Norway

Our third hike in Norway was to Trolltunga. Famous for its precarious platform hanging over a huge canyon it has become famous for the incredible "Instagram-worthy" photo opportunities it provides. Directly translated as “Trolls tongue”, this place brings to life the Norwegian myths of Trolls living in the mountains.

From early conversations with Deano, I knew he had planned to hike some trails in Norway. I'd assumed these would be multi-day hikes and camping with his own gear and a fairly simple affair. When we locked in our flights to come to Norway the first thing that came up was the need to book into the same tour that they would be hiking Trolltunga with. Without checking exchange rates, and in a rush out the door with Jessie to explore more of London, I followed the link and paid the 2,600 Krona. To my utter shock, a notification immediately popped up with a $1,200 charge to my credit card 😳. So much for simple camping 😅. Thankfully when I took the time to actually look into what we got for the money it looked to be a bit more palatable. All camp gear would be carried for us and meals provided, including a reindeer stew for dinner.

We left Odda mid-morning for the 20-minute drive to the car park and were met by our three tour guides. Henric, a long wispy-haired Swedish guy with an eclectic fashion sense, very Greenpeace style. He mentioned he had studied various edible plants which immediately caught my ear as we’d seen people along the roads foraging mushrooms and berries and I was very keen to give them a try. Lilith our second guide was the happiest German I think you’ll ever meet. No surprise she was living in Norway running tours into the wilderness. During the hike we would learn that she was planning to be the youngest person to do a solo expedition to the South Pole! And our third guide was Malin. On her 2nd tour as a guide, Malin was in training as a guide to supplement her full-time job as a policeman in Odda. Pretty good option to run tours into the Norwegian mountains as a second job if you ask me.

After our double hike day 2 days before we were expecting this hike to be a bit spicy on the legs. After about 2 hours and a final short steep section, we hit a saddle and were told this is the highest section of the hike. The rest would be “Norwegian flat” which basically means an equal amount of ups and downs resulting in a similar altitude by the destination. All in all, it was much more leisurely than our Kjeragbolten and Preikestolen double. Once we’d crested the highest point the track began skirting along the ridge of the enormous fjord that had been carved out by a glacier from a bygone time.

Leading up to the day we’d been watching the weather and concerned we were going to finally lose our luck of beautiful weather. The previous day had seen a massive downpour that created wild waterfalls down the massive cliffs on either side of the road on our drive into Odda. Official forecast temperature range for the day was 2-10°C and showers so we’d prepared as best as our gear allowed. Basically this meant taking every layer of outdoor clothes we had because when you pack for an endless trip and need it to fit into a 20kg baggage allowance it doesn’t leave much room for multiple options. Despite a cheeky light shower just as we were about to start the hike the weather had been fairly good. That being said we still experienced every season, including a stint of icy sleet that blew through amongst constant cycles of cloud and sun. Due to its recently found Instagram fame, the queue at the top to get the quintessential photo on the “tongue” is known to be up to 2 hours long. One of the advantages of paying to hike with a tour is generally camping at the top is limited to the two tour companies that operate on the mountain. Our late departure from the car park meant that by the time we arrived in the late afternoon most people had started their return.

It’s hard to describe in words the first sight of Trolltunga. You literally stroll over a few rocks on the plateau and then jutting out from a cliff face is this seemingly suspended rock shelf hanging out over the canyon below. Facing west with a low cloud over the fjord and the sun reflecting a silver beam into the lake below, Trolltunga was incredible. We grabbed a few shots standing proud on the edge and then strolled a few more minutes to where we’d be camping for the night. Sat directly atop the drop down into the canyon we each had tents set up waiting for us and the smell of reindeer stew coming from the kitchen tent. Henrik had gone on ahead and had prepared not only dinner but also had laid out reindeer hides for us all to sit and soak up an incredible sunset over the canyon and lake below. Followed by a fire and marshmallows our day was complete. However almost the highlight of the trip came when one of our group, a Chinese girl who had come completely decked out in brand new Arc’teryx gear, tried roast marshmallows for the first time. The reaction was something between an epileptic fit and excited Tourette’s. half squealing, half jiggling, and just hilarious! Hard not to be just as excited for her as she was. It wasn’t long after sunset that the temperature dropped significantly and with every layer of warm clothing we had we tucked into our little dome homes for the night.

After a night of continuous rolling to stay on the sloping mattress we woke up to a delicious porridge and extra strong Nescafé. Now it needs to be said that our Norway trip had likely replaced our plans to go to Iceland at this stage. Other than exploring the ridiculous landscapes that we’d heard about in Iceland a major bucket list thing for both of us is to see the northern lights. Reported to be best seen between September and March I’d been monitoring an Aurora app that reports sightings. The past few weeks I’d seen the first sightings were happening in Iceland however only at higher latitudes like Iceland and Alaska. So here we were, standing around with a few of the other early risers after our rough cold sleep when one of the girls casually goes “Oh, I went to the toilet last night and there were the northern lights”. Not believing it at first, I turned on my phone which immediately blew up with notifications of crazy aurora sightings right down across Norway and even as far south as England! 🤯😓 So that was that. While I battled a continuous crocodile roll in my bubble tent in the mountains of Norway I’d missed an opportunity to tick my #1 bucket list. Such is life. Anyway, back to the now. The hike back down was basically an everyday stroll for us at this stage so we were back to the car park before lunch and off on our 4-hour drive back to Bergen. Next stop Amsterdam!Read more