Where’s Bertie? He's in a car park at the top of a voluminous waterfall associated with a hydro-electric plant, to the NE of Garland (exact location: 64.54405, 12.45399)
All was quiet, save for a few other runners, as I trundled along the riverside at Trondheim early this morning. It has only just occurred to me, in writing the post title above, that it is the weekend, which would account for there not being the bustle of people rushing off to work.
We didn't rush off either, and overstayed the 24-hour limit by a few minutes (although I did notice that the parking restriction sign was missing from our row of the car park, which probably explains how the van next to us has got away with parking so long - it's tyres were low, it's brake disks rusty and the grass had grown considerably under its rear overhang, where the municipal mower could not reach).
Our first stop this morning wasn't far up the road. Leaving the E6 trunk route after less than half an hour, it was the road to Hell we took. There we plonked Bertie in the car park of the 'Hell Kjopsenter' (Hell Shopping Centre)*. After buying a few supplies the intention was to wander off for a look around the town, which seems to have capitalised in the appeal of its name by putting a Hollywood style sign up on the wooded hillside (you can see it in the top right of the snap below):
When it came to it, faced with a continuing greyness and light rain, we found that we couldn't quite be bothered. A couple of snaps next to the road sign, and a pause for coffee, and on we went, North, through some good scenery, and an awful lot of trees.
Our intended night stop was in Snåsa, chosen partly based on the length of drive it was to get there and partly because its a place interesting enough to get a brief mention in our guidebook. The parking there was a disappointment in the context of arriving in the middle of the afternoon, with the only view being of a football pitch and running track (a minute back down the road had been stunning views, but nowhere to stop).
After a cup of tea, and without even stepping foot outside to look at the place, I suggested that, rather than spending hours looking at an unattractive view, we may as well continue our movement northwards. A few minutes later the SatNav was set for a place 100km up the road and we were on the move again.
We only got just over a third of that distance. Only a handful of kilometres after a picnic area we had wrongly rejected having no view, only realising too late that it was actually quite nice, I saw a spectacle that caused an exclamation. We pulled in, joining a line of other vans already parked and took a walk down the wooden walkway to see this:
I had intended a detour from the main road tomorrow to see a waterfall, but I fear that, after this, it may be disappointing - even if this one is partially man-made by virtue of the hydro-electric dam above.
Lots of vans have been and gone whilst we have been sitting here (mainly German and Dutch), so we don't know if anyone else intends to stay the night, but we can't see anything to say that we can't.
*In Hell we watched the diesel price drop from 10.2NOK/litre to 9.99/litre (that's just 93p!). Alas, we had filled up a short while before in Trondheim at 12.2Kr/litre, which seemed a bargain compared to yesterday's prices, but turned out to be a rip off at today's mid-morning price. By afternoon, prices were back up at 14.5. That's a swing of more than 40p per litre in the space of a few hours, which is being repeated several times a week. I'd love to know the reasoning behind it.)
All was quiet, save for a few other runners, as I trundled along the riverside at Trondheim early this morning. It has only just occurred to me, in writing the post title above, that it is the weekend, which would account for there not being the bustle of people rushing off to work.
We didn't rush off either, and overstayed the 24-hour limit by a few minutes (although I did notice that the parking restriction sign was missing from our row of the car park, which probably explains how the van next to us has got away with parking so long - it's tyres were low, it's brake disks rusty and the grass had grown considerably under its rear overhang, where the municipal mower could not reach).
Our first stop this morning wasn't far up the road. Leaving the E6 trunk route after less than half an hour, it was the road to Hell we took. There we plonked Bertie in the car park of the 'Hell Kjopsenter' (Hell Shopping Centre)*. After buying a few supplies the intention was to wander off for a look around the town, which seems to have capitalised in the appeal of its name by putting a Hollywood style sign up on the wooded hillside (you can see it in the top right of the snap below):
When it came to it, faced with a continuing greyness and light rain, we found that we couldn't quite be bothered. A couple of snaps next to the road sign, and a pause for coffee, and on we went, North, through some good scenery, and an awful lot of trees.
Our intended night stop was in Snåsa, chosen partly based on the length of drive it was to get there and partly because its a place interesting enough to get a brief mention in our guidebook. The parking there was a disappointment in the context of arriving in the middle of the afternoon, with the only view being of a football pitch and running track (a minute back down the road had been stunning views, but nowhere to stop).
After a cup of tea, and without even stepping foot outside to look at the place, I suggested that, rather than spending hours looking at an unattractive view, we may as well continue our movement northwards. A few minutes later the SatNav was set for a place 100km up the road and we were on the move again.
We only got just over a third of that distance. Only a handful of kilometres after a picnic area we had wrongly rejected having no view, only realising too late that it was actually quite nice, I saw a spectacle that caused an exclamation. We pulled in, joining a line of other vans already parked and took a walk down the wooden walkway to see this:
I had intended a detour from the main road tomorrow to see a waterfall, but I fear that, after this, it may be disappointing - even if this one is partially man-made by virtue of the hydro-electric dam above.
Lots of vans have been and gone whilst we have been sitting here (mainly German and Dutch), so we don't know if anyone else intends to stay the night, but we can't see anything to say that we can't.
*In Hell we watched the diesel price drop from 10.2NOK/litre to 9.99/litre (that's just 93p!). Alas, we had filled up a short while before in Trondheim at 12.2Kr/litre, which seemed a bargain compared to yesterday's prices, but turned out to be a rip off at today's mid-morning price. By afternoon, prices were back up at 14.5. That's a swing of more than 40p per litre in the space of a few hours, which is being repeated several times a week. I'd love to know the reasoning behind it.)
Just caught up. Enjoying reading your commentary on the trip. Surprised bugs don't feature more, so I hope you stay relatively free of them!
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