August 17
Packing up and heading out, to some sunshine and some grey skies...
The longest road segment we need to take in Norway is in store today - 350 miles of some fairly nice and then some tough roadway.
Two-thirds done, now we're heading up there, over the mountains and through some woods...
Now in the middle of the high mountain pass - snow will hang on here from last season till the next.
This drive uses one of the highest elevation roads in Norway - it's breezy and chill up here for sure.
Very old rock cairns are dotted through the pass, put here well before the advent of automobiles - navigation waypoints way before GPS or at least a ribbon of road leading the way.
Side-line poles mark the roadway, tall for when the snow piles up...
Trainers are working the sled dog prospects in the warm season...
We drop into Øvre Årdal winding our way down and out of the mountains...
...found a brewery down there...
Back on the road, and going back through the World's longest car tunnel again...
August 18
Just over 5 hours to drive today...
Another tunnel surprise - a roadway junction with of all things, a round-about in a tunnel!
Then we emerge from the tunnel onto a suspension bridge, and then immediately back into a tunnel!
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And then we encounter another round-about - Tim even took an extra lap around it for some extra excitement.
...looking a bit murky out there over the fjord.
This tunnel has a different look about it than many others, and nice and bright.
Now in our overnight (2 nights actually) town of Stavanger.
"In the center of town, Stavanger Cathedral dates back to the city’s 12th-century founding. Stavanger Museum chronicles the city’s history and displays preserved wildlife. The Norwegian Petroleum Museum illuminates the oil industry with submersibles, a large drill bit and an escape chute. The shopping street Øvre Holmegate is known for its colorful houses.
In 1969, a boom started as oil was first discovered in the North Sea. After much analysis, Stavanger was chosen to be the on-shore center for the oil industry for the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, and a period of hectic growth followed."
"In the center of town, Stavanger Cathedral dates back to the city’s 12th-century founding. Stavanger Museum chronicles the city’s history and displays preserved wildlife. The Norwegian Petroleum Museum illuminates the oil industry with submersibles, a large drill bit and an escape chute. The shopping street Øvre Holmegate is known for its colorful houses.
In 1969, a boom started as oil was first discovered in the North Sea. After much analysis, Stavanger was chosen to be the on-shore center for the oil industry for the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, and a period of hectic growth followed."
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We visit a museum at the end of the day - perfect as the crowds are thin and it's open late.
"The Norwegian Petroleum Museum (Norsk Oljemuseum) is a museum documenting Norwegian oil and gas activities and was opened on 20 May 1999. Seen from the waterways the museum looks like a small oil platform. The unusual architecture has made the museum a landmark in the Port of Stavanger.
The museum was built in stone, glass and concrete and covers approx. 5,000 square meters. The museum focuses on offshore petroleum activity especially in the North Sea and shows the technological development from the beginning of the Norwegian oil history in the mid-1960s, from the first North Sea drilling platforms, through steel and concrete platforms developed and built in Norway, to modern, flexible production ships and subsea systems."
The museum was built in stone, glass and concrete and covers approx. 5,000 square meters. The museum focuses on offshore petroleum activity especially in the North Sea and shows the technological development from the beginning of the Norwegian oil history in the mid-1960s, from the first North Sea drilling platforms, through steel and concrete platforms developed and built in Norway, to modern, flexible production ships and subsea systems."
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 | "The Alexander L. Kielland was a Norwegian semi-submersible drilling rig that, on 27 March 1980, capsized in the Ekofisk oil field in the North Sea, killing 123 people. The capsize was the worst disaster in Norwegian waters since the Second World War. The rig was owned by the Stavanger Drilling Company of Norway and was on hire to the U.S. company Phillips Petroleum at the time of the disaster." On display is a section of the truss-work which failed due to insufficient welds - this piece was one of the parts examined to determine the nature of the bad welding. |
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