Gabbro B-Sides

We arrived in Norway still mourning the loss of our third day in Iceland. The contrast between the clumps of tour busses and the neighboring wild open places was so stark that you can’t help but be dazzled by thoughts of what else is out there, equally stunning and totally unspoilt. The proper way to do it, next time, will be with a four-wheel drive vehicle, dirt bike, or sturdy pony - and on, oooh, let’s make it the NSF’s dime. Someone’s got to stick thermometers in the geysers, after all, might as well be me.

Days 4-6: Lillehammer

Days 7-8: Voss

Guidebooks wax rhapsodic about the beauty of the Oslo-Bergen rail line, and with good reason. It runs straight across the highest mountains in Norway, along the shores of glacial lakes fed by sparkling meltwater streams which tumble endearingly over every precipice they can find. In a particularly good year, travellers might also be lucky enough to see my uvula:

And so we arrived in Voss. In London I met an Australian girl who’d just spent a couple months in Norway. When I told her where I’d been, her response was “oh, Voss, I know Voss - it’s the extreme sports town!” and it was. At least if paragliding is still extreme; I have my doubts about that.

Yes, that’s me paragliding up there.