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<\/a><\/p>\nThis is what we’ve come all this way, and braved the North Sea, to see; a fjord surrounded by mountains of the most impressive magnitude. Eidfjord lies at the head of a magnificent glacial valley, with textbook steel sides and rock faces that descend from a great height (or ascend, depending upon your viewpoint). It being springtime, there was still a fair amount of snow clinging to the tops, punctuated by dramatic crags and plunging crevasses; all, quite simply, a joy to behold.<\/p>\n After breakfast, we headed ashore, with no particular plans other than to potter about and to see whatever was to be seen. A fast-flowing river cuts its way through the village. The village itself is spaced-out and clean, with colourful wooden buildings of typical norwegian construction. The whole place seemed quite relaxed and sparsely populated, a population that multiplies several-fold when a cruise ship like ours comes to visit. Having said that, it’s clearly a place that caters well for visitors of all kinds, at any time of the year, with several cafes, a large hotel and even a camping ground for motorhomes and campervans (note to self… maybe we should come back this way with our little campervan sometime…).<\/p>\n We crossed the river via a small footbridge and then folllowed it upstream, with the river to our right ride. We stopped often, to take in the scenery and to take photos and video of the landscape, and almost without realising it, the road we’d been following turned into a track, where signs told us that camping is prohibited and little fingerposts yellow stripes of paint confirmed that we were clearly following a properly designated footpath. Others were walking along it too, some carrying maps, so we figured we were unlikely to get ourselves lost.<\/p>\n The track brought us, unexpectedly, to a magnificent lake, reminiscent of the Lake District and Scotland, only with mountains that are much bigger. It was at this point that we bumped into another couple from the ship, who asked which direction we’d come from. It turned out that they’d come from the opposite direction, and had followed a circular route which we knew nothing about. This meant that, once we’d finished admiring, and photographing, the lake, we could continue following the track which would eventually bring us back to our starting poiint, and the ship. All-aboard time was 2:30pm, and it was already gone midday, but we figured we had plenty of time to complete the circuit.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n