katspeech

Thankfully by Day 4 the rain had vanished and after an amazing Norwegian breakfast, complete with homemade bread and reindeer pate, we met up with our new friends for the hike out to Kjeragbolten—the part of the trip that Rob was looking forward to the most.  So the seven of us, Sandra & Alma from Slovenia, Mari from Japan, Rick from London and Phil from New Zealand, took a car up the road (complete with 27 hairpin turns) to the trailhead.  A little two year old boy, Elias, who lived in the town (and, hopefully, was related to the driver) decided to ride up with us.  He’d just finished a big breakfast of eggs and ketchup and was halfway through his morning ice cream (??)—needless to say he sat on my lap but, fortunately, was not prone to carsickness!  We took the 2 hour walk out to Kjeragbolten—this giant boulder precariously trapped between two cliff edges 1000m above the fjord.  Everyone but me (clearly the only person with any sense at all) posed for a picture on this boulder.  I steadied myself on the middle of the solid ground and ate beef jerky, warily watching them.  It was so beautiful up there though and this place is actually a huge destination for base jumpers.  After the walk back (again, up and down, up and down) I had what must’ve been the coldest and most delicious beers of my life.  Sadly, that was our last night in Norway and the next day we made our way back to Stavanger via a small commuter boat and flew home to London.