Two weeks in Balestrand, preceded by four Sundays in Bergen.
This page is about my time in Bergen. For Balestrand, see here: Balestrand
Saturday June 1
I am staying in a self-contained flay in the home of Eirik and Ana Duerr. I met Ana at Deanery Synod when I was in Gothenburg.
Mariakyran, with twin towers, is just on the right of the building opposite. The Anglicans use it on Sunday mornings, the Lutherans Sunday evenings.
Sunday June 2
Does it ever get dark here at this time of the year? Plenty of light in the sky when I woke up at 2:15 am, though 2 hours before sunrise.
My hosts walked me to church and back as I wasn’t confident of the way. So I arrived in plenty of time to take photos, some of which will appear below.
(not shown)
After the service I met a couple from Germany who were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. A Taiwanese man had brought some cakes for church coffee, where I talked to the church safeguarding officer, from Uganda, the churchwarden, who is Canadian and the organist, who is Norwegian and answered my question about feminine nouns, which had been puzzling me in Duolingo. There were three Ukrainians present, one of whom read the first lesson and the intercessions in Ukrainian. At least 4 continents, and 7 nationalities, probably more, represented in an Ordinary Time congregation. I love the Diocese in Europe!
I wasn’t very hungry after church coffee, but eventually got around to having a light lunch. Then, at about 3 pm, I set off to explore the hiking trails on the mountain above the house: steep, stony tracks often as wide as a motor road (with short cuts for the more agile). I talked to two Dutch walkers as we stopped to consult maps on a display board, and then chose a trail to follow.
It led to a cafe selling ice cream, which I filed for future reference before consulting the map and choosing my next destination. The path became a bit rougher and steeper but there were enough other walkers to reassure me that it was going somewhere. The worst bit was a slope to the dam at Stordiket, where I found my steps getting shorter and slower, and switched to a narrower but less difficult path down.
Still, it was a lovely walk, with birdsong, wild flowers, and alternation of sunlight and shade. Having preached about the gift of Sabbath rest in the morning, I remembered to rejoice in it. Another walker said something to me in Norwegian, which started a conversation, and I enjoyed her company until we reached the point where I wanted to turn off and head back to Bergen.
The track became a road, though I saw only one car on it. Then the road I was looking for, Fjellveien, branched off to the left, but I decided to stay among the houses and was soon on the street map I had torn out of an old Bergen Guide in the flat. I had been walking for nearly four hours. Let it rain tomorrow, I’ve had a good hike today!
Monday June 3
With a forecast of rain, I decided to concentrate on the city centre and visit a museum, using a free ticket left over from the church lottery.
Mariakyrkan is very close to Bryggen, the most touristy bit of Bergen. Beautifully decorated on the side facing the waterfront, with narrow alleys of plain wooden buildings, many hosting shops and restaurants, behind.
At the far end, another old building hosts the Pilgrim Centre, where I acquired a Norwegian pilgrim passport, and learned about a pilgrim walk happening this Saturday, some way out of town, and how to reach the starting point by light railway and bus.
As it started to rain, I used my ticket to visit Bryggens Museum, which had two exhibitions. Upstairs for a celebration of the 750th anniversary of the work of King Magnus the Lawmender, who revised and updated the regional law codes reflecting on every aspect of 14th century life. Downstairs for the archaeological excavations following a fire in 1955 which reduced many of the buildings to ashes.
I found an Extra supermarket just opposite the church part of the Coop. The prices seemed very reasonable compared to the one Ana and Eirik took me to on Saturday – or perhaps it was that they sold more of the semi-junk I would buy in England. I then had to carry it back up steep roads and flights of steps back to the flat.
I fell.asleep at the desk in the afternoon, and when I woke properly it was 5.45. An hour of Norwegian lessons on Duolingo, then supper. Just in time, I remembered I was supposed to be at a Zoom meeting at 8, to share feedback about the Diocesan pilgrimage project in Lent and talk about how to carry this forward in Creationtide.
Just to round off the day, here’s a statue of Snorre Sturesson, through whom the Norse Sagas have been passed on through the ages.
Tuesday June 4
Rain was forecast for every hour of the day. Nevertheless, I managed to try out a new way downtown without getting soaked. It involved a lot of choices between zigzagging roads and short cuts on flights of steps, through the band of trees on the left of the photo. The zigzags were easier.
I checked out the railway station, where I could leave a rucksack – for £3 an hour!; then the bus station where a very helpful woman told me how to get to the walk on Saturday; and finally to the light railway which will take me to the airport on July 10. Back to the flat just beside the rain started again.
In the evening, I had been given a ticket for Mahler’s 8th symphony. Two of the Church were singing in the choir. My morning excursion had been to find out how long it would take me to get there: about half an hour.
This was my first live symphony, and it wasn’t what I expected. For a start, there were surtitles in Norwegian and English, neither of which was sung. They didn’t match, and I guess both were free translations from the German. There were only two movements. The first, as I later checked in Wikipedia, was a hymn to the Holy Spirit. The second was announced in a surtitle as “The last scene of Faust”. Being more familiar with Marlowe’s version than Goethe’s, I was expecting the theme of damnation rather than redemption.
There was one lovely bit where the soloists were silent, and the choir sang, very quietly but audibly, about mountains and rocks. Also several occasions when only one or two menbers of the large orchestra were playing and I couldn’t work out what instrument was bringing its own voice into the story.
A lengthy standing ovation. What an evening!
Wednesday June 5
A good morning for a town walk, ending with a bit of food shopping. I walked past the Cathedral and discovered that they have Open Church 12-2 on Fridays. Then through a small graveyard with some splendid 19th century tombstones. One family grave had later memorial stones, one for a 7-year-old boy and one for a descendant, different surname, who died last year aged 89.
This led to a rough path ending in a private car park beside the railway station. I continued along the road to Kalfaret, where it was possible to walk under the railway lines and reach a path round the lake, Store Lungegårdsvannet. Disappointingly, it wasn’t a lakeside path for very long, becoming a pavement separated from the water by industrial buildings and a heliport. Just before the road went under the motorway, I saw a sign to Årstad church, which was mentioned in a guidebook, and decided to follow it. Closed, of course, but advertising a Bach concert on Sunday evening and classes in English and Norwegian. Returned by a different road, and took a small footbridge over the waterway connecting the lake with the fjord.
Ulriken in the background
On the other side, the Corner Theatre was advertising a festival for John the Baptist on the afternoon of Sunday 23 June. I might go along, if no one comes up with any other ideas for celebrating midsummer. Then into Nygårdsparken, sloping steeply up to a ridge on the other side of which I found the University.
I was now close to the area I was exploring yesterday, including the Grieghallen where the concert was, but stayed on a higher and quieter road before heading for the ferry terminal. Then I knew where I was, and, bypassing Bryggen, made my way to the Extra supermarket I visited on Monday. In view of the climb up to the flat, I limited myself to five items, none of them heavy.
In mid-afternoon, the sun came out.
Thursday 6 June
An adventure! I locked myself out, without my phone.
At least, I thought I had locked myself out. I had gone out for a short walk, just up to Fjellveien and along it. It started to rain hard, so I took the next road down, and back to the house. I must have tried my key in the lock about a dozen times.
Perhaps either the key or my hand was too cold. The rain had stopped, so I resumed my walk and had a think.
My hosts are out of town, at least until Friday morning. I don’t have their number. I do have their email address but it’s on my phone, so I don’t have it with me. I suppose I could stay in a backpacker hostel overnight, though without any of my own stuff it wouldn’t be comfortable.
First, I decided to explore the fortress. The grounds are free, there’s a good view from the top, and I was impressed with the two medieval buildings which survive, the Rosenkrantz Tower and Håkon’s Hall. Both have a link with Magnus the Lawmender – see Monday – and I might go back with my other Museum ticket and take photos. There is also a statue of St Sunnhild, patron of Bergen, whose relics were brought here from Selge.
Then I went to the tourist office. There wasn’t a queue. The man at the desk gave me the address of the hostel in town, and suggested that there might be a neighbour who could help me with the key. So I went back to the house, and discovered that if I pulled the door slightly towards me, the key would turn.
Panic over!
The other event of the day was a guided tour of the Nordnes peninsula at 19:00, arranged by the Bergen Scottish Society,. Barbara Mc is a member but couldn’t go, so she had booked me in. It was all in Norwegian, but I understood a fair amount of the first bit thanks to my visit to the fortress in the morning. After that, there was a heavy shower including hail, and I was too concerned with keeping as dry as possible to take in much of what was said.
After the rain stopped, we went up to the site of another fortress, to which our guide had a key. Since its military origins, it had been the town fire station, and then a meteorological station. The tour continued through a maze of little streets, at least as picturesque as Bryggen, and finished at the corner of two streets with Scottish names, where the Scottish community of Bergen used to congregate. I thought we were supposed to be going for a drink afterwards, but as the tour had taken 2 hours and it was starting to rain again, we dispersed, and someone showed me the way back to the fish market. I knew the way home from there.
Friday 7 June
A sociable day. Weekday mass and church coffee with waffles at the Cathedral, speaking a mixture of Swedish and Norwegian, and then an evening meal for 4 English speakers at Barbara Mc’s home, with homemade lasagne and some experimental balls of banana and peanut butter coated in chocolate.
At the Cathedral, I almost missed the service. It looked promising when I went in, with half a dozen people sitting quietly in the front few rows. However, one by one they got up and left, and it was only when I asked the woman on duty if there was a stamp for my pilgrim passport that I discovered that the service was taking place in a chapel with a separate entrance. I arrived in the middle of a sermon, of which I understood very little, but in time for two hymns and the eucharistic prayer, the latter being chanted. At communion, each communicant took a small cup from the altar rail which the priest filled from.the chalice, which had a lip for easy pouring. I hadn’t seen that done before.
I didn’t take photos in the chapel, but I took one in the Cathedral, and meant to take one of the impressive portraits of Bishops in the way in. Maybe next Friday.
Saturday 8 June
My visit to the Pilgrim Centre bore fruit in today’s pleasant walk from a car park in Smørås to Fana church with 5 Portuguese, 2 Dutch and a number of Norwegian Pilgrims.
Fana church was a centre of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages because of a silver cross discovered by a blind fisherman who regained his sight. The cross was stolen by the Danes and never seen again; but the Pilgrims have returned.
The Portuguese and Norwegians are sharing their experiences of being on the Atlantic Coast.
I spoke to some of the local pilgrims about the possibility of visiting Selge (recommended by Ingebörg). They spoke highly of its importance. But it’s not only a matter of taking the Norled ferry to the town Selge (a five-hour trip each way). You then have to get into “the monastery boat” to the island of Selga, where St Sunnhild and her companions hid in a cave, for a two-hour tour finishing just in time for the boat back to Bergen. On returning home, I looked it up on the Internet, and discovered that the trip would not be possible until June 24th. Given that I leave Bergen for Balestrand on the 26th, I may decide to content myself with the statue of Sunnhild at the Bergenhus fortress.
Sunday 9 June
My second Sunday service at Mariakirken was followed by a lunch party at the home of Paddy, one of the nonagenarian parishioners. Advertised as a garden party, but the weather put paid to that.
So it was indoor games. Firstly, someone suggested thinking of hymns beginning with each letter of the alphabet and singing them. I was quite good at that., but we only got up to D before someone else produced packs of a card game about making words, called Quidler. I think this one took about an hour.
We had arranged that I should bring home communion for Paddy, so the two of us went into her bedroom for a short service, which both of us hugely enjoyed.
It was after six by the time we got back to Bergen. On the way Eirik told me about the farm in Voss which he had inherited from his grandfather, and asked if I would like to come with him next time he goes there, probably on Wednesday. That will be interesting.
I have finished section 2 of the Duolingo course in Norwegian. Some useful sentences:
“Do not buy more than you can carry.”
“They are looking for a food shop with Sunday opening.”
“I am beginning to see the light.”
It has just started to introduce the past tense, without any explanations. I’ve found a basic grammar on Kindle Unlimited, which I hope will make sense of some of the anomalies.
Monday 10 June
Although it was still quite cold this morning, at least it wasn’t raining. After lunch I walked in the woods above the house, passing a group of small children who called out to me in Norwegian, “Hello old lady”. I thought they were talking to the woodcarving in the photo, but when they kept repeating it, I replied, “Hello small children.”
I decided to explore some of the shorter trails on the information board, with some great views.
Then the sun came out.
On the way down, I met three young women. We kept passing each other as they stopped to take photos or chose a steep short cut rather than the winding track. Then one of them caught up with me, asked if I spoke English, and had a chat. She was from Costa Rica, visiting Bergen for a couple of days on a short tour of Scandinavia, and off to the fjords tomorrow.
Tuesday 11 June
Visited the Edvard Grieg Museum, a short walk from the Bergen Light Railway. It started with the house built for Grieg to his own design, the lakeside hut where he wrote much of his music, and the grave where he and his wife are buried.
Now there are two much more recent buildings: a museum including a café, and a concert hall where young pianists give recitals of Grieg’s music. Through the window of the concert hall, you can see the composer’s hut.
I arrived at 3.15, in time for a tour of the house at 3.30, coffee and ice cream, and a recital at 5. Between coffee and recital, I watched a video with scenes of Bergen life past and present and the surrounding hills as a background to recordings of his music, speeding up the video to frantic movement to accompany In the Hall of the Mountain King, I like Grieg; his music makes sense to me. The recital finished with Wedding Day at Troldhaugen (the name of his house) in commemoration of June 11 as his wedding anniversary.
Grieg claimed that the song of the birds around his house gave him enough material for twenty symphonies. But they did not sing to me, until I had started on my way home.
Decided to walk back along a walking and cycling path, but after about 5 km thought I’d rather save my energy for the hill up to the flat.
Wednesday 12 June
Eirik and I set off at 8.30 to drive to his farm. The road, E16, runs along Sørfjorden, with the island of Osterøy looming on the opposite bank. Our side was also steep, snd the road went through many tunnels, frequently being repaired, improved, or even extended. Four times we were held up, waiting to be escorted through a single lane stretch in a convoy, so the journey took 50% longer than expected.
By the time we arrived in Voss, it was raining. Bad news, as Eirik’s reason for coming was to cut the grass. We decided to have lunch and see if the rain stopped.
Eirik’s grandfather had taught in the local school, which we drove past, and bought the farm to have somewhere to live when he retired.
The land is looked after by the neighbouring farmer who has a herd of dairy cows, and lets the school have a patch of land to teach the children about agriculture.
The rain had stopped, so Eirik decided to make a start on the grass and suggested I might like to go for a walk along the lakeside. The road climbed up a bit, and I then followed a marked footpath up the hillside for about 1 km. When I returned, Eirik had just finished and brewed some more coffee.
We were only held up once on the journey home, arriving in good time to rest and change before dinner, to which Ana had invited me. It was a nice change to have a proper cooked meal, with a popular dessert made of brown cheese, cream and sugar and topped with pecan nuts. We all had second helpings!
Thursday 13 June
A quiet day in the flat, reading a detective story by a local author about a controversial proposal to build a wind farm on one of the islands. Barbara Mc had arranged for us to visit Caroline, another of the congregation’s nonagenarians and take her home communion.
Caroline’s flat, on the fourth floor, has a lovely view, and a fine display of flowers on the balcony. We showed her photos on our phones, of Sunday’s party at Paddy’s and of my visit to Eirik’s farm.
We took the bybahn there and walked back, stopping for a cup of hot chocolate on the way.
Friday 14 June
Again, I went to the Cathedral for weekday Mass and waffles. We sang the hymn which in Sweden is called the Summer Psalm. I had some good conversations over coffee, sometimes speaking a mixture of bad Swedish and worse Norwegian till I realised they would understand me better if I spoke English. The priest asked how I had found out about the service. “By reading the poster outside the church last week.” It was like a woman on the pilgrimage last Saturday being amazed that I had discovered it by asking at the Pilgrim Centre. Don’t they expect people to read notices? But then, I make the opposite mistake.
After a quick walk round the shopping centre by the station, I came to the City Library, which Barbara Mc had recommended to me when we walked past it yesterday. I had not expected to find it so user-friendly. There was a room for Western Norway, with a couple of bookcases for Bergen, and I sat down with a book where 14 authors described their favourite walk. One of them was a street artist like Banksie, and his favourite walk connected several of his installations. This one might have been his, though it wasn’t on that walk.
I spent almost half an hour with this book, and will go back and hope to find it again, to take notes. Following one if the walks described, I explored the park round Lille Lungegårdssvann (next to the light railway terminus) and walked up to two major churches I hadn’t visited: St Paul’s (RC) and St John’s, on the sky line. Then I carried on down the other side of the ridge and came to a huge container port. Skirting this brought me to the “Scottish quarter” where last week’s guided walk finished.
Came home to do a little work on my sermon.
Saturday 15 June
I easily found in a bookshop the book I had looked at in the library, and decided to buy it. Too much of a coffee table book to carry around with me, but worth studying on advance of a walk, and good practice in Reading Norwegian. One of the chapters is by Gunnar Staslesen, author of at least 19 detective stories, featuring important places in the life of his main character Varg Veum.
Before making the purchase (it’s quite a heavy book), I took another walk on the Nordnes peninsula, through the park at the end, and down to Georgenes Verft.
Since I am moving to another flat tomorrow, I spent the evening reading my new book and packing.
Sunday 16 June
My third Sunday in Bergen. Although it is not yet midsummer, I had asked for two harvest hymns to match the agricultural parables in the gospel reading. I could also put in a reference to Eirik’s farm, where the rhubarb is ready for harvesting now.
After the coffee hour, Eirik drove me back to the flat to pick up my belongings, then to my new home a little further out of town. Barbara had brought a soup and salad lunch for us to share there, then took me for an adventurous walk up to a mountain hut.
We came back past the viewpoint at Fløyen which I had bypassed on previous walks, and found this record of animal and human footprints, from dinosaurs to a Dutch clog.
I saw the first flash of lightning as we left Fløyen, and soon the storm broke over us, so suddenly that my anorak was wet through before I had a chance to cover it with my waterproof (?) jacket. Both of us needed to change our clothes when we got back to the flat, and Barbara stayed for a game of Quiddler waiting for a change in the weather.
Monday 17 June
The first full day in my new flat. My walking shoes hadn’t dried out from yesterday’s storm, so I went exploring in my less confortable church shoes. I tried walking away from the city centre, and came to Bjørndalen, the valley of the bear. I didn’t get quite as far as the cable car up to Ulriken, but stopped at a supermarket for apples, bananas, bread and a few other things before retracing my steps. It started to rain, and I didn’t go out again, but caught up with my blog and Norwegian lessons.
Tuesday 18 June
I found my way into town. It took 35 minutes, which was what Google Maps said, but I don’t agree with their statement “Mostly flat.” Like the report on Earth in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as “Mostly harmless.”
I used my second free museum ticket to visit the Rosenkrantz Tower, one of two medieval buildings with connections to King Magnus the Lawmender. This was his home. Rosenkrantz came along in the 16th century and extended it.
From the dungeon at the bottom, to an exhibition in the attic about the churches on the site, torn down for political reasons at the Reformation, there was a lot to see, and to photograph. Unfortunately I couldn’t take the statue of St Sunnhild which I saw on my previous visit to the area, as it was cordoned off, but there was a smaller version in the attic.
It looked like rain, so I took a bus back to Kalfarlien, where several routes stop. Only one of them, the 11, comes up to my road, and that one doesn’t start until 10.30 on Sunday and doesn’t go as close to the church as the 16E. Unless it’s pouring, I’d probably do better to walk.
Wednesday 19 June
One of the Pilgrims on my walks with Friends of Southwark Cathedral suggested that I contact Karen Knudsen from the Norwegian Church, who has been active in links between the dioceses of Southwark and Bergen, and I arranged to have coffee with her and Iris, the Reader in the Anglican congregation here.
This happened on the 4th floor of Galleriet, a large shopping centre in the town centre. Iris had mentioned “upstairs” so I rode the elevators looking for a café, and found them standing together outside it.
In the course of the conversation, I learned about the proposed visit of a group from Southwark in September, and a service in Bergen Cathedral to which the Anglican congregation are invited. It’s good that Diocese in Europe chaplaincies are included in Diocesan twinning arrangements. I also learned about the history of the Bergen congregation and its development under two chaplains, Sammy and Kirk. I knew Sammy when I was in Gothenburg, and follow his Facebook posts from South Africa. Kirk now works for the Norwegian Church.
After that, I had thought of visiting an art gallery before going to supper with Barbara but it was too fine a day. I took a bus to Haugland, and walked up to the start of the Ukriken cable car up the highest of the seven mountains around Bergen. A group of sherpas had built a path of stone steps which is a popular way to the summit. I tried the first few, and decided it was a bit too difficult for me. Instead, I walked some way up a winding track until it was time to turn back.
On the way down, I detoured at a sign marked “Mat Skogen” (The Food Forest). I had read about this project, designed to show how food could grow on the steep slope. They use fleeces not sufficiently high quality to be made into yarn as ground cover – I guess for insulation and to keep weeds away.
Further down, I stopped to photograph the wonderful view over Bergen.
After dinner, Barbara showed me a couple of books of walks, one of which I borrowed, and introduced me to a new card game.
Thursday 20 June
A dull morning, with mist on the hills. It was nearly 1 o’clock before I decided to go out anyway. I took the bus into town, and found wet pavements drying in the sun. Then another bus to explore Løvstakken, the hill opposite.
I didn’t go to any of the destinations shown in the picture – save them for another day? – but instead followed a good gravel track along the side of the mountain, emerging at Fjøsanger at the north end of Nordåsvatnet.
There, I found a sign saying that I was on cycle track 50, 5 km from the centre of Bergen. Following the signs, I came to one end of a foot and cycle tunnel I had read about, and decided to walk through the tunnel to Fyllingsdalen and take a bus home from there.
It was a pleasant experience, though I wouldn’t want it as my daily commute. Not on foot, anyway, but it would only take about 10 minutes to cycle the 3 km. There are emergency exits every 500 metres, and the lighting changes colour to reflect the four seasons.
The bus dropped me an easy 15 minutes walk from the flat, but it got snarled up in Bergen’s rush hour and I would have been home much earlier had I taken the Bybahn through the tunnel alongside the one I’d walked through.
Friday 21 June
Walked into town, trying out yet another way down the hill, for lunchtime Mass at the Cathedral. It’s their last one before the summer break, and the winding down had begun. The three hymns were sung a capella, and the coffee was accompanied with cookies instead of waffles. But I am now able to start a conversation in Norwegian, even if it finishes in English.
I did my last shopping for food in Bergen, and hope there will be just a few leftovers to take to Balestrand for the odd lunchtime snack. The other meals are provided at the Hotel.
There are just four full days left here, and several walks I want to do. I’ve definitely decided against going to Selje, which would have been a 12-hour day, and the cable car up Ulriken is looking unlikely. Well perhaps I’ll come back in spite of Robert Frost’s remark about “knowing how way leads on to way.” I really should collect photos of Roads Not Travelled.
The living room where I am staying is full of English detective stories translated into Norwegian. But I have plenty to read on the Kindle.
Saturday 22 June
The clouds were down over the mountain tops, but at 3:30 it seemed to be lightening up a bit. After wasting some time on a footpath before deciding it was too difficult, I found the track Barbara had taken me up last Sunday, and decided to try for Rundmanen, not far beyond the café at Brushytten but considerably higher, and above the tree line.
Excellent views over fjords, islands and the sea. I think the bright streak between the hills is Nordåsvatnet near where I was on Thursday.
Back the way I came.
Facebook alerted me to a pilgrimage festival in and around Selje next month, when I am in Balestrand. Maybe I could fit it in on the Friday or Monday?
Sunday 23 June
My last Sunday in Balestrand. The organist had chosen hymns appropriate for Sea Sunday which fitted in well with my sermon. Someone asked if he could have a copy and I was happy to give him mine – the only one of the four I hadn’t scribbled over. Talked to some of the visitors over coffee, including a medical statistician who had enjoyed visiting the Leprosy Museum.
Several people expressed the hope I might come again next year if they are still without a priest. If I do, I can visit the Leprosy Museum then.
Barbara had invited me for lunch and a walk, but first I went home to change. We took a bus to Canada Forest, a bit beyond Løvstakken, and made a circuit of a lake, including what I considered a short scramble.
Monday 25 June
A beautiful day, sunshine and cleat sky. I left my jacket at home and walked in my T shirt. I’ve seen several footpath signs around here saying “Tarleboveien” and today I was going to find it.
It starts off alongside a big reservoir separating Fløyen from Ulriken, and follows a stony track up a river valley all the way to Rundmanen where I was on Saturday.
This time, I made it to the radio mast before retracing my steps. On the way up, there are information boards about the farms there used to be up here, until they were closed down to preserve the quality of the water. In fact, there’s a cultural history trail crossing the track.
Back at the flat, I am trying to finish up as much as possible of the food I have bought here, and starting to pack my rucksack with neatly folded clothes.
Tuesday 25 June
Back to Løvstakken for my last walk around Bergen. Started on an uphill path but gave up after half an hour, after reaching two huts on the hillside. I didn’t want to go up what I would have trouble coming down.
So I returned to the wide road along the side of the mountain, which finished abruptly above the bus stop at Melkeplass.
Back to the flat to finish packing. Barbara came to Gunnlauf’s flat to collect the bedlinen and help me dispose of the rubbish. Then we took the bus together to her place, where I am staying for my last night in Bergen. The evening finished with a pleasant high-scoring game of Scrabble.
Wednesday 26 June
Too excited to get much sleep, I was dressed before the alarm went off. Barbara gave me a quick breakfast, and we walked together to the ferry terminal.
This page is long enough already, perhaps too long for those who are following my travels.
emeritablog: life after work 