When we go on road trips, we try to take routes that are scenic and interesting. There are 18 scenic routes in Norway (Nasjonale turistveger), but we have driven many of these routes already. So, when the book Norges beste omveier (Norway's best detours) came out, we had a number of smaller routes to sample.
On this trip we are going to drive the detour 'Fjord and mountains along Lustrafjorden'. It is on the west coast of Norway, so day one is transport to Lærdal.
As usual, we stop at Gol to charge the car while having a picnic at the rest area close by.
We are at the highest point on the road between Gol and Lærdal.
Dinner is at Håbakken Kafé, where we charge the car at the super charger in Lærdal.
The grounds at Lærdal Hotel, where we spent the first night.
Today we are going to drive the detour.
After breakfast at the hotel, we are on our way to the mountain part of the detour. We take a break at Årdalsvatnet, between Årdalstangen and Øvre Årdal, where the mountain road starts.
We are driving Tindevegen. This is a mountain road between Årdal and Turtagrø. It is a toll road that is winter closed.
After the toll road, we arrive at Turtagrø, where we have lunch.
The next part of the trip is along the south side of Lustrafjorden. First a stop in Skjolden.
This road ends in Urnes, where we took a ferry across to Solvorn. This is one of the smallest car ferries in Norway. only two cars and a motorcycle made the trip this time.
Dinner at Eikum Hotel, where we spent the night.
After breakfast, we are off on the first leg of the drive, going to Hella to take the ferry across to Vangsnes.
These ferries are a integral part of the road trip, they give us time to rest and move around outside the car, and to buy 'svele' and coffee at the cafeteria.
We had to stop to charge at a non-Tesla charging station in Vikøyri, since we might have had too little charge to cross the mountains in order to reach the supercharger in Eidfjord.
Here we had a taste of what other electric cars than Tesla have to put up with when charging. The 'fast' DC chargers were all in use, so we tried the 'slow' AC charger (22 kw). It would not start charging, so we called the charging company (Mer), but they could not make the charger start charging the car.
Finally a DC fast charging station was free, and we could get enough charge for the rest of the day.
Lunch is as always at a rest stop, where we use our portable gas grill to fry the fish or meat we have that day.
Day 4 is transport back to Oslo.
Vøringsfossen is probably the best known water fall in Norway.
Going home from this part of the country, we always stop at Gulsvik supercharger, and eat at Hallingporten while the car charges. We normally get PAD Thai.
Continue to the second trip.
Return to the road trip overview.