Day 6 – 15 July 2023 – Flam

Awake at 6.30 am & the surrounding snow topped mountains of the Sognefjord, the world’s longest fjord, tower into the sky. In some places the mountains are bare rock, others are covered by trees. On the shore clusters of houses are built anywhere that it is flat enough to build. Larger streams with big alluvial fans have small villages. There are waterfalls everywhere, big & small, flowing down the mountains from the patches of snow on top of the taller mountains, it is such a beautiful sight. We shower & head up for breakfast.  From our table we watch the passing sides of the fjord closing in as we sail along the Aurlandsfjord to the small town of Flam at the head of the fjord. It is a little while before our tour begins so we head off for a short walk around town, it is set up for tourists with the main form of transport the railway. Another cruise ship comes into port, the “Silver Dawn”, it is about half the size of the one we are on.

We walk back to the ship to register for our tour then walk the short distance along the wharf to the Flam Railway Station & board the Flamsbana. This is an old electric train that takes us up the 20 km track to Myrdal through 20 tunnels that total 6km of the track with a gain in altitude of 866 metres. The scenery is breathtaking with sheer mountains, cliffs & waterfalls, with the odd small farm scattered along the way. The wheels screech loudly on the sharp bends. It takes around an hour for the train to cover the 20 km. Around 4 km from Myrdal is Kjosfossen Station, the train platform is right next to a raging waterfall, with the river racing under the platform & track. All of a sudden we hear a woman’s voice singing loudly above the waterfall & look up to see a woman dressed in a red dress with long flowing blonde hair flitting & dancing around the ruins of a building, uphill & next to the waterfall. She is the Hultra, a mythical woman that lured men away into the forest & never to be seen again. I survived, only just.

At Myrdal we changed trains onto the express train to Bergen, however, we stopped at the large town of Voss & exited the train for a walk around the centre of Voss & lunch. The Stone church in the middle of town was very impressive, with a few older buildings adding good character to the town centre. We catch a tour bus at Voss to take us back to Flam & our ship. The scenery is beautiful & we stop at Tvindefossen, a stunning waterfall near the road. We walk up to the base of the falls & enjoy the view & the sound of the falls as they crash down the cliff face & form a stream.

The ship departs from Flam at 6.30pm while we are having dinner, from our table we enjoy the amazing scenery as we sail out of the fjord. The day started out mild & overcast but after lunch it started to rain.  It didn’t dampen an amazing day.