry disgorged it's load of cars the end of the boat would swing up like a giant mouth to let them drive on and off. Robot arms would come down to recharge the batteries for the trip back.

Our bus arrived in Ålesund 10min late and we spent a frantic 10 minutes running around looking for an open bathroom but it was a Sunday so all the grocery stores were closed and everything else required that you pay. A large crowd was gathered at the bus station for the airport and for a while it looked like we'd missed the bus. A rumor went around that they didn't run on Sunday but it appeared 10 minutes late and we piled on. The bus was packed and when one of the passengers couldn't find a seat, the bus driver stopped in the middle of the street to tell him to sit down or get off.

At the airport we picked up the rental car and emptied our bladders. The rental place was unusually chill. The guy behind the counter preemptively answered all the questions everyone always asks when picking up a rental car in a foreign country and reminded us that in Norway gas pump nozzles that pump gasoline are green and nozzles for diesel are black (the opposite in the US).

The rental car hallway in the small airport was strangely crowded with people just hanging out. There was a crowd standing around the bathrooms (not waiting in line, just standing there) and a couple men were playing an intense game of cards a few seats down while an airport hostess watched carefully. Everyone avoided the strange puddle in the center of the hallway floor. It reminded me of a scene from a Herzog documentary.

We had a hard time finding an open grocery store in Ålesund. We discovered later there is a law that said large grocery stores had to close on Sundays but smaller stores could be open. On the way towards Runde we found a Bunnpris that was open and finally bought some bread, meat, cheese, and carrots.

I had to drive the rental car because it was stick shift. Driving in Norway is interesting. All the speed limits are super slow and there are almost no stop signs or lights because every intersection is a roundabout. When we finally came across a stop sign it was a notable event (I think we saw 2 on our entire trip). The road signs were also strange. They would have a 40 within a red circle which I took to mean 40kph but this was followed later but another sign identical except for the color which was light grey with a line through it.

Other signs were more difficult. I think the sign with a black car on the right and a red car on the left was meant to tell me whether passing was OK or not OK but I was confused by the same sign greyed out with a line through it.

Our rental car had a bunch of integrated electronics meant to help me drive but was mainly a distraction. The dashboard sparkled with lane following, auto braking, low tire, and speed trap indicators as I drove. The speed limit shown on the dash mostly matched the road signs when I passed one with a 40kph but would disappear when I passed the same sign greyed out and crossed off.

I learned later the speed limit signs indicated when you were entering and exiting a 40kph zone. Outside these zones the speed limit was generally accepted be 80kph.

I could also feel the car grabbing the steering wheel to help me and once while driving along a curving bridge it started flashing and beeping a loud alarm. I think it was trying to keep me in the lane and was confused by the narrow bridge and oncoming traffic.

As I followed the GPS to Runde island Amanda looked up hotel reservations. Our options were limited and expensive so when she saw an opportunity to get a bed for only $40/night she jumped on it. We knew we were going to be staying in a hytte but it was hard to tell much more about it because the website was all in Norwegian.

As we got closer to our destination and she continued to read about the hytte she grew quiet. Apparently there was a 3 mile and 2000 vertical foot hike to our lodgings. We pulled into the coastal parking lot at 11pm and were grateful it was still bright outside. As we redistributed our luggage in the car before hiking up the mountain we weren't sure if we would need some special key to get into the hytte when we arrived so we decided to pack our sleeping bags and tent.

The hike was beautiful and strange after a long day of stressful travel. The island is barren of trees and the trails are well marked or lined with stones or boardwalks. We hiked along the ridge and then back down to the sea on the other side where there was a lighthouse and a collection of buildings. Amanda was feeling tired so I carried her bag across my chest.

The last stretch of trail was a steep staircase of jumbled stone and a metal railing and we ran into met another family who was also staying at the hytte.

The woman Ingrid introduced us to her husband and her four adult children (one of the girls was an Olympic sprinter) and she took us around the house showing us the rooms and how things worked. She seemed amazed we'd arrived without a key or knowing more about the hytte in general.

The hytte is part of a national network of hiking cabins spread around Norway - all accessible with a common key. Each hytte was stocked with a supply of food and you were on the honor system to report how much you ate while you stayed there. I used two teabags (it would have been one but our house guests did the dishes for me) but the site refused to let us pay with our credit cards.

There was no shower and just a pit toilet but it was the most beautiful and memorable place we stayed during our visit.

Coming down the hill Amanda immediately spotted razorbills, puffins, gannets, and skua and was almost too excited to sleep and we only got to bed at 12:06am. It was still light outside.