A hike with a view (Flåm, Norway)

We spent a night in Flåm (more on the hotel later). In the morning, I decided to hike up above the hotel to get a better view.

This is the road as it started up from in front of the hotel. The whole day was full of wisps of cloud floating through, sometimes suddenly turning into something with rain, quickly changing again.

As I walked up the hill, the view constantly changed in some directions, but it was hard not to keep looking back at the fjord, which is absolutely spectacular from any angle, as you can see here.

If you are only a little interested in fjords, or not that interested in boats, just this series of views of the fjord would be memories of a lifetime. I am glad we did both, spending most of day in the town, getting a lot of different views at the fjord, and then going out on it as well.

Another lovely serendipity of this trip in October was that we managed to catch the leaf change season at close to its peak, as we rode trains north in Denmark, along the rail trip from Oslo to Myrdal to Flåm, and on this walk above Flåm itself, as you can see with the fjord framed by some foliage.

There is something about getting out hiking that is good for the soul in almost any circumstance. The air clears your head, unless of course, you are hiking in the summer in Texas.

But there is something special, to me at least, about hiking up a hill or mountain. Not an option in many places. We are lucky where we live in Austin to be on the hilly side of town where you might get hills a few hundred feet high. But it certainly was nice to be in some real mountains, even if my hiking ambitions for
the day were pretty modest, to get an hour or two up into the hills and come back.

The trail wound up through a couple of farms and by some summer houses, kept by people who must appreciate a good view. Here is a view back up the valley away from the fjord, looking out from a pasture, in which a few mildly inquisitive cows who seemed completely oblivious to the view (I always thought of cows as pleasant enough, but not very bright), watched me take pictures, standing on a large bale of hay (which probably interested the cows quite a lot more).

Here is another view straight out over the last part of the valley that the Flåmsbana railway comes down through. With one of the dozens of waterfalls in the valley. Not a bad view either. No wonder that the railway is a major attraction in itself.

And then back down, getting to see the same views all over again from new angles. Nothing beats hiking up a mountain, except possibly hiking back down.