Glaciers and Returning Home Early

Unfortunately, we have returned home early. Purdy somehow hurt her front left shoulder and we saw two different vets hoping that she would get better but she became very anxious and also seemed to blame Muy for her pain so she couldn't settle at night! However, she did settle on the back seat of the truck so Phil spent three uncomfortable nights in there with her! We decided she needed an x-ray and time at home with space to recuperate so the decision was made.

Here are some photos from the remainder of the trip before we headed south and homeward bound.

Impressive hotel in Balestrand

After a few days we left Vik and took a couple of quick ferries on the massive Sognefjorden, with a stop at Balestrand, before continuing via Hella towards the Glacier Museum and glaciers in the Jostedalsbreen National Park. The scenery here is absolutely stunning as you can see from these photos.

The Glacier Museum

This exhibit was from the Alps

Visitor Centre

Hike to the Nigardsbreen Glacier

Bridge over Glacial river for scale

Lovely reflections

We met a group of air cooled Porche 911's from Germany on a tour. Great to see these lovely old cars being used properly.

Skjolden at the end of Sognefjorden

A VERY friendly cat!

A cool loo with a view!

We drove up the highest mountain pass in Norway to their summer skiing area where Dee took a tour inside a man made ice tunnel.

Found in the ice

Dee in the Ice Tunnel

Purdy relaxing in our cabin on the ferry

A lovely sunset over the river at
Manningtree on way home

Food and Drink

It's always interesting trying different foods in different countries and here are some of the things we have eaten. We also had the added interest of the cost as Norway has the reputation for being expensive.  

Brown Cheese. Traditionally eaten for
breakfast on toast (very nice) and here
we have on crackers. Hard to explain
the taste - sort of sweet initially and
then nutty.

Pasties everywhere - these three
cost 59 Krone - about £4.30.
The big one was spicy with cardamom
seeds - very nice

They love waffles here! We shared
this - the waffle was lovely, not too
sweet, but far too much jam
dolloped on top!

Pretty biscuits! Sort of like malted milk

Another bun - custard and berries

Very nice honey from a farm

Not Norwegian - but we ate loads of these
as they are not too extortionate and tasty

These are flatbread type things - ideal
for toasting with honey on top :)

So far our supermarket shopping doesn't seem bad at all - we shop in Waitrose/Tesco at home so that is how we are basing our comparisons. The things we have noticed to cost a fair bit more are cucumber, milk and tea (bad news for Phil) and some are cheaper like fresh bread.

Here are some prices:

6 Bananas - £1.33

Loaf wholemeal fresh bread - 88p

Muesli - £2.61

Beetroot Salad - £1.47

Peaches - £2.00

Nice Tomatoes - £2.51

Lipton Tea (50 bags) - £3.17

Milk 1.75 litre - £2.21

Rocket - £1.20

Lemon Cake big slab - £2.21

Brown Cheese 10 slices - £1.50

Wholemeal Flatbreads - 88p

Yoghurts x 4 - £1.40

Strawberries from roadside stall big punnet (lovely) - £3.50

Olive Spread - £2.50

Apples x 8 (lovely Norwegian ones) - £1.20

Honey from farm, small jar - £2.50

This is what we have paid when eating out:

Yesterday we sat outside a hotel and had a tea and coffee - both cost £1.21 with free refills. Bargain!

We have noticed a beer is an outrageous price from a bar/restaurant. It should be more reasonable in the supermarket but we haven't looked. 

We had a meal at a ski resort restaurant for a treat - I had a tomato based tagliatelle and Phil had spare ribs - both good quality meals. Mine was £15.85 and Phil's was £20.27 - he said were delicious.

While at Lunde we had fish and chips in the cafe at the sluice - I think it was about £14 each.