Norge: Round II, Part II

On the morning of our third day in Flåm, we picked up our bikes (shout out to Roald!) and disbanded to pursue our individual adventures for the day. Three intrepid students and I decided to attempt the ride up to the Stegastein Overlook, which you may remember from my previous foray into the northland. This entailed a vigorous 32km ride, 8km of which was very steep switchbacks up a mountain.

Even after only a modest elevation gain, the views were spectacular.

We were on a pretty tight schedule, so breaks were kept to a minimum, meaning maximum sweating. Definitely an attractive sight. 

But the ever improving vistas more than made our effort worth while.

The sign announcing there was only half a kilometer remaining was one of the most welcome I've seen in my entire life. By the time we got there, our legs had turned to shaking, highly unstable towers of flesh-colored jello (appetizing analogy, yeah?), but there was no time to recover, as there were fjords to be marveled at.

Victory.

After a very short recovery and picture taking break, it was time to return from whence we'd come. The ride back was significantly faster. Roughly a third the time. Which was good, as it got us back to Flåm in time for our fjord safari (another shout out, to Jon). 

We got to wear really cool outfits.

Whipping around the fjords in a RIB boat, looking for wildlife and hearing stories about the area's history was great, extremely cold, fun. Word to the wise: RIB boats are way faster than the ferry. So if you need to get from Flåm to Gudvangen in a hurry, I'd suggest trying to hop on one.

We got up close and personal with the water.

And the seals.

Once again, the weather gods smiled on us.