Romsdalsfjorden











 At Åndalsnes, a small towm with a port at the Romsdalsfjorden, the River Rauma meets the sea. But before entering the town, the steep mountain walls squeaze the valley in to the darkness and though at the western part of the Romsdalen is loacted close to the sea level, you will find large spots of snow at the low altitude even during the early summer.

Once you reach the town, you can sence the sent of the salt ocean water. The water seems to act like it was more heavier than the sweet water of the river. The other domenistic feature is of course the mountains, especially by the 1850 meter high Romsdalshornet.





At this part, the fjord is surrounded by snowy peaks. Located pretty up north the mountains are baren at 900 meters and usually still sports snow at close to 1000 meters, depending facing direction against the sun. The early June is just a bout perfect period of the year, as you get nice warm days in the valleys, plenty of melted snow rushing down the mountain walls as water in huge water falls. Still the highest peaks still wear white winter suit of snow.



For person used to the Baltic Sea the traces of the various tides are impressive.
A look at the east end of the fjord with its impressive wall of snowy peaks.
The port of Åndalsnes seen across the fjord, with the 1850 meters high Romsdalshornet in the background. Though the wonders of the man are impressive enough, still do not able to dominate the constructions from the forces of the nature.
At this image the layers of different height of the hills on the north side of the fjord is becoming appearent.

Further towards the coastal town of Molde the weather got even worse but I had a chanche to take couple shots about 15 kilometers from Åndalsnes...
These jagged tops of a massive is pretty close to Romdalshornet.
At the waterfont towards Isfjorden.






Busy waters

Unlike the neighbouring countries, Norway relies heavily on coastal shipping. perhaps the most famous is the Hurtigruten, a combined cruise adventure along the fjords which also handles freight service with the ports along the route. There are also some freight only services that in a effective way handles its service. Once in Mo i Rana at the artic circle, I saw one of the RoLa liner deliver and loaded on freight in a hour before departure. The most common for the casual tourists are the smaller car ferries that connects the high ways across the fjords, where the costs of drilling tunnels or building bridges are too costly. Here the ferry prooves to be more economical choise to the alternative to drive along the banks of the fjord to Molde.
Along the northern shore, the scenery changes to more open and lower hills with the mountain peaks of the south shore in the background. While shooting the pictures, the bank to sea raised the temperature quite a bit. It is quite suprising that only a few 10 kilometers from the Trollveggen, the landscape is suitable for farming.


At the end of the Romsdalsfjorden at Åfarnes, the parent Moldefjorden forks in to two Romsdalsfjorden and Langfjorden. The village here is quite typical of Norwegian villages with white wooden houses with slate roofs dominating.
On the way back to Åndalsnes, we pass this scen with a small but robust boat landing, note the marks of the tide.
If you would regret leaving Molde but not fancing to take the ferry back you can drive around Langfjorden by Eidsvåg.

The intermission of light sea and mountains.











For photographing the mix of this combination offers an interesting possibilities. As I shoot now a days mostly with a digital camera it is possible to take fair pictures towards the sun without risking getting the results to dark.






Fishing and farming

Norway is dominated by a landscape from rolling hills to mountains. This means that the domestic farming is making use moderate hilsides for pasture and even by means terasses even growing crops. At the coasts, the revenue is backed up by coastal and high seas fishing aswell.
A look at the garden of a small house. The view from the living room across the fjord must be respectable.



A couple of images facing to Åndalsnes further in the fjord. Note the different appearing mountains of the north and the massive south coast.
A small cementery by the sea.
Note the sloping fields of this farmer, that tiny tractor was working pretty hard with the load of hay.
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Copyright © 2005 Olavi Ahokas