From Fjords to Fiats

[RB]

That's good I am also enjoying the TR very much. However, I have not noticed any 'brown' cheese (brunost) on your plate. I came to like it very much when we were there.

Mrs RB is the main cheese eater in our household & one lot of the the brunost was regarded as plenty. Maybe it wasn't a fair judgement

 

[OZDUCK]

Mrs RB is the main cheese eater in our household & one lot of the the brunost was regarded as plenty. Maybe it wasn't a fair judgement

Oh well everybodies likes are different.

 

[RB]

Sandnessjøen. Room with bathroom close to hospital and city center - Houses for Rent in Alstahaug, Nordland, Norway - Airbnb

Apartment- small and clean as expected from reviews but it really needed a bit of maintenance to taps, doors etc. The host was helpful and the location was central enough to get a good look around town. When planning the trip Mrs RB found there was not a lot of choice to be had-perhaps this was a place we should have just taken a hotel room

 

[RB]

Sandnessjoen
Sandnessjøen - The Hidden North

We had a 2 night stay here and that was actually plenty for us. Weather was a bit of rain & overall overcast. Basically wandered around the small town & the port area. Really not a lot to do in this season if not hiking and our very small apartment was not ideal to spend a lot of time in. The day trips out to the islands had wound up a couple of weeks before our arrival.

The web tells me built in 1882 in wooden cruciform design with a central spire- locked up at the time of our visit

Petter Dass-a poet & clergyman best known for The Trumpet of Nordland


Was the post office, now apartments with a restaurant on the ground level (flags still at half mast)


A very striking work by an Italian street artist Jorit Agoch. Apparently traditional ritual marks on the cheeks


Early sunset but nice light

 

[Lost Redditor]

Fantastic photos - you've been so fortunate with the weather it looks like.
I spent many summers and a few winters as a kid in Tromsø because my mum had a partner from the island of Senja, which is just off Tromsø. This is back in the 90s before the coast became fished out, and my mum and I would go fishing until 4am some times. Huge cod fish!

Are you on the cruise ship for the duration? I did my military service in Bergen (plus 8 week boot camp in Stavanger) and Bergen is a wonderful city. A bit too rainy for my taste but I made some friends for life there that I am still in touch with.

I can't say I'm homesick for Norway but I can appreciate the beauty of it. I'm heading to Norway next year for 5-6 weeks in July/August, but it's with two young kids so we won't travel Norway as much as you are doing right now.

 

[RB]

Fantastic photos - you've been so fortunate with the weather it looks like.
I spent many summers and a few winters as a kid in Tromsø because my mum had a partner from the island of Senja, which is just off Tromsø. This is back in the 90s before the coast became fished out, and my mum and I would go fishing until 4am some times. Huge cod fish!

Are you on the cruise ship for the duration? I did my military service in Bergen (plus 8 week boot camp in Stavanger) and Bergen is a wonderful city. A bit too rainy for my taste but I made some friends for life there that I am still in touch with.

I can't say I'm homesick for Norway but I can appreciate the beauty of it. I'm heading to Norway next year for 5-6 weeks in July/August, but it's with two young kids so we won't travel Norway as much as you are doing right now.

Just the 2 nights on Havila & then the fast ferry transfers. Ended up with way too much cold weather gear because we were so lucky with the weather. Have been seeing info today about bad weather in Tromso which reinforces how lucky we were. Hope the trip with the kids goes well!

 

[RB]

Bus Sandnessjoen to Mosjoen.

Again left & arrived on time. Some excellent scenery again, one 11km tunnel (signage on the roadside indicated distance covered & distance to go for the tunnel) and a good road surface but still no overtaking lanes. Maybe 6 others on the bus plus one well behaved dog on this ride to the historic fjiord town of Mosjoen. It's a sad day in Norway with the funeral of King Harald in Oslo - a huge affair and everyone has been glued to the TV watching it with a minute of silence nationwide at 1pm.

It was a pretty flat walk from railway station stop to apartment Romutleie Centrum 3A one night stay. A night in Mosjoen set us up for an easy connection to the 9.16 am train to Trodheim.

 

[RB]

Romutleie Centrum 3A

While spacious, this was a pretty ordinary apartment with good potential-no upkeep with off-site management. Busted doors in corridors, broken curtains, poor lighting etc. Definitely a 1 night max & owner disinterest was a bit of a trait

 

[RB]

Around Mosjoen

Mosjøen - The Hidden North

Similar story here, a compact area for walking around, historic buildings and many vacant older shops.

There is a new shopping centre, a long narrow building where basically everything is concentrated. Found the supermarket here with their stock of suckling pig & full tomahawk steak. Wandered the historic streets & hotel. Sjogata street was charming enough but very little activity so no atmosphere at this time. Nice town but mainly saw kids riding pushbikes and no other signs of life. We had a great takeaway pizza from Milano hotel.

An interesting name for slushies


Nice burger for lunch with helpful staff


Great supermarket


Tomahawk pack


Old servo site

 

[RB]

More Mosjoen

 

[ellen10]

I am really loving your beautiful photos and great trip report. You are having fantastic weather.

You have put a lot of effort into a great trip plan, well done.

We are hoping to be in Norway in April next year. I am assuming the weather will be much colder.

 

[RB]

I am really loving your beautiful photos and great trip report. You are having fantastic weather.

You have put a lot of effort into a great trip plan, well done.

We are hoping to be in Norway in April next year. I am assuming the weather will be much colder.

Thank you. I think we were certainly fortunate with the weather. Mrs RB did a lot of work while rehabing so it went pretty well according to plan

 

[RB]

Train Mosjoen to Trondheim
Ridiculously tight carriage on single track. Allocated seating but bags everywhere in aisles. 2 seats either side of narrow aisle. One rubbish bin per carriage & no seat back storage, so constant walkers traipsing to the bin or to the loo.. Makes XPT look like luxury! A group of about 40 who seemed like they had never travelled before and were constantly up and down didn't help! However the physical discomfort over 300kms was off-set by beautiful scenery, plenty of altitude change so some snow, plenty of water, melted swamps, grain cropping, sheep and grazing cattle. Very few birds seen and the lone wildlife was a reindeer.
As the trip progressed, with a drop in altitude, we gradually saw broader flatter land & broadacre grain cropping & hay bales. Barley & oats dominate & apparently most is used as stock feed. Apparently a real micro climate combined with good marine clay soils and highly mechanised farming was behind the contrast to the much smaller scale operations we had seen previously.

Great waiting room




Same as a pub, when I walk in I like to check out old photos & info that adorn the walls


Platform views






Guess this should have been a warning -only 2 carriages


Surprised there was only one passenger wandering at this time




Aufles

 

[RB]

New fencing in swamp areas



Kanfjellien

Majavatn




Bjornstad




Strindmoen


Noem

 

[RB]

Sunnan


Nordskaget






Skatval

 

[RB]

Raddison BLu Trondheim
Radisson Blu Royal Garden Hotel, Trondheim, A Verified Net Zero Hotel, Trondheim (updated prices 2027)

Easy flat walk less than 10 minutes from the train station, It was decent without being outstanding- poor lighting (plenty of lights but poorly placed & not effective light), super soft bed & pillows. Booked a family room, had a good walk-in shower, wi-fi fine was included but open with no password (seemed to be common in Norway). Certainly a central location for easy city walking.

Didn't look like a family room as portrayed in their promotions but they insisted it was

 

[RB]

Around Trondheim

Trondheim - The Hidden North

Trondheim was much more city like, faster traffic, aggressive bike & scooter riders. Again a seemingly oversupply of taxis. We were back to seeing individual shop fronts.
At Sandre Gate

Kongens Gate The Masonic Lodge. Built between 1899 and 1902. Housed the Stock Exchange up until 1934

Renowned classical violinist

We had a look in the Var Frue church. Vår Frue Church - Wikipedia


The cathedral was a great spot & had a huge attached cemetery. Nidaros Cathedral - Sightseeing - Visit Trondheim

 

[RB]

Waterfront buildings near Old Town bridge are a photography magnet. We walked back towards the Radisson and took our photos looking across the water to Bakklandet. We had dinner at Lan Na-very nice Thai food with cold draught beer & white wine.

Old Town Bridge - Wikipedia

















Built in 1898 and housed the first department store in the city

 

[RB]

Train Trondheim to Andalsnes via Dombas

Much better trains. On the first train to Dombas there is plenty of storage, spare seats, in-seat charging, the carriage appears much wider, seats recline, there are coat hanging spots, a dining car etc

Similar farming to yesterday with plenty of hay cut, some paddocks waterlogged & some crops blown down. Plenty of changes of scenery-back to hillier country & pine trees, some narrow high gorges & waterfalls. A further gentle climb leads back to broad high peaks, snow & quiet a few spots of little to no vegetation. 1016m elevation reached before a drop into Dombas that opened up broad highland flats with distant peaks. About 1.5hrs stopover that we spent at the train station-very comfortable and warm.






Our train after arriving at Dombas


Dombas station


Melhus-20 min from Trondheim


Kval


Driva


Engan


Sunndaslora

 

[RB]

A couple of shots of the views from Dombas station





Then it is onward to one of the highlights of the trip - the Rauma Line. This 114 km line is sometimes described as the most picturesque in the world and it lives up to is reputation. It runs between Dombas in the mountains and Andalsnses on the Fjiords and has quite a history. It also has a close up view of the "Troll Wall" (Europe's tallest overhanging rock face), green farming valleys and dramatic mountains. Rauma Line - Wikipedia

Another very comfortable train, plenty of seats to move around and the staff gave some relaxed commentary of upcoming highlights to look for. Big broad flats cut by running streams with very high peaks on either side. Plenty of fat sheep grazing and more hay being cut. Unfortunately carriage lights & reflections made it hard to take photos but it was certainly scenic. We were the final stop- right on the water with buses & shops within metres of Andalsnes station.

Note the Golden Train was not running at the time we were there


Plenty of wrapped hay around Lesja




The Rauma river










The Pulpit Rock near Stavanger




More of the Romsdalen Valley






Vinnufossen 845-865metres, one of the tallest waterfalls in Europe


Troll Wall


Mt Mannen


More Troll Wall




Nesaksla


Our attempt at a video as we passed the wall

A promotional video, different season & other direction