Norway Trip Part 4 – Flåm, Myrdal and Gol

by Alan Cole · Published Thursday, June 29th, 2023 · Updated Thursday, June 29th, 2023

After a good night’s sleep in our apartment, we were fully recovered from our kayaking expedition. Today we would retrace our paddle strokes aboard a boat and then continue along the Aurlandsfjord to Flåm. From here we’d head back into the mountains to rejoin the Bergen to Oslo train heading for our evening destination of Gol.

First though there was of course the small matter of a buffet breakfast to devour. We smuggled out a few things for lunch too! We then collected all of our belongings, loaded up with our rucksacks and headed to the dockside to board the Lady Elisabeth from Gudvangen to Flåm. The Lady Elisabeth and the new Electric boat both left the dockside at pretty much the same time and followed the same route to Flåm. It seemed weird that they’d go together, but I’m sure there’s a reason for that. The boat we were on was slightly slower, slightly cheaper and a lot less busy than the electric boat. In fact that weren’t many people on board at all so we had plenty of room to spread out and wander around taking photos.

The boat made its way up the Nærøyfjord, passing all of the places we had kayaked to a couple of days before. We could see other groups of kayakers at the campsite and just getting on the water as we made our way past. It was a little windier today but still quite calm. We passed a nice yacht at one point too.

Kayak Campers getting ready to leave the campsite we stayed at

I took some photos as we made our way along the Fjord and into the Aurlansdfjord. The scenery was of course still stunning and it was hard to resist taking photos of the many waterfalls tumbling down the steep walls of the fjords. We passed Undredal where our kayaking trip had ended and continued on towards Flåm. A huge cruise ship dominated the view as we approached Flåm. The MSC Euribia was at the dock and dwarfed the entire village of Flåm.

Flåm

We disembarked and found ourselves surrounded by people. Everyone from the cruise ship was on the dockside waiting for coach trips, trying to board the train, booking tickets for things and hitting the shops that were aplenty. We had planned to drop our luggage in lockers and take a look around the village and its shops, but it was all a bit too much for us with so many people around. Instead, we checked our tickets for the Flåm railway, changed them to an earlier train and then found somewhere a little out of the way to chill for a while.

It wasn’t that far out of the way though as people kept coming up to us to ask us to take photos of them in all manner of poses! We did head off to check out the ‘Mall’ and individually look at the shops. They were basically full of tourist tat, although Anna did buy a couple of tea towels and a Christmas decoration!

The Flåm Railway

Before long it was time to board the Flåm Railway which would take us from sea level up to Myrdal at 866m above sea level.

The journey takes an hour, and is one of the steepest standard gauge railway lines in the world, with 80% of the journey running on a gradient of 5.5%. The train runs through spectacular scenery, alongside the Rallar Road, vertiginous mountainsides, foaming waterfalls, through 20 tunnels, and offers many viewpoints. At one point the railway takes a 180º bend inside the mountain.

The views were indeed spectacular with waterfalls and the river being the highlights as usual in this part of the world. Inside the tunnel, there was a short ‘window’ that provided amazing views back down the valley. We also stopped briefly for photos at a raging torrent of a waterfall where everyone disembarked to get covered in spray and take some photos.

We arrived at the station in Myrdal where the temperature had dropped from 29º at sea level to about 5ºC. There was snow all around, a chilly wind and drizzle in the air.

There wasn’t really anything to do in Myrdal so we headed into the warmth of the station, had some lunch and hot chocolates. Once the train left to return to Flåm it was nice and quiet. As well as being the end of the line for the Flåm Railway, Myrdal is also a station on the Bergen-Oslo Line. Our plan therefore was was rejoin the Bergen to Oslo train and head over the mountain plateau to a town called Gol.

En route to Gol

The train to Gol was pretty much on time so we once again boarded with all our kit and settled into the clean, comfy seats. The next stage of our journey took us through yet more tunnels and then emerged out on the top of the plateau where snow and ice dominated the rocky, barren landscape. A few cabins were dotted here and there and there were of course still plenty of waterfalls. It was however a distinctly different place to the sea-level fjords. You could see where stories of trolls come from!

The highest station was the ski resort of Finse. Even though we were here close to midsummer’s day it was grey and dreary and freezing cold. In some ways, it would have been nice to spend a night here. A number of people did disembark at Finse, but we continued on through more frozen landscapes to a number of smaller stations and the larger resort of Geilo.

We were now descending, leaving the snow and ice behind and heading into forested slopes once again. There was still no shortage of beautiful lakes, rivers and raging waterfalls. The temperature was rising as we descended too and by the time we reached our destination of Gol it was back up into the high 20’s. We jumped off the train onto a quiet platform.

Gol

There was hardly anyone around in Gol. Our hotel for the night was a mile or so into town. We were a little weary so as there was a bus waiting and we had all of our luggage with us we jumped on it for a quick trip into town. The bus driver didn’t speak much English but was very friendly nonetheless and very helpful too.

We found our hotel, checked ourselves in – reception was closed after 7pm – and then went for a stroll around the town and down to the Stave Church. Everything seemed deserted. I know it was a little later in the evening but there was no one around, the shops and restaurants were all closed and the visitor areas and accommodation around the church looked as though it had been abandoned.

We strolled back through the town and headed back to the hotel to settle down for the night. The hotel room was a ski chalet style and very comfortable yet again.

After a quiet night’s sleep, we headed to the main building, which was now open, for breakfast and left our luggage with them so that we could explore Gol once again. This time it was much nicer. The shops, cafés and restaurants were all open and there were people around. We even bought a few things in one of the outdoor shops and stopped for coffee and cakes at one of the bakeries.

I then went for a walk into the hills a little while Anna chilled under the shade of some trees in a park and read a book.

The walk took me up through the forested slopes of the hillside where there were loads of well-marked walking paths and mountain bike trails. It was actually a really nice place. I was surrounded by the fresh scents of the forest, wildflowers were everywhere, often visited by bees and butterflies and birdsong filled the air. It was however very hot again. Temperatures were once again up around 30ºC and the sun was beating down. I did have a new hat that matched my sunglasses though to protect my head from the sun!

The next part of our trip across Norway would be the train from Gol to Oslo. So we soon had to head back to the hotel to get our luggage and this time walked back through town to the railway station. We did stop off at another bakery for ice creams and a rest and then headed to the station where we sat in the shade waiting for the train.