Marilyn Monza, Arctic Midnight Sun 2024 | Day 13
Bergen. Sunrise at 4.32
After wearing out the soles of their shoes back and forth in the centre of Bergen with their eyes on the city, the drivers had to get their feet back on the pedals and the navigators their eyes on the tulips, because despite the 'lazy' start to the day at 12.30, (in front of the Radisson Hotel,stormed by tourists fascinated by unusual cars) the motoring challenge was soon off and running (in reverse order position) with the first regularity, just long enough to get out of the city mazes and back onto the roads more suited to our driving style, in this case a secondary road up the hill, zigzagging intersecting the busier E16.
Having become accustomed to far more exciting scenarios, the link section with a dozen of tunnels and the ever-present hordes of 4-wheeled tourists (now joined by cyclists and motorcyclists) and the second regularity had more of an impact on the ranking of cars in the race than on that of memorable stretches of road, so it was a relief to head back east on the flowing scenic coastal road overlooking Hardangerfjorden, finally in a proper warm, sunny summer days, before entering a forested area on the slopes of Kvasshovden and tackle the last Reg of the day.
Have you forgotten for a moment that Norway is the land of tunnels and bridges? Here you get a plate full of both, with a peppery addition: the Hardangerbrua, Norway's longest suspension bridge, and a roundabout inside the Vallavik tunnel. With the tension of the competition part of the day over, an instant adrenaline rush was registered when, immediately after commenting on the engineering feats of the Eidfjordbridge (built to shorten the journey time between Bergen and Oslo at a cost of 290 million) and after entering yet another tunnel, at least half the crews (who had momentarily forgotten the descriptive notes in the road book) found themselves facing a roundabout lit up in blue and thought it was a Troll’s joke!
And in the blink of an eye we arrived at the chosen location for Main Time Control 13, the picturesque village of Eidfjord, surrounded by steep cliffs and majestic waterfalls, in the remotest corner of the Hardangerfjord, a stone's throw from Hardangervidda, Europe's largest plateau.
Having become more accustomed to the silence of the elves in the woods than the excited bustle of tourists, all we needed was to stretch our legs and have a drink before taking the final section of the road that separated us from Geilo, the last stop on our thirteenth day in Scandinavia. And it was only a short step from port to ski resort, not before the weird experience of driving in circular uphill tunnels that made me think to the first efforts of Giotto, the painter father of the Italian Renaissance, while he was learning to draw the perfect circle! We left the blooming valley floor to gently climb on more barren hilly moors and it soon became clear that the landscape was becoming mountainous as snow measuring poles (the tallest I have ever seen!) began to dot the sides of the road as well as dozens of rivers and lakes from the Hardanger Glacier. Before getting there, my passenger asked me what I had noted down about that stretch of road after my recce on Google Streetview and my reply was “a bit of everything” and he had to admit I was not wrong. It was probably this excess of scenic beauty that must have stunned the HERO ERA Hospitality Director and her Assistant, who, while stopping to photograph these spectacular wonders of nature, found themselves with a flat tyre. (Long hair and three woolly hats were found at the scene of the minor accident, unmistakable traces of the mischievous presence of a three-headed troll, having ruled out those of secret admirers...) How many people can actually break down in the middle of a natural reserve plateau, overlooking a fresh water fjord touched by a glacier? Luckily, The girls' safety was taken care of by two handsome Vikings who refreshed them with a glass of red wine from the cellar of their caravan, on the pretext that they were unable to drive as the vehicle had broken down. I suspect it was a case of selftampering, and that the poor, wrongly accused troll had nothing to do with it...
After 1 hour and a half of this amazing drive, the rally people reached the overnight venue, in Geilo, a municipality in Hol, in the Norwegian county of Buskerud, 800 metres above sea level where It is no surprise, then, that most of the houses are mountain cabins, testimony to the town's vocation for winter sports (it hosted the Paralympic Winter Games in 1980).
From the competition point of view, the yesterday Overall Positions were confirmed: Car 20 in 1st position, Car 18 in 2nd position and car 7 in 3rd position. One more day and we will know if this is the final arrival order of the whole event.
Marilyn.