Elf Adventures in Norway Day 14

Although the facilities at Lysebotn campsite were pretty poor, the surroundings of the Lysefjorden blipped above were spectacular.

We boarded the ferry to Flørli at 7.20.

The ticket man on the ferry looked at us and then at the Elf Van.

Man: You know that there is no road on Flørli, yes?! And the next ferry is not until 3.45, yes?!

Me: Yes.

We informed him that we were just going there to climb the 4,444 wooden steps that run up the water pipeline from the old hydro plant. They go from sea level to 740 meters and are said to form the longest wooden staircase in the world.

The steps were steep and superb. My legs were wobbling after about 100 and I could do an amazing Elvis impression by the time my feet were back on terra firma.

We ate lunch, got the ferry to the end of the fjord and continued the drive South.

Most of the drives have incorporated one or two small ferry journeys as they are part of the road network in Norway. Sometimes when the ramp goes down there is a bit of a free for all to get out in front. Today, the Elf Van led the pack. The only problem was that we immediately hit a massive, steep hill. After a few minutes I looked behind us to find a queue of the kind at the end of Field of Dreams.

We giggled as I put on the voice of the wee girl in the movie:

"People will come, S. They'll come to Norway to see the Elf Van."

And then I did my James Earl Jones monologue:

"S. People will come, S. They'll come to Norway to see the Elf Van for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn off the ferry not knowing for sure why they're doing it. ....The one constant through all the years, S, has been the Elf Van. ....Oh, people will come, S. People will come."

This monologue has been repeated on numerous occasions since.