3rd September

Day 6

Quote of the Day:- 'Plan as though you'll be living for a century; live as though you 'll be leaving today'

The Black Watch arrived in Flam at 7.30 in the morning. Another pretty little village, and just when we need it, the weather is good! We had booked for a tour involving a coach ride up a mountain which had lots of hairpin bends and scary moments getting up to a large waterfall, but because of mud slides on the road following all the rain, this trip was cancelled. So I swopped it for a ride on the famous Flam Railway and lunch at the Vatnahalsen Hotel. The word Flam has a little 'o' above the letter 'a' which changes the pronounciation to Flom, and it means 'large expanse of land between high mountains' The railway track is only 12 miles long, and is another Norwegian engineering wonder, ascending to 867 metres within just 50 minutes. It has a gradient of 1 in 18 and crosses back and forth across rivers and through 20 tunnels. This world famous railway was built between 1920 and 1940 and was opened by German troops who had a large military camp in Flam.

We wound our way up to the Hardangervidda Mountain plateau through several tunnels, over bridges and past thundering waterfalls. Narrow paths twist up the mountainsides, used by only the deftest goats, and beautiful vistas of the valley unfold below.

On the way up the train made a stop at the lovely Kjosfossen waterfall where we left the train for a few minutes to take some photos. The platform where we took the photos provides a spectacular sight of the waterfall which has a 93 metre freefall. Part way up, on a rocky outcrop there appeared a young lady dancing to piped eery music. She is portraying the mythical siren, Huldra, there to lure men to their death with her songs. There are in fact two girls, dressed in flimsy outfits, one of them appeared to be tied to something because she was very near the edge of the outcrop, and the other appeared further back and to the right. We were informed that they both had wet suits on beneath their dresses! They would need them ! There is a hidden hydro electric plant here which provides the power for the railway.

Our final stop was the Vatnahalsen Hotel is the next to last station on this great railway journey. About 1k further along the track is Myrdal which is the last stop and it is possible to change trains there and go to either Bergen or Oslo from this elevated position on the mountain. We had a short break here for lunch which comprised tea or coffee and lots of waffles which we could cover with syrup or jam! Perhaps there was more choice than that, but I don't remember what else there was :)
We returned to Flam and spent a little time in the village before boarding again for 3.45 to set sail for Zeebrugge.

Flam Harbour

The Black Watch in the harbour

The Village from the Railway

The River Flam

The Flam Valley


River Flam again through the Valley


Kjosfossen Waterfall



David getting wet!

The siren, Huldra doing her dance

Lake Reinunga which feeds the power station

Vatnahalsen Hotel

Dead tree in Flam decorated with carvings