The thoughts and life of me

We left Hafjell quite early in the morning because our plan of having a very quiet morning enjoying the nice swimming pool at the hotel did not happen as the pool was closed. So we ate a nice breakfast and packed out bags in the car and started the journey of the day. The route of the day was going from Hafjell and drive westward towards a place called Geilo.

Our first stop of the day was in a place called Fagernes. Fagernes is a town in an area called Valdres. Valdres is a valley that is well known for it’s place in Norwegian Folk Music, they also have the Folk Museum here that we only stopped outside. We did stop for a small lunch at a place that has the eclectic combination of cafeteria, pub, bowling and bingo. A recipe for a good night out in a small town.

After having having enjoyed the lovely sights of Valdres, we drove up the next mountain and in to the next valley of Hallingdal. Both of these valleys have really good rivers and waters for fresh water fishing, for those that are interested in that sort of thing. That has some very lovely scenery we drove through Gol, Ål and Hol and thought that it looks like the people doing the naming in the area was trying to save on letters.

When we were driving through Hallingdal and got to a place called Ål, a sign for a stave church showed up, and as road trips are supposed to be about finding the nice little spots to stop, we drove off to see if it was worth a visit. We decided we wanted to get out of the car to have a little look. We payed a small fee and a local guide took us over to the church and we had a look. The guide was very knowledgeable and we really enjoyed being showed around.

The name of the stave church is Torpo and it was built in 1192, dedicated to St. Margareta. The part of it that is left is well preserved and the timber structure is quite impressive. These churches are early pre-fabrications as they built all the walls on the ground and gathered all the men in the village to help lift them up with ropes and one guy sat on the top to attach the wall to the others when they came up. And I found the painting in the ceiling are really lovely and have survived from medieval times in a great way.

Hope you all had a good week and that this weekend will bring good things.