We had arrived in Norway with a full tank, knowing that Norway is probably the most expensive place in the world to buy fuel. But we knew that full tank wouldn't last us for our entire time here, and yesterday was the day to pay up.
Like most other places in the world, the price at the pump tends to fluctuate with the world price of oil. I've noticed here in Norway there is a bit of a delay in implementing that fluctuation, and the oil price is now off its peak. But the price at the pump here hasn't dropped.
I put it off as long as I could, but finally put in half a tankful yesterday. That will do us until next month, and hopefully it will come down a few krone before we have to put more in.
We paid 25.19 kr ($3.30 CAD, €2.41) per liter for diesel. That's about $9.56 USD per gallon. Gasoline is actually slightly more than that.
Really nice free service facilities at the gas station. Even free unlimited hot showers in the bathrooms, and really nice ones. So we took advantage of those as well as the free dump station for Max.
And then we hit the road for the cruise ship tourist village of Flam.
We went through an 11 km (7 mile) long tunnel on the route. And in fact after Flam, there is the longest road tunnel in the world... 24 kms (15 miles). But of course you don't see any scenery in a tunnel, so we've decided to take the much lesser travelled mountain route.
A big day use parking area for motorhomes.
Flam is a stop on the cruise ship circuit. Most people are attracted to the Flam Railway, a 20 km (13 mile) line running up the side of a mountain. But because we do a lot of hiking and exploring off the beaten path, we didn't feel the need to spend any extra on the railway. In fact, the drive we did later in the day couldn't have been beat by the views from the railway.
You can rent kayaks, but we felt the fjord at Gudvangen was more attractive.
No blue sky, but no wind either.
Tourist trinket shops.
Lots of tourist trinket shops for the cruise ship tourists. But they had quite a lot of clothing, and I've been looking for a new sweater. I had bought a cheap $30 Walmart hoodie way back in 2016 figuring it might last a year, and the zipper finally gave out recently. I can't believe how long that lasted. Anyhow, I've had me eye out for something for the past couple of months and just haven't come across what I wanted.
I wanted a fairly thick sweater with a hood and a zip up front, and comfortable pockets. And I found it here! 650 kr ($85 CAD, $65 USD) it is a little more than I wanted to spend, but I like it and it fits well.
My new sweater!
It's a good brand (Scandinavian Explorer), so hopefully it will last as long as my cheap Walmart one!
They've got a free railway museum here in Flam so we popped in to have a quick look.
The original electric locomotive was in service from 1945 to 1984.
Motorized rail bicycles were used to service the line.
We had some lunch and relaxed for a bit before doing the steep switchback drive up the mountain.
The road along the fjord is in good shape.
Scenery along the way.
And the road up the side of the mountain is in good shape too.
But it's VERY narrow. Fortunately, not many people use it and there wasn't much traffic. Still, there were several times we had to use the pullouts to let someone pass, and twice I had to back up to get out of the way of someone coming down.
But the views were spectacular!
Looking down on the village of Aurlandsvangen.
We ended up parked at a trailhead overnight, and this morning we will do a fairly short but steep hike up to a viewpoint.
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Woohoo, you finally got a new jacket. It looks good and should last for years. I havent found a replacement for mine yet, but hoping to get one in Finland next month.
ReplyDeleteYes, he finally got a new sweater/jacket, after all this time looking for one! It was more than we had wanted to pay but it looks to be good quality and should hopefully last as long or longer than his previous one. We hope that you will have luck finding one in Finland.
DeleteIn Windsor Diesel is $2.209/Litre so you definitely are expensive.
ReplyDeleteNice looking Jacket but fantastic looking Scenery.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
Oh yeah, we knew it was expensive here compared to back home. Luckily there is so much to see here that it takes us ages to get anywhere so we can make that tank of fuel last a good long time. It also helps that Max gets such good fuel mileage compared the majority of RVs back home.
DeleteKevin is very happy with his new sweater, it was long overdo and should it last him a good long time.
The fuel price is almost exactly $1 CAN more than here on Vancouver Island but Europe has always been expensive for gas. A couple of comments, one, everything is so much closer together in Europe where a tank of gas will get you through almost any country where here it barely gets you off the Island! and two, it would be interesting to know the cost of hotel rooms as that is actually a better comparison of costs. You are in effect driving your hotel room which mitigates the price of fuel. If hotel rooms are $300 per night that makes the cost of gas seem pretty reasonable.
ReplyDeleteWe always knew going into this European adventure that fuel was going to be expensive but who thought it was going to go nuts like this?! You are correct there is a lot to see in such short distances so we don't have to put on a ton of miles to get to places. This is the major reason that we are only going to explore this small area of Norway rather than trying to make it all the up to the northern part of the country, that will have to wait for another time. The other good thing about traveling around in Max is that he gets good fuel mileage.
DeleteWe agree, we would be spending a lot more money if we were to stay in either hotels or Airbnbs but you also have to consider that we would still have to pay for a rental vehicle and fuel for it, or have to pay for trains, buses and ferries to get around, plus meals. We honestly think that despite the cost of fuel, traveling around in your own "home" is the best and cheapest way to see Norway. :-)
You look like a GC model in that new sweater! :cD
ReplyDeleteHe does look good in it doesn't he?! I think he would have to be a senior's GQ model though! ;-)
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