My first visit to Norway came about by sheer chance in 1970. In 1969 I had spent two weeks over in the Outer Hebrides at a hotel in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis around the time of the first moon landing. In May at Robert Gordon’s Institute of Technology in the Electronics & Electrical Engineering Department we had to decide when we would take our summer holidays. I chose a couple of weeks in July very similar to what I chose in1969. Now I had no idea where I would go as in previous years I often stayed at home . It was never easy finding accommodation on ones own. In 1969 I was fortunate that our family doctor’s wife who originated from Stornoway. Our doctor knew the secretary in the County Hotel & that the hotel had several single rooms. I stayed there for a coulpe of weeks. Mum had asked me to see if I could find someone she had been to Craibstone Agriculture College when she was young. The course was intended for those those who may become farmers wifes. The secretary at the County Hotel managed to find out where she lived & I took a bus down to Balallen & met her. During my stay at the hotel the first moon landing took place & all those staying in the hotel watched it taking place on a small TV in the lounge. It turned to be quite an occasion as the hotel provided refreshments for us all & within a short time everyone got to know each other. It was quite a transformation as everyone was kept themselves to themselves.
My work colleague Andy who I worked with covering the maintenance of Electronic equipment of the Department asked me if I had any plans for my summer holidays of 1970 I said, “no”. To that he replied suggesting as I was a member of the Scottish Youth Hostels Association I should go over to Norway & use Norway’s Youth Hostels as a small airline, called Loganair had just started a 3 time a week service to Stavanger from Aberdeen. Now I didn’t have a passport at the time, so he suggested that I go to the Labour Exchange then in Market Street here in Aberdeen & get myself a Visitors Passport which would be valid for a year. Being adventurous his suggestion really appealed to me & I got myself a couple of passport photos & duly got my Visitors passport which was all I needed for visiting Norway.
During the Spring of 1970 I had enrolled on a two evenings a week art course at Gray’s School of Art. After a couple of evenings at the Art School we went to various places of interest in & outside the town to paint. The group on the course was large & thus split into two with a tutor assigned to each. I felt I was very fortunate as the young lady tutor our group had was very sympathetic to my colour deficiency. She soon saw that I had a problem with differentiating between greens & reds. I remember during the evening when we went to paint a picture of St. Machar’s Cathedral when she came round see how I was getting on asked me to get a carrier bag from my car. When I returned with it she picked up tube after tube of my acrylic paints & put them into the bag, leaving me with just three primaries & a black & white. From then on I only used those colours as my palette. During June she asked me where I was going for my summer holidays & I told her I was going over to Norway. She suggested that I should take my paints with me to paint a few landscapes. On my return returned she asked if she could come to my home to see what I had painted. I told her I would be happy to show her what I had managed to achieve over there.
By the time of my holidays I had made a few preparations, like buying a pair of walking boots called Doctor Martens which had cushioned soles. I already had a canvas rucksack which was adequate for carrying all I needed for my two weeks holiday.
I booked my flights at a travel agent near the foot of Union Street. Back in 1970, the airport terminal was located on the east side of the aerodrome. There was a bus service from the bus station which met flights to & from Aberdeen by British European Airways as it was called then. They went to the airport terminal whereas other busses continued to the village of Dyce & beyond necessitating quite a walk from the main road (A947).
Wednesday 15th July.1970
I walked down to Great Northern Road & caught a No. 5 Alexander’s bus with a destination Banff. It would go past the end of the road leading into the airport before it reached the village of Dyce. I got off beside the road junction & walked to the airport terminal building, perhaps a quarter of a mile. I arrived in good time for my flight to Stavanger. Checking in was very easy & had my passport checked with no security checks to slow things up. Within minutes the flight was called & the four passengers including me walked the short distance from terminal building to the small aircraft which looked more like a van with wings! After boarding I could see how there were only four of us on that flight as some seats had been removed to make way for an aircraft engine which was strapped down to the floor near the rear of the cabin. The engine was being taken over for another aircraft at Stavaner waiting for a replacement. The aircraft we had boarded in fact was called a sky-van. There was only a pilot & co-pilot as crew. The cockpit we could see as there was no door, just a curtain to screen off the cockpit which remained open for the entire journey. So I could see what was going on as the pilots prepared for takeoff. As I had never flown in such a small aircraft before I was curious to see if it could actually fly! Well we taxied to the north end of the main runway. I could clearly see the propellers turning above through the window of the cabin roof. After a brief stop the pilot opened up the engines & we started to accelerate down the runway & yes, we did take off, with a slow & gentle climb from the runway. It was quite a nice day with variable amounts of cloud, & soon we veered to the north east & headed out over the coast still climbing slowly through the fluffy white clouds. Not long after the co-pilot served us some refreshments. For the next hour it was quite uneventful as we crossed the North Sea with just the drone of the engines & some lovely white clouds at times to look at below.
After an hour & a quarter we started our descent towards Stavanger airport, Sola from the north. In 1970 it had two parallel runways running approximately north south. The airport was a military as well as a civil airport. It was early afternoon & there was a fresh to strong south-west wind blowing across the runways. The sky-van had two tail planes & i wondered how well it would cope with cross winds. As we slowly descended the aircraft was blown from side to side in a zig zag pattern. The runway was wide enough to allow for us landing, but not necessarily in the centre of the runway. I needn’t have worried as the pilot successfully landed the aircraft in a short distance then taxied to the airport terminal, a small concrete building. We disembarked quite close to the terminal & walked the short distance to the entrance door.
Soon after we arrived our luggage appeared & I collected my canvas rucksack & made my way to main entry door to the terminal building. Outside it very obvious that no photography was permitted anywhere near the airport with numerous signs in several languages stating it. Near the building a waiting bus which ran regularly to provide a direct bus service to Stavanger bus station. I boarded the bus & found a seat. After a few minutes the driver came round & collected the fares. He picked up a rather interesting leather bag from near his seat at the front of the bus. He put its strap round his neck & started to collect the fairs. What caught my attention was that the leather bag had a very interesting coin dispenser on the outside which he used to give change with several denominations of the Norwegian currency, All paper money he received was placed inside the bag after opening a securing catch. It was a very efficient system. As soon as he removed a coin another took its place. I noticed to that it was easy to load new coins into to all the coin values. The driver made the whole operation look so simple with his speed of operation. It took about twenty minutes to cover the distance as the bus didn't stop until it reached the bus station in Stavanger which is located in the centre close to the railway station. Now in Norway you don't get out of your seat whilst a bus or any form of transport is in motion. When I stood up a passenger behind me told me to sit down & wait until the buss was stationary. I was so used to how things are here. Shops in Norway closed at 4pm during the summer & at 1pm on Saturdays. Very few were open on Sundays apart from kiosks selling newspapers & confectionary. A very noticeable difference from here was how tidy the streets & roads were. I never saw anyone dropping litter in 1970 or during subsequent visits over many years.
After getting off I made my way to the tourist office located nearby & picked up a guide. From a map pinpointing various places I spotted the location of Mosvangen Youth Hostel. It was located within a quarter of a mile from the junction with the 510 (airport) on Maldalveien. The road passed close to Mosvatnet a small lake. I had taken some food with me & a flask of tea. I sat down close to the water edge & had something to eat & drink.
I continued to the hostel which was located at the end of an avenue of trees. It was close to check-in time. I checked in & was given a bed space in a downstairs dormitory which was well laid out with single beds. Then I was informed that dinner was ready & available in the dining room. This was something new for me as I had been used to having to prepare my own meals in our hostels. I was shown into the dining room which had a table with a wide selection of hot & cold food & beverages. There were dining tables & seating taking up the remainder space in the room. The cost of meals was modest & I doubt if I could have matched it if I had bought all the ingredients myself. I sat down at a table after serving myself. After dinner I spent the rest of the evening in the spacious common room before preparing for bed. Now as here lights out was between 11pm & 7am. Most of those staying at the hostel were fluent in English from other countries. There was another from Scotland, Glasgow in fact & he was far from tired & started cracking jokes which had most others including me laughing. Within minutes I noticed the external lobby light being lit & the door opened & in came the warden who politely told us all to be quiet or we would have to leave as we were disturbing those in the other dormitories. He highlighted me & the ‘joker’ I think because of our strong accents carrying in the quiet building. We got the message & the night passed without any more warnings. In the morning the warden said he hoped that we keep to the rules for the rest of our stay.
Thursday 16th July
Breakfast was served in the dinning room in a similar way to that of dinner the previous evening.
Now the weather on Thursday there was showery rain all day, so apart from those moving on many others stayed in all day. I went down to the dormitory & got my artist materials. I had my limit palette of acrylic paints which I had been using during the outdoor art course, my one No.10 hog hair brush & A4 sheets of watercolour paper. To simplify packing in my canvas rucksack I had removed the backing card & rolled up the sheets of paper. I had a small bottle I used filled with water for mixing. For mixing colours I used the lid of a plastic box which had space for three tubes of paint. I took everything to the common room & sat down at a table. For a subject to paint I chose a small vase with a flower already sitting on the table. Looking at it I’m still amazed that I manage to produce such fine detail of the picture on the vase with a big brush. The time soon passed with painting & chatting to a few others watching me.
Soon it was time for dinner. It was still wet outside during the evening although the showers had become lighter.
Friday 17th July.
It was a much better day, still windy, but it did ease by the afternoon. Unlike many of the others I didn’t walk into the centre of Stavanger & opted to paint a picture of the hostel from the driveway. I’m reasonably happy with it, but I should have thinned the paints more as overpainting with acrylics doesn’t produce the best results, but then iI was in the early stages of learning how to use the medium.
When i returned to the hostel the warden wanted to see what I had painted & promptly offered me Kr.200 for it! About £20 with the exchange rate. However I informed him that I didn’t want to sell any paintings painted during my holiday as I had promised to bring any I painted all home. He was happy to take a photo of my artwork which I’m sure he showed to others.
It was dinnertime again & another great selection on offer. Friday night passed peacefully as I think we we were all happy to comply with rules.
Saturday 18th July
After breakfast, I along with several others walked into the centre of Stavanger with the intention of taking a ferry to Tau & doing a walk to the Pulpit Rock. Boarding a ferry is quite an experience in Norway as everyone wants to get on at the same time! To get some order the ferry companies use a narrow gangway with a ticket collector baring the the way. You buy tickets from an adjacent office before hand when closes after every ferry scheduled time... However there is still time to board before the gangway is removed & the ferry sets off. A ticket collecter comes round during the journey picking up those who arrived late.
It would be quite a walk, but we could take a bus from Tau part of the way to where there was a signposted path leading to it. Whether we would go all the way would depend on the strength of the wind as the top was very exposed with a big drop to the fjord below, 1,968 feet so that must mean quite a climb as the road was close to sea level. Soon after we started on the path we met others who told us it would take a couple of hours just to get there & that they had turned back after learning from others it was dangerous & the best way to see it was from a boat trip to the Lysefjord from Stavanger. On hearing that we turned back & took a bus from Jørpeland to Tau & a ferry back to Stavanger. We arrived back at Mosvangen just in time for dinner.
Sunday 19th July
After breakfast several of us the hostel walked into the centre of Stavanger. The harbour area is quite extensive with various quays for the numerous passenger as well as passenger & vehicular traffic. There was also deep quays for cruise liners & for the then ferry to Newcastle. Now I had read before hand that most roads outside towns in Norway didn’t have tarmac surfacing. However I hadn’t come across any as the road to the airport & also to Sandnes a small town south of Stavanger were surfaced with tarmac.
In a small square there were a few seats to sit on. I & the others sat down for a while. There were a few other people walking around as it was close to a cinema. There were a few of the resident pigeons wandering around looking for what they could ge in the way of food from those sitting on the seat & some eating & dropping something for the birds. The young man sitting next to me had a raincoat which wasn't buttoned up, suddenly stretched out his hand & grabbed a pigeon! The expression on a lady sitting on the next seat looked horrified when he said to her that it was nice & plump & would make a fine pie! She certainly understood his English!. He was just joking of course & put the pigeon back on the ground. It didn't look unduly concerned by being lifted up & hidden inside the coat. It carried walking around with the others picking up scraps of food. The weather was showery again, so in the afternoon we returned to the hostel. Apart from my flights to & from Stavanger I hadn’t planned or booked anything. I had a copy of the Norwegian Youth hostel handbook which listed all the hostels. I collected ferry & bus timetables for a large area to the north. From them I was able to plan & decide on a route which would allow me to see a substantial area in the time I had available to explore.
Monday 20th July
By 11am I had checked out of Mosvangen hostel & walked into the centre of Stavanger. I found the quay where a direct ferry to Haugesund was berthed. I selected an afternoon sailing which would get me there before check-in time at the Haugesund hostel which was located not far from the harbour. By the time the ferry reached Haugesund it was raining. After disembarking I made my way to the hostel address as quickly as possible. It was well signposted. It wasn’t large, but it have a selection of foods for self cooking. By now the rain was quite heavy & looked as though it was going to continue for some hours. The hostel wasn’t busy, I had an early night.
Tuesday 21st July
In the morning it was still raining so that decided what I was going to do. After making my breakfast I got out my art materials & sat down in the common room with a view of the passing road & surrounding houses. This time a street view, not something I would normally have chosen to paint, but another painting of my holiday. I had never attempted to paint a road surface which appeared wet like the one passing the hostel. Many houses in Norway are wooden & painted with bright colours like those near the hostel.
Wednesday 22nd July
The weather improved so I decided to go to the bus station & get a bus to Røldal & stay overnight at the summer hostel which normally was a school. Now getting there meant a change of busses during the journey. There are several bus routes branching off the main road. The bus I needed was going to Odda & I had to change busses at Skånevik. Now most bus drivers were fluent in English & that change was problem free. At Skånevik a bus arrived from Odda after a few minutes at the bus interchange. Several other passengers & I boarded the bus & it returned to the road from Odda continuing to Breifonn which was also a changeover stop. The road continued to rise as it made its way to Breifonn. On arriving at Breifonn I thought I had arrived at Røldal & stupidly got off as the bus stayed there for some time. It was actually waiting there for the bus from Sauda. The road from Odda to Breifonn is over 3000’ asl & this became rather obvious as even at the latter half of July there were high banks of snow on either side of the road over quite a distance when it was above the snow line ! I got off the bus & hadn’t gone very far before I realised my mistake as the that same bus that I had been on passed me! Thankfully the one & a half miles I had to walk were downhill. Before I left Haugesund I had bought some food for my overnight stay at the hostel. I remember walking through a wooden road tunnel which had been built in order to stop the road becoming blocked by snow in the winter. It was late afternoon when I arrived at the hostel. The weather had improved markedly & some sunny intervals made that walk quite pleasant. The dormitory was normally a classroom where single beds had been put up. I was very comfortable. There was good kitchen facilities for food preparation. After my dinner I went for a walk to take some photos of the area.
Thursday 23rd July
After a good night’s sleep I was up early & looking at my bus time table saw that there was a bus to Odda around 11am. Quite a nice day with some sunny intervals. I took some more photos before the bus arrived. At Odda I would have to change busses again to reach my next overnight stop at Eidfjord. As the bus approached Odda which had an aluminum smelter it filled the surrounding valley with air pollution. At Odda I soon found the bus to take me to Eidfjord. The road passed between lots of apple trees in blossom. The road soon reached the Hardanger fjord & then the fjord branch towards Eidfjord . Very picturesque with the high mountains, some with snow flecks. After checking into the hostel & having something to eat, I went outside with my art materials & did a quick painting of a nearby mountain to the south. The mountain, Øktanuten is 4212" in height. Just a quick painting, but I wanted to show the contrast of the height of the mountain with a houses at the foot. When I returned to my dormitory I found two newcomers from central Scotland had been allocated the same room. Sadly all they were interested in was buying drink & moaning about the price they had to pay. I actually asked the warden why she had allocated them the same room & she thought as they were from the same country they would be company for me! We had nothing in common, but I didn’t mind as I was only staying overnight.
Friday 24th July, my birthday, was spent travelling by bus & ferry to Vangsnes. A journey which required several bus changes. The weather was pleasant which made it enjoyable. First I caught a bus going to Kvanndal via the ferry terminal at Kinsarvik. The bus & ferry connections were excellent. The time table I had listed bus, ferry & train connections which made planning very easy. At Kvanndal I soon found a bus soon departing for Voss. Not all the roads had tarmac. I took some photos after arriving in Voss. One had to be very selective taking photos with 36 exposures. I have some refreshments in Voss before catching the bus to Vangsnes. Soon after leaving Voss the road returned to hardcore & sand. A short distance fro Voss the bus came off the main road north to a bus changeover location. I thought perhaps I was on the wrong bus, but decided to wait & see. I had nothing to worry about as it was waiting for a bus coming from another route. This was a just a bus interchange. A few more passengers came onboard & the bus I was on returned to where it turned off earlier & headed north. For some miles the bus continued through the countryside with a few small holdings on either side. The road was fairly flat as we approach what appeared as a high hill the top of which I could barely see from my seat. What seemed to be a dead end I soon noticed a road zig zagging up the side of the hill with numerous hairpin bends. The bus slowed & started climbing up to the first hairpin bend. The bus was quite long & wasn’t able to get round in one go, so the driver had to reverse a bit before continuing up the steep incline. This occurred several times before the bus reached the top & the road levelled out. for several miles the road continued fairly flat. However, looking out of the bus window to my right I could see it was only a short distance away from the edge with a valley far below possibly over 2,000’! The road continued for several more miles before gradually descending towards Vik i Sogn. At Vik I transferred to another bus which would take to me Vangsnes & my next overnight stop at the Youth Hostel close to the a ferry terminal on the Sognefjord, Norway's longest fjord. Another hostel with full catering where I stayed for a few days. Having arrived in good time I had my evening meal in the canteen area. After my meal I got my art materials & painted a quick painting soon after sunset when the mountains became more a series of greys.
Saturday, 25th July
I had a walk around a garden area nearby where there was an enormous Statue of Keiser Willhem II. I sat down on a seat & painted a picture of the statue to add to my collection.
Sunday 26th July
It was sunny & so I took the opportunity to find a nice spot to paint another painting looking across the fjord towards Balestrand with the near 5.000" high mountains to the north.
Monday. 27th Jul
I took a bus back to Vik as I had heard of a very old old stave church, Hopperstad, built about 1150 which I hadn't noticed when the bus passed on the road to Vik as I was sitting on the opposite side of the bus . Tuesday was overcast, but I decided to got to Vik & walk to where the wooden stave church was located. It wa over a mile out to the south of Vik on a narrow un-tarred road, I soon reached the church & went into a field on the opposite side of the road to find a got spot to paint my painting. It was a large wooden building. It wasn't long before the weather deteriorated & started to rain. Quite light to begin with & I did make some progress before I was joined by an old man who was curious as to what I was doing. He stood & watched me painting. Then some rain drops landed on my painting! The man tried to tell me about the rain, but apart from his hand movements I didn't understand a word as he didn't speak any English. I'm fairly certain he went to school before English was taught to schoolchildren in Norway. He was getting rather agitated as I continued painting & even picking up a rain drop with my brush to use. He looked surprised when i showed him that the paint dried quickly & didn't become soluble like traditional watercolour paints. He seemed relieved & smiled as I completed my painting & walked back with him back to the road. There we parted company & I'm sure he told his wife & neighbours about his encounter with an artist that day! I'm sure he spoke in a dialect of that area as there are so many dialects on the west coast of Norway. I walked back to Vik & caught a bus back to Vangsnes in time for dinner.
Tuesday, 28th July
I was on the move again & took the ferry across to Balestrand. After I left the ferry at the terminal I walked about a mile to the Balestrand youth hostel which had a commanding view of the fjord as it was located on the side of a hill. Another excellent hostel with full catering. Here I would stay for a few days. He understood my reason & told he was impressed with what I had painted in such a short time. I learned during the evening that the following day in the afternoon there was an excursion by boat to view a local glacier closeup.
Wednesday 29th July
The weather had settled again & the next day was dry with lovely sunshine. The boat trip took a few hours as after sailing east along part of the Songnefjord it headed into Fjærlandsfjorfen. When it reached the Fjærland ferry terminal everyone on the excursion transferred to waiting cars which were used to transport us to a good viewing point. After about half an hour on a rough road we arrived very close to outcrop of the glacier, Jostefonn. Melting water ran into the nearby river which we were able to get close to. There we could feel the cold coming off the water. I took quite a number of photos during the excursion like most of the others on the trip. After a short stop we returned to the cars & returned to join the boat for the journey back to Balestrand. During the evening I walked down to Balestrand as I had seen another stave church, somewhat smaller & more modern looking than the one at Vik. It was erected in 1897 & called The English Church of St. Olav. I stook up at a good vantage point & started painting. I had several visitis from passers by. In fact one wanted to buy my painting, but I said that I was taking it home as it was a visual diary of my Norwegian holiday.
Thursday 30th July
I caught a ferry to take me east along the Sognefjort to Flåm, the ferry terminal at the head of Aurlandsfjorden. After leaving Balestrand the ferry sailed to Vangsnes to pick up more passengers, After about an hour we met another ferry which we linked up to exchange passengers. We parted company with the other ferry & sailed into the Aurlandsfjord. After disembarking from the ferry at Flåm, & made my way to the nearby railway station. There I caught a train to Myrdal junction on the Bergen to Oslo line. The train had two electric locomotives, one at either end. The train journey is quite slow as it climbs from near sea level to several thousands feet via a series of tunnels several are inside the mountainous terrain. It stopped to allow tourists to take photos of a large waterfall which had a viewing platform close to the single track line. After a short stop the train continued to Myrdal. I went onboard the Oslo bound train to Geilo which arrive fairly soon after my arrival at Myrdal,
In the same carriage I met a couple Australians who were touring Norway. The journey to Geilo wasn't very long with stops at Hallingskeid, Finse & Haugestol. At Geilo I left the train & walked the short distance to the Youth Hostel. Another lovely hostel with full catering.
Friday 31st July
I took the chairlift used by skiers during the winter months as Geilo is a ski centre.
I had art materials with me in the hope I would see something to inspire me. No sooner had I arrive I met again the two Australian girls I had met on the train. They were also staying at the hostel. I took a photo of them both & then one of them, June asked if she could join me for a walk. We chatted as we walked & exchanged addresses. She told me she had an uncle in London. After a while she rejoined her friend.
Saturday 1st August
Saturday was a lovely warm & sunny day which I spent having a look around Geilo & visiting some of the shop. I had heard that there was something special happening on Sunday at Hol a few miles east of Geilo. So after dinner I spent the evening relaxing before having an early night.
Sunday 2nd August
I took a bus from Geilo to Hol as I had heard that their was going to be a traditional wedding held their during the afternoon at the open air museum. It was a lovely sunny day & very warm. After arriving I took some photos of the wedding & reception then headed off to the nearby stave church. I found a nice spot & stood up to paint yet another church. However, my paints were drying far too fast & I didn't manage to complete it. So I returned to the hostel in time for dinner.
Monday 3rd August
I took the chairlift & used by skiers during the winter months as Geilo is a ski centre as I wanted to paint a picture of a picture of the mountain hytte (cabin) I had seen on Friday. Once completed I returned to the hostel walking back down the hill. I left Geilo & started my journey towards Bergen. I took a bus which took me back via Eidfjord & Kinsavik where I changed busses & got one going on the ferry to Kvanndal. there I changed busses & took a bus going to Nordheimsund. I got off that bus at Østese which had a hostel. This hostel had cooking facilities as it was small. However I found a cafeteria where I got something to eat & drink. i would use it for my breakfast in the morning as I wanted to catch an early bus to Bergen. During my walk back towards the hostel I met a young man who spoke to me & told me there was something I should take a photo of whilst I was there, a goldfish lake!. He went to where he lived & came back with his small motorcycle. I sat on behind & he drove me along a rough road to where I could see for myself that were actually gold fish swimming in the small lake. I managed to get a photo. He took me further along the road which was a dead end, with a lovely view of Fykesundfjord, then back to the hostel & I had an early night.
Tuesday 4th August
I was up early & got ready to leave. I had my breakfast at the cafeteria.
I caught the bus to Bergen & to my surprise sat down beside a young man from Tain who had been over camping. We chatted on & off during the journey to Bergen. Only a few sections of that road to Bergen had a tarmac surface. There was a long stretch with hard core & sand until we reached the outskirts of Bergen. Once we arrived in Bergen we found somewhere to eat. Afterwards we went to a swimming pool & had a bit of a swim. We had more to eat & drink at the same cafeteria before we parted company. I made my way to a Travel agents & bought an overnight ticket with a sleeper on the ferry to Stavanger which left close to midnight.The ferry arrived about 7am in Stavanger.
Wednesday 5th August
I had my breakfast at a cafeteria near the station & again lunch before I took the airport bus to Stavanger airport (sola). It was a nice day with sunny periods. The airport was quite small very much like the Airport at Aberdeen in 1970. The aircraft was a small twin engine beach buggy with the luggage being placed inside the nose of the aircraft. It was a pleasant flight & after an hour & a quarter it landed at Dyce. Back then the Customs man drove out from his office in Aberdeen to meet the 3 times a week flights from Norway.
He was friendly man who enquired about my trip to Norway. He didn't expect me to have anything to declare & was more interested in my holiday. I gave him e rough resume of my holiday, mentioning that I had taken lots of photos (4 films with 36 exposures for slides) & that I had been painting pictures too. He was very interested in what I had painted. I duly showed him what I had managed to achieve, As I was about to leave he offered me a run home in his car as he was returning to his Office. His parting words as we arrived at my address were that the paintings would mean far more than all those slides as they gave my personal impression of Norway. That is perfectly true as the tutor I had during my art course at Gray's said exactly the same when she came to see my paintings & wanted to borrow them to show her school pupils. I had already planned to go back to Norway during the summer of 1971.
July 1971
Now by 1971 Loganair stopped flying to & from Stavanger & this meant that I would have to fly via London which greatly increased the fare. However there was a way to reduce it by using night flights from London to Bergen & back. I flew down on a Sunday evening to London (Heathrow). From there I travelled into central London by bus where I took a train to another London airport (Gatwick). My flight to Bergen left there at 4am & arrived at Bergen (Flesland) at 6am. Ironically the flight flew up the east coast & headed north-east north of Aberdeen! After arriving at Bergen airport I took the airport bus into Bergen, There I made my way to the railway station & boarded an Oslo bound train, getting off at Voss. There I had something to eat & drink before catching a bus to Vangsnes following the same route as in 1970. However at Vangsnes I took the ferry across to Hella on the same bus which was going to Songdal. There I changed busses to one which would take me over a mountain route to Otta. The bus stopped at a hotel near the highest point before contining down towards Otta.
At Otta I caught a Trondheim bound train to Dombås. This was my first stop on this trip to Norway & I made my way to the local youth hostel, Another excellent hostel with meals provided. And again like Stavanger I ended up in a dormitory with some who were reluctant to go to sleep at 11pm! More jokes of course & raucous laughter, soon brought the warden & a request to be quiet! I'll have to get my membership card to check how long I stayed there. All of us in the small dormitory travelled by train to Trondheim. After arriving we walked to the hostel which was a considerable distance from the station. There we all managed to get a dormitory to ourselves. I had planned to visit the Technical University whilst I was there as I had been asked by a lecturer at RGIT to see if the Electronics Department would be interested in a joint research project.
After visiting I spent the day walkjing around Trondheim taking photos visiting places of interest including an archeological dig near the cathedral. I subsequently returned to the hostel & gad dinner in the canteen. There I met a dutchstudent touring Norway in his car & he invited me to join him on his trip further north. I returned to the dormitory where my rucksack was still intending to have an early night, so that I could be up in good time for the the journey north. However I when I got there I found a group of French students eating food & certainly not interested in anything else. I went to the reception & asked if I could get a bed in another dormitory, but was told there was no where else as they were very busy. I did encounter a language barrier as the person at the reception I spoke to struggled to understand me. Not making any progress I decided to get my money back for the addition nights I had paid for & to get an address somewhere in Trondheim to stay overnight. It was late as the hostel didn't have lights out until 1am as it was considerably larger than Stavanger. It was still broad daylight when I left with an address for a bed & bed & breakfast some distance away. I eventually found it & as I approached I met the son of the owner who was fluent in English. He introduced me to his father who didn't speak any English & told him I wanted accommodation for the night. We went inside & he opened one door after another looking for a vacant room, but all were occupied. I began to wonder what the place really war with what I saw when he opened those doors! Thankfully he found a room which actually had an outside window which looked ideal being neat & tidy. By now it was nearly 1am & still daylight. I had a good night's sleep after going to bed. In the morning I was up bright & early & made my way to the dining room where breakfast was served in a typical Scandinavian fashion with lots of breads & cheeses as well as cold & hot food. There I was joined by two Irish girls, both in their late 20s. Both were very chatty & keen to tell me about the place & the man running it! I think they soon realised that I wasn't familiar with the sort of establishment it could be called! It was certainly no ordinary bed & breakfast from my brief glances into the other room when the man opened the doors of each room. More about that perhaps later. After breakfast I was informed there had been a call from the hostel by the dutch man who had invited me to go with him further north. By the time I heard & got the man to make contact with the hostel on the phone it was too late & he was was away. I did speak to the reception at the hostel, but language problems persisted.
The three of us went into the centre of Trondheim by late morning. The two Irish ladies were making for a travel agents shop where they had had bought a package tour for further north. I went along with them & soon found out that neither were happy with their treatment. In fact their tour never took place & they wanted their money back. Now I know how the Irish can have a temper & I was about to find out first hand! The dialogue with the man behind the counter was quite tranquil to begin with until they were both told 'No Refunds! That was the catalyst for a more aggressive, but polite approach. No progress was made with that however. What came next took me & the man behind the counter by surprise. One of the ladies, the taller of the two leaned forward & grabbed the lapels of the man's jacket as her face got even closer to that of the man. She told him that he would repay them for something they never had as if he continued to refuse she would make sure the business wouldn't last long once she publicised how they treated customers. Well that message got through & he gave them back the cost of the trip. Tranquility had returned & we three departed. Once we got outside they explained why they were so angry. It was an expensive tour of Norway north of the Arctic Circle which had fallen through as they travel agent wasn't able to get sufficient people interest to make it viable.
We returned to the house & got our belongings & they headed to the railway station to take a train south. I decided to go further north by train to the hostel in Levanger, a small town about 45 miles to the north of Trondheim. The train was a commuter train stopping at every statin. There is a station on that line which has become quite a landmark as it is called 'HELL' which means success in Norwegian. There is a sign reading 'Godsekspedisjon" on a building beside the railway. That refers to the goods & parcels office! Postcards with the photo are sold in large numbers. It was a pleasant journey & I got of the train at the station which is centrally located. Now to find the hostel. I saw a building which looked a possibility & walked up the drive way. I entered looking for reception. I tried various doors, but no joy. The last door I opened let me into what looked like an operating theatre to my surprise. I suddenly realised the place was part of the local hospital !. I didn't hang about & hurried back out & continued my search. I wasn't far away from the hostel though & signed in for a couple of nights. It was a small hostel, so no general catering. Good cooking facilities where I made my meals. They did sell basic food stuffs. The weather turned very wet on the Saturday evening & it rained all day on the Sunday. Everyone stayed put & spent the day in the common room. I met some nice people including a Dutch student studying meteorology who explained why the rain was so incessant. I also met a trainee schoolteacher from Germany who was fluent in English. The three of us had some interesting conversations. Maria & I exchanged our addresses & we corresponded after we were back home again. She was very interested in my painting & in fact all my interests. The relationship looked as though it would develop from the way she wrote. However, not all my relatives were keen on the idea idea of a German becoming a relative! I was left in no doubt about what one relative thought who was very vocal. Marita & & I were both born during WWII, but were never involved.
By Monday the sunshine was back again & we all headed away on our journeys. I bought a train ticket from Levanger via Åndalsnes & Oslo back to Bergen. The ticket allowed me to break my journey provided I kept traveling towards my end destination. First I took a train to Trondheim where I changed to another going to Oslo. My intension was to change trains again at Dombås & continue to Åndalsnes on the west coast. However by the time the train was approaching Oppdal, a ski resort in the mountains, the guard / ticket collector advised me to get off at Oppdal as he could see I wasn't well because of some fever. I was feeling terrible & headed towards the address of the hostel as it was an area where little English was spoken. I arrived at the hostel & my language problems continues as the lady who was the warden spoke no English. However, looking back now she realised there was someone in one of the dormitories who could help me, a German pharmacist who was travelling round Norway with his young son. I was allocated a bed in the same dormitory where I went straight to bed. Now although Norway had a health service calling out a doctor there wa a charge. For the next few days I was rather isolated & only remember the warden & the pharmacist looking after me. He gave me some medication to help reduce the fever & the warden made a concoction which looked like blancmange & tasted terrible made from herbal remedies. What ever it was it certainly helped & the fever cleared. By Thursday I was feeling more like myself again. During the afternoon a car with four German student teachers arrived at the hostel who were all fluent in English & told me I had been well cared for the pharmacist & warden. I continued improving & on the Friday I did some art work looking out of the upstairs room. Saturday was my birthday & I was due to move on & continue my journey to Åndalsnes. Of course the warden knew it was my birthday from membership card & duly produced a bottle of whisky & poured two small glass to toast my birthday before I left. I took a few more photos around Oppdal before boarding a train heading south to Dombås. At Dombås I changed trains, catching the afternoon train to Åndalsnes. Now Åndalsnes is close to sea level so from Dombås the train has to drop several thousand feet & this is achieved by a series of tunnels inside a mountain range. The train travels slowly in the tunnel as there isn't a lot of clearance between the carriages & the bare excavated rock face. There are a .j few short openings to the daylight. Eventually it exited the tunnel & continued along the valley close to the the river for the remainder of the journey to the station at the end of the line. After arriving I made my way to the hostel about a mile & a half away. It was a relatively easy walk as there was little traffic & the road had few rises. I saw the hostel from some distance away as it was a bit higher in elevation & close to a farm. The hostel like the many of the other had a full meals service. It had nice dormitories & a comfortable common room.The weather remained changeable & most who were staying a few days stayed indoors on the showery Sunday. The walk to Åndalsnes was exposed to the weather with no trees offering any shelter from rain or wind.. It was a lovely day on the Monday & Tuesday & I took the opportunity to do some painting en plen air of the mountains to the east.
To be continued…