General Conference 1999

SIGHTSEEING (SAFARI) THURSDAY 23 SEPTEMBER (MAP)

 
(For larger pictures please click the picture you want to see)

Thursday 23 September is the day off for most of you and it's time for a sightseeing trip to the western part of the country. Below you can read a brief account of what you may see during the trip. (The distances are put in brackets ).

Lillehammar - Vingrom (8km). We are travelling southwards on road E6 along MJOESA, the largest lake of Norway. The lake is narrow here, only about 1.5 km broad. In the item Lillehammer above we told you that the area of Mjoesa is 362 square km and the length 100 km. Here are some further details: 121.9m a.s.l. Max. depth 443m, 4^th place among the lakes of Europe. More than 20 fish sorts. In summertime the 143 years old paddle steamer "Skibladner"- "Mjoesa's White Swan"- is sailing between Eidsvoll at the south end and Lillehammer. The project "Mjoesa shall be saved" (from pollution), finished a few years ago, cost 1200 million kroner or 6000 kroner per person living in the Mjoesa area.

Vingrom - Dokka (45km). We proceed in south-westerly direction on road no. 250.

Dokka - Leira (53km). We are turning north-west and follow road no. 33 to Bjoergo. At Hoeljerast bridge Norwegian forces 23 April 1940 were forced back to Tonsaasen by superior German forces. The mountain flag was painted in 1897, eight years before the end of the Union with Sweden. After hard combats 24-27 April at Tonsaasen the Norwegian forces had to retreat. Many Norwegian and German soldiers were killed. Maximum altitude 760m a.s.l. is reached west of Tonsvatn. From Bjoergo we follow road E16. On the right side in Aurdal, a steep road leads up to the Danish tourist chalet Danebu 985m a.s.l. The building of the chalet was financed by fund-raising amongst the Norwegian youth, and given to the Danish youth, represented by Dansk Idraetsforbund (Danish Athletic Federation), as a small token for the Danish aid to Norway during the second world war.

Leira - Gol (46km). Now we are going south west on road no. 51 up to the mountain plateau called Golsfjellet. After about 5 km there is a nice view, and after three more kilometres another beautiful view. Sanderstoelen mountain hotel is midway between Leira and Gol, and a few kilometres after the hotel you are on the highest point of the road, 860m a.s.l. Later, on the right hand side, you may notice a road to Storefjell. Here the Red Cross Mountain Rescue Service has its HQ in the Easter holidays when thousands of people invade the mountains. During many years after the war until the 1970's, NRRL established CW-communication between the HQ and many tourist chalets in the mountains lacking telecommunications with the outside world. When the telecommunications improved the communication of the radio amateurs became superfluously.

Soon the road is becoming steeper, and you have a nice view over the valley Hallingdal. Probably you may catch sight of LA8PL's beam antenna on the left hand side!

Gol - Geilo (50km). Safely down in the valley we pass through Gol, the centre of the rural area with the same name. (207m a.s.l., 4300 inhabitants). Gol is an attractive holiday resort with many hotels and cottage areas. You are now travelling on road no. 7. Just outside Gol you can see a road sign telling you whether the road is open or closed over the mountain plateau Hardangervidda. The road is often closed by snow in winter time. After 25 km we travel through Aal (How do you pronounce it?). (432m a.s.l., 4700 inhabitants). Aal is also a popular place for tourists. At Hagafoss there is a road junction between road no. 7 and road no. 50 from Aurland. We will return here later this day. Geilo is the centre in the rural district named Hol. (794m a.s.l., 4600 inhabitants). We quote from a tourist brochure published by Norges Statsbaner - NSB (Norwegian State Railways)." Geilo - an important traffic junction, with considerable iron and metal goods industry (knives, scythes, tools etc.), as well as the manufacture of sports articles and souvenirs. Geilo is probably the largest winter sports centre in Northern Europe, with a multitude of hotels, chair lifts and ski tows, floodlit cross-country ski trails and alpine slopes".

Geilo - Myrdal (80km). In Geilo we change from bus to train. You will travel with the Bergen railway about 80 km for about one hour. NSB says about this railway:"…This rail rink between east and west also has an exciting history itself. When the decision to build the railway was taken by the Storting (parliament) in 1894, it was an attempt to strengthen the joint monarchy by linking together the two most important trading cities in the Swedish-Norwegian kingdom, Stockholm and Bergen. As we know, the story had a different ending: Norway became independent in 1905, and when the Bergen railway was finished in 1909, it became instead the main link between the most important towns in the new kingdom, the capital Christiania and Bergen. One of the greatest challenges for the Bergen railway is the harsh and changeable weather. The line is exposed to deep low pressure centres from the west, which can mean strong winds and heavy snow for part of the year. To be able to keep the railway open, this demands great effort and good technical knowledge. Today, skilled workers, effective equipment, tunnels and snow tunnels make the Bergen railway one of the safest and most comfortable ways to travel between Oslo and Bergen". (Christiania changed name to Oslo in 1925).

We travel through the northern part of Hardangervidda , North Europe's largest mountain plateau. The height varies from 1100 to 1400 metres a.s.l. which is above the tree line. Vidda is a very popular area for hiking, hunting, and fishing. During the hunt in autumn about 10,000 reindeer are shot. Nevertheless, 10,000 are left spending the winter at Vidda. The authorities consider this number a little high, so the hunters have to do better!

In Haugastoel ends the site road from Flaa used during the building of the railway. Now the road has become popular for tourist biking under the name of "the Navvies' Road".

Up towards Finse we travel through many snow tunnels. Nevertheless, you will be able to see many impressive mountain views on both sides of the line. At Finse you are on the highest point of the railway (1222m a.s.l.). In the south you can see Hardangerjoekulen with an icecap. The maximum measured thickness of the ice is 380m. The size of the glacier has been considerably reduced since the 1900's, and the top is 15 metres lower than in 1925. The stretch between Finse and Hallingskeid is very exposed to bad weather in wintertime, so the line has been enclosed in 10.3 km long tunnel. Just before you arrive at Myrdal station you can look down the precipitous mountain side to the valley Flaamsdalen and the track of the railway Flaamsbana. We are going to travel down with a train using this track!

Myrdal - Flaam (20km) NSB has issued a special brochure about Flaamsbana. We quote the introduction: "The Flaam railway - idyll and drama. NSB invites you to take a train journey on the Flaam railway - a train journey that's really quite special. This 20 km long track offers just about everything: wild and beautiful mountain scenery, fertile heritage landscape and historical traditions going back to pagan times. All this as you descend from almost 900 meters down to sea level at the Aurland Fjord. Down in the valley the climate is nice and mild, and if you travel at the right time of year you'll see some of Norway's most fertile orchards. So it is no coincidence that the Flaam railway, together with Bergen railway, is one of the most spectacular train journeys in the world.

A major feat of engineering: 80% of the Flaam railway has a gradient of 55%. At the same time, there are 20 tunnels with a total length of 6 km - evidence of the most daring and skilful engineering feats in the history of Norwegian railways. Some of the tunnels are constructed as

loops which wind in and out of the mountains. In order to ensure safety on this unusual stretch of track, all carriages are equipped with five different brakes, each of which can stop the whole train.

The heroes behind the line: Your astonishment at the Flaam railway will last for ever. We have mentioned the wild, changing scenery, the mild, fertile heritage landscape and the skilled engineers. However, the skilled engineers could not have demonstrated these skills without the work of the navvies. The biggest challenge was building tunnels on the stretch from Vatnahalsen to Blomheller alone, which is just over 5 km in length, almost 4 of these kilometres are given over to tunnels. Most of them were hewn out of the rock by hand. Each metre of these tunnels cost the workers a month's toil. It also took 20 years to finish the work, something to think about as we enjoy the journey on this fantastic stretch".

(NSB's WWW-page: http://www.nsb.no).

Flaam - Aurland (8km). Now we will take a short voyage on Aurlandsfjorden. The fjord is an arm of Sognefjorden, Norway's longest fjord (204 km).

Aurland - Hagafoss (96km). In Aurland we enter the busses again and proceed through the wild, but beautiful valley Aurlandsdalen. We travel through several tunnels, but there are still many nice outlooks from the road where the bus will stop so that you may take pictures.

A few kilometres from Aurland on the left hand side you may see the entrance of the Aurland road tunnel to Laerdal. According to plans the tunnel is to be finished in the year 2000. It will be the longest road tunnel in Europe - 24 km - 7 km longer than the St. Gotthard-tunnel in Switzerland. There are five hydroelectric power plants in Aurlandsdalen. The net production in a year with average precipitation is 2588GWh. The precipitation areas are from 1350 to 1500m a.s.l. The plants are owned by Oslo Energi and 2/3 of Oslo's power requirement is covered by these plants.

From Hagafoss we follow the same route back to Lillehammer as earlier today, but in the opposite direction! You will certainly see many interesting things that slipped your attention this morning if you manage to keep awake! (191 km).

Total travel distance: About 600km. Total travel time: Approximately 13 hours.

May the weather be good!

MAP FROM THE SIGHTSEEING!

Lay-out: Ingun Nerlie LA1LIA (e-mail: nerlie@online.no)

Last updated 10. januar 1999