eight

Woke early. Walked around the western end of the city for a while. It feels cold today, but that might just be the fog and the sun not getting it’s act together yet. I’m impressed by the amount of graffiti in Norway. There is some pubescent tagging but most of it is well done in places where it’s needed.

After breakfast (sweet bready stuff – dunno it’s name yet) I wandered to the TI office to get info on hiking. The plan was to take a trip up the funicular railway to Mt. Ulriken and walk round to Floyen then take the funicular down. I figured this would take a day so I was going to do it tomorrow. The girl at the TI told me it would rain tomorrow so I thought I’d try to cram it in today.

The Ulriken funicular is an old-fashioned overhead affair that has you fearing for your life the whole way up. I loved it.

The views from Mt. Ulriken are amazing. I’m getting well acquainted with the feeling of being overwhelmed by what I’m seeing/hearing/feeling. I’m going to start using weaker adjectives in this diary – like, when playing guitar, turning the volume up and playing more quietly – greater room for dynamic.

I took a few photos of the view over Bergen before my camera died on me. I should have charged the battery last night. To be honest, I quite enjoyed not reaching for my camera every time I saw a view today.

The walk was heavy going – it’s been too long since I’ve done this. Not that there was a lot of gradient, more that I’m out of shape and I should have taken more water with me. I kept good pace though and got round in about 4 hours (the guide book reckoned 6 – probably to scare people off leaving it too late and getting beaten by the sunset).

Words can’t describe what I’ve seen today (neither can photos apparently. Ha.). This country beats 13 shades of purple out of the Highlands.

The Floyen funicular is the antithesis of Ulriksbana, it’s like an airport – barriers and ticket machines. Very boring.

I’m knackered. Right now I’m getting that pleasant tiredness where you’re ready for sleep but earlier I felt like crap. I’ve been fuelling my body with the least amount of junk food it’ll run on. Tomorrow I’m going to eat properly – it’ll blow my budget but I’m going to do it.

I’ve found a café that Petter recommended to me. Good view over the harbour (and sunset) and good coffee. I think I’ll come back here tomorrow (maybe for some of that proper food).

This is way too long already. Tired man talking. Tomorrow: Bergen, maybe with photos. Maybe.

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