Loen
plus Lovatnet
Saturday, June 22, 2024
We left Ålesund after having breakfast at a local bakery. The town was very quiet at 8:30 on a Saturday! We drove 20 minutes or so and caught the ferry from Magerholm to Sykkylven. It was a nice and quiet electric ferry that runs every half hour for the 20 minute journey.
We then drove to the end of a narrow fjord and along some lakes through a lovely valley. Today we had bright sunshine. When we reach the town of Stranda we drove south to Hellesylt, which is the place one can catch a car ferry to Geiranger. We stopped and had coffee. Above the town is a lovely viewpoint.
Here are some photos from this morning’s drive.
Here is the view above Hellesylt of the Geirangerfjord.
We then took a short detour on the way to our next destination and drove up the Norangsdalen Valley, also known as Nibbedalen, about seven miles or so along some beautiful lakes and high mountains on both sides of the valley. We read some information about summer farming in the area, which lasted until about 1950.
Below is the map for our travels from Alesund to Bergen. The photos above were taken mostly on our drive to Standa and from Hellesylt toward Øye (zoom in on the map).
We retraced our route back down to the main highway and continued to Loen where we will stay for two nights. On arriving we took the Loen cable car to a peak just over 1,000 meters high. The top has a beautiful view of the Nordfjord and the Lovatnet Lake, close by. We could also see the peaks in the Jostedalsbreen National Park. There were several parasailors using the top as a launching point. Loen is located on the other side of the glacial field we had visited several days when we walked at Nigardsbreen. Here are views of the fjords and lakes.
And next is a view of the mountains in the distance toward Jostedalsbreen.
We descended from the top station and drove a very short distance to the very small town of Loen, where we checked in to our fjord side-hotel. When we got there, it was warm enough to sit on our balcony and look at the fjord. We ended the day with a stroll around the hotel grounds. Here is the view from our hotel.
Sunday, June 23, 2024
We left our hotel in Loen and drove up a narrow valley along the Lovatnet, a beautiful green lake. We turned on to a toll road at Bødal. Information told us we could get to a parking area for a walk to view a glacier. However, after passing two waterfalls, we came upon a closed gate and could not figure out how to proceed. The drive was pretty and we enjoyed Hoysteinfossen.
Beautiful Lovatnet.
Here are photos from the “toll road” and the Hoysteinfossen.
We returned to the main road, paid the toll (via website, a data plan was essential on this trip) and turned further up the valley. We stopped at two information boards with lots of information and detail about several deadly avalanches in the valley. Scores of people were killed during events that occurred in 1905 and also1936, when a gigantic tidal wave swept through farmyards and destroyed everything in its path: people, animals, farm buildings and cultivated fields. After a while we reached another toll road to the Kjenndalsbreen glacier. The road gave us stupendous views of the glacier and a river, plus many waterfalls.
View on the “toll road” and the Hoysteinfossen.
We parked the car and took an easy walk to a close viewpoint of the glacier, which had a long tongue snaking down a rocky valley. There were several waterfalls on both sides of the glacier. It was almost deserted (we saw only four other visitors).Here are some photos of the Kjenndalsbreen glacier and environs.
And here are some more photos of the beautiful Lovatnet Lake.
We then drove back to the cafe located at the beginning of the toll road, located at the end of Lovatnet Lake, where we had coffee with a good view. Here are some more views of the lovely green lake.
After getting back to Loen, we decided to check out the nearby town of Olden, located at another end of the same fjord as our hotel. There were two cruise ships in the area, so we decided the sights might be crowded. So we reversed course and drove back through Loen and Stryn, where we then turned east on E15, which brought us, after several miles, to an attractive lake called Oppstrynevatnet. Almost at the end of the lake, we stopped to visit the Jostedalsbreen National Park Center, which has an exhibit about avalanches, including a harrowing four minute video. It also has a garden with alpine plants and examples of local stones.
From there we drove past the town of Hjelle and up to the beginning of another national tourist route, Gamle Strynefjellsvegen. This is an old historic route with stones acting as guard rails. We drove up a steep, switchback road with several impressive waterfalls and cascades. Eventually we reach the summit with a lake and snow, and then turned around and headed down, retracing our route to Loen.
Photos above near Oppstrynevatnet, and below from the switchback road looking back down the valley.
Heading back down to Loen, we tried to get a few more photos of the beautiful green color of the Lovatnet lake. Tomorrow will be our last full day traveling around the fjords.
Here’s one last photo of the Lovatnet lake.
