2025 May 12-16: Ålesund etc

5-day road trip to Ålesund & environs. Jan grew up there; Kai-Erik, Solveig & Sigve live there now.

Day 1, stopped for lunch @ friend of Heidi’s, Astrid, who recently married a guy called Goran, whose family has been on a farm for generations, and who has completely rebuilt its farmhouse & is working on another one nearby:

Jan had arranged some us to stay at a cluster of cabins just outside Ålesund, belonging to a childhood friend; we stayed 4 nights:

Day 2 (13th) has been lost to posterity, no photos. It was great: run with Heidi, tub in wood-fired outdoor hot tub, Kai-Erik & brood over for dinner. Complete relaxation.

Day 3 (14th), into Ålesund for the day. Stopped at the Alnes lighthouse on the island of Godøya for a peek:

Norway is cross-crossed with tunnels, replacing ferries. Without them it would be a much longer journey anywhere:

…and Ålesund. We walked up the slope to the lookout overlooking the town, then down the ridge to Sigve’s kindergarten:

BBQ at Kai-Erik & Solveig’s, where I failed to take any pics, dang.

Day 4 (15th), ou & out to Grotli, a ski lodge Jan has been going to his whole life.

AM packed & out:

Along the Geiranger fjord:

The seven sisters:

To the town of Geiranger at the end:

Plenty of water here:

So; this is Dalsnibba. It’s hard to convey in photographs, but you feel like you’re suspended over a 1500 meter abyss. Must see:

Grotli:

Day 5 (16th): last leg of the drive back to Trondheim. Passed through Lom, where there’s a Stav church built in 1170, in remarkably good condition: