Saturday, 3rd July 2010
After breakfast we left Bergen to travel to Voss, which would be our place of residence for the next four days.
Voss sits in a location surrounded by snow-capped mountains, forests, lakes and fast flowing white water rivers. This has led to its development as a notable centre of skiing, water sports, skydiving, paragliding and other adventure sports. The area hosts the Extreme Sports Week every year in the last week of June, which is regarded as the world's premier extreme sports festival. We happened to have arrived on the last day of this festival and I spent some time watching the paragliding acrobatics. These were great fun to watch with people doing loop-the-loop and spirals, as well as jumping out of helicopters before paragliding into the lake.
After lunch Chris led a walk that started off through the town then headed alongside the lake to the bridge. From here we made our way up to Bordalsgjelet Gorge. The canyon is cut deep into the stone and there is a white and foaming river at the bottom. A path is made for people to get further into it and to enjoy the spectacular view. It leads mainly underneath overhanging rocks and there are many pot-holes in the rocks as well.
Scroll down to see photos of the walk
Now this flower doesn't look anything special . . .
it was the bee going round in circles inside it that took my interest
At the head of the lake Vangsvatnet . . .
the marquee marks the centre of the sporting activities . . .
and the sky is filled with . . .
paragliders doing acrobatics . . .
as they descend . . .
with the flare marking their path . . .
down past the houses
As soon as one is down another is on the way . . .
and sometimes two at the same time
Some land in the lake itself
The helicopter whizzes by . . .
to land nearby . . .
and pick up a couple of participants . . .
who jump out of the helicopter from a great height
Yet another paraglider . . .
heads for the water
Is that a cow head down in the water?
I wonder what it is doing there . . .
well, I never would have guessed . . .
and even the helicopter wants to join in the fun . . .
while some of the locals take to the water
Enough of the frivolity. It's time to get some walking done . . .
and much of our route can be seen on this plan
The first viewpoint . . .
gives some great views . . .
of an impressive gorge . . .
and a little further on . . .
another great view . . .
of Bordalsgjelet Gorge . . .
which has its own fenced path . . .
and nearby exploratory sign
I'm sure this one would be clearer if it was in English!
A little culture to finish the day as we pass the College of Arts and Crafts