Skip to main content

Gausatoppen

Gaustatoppen is not the highest mountain in Norway (that's Galdhøpiggen which Eric has also climbed many years ago).  However it is perhaps the most spectacular given the way it dominates its surrounding hills.  From the top on a clear day (which we had), you can see one sixth of all of Norway.


The day may have been clear but it was windy and cold when we set out to hike to the top.  In fact the wind was so strong in the first kilometre we strongly considered turning back given we were probably carrying one less layer of clothes than we should have.  At least this kept us moving!  The scenery was fabulous which helped keep us motivated.


Gaustatoppen is a very popular hike and there was a lot of people (and dogs) enjoying the good weather.  For Norwegians it was probably one of the best (and warmest) days of summer so everyone was taking the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors.



The summit was very crowded.  A tiny train runs up the mountain (inside) so those who considered the walk too tough could do it the easy and expensive way.  There is also a shop and café which we used for shelter but not food - much to Samuels disappointment as he really wanted a hot waffle.

Photobombed



On the walk down we took a steeper, more direct route than the climb up which had a few slippery moments...

After we got back to civilisation we headed back down the valley to the town of Rjukan where we enjoyed a few hours in the local swimming complex which had a very spectacular and scenic outside spa and pool where you could soak away the aches and pains from walking (and an indoor waterslide which Samuel loved).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inca Trail day 4

This was the day we would arrive at Macchu Picchu so we awoke with a keen sense of anticipation.   To celebrate the last day on the trail, somehow the chef had whipped up an enormous cake which was served after breakfast.  After a discussion with Marco about the likely weather over the next two days we agreed that it would be best to tour Macchu Picchu as soon as we arrived in mid afternoon rather than wait until tomorrow. Marco assured us that this would mean less crowds and better weather (he was right). We could see the backside of the mountain above Macchu Picchu in front of us as we started out.  Unlike the last two days, today was mainly downhill.  We would have to descend about 1,000 meters and judging by the first part of the morning walk, most of this would be on steep and slippery rocky steps. After alternating descents and traversing along steep hillsides through cloud forest and bamboo groves we reached the ruins of Intipata. Intipata was a very...
2 comments
Read more

New York: National Museum of Mathematics

When we first came to New York we all wrote down where we wanted to go while we were here. All of us included the math museum (confirms our status as a family of total geeks) so that is where we headed today. On the way we went to the LEGO shop. There was plenty of great Lego art and some pretty cool sets that Samuel hadn't seen before.   The best part was the machine that used a palm print to generate your Lego avatar. Eric: Check out the six pack. Not sure where they got the toupee from though. Samuel is Johnny Depp? Amazingly accurate this one. The famous Flatiron building A nd the math museum? Of course we enjoyed it! It was all interactive with loads of old and new problems to solve. We even got to use maths in an artistic way.  Tessellating Samuel and Eric were most entranced by a floor exhibit which changed periodically but had a range of practical problems. The museum was well populated in the morning with ...
2 comments
Read more

Santa Cruz

Unlike our first island hop, Isabela to Santa Cruz was done by boat (see the addendum below for my thoughts about inter island boat travel).  At least the early morning trip was a smooth one.  Luckily we had managed to book an apartment in Puerto Ayora which meant we could do some of our own catering for a change.  By the time we arrived we were slowing down some, we felt we'd seen much of the wildlife the islands offered and frankly, we were exhausted. So we didn't venture too far from Puerto Ayora. One nice place near town we did visit (Eric went twice) was Tortuga bay which was exactly what you would expect a tropical beach to look like.  In fact it had two beaches, one a surf beach and one a quiet cove where you could snorkel with barely a ripple.  There wasn't much wildlife here except a few Iguanas (and one turtle) but the warm water was great for a swim nevertheless. As with San Cristobal we took a taxi trip to the highlands, crawling in Lava tub...
1 comment
Read more