Day 489: Urmes Stave Church

Left Geiranger around 9 and took some epic scenic mountain passes to the south. So much great scenery in this part of Norway!

Arrived early afternoon at the Urmes Stave Church, a wooden church that dates back to the 12th century. The "staves" are large wooden pillars that hold up the whole building, carved from a single tree trunk each. On the outside there's some intricate carvings from a previous church, all done in viking style which is really cool.

It's also in an incredible spot, on a hill at the intersection of two fjords so you get a great view. And you can walk up a bit behind it and get fantastic landscape photos of it. Unfortunately for us the weather was pretty inclement - intermittent bouts of heavy rain and very brief sunny periods, so our filming was pretty interrupted. But we got it done in the end.

Found a campsite about 30 minutes away which had decent cheap cabins (and an incredible view of a lake with tall cliffs and waterfalls). The folks running it also were kind enough to let me sit in the unused 3-bedroom family cabin to watch England vs Tunisia, since it was the only one on the premises with a TV!Read more