Along the coast road to Ålesund
The E 136 contiues from Åndalsnes to Ålesund. Much hugging the Atlatic shore it reminds me of the old stereotypes I had about Norway. Loads of coastal fishing villages, towering mountains dwarfing the any man made structures, villages and towns and allmost every settlement had some sort of a living docks.
The first time I drov the road was in fall 2008 and as by then it gets dar pretty fast I was not able to shoot any decent photos. So I redid the trip the following summer. But this time I drove from Åndalsnes southbound to Ålesund and from there by a small town of Öreskog to the ferry landing at Valldal.
As espected at the location by the ocean greated me with rain but as it appears as usual, the conditions were not bad for photos. The gray dull weather did provide dramatic setting for the photos. At the beginning there are lot's of tunnels, some short some longer but once on the open area you get a sent of the salt sea water and some beautyful sceneries.
There were a bit of rain on the northerna end of the road. But the scnery was never the less as stunning as it could be. Infact I believe the rain contributed alot to the result for the photos here. But I hope that I will be having as great results hen I go back there and hopefully in those rare sunny days. Here the road hugs the shore lines of the Romdalsfjorden untill it runs along the shore of a fjord where the town of Tresfjord is located. Even on this tiny fjord, I found three ports, handling bulk traffic om coastal freight ships. No wonder why the rail road net in Norway is rather small and non existing along the shores.
As I drove further south the weather started to clear and the rain turned in to showers and as the temperature rose, the humid air turned in to a mist and left the mist hanging on the mountain sides before they eventually got picked up the wind from the sea.
There is aplenty yo photograph so it is better to plan your driving and have a very loose schedule. and make most of the intersections from the dirt roads as I did here.
Here are a few vistas over the Romdalsfjorden as the rain has cleared. Only thing missing is the semll of wet grass and the sounds of sea gulls...
Fishing and farming is a major industry here, here you see a a sort of a combination, a fish farm where the gages of net, I guess, becomes to a kindergarden to the fish. These are now adays required to keep the fishing alive. Out ut the sea you might see oil drilling rigs, giving the Norwegian economy a welcome boost of black gold.
The elements and the roller coater rodas with heavy traffic takes its toll in form of every apperarent road construction jobs, which ahst o be carried out before theinvasion of tourists in July and August. and usually these are carried our on long streches of the road.
As I mentioned before the sea ways in Norway are still busy and allmost every settlement has at least a landing. here the commody is perhaps less exiting, gravel....
Here a fw images of the small fjord of Tresfjord. I saw a port on the opposite shore which I liked to haf photographed, but found it being close to access. so I found this typical fishing boat to photograph instead....
