Romsdal, Day 4 - Gudbrandsjuvet gorge, Valldalen valley, Ex Machina

July 27th We packed our bags and left at 12pm.  Our last day in Romsdal was spent going to the Gudbrandsjuvet gorge and the Valldal valley where the movie "Ex Machina" was filmed.  Unfortunately we could not take pictures of the Juvet hotel which was restricted to guests only, but still we got sweet shots of the area.  Later we stopped at Valldal to have fish and chips and then we caught the train back to Oslo.  Last year we were also in Valldal for a stopover.

Romsdal, Day 3 - Rauma river

July 26th We were pretty tired today since we did a mountain hike the day before.  Most of the day we were relaxing in the apartment, me, uploading photos and the other guys were chilling as well.  Still we did a short hike in the afternoon in the forest near the river.  There's a small beach and a lake which was really nice, minus the amount of mosquitoes.  Later in the afternoon it started to rain so we retreated back to the room.  Later in the evening we played "Risk" and decided what we were going to do the following day.  The plan was to visit the Valldal valley where the movie "Ex Machina" was filmed, really good movie by the way if you haven't seen it!  And then later in the afternoon catch the train back to Oslo.

Romsdal, Day 2 - Trollveggen, Trolltindene, Stabbeskaret

July 25th Did another incredible hike today starting from Trollstigen to part of the Troll peaks, on a route called “Stabbeskaret”.  When we were at the top we were at 1431m above sea level, our starting point was around 300m above sea level.  Our overall ascent was around 1200m since we had to up and down and points along the route.  Shifty rocks, going uphill and downhill on snow, it was a challenging hike but truly amazing.  Lakes, waterfalls, drinking water from a waterfall, what an experience.  There was actually good weather, which is all that makes the difference, considering only a few days ago where the weather forecast said it was going to rain the entire week that was a welcome relief.  It took us a total of slightly over 7 hours including breaks going up and down.

The starting point was Trollstigplatået, which is near the Trollstigen platform.  Last year I was in Trollstigen as well but didn't do this climb as I was going to Geiranger.

Trollstigen.

Romsdal, Day 1 - Oslo to Dombås to Åndalsnes redux

July 24th Last year I spent some time in August in Åndalsnes and had a truly epic mountain hike doing Romsdalseggen.  This year we were going to do another climb, except this time we stayed at a friend's place, on a farm actually.  It was really insanely cool.  The previous day I stayed in Olympiatoppen sports hotel, where athletes go and train.  It was quite nice and I had a nice walk around the lake called Sognsvann after dinner.  Why did I stay in a hotel?  I've had too many hotel points and just had to spend some before they expired in July so the hotel stay cost me nothing.  It was a nice hotel but as usual service was really terrible.  Hospitality is truly awful in Norway for some reason.  I've never had service as bad as anywhere in the world.  Unless you're counting Africa.