The Western Fjords - Norway - page 558

Information
Valldal's tourist office ( 70 25 77 67; www.visitalesund-geiranger.com ;
10am-6pm mid-Jun-mid-Aug, rest of year 10am-5pm Mon-Fri) rentsbikes(Nkr25/100
per hour/day) and can also arrange motor-boat hire (Nkr85/400 per hour/day).
Getting There & Away
Valldal lies on the 'Golden Route' bus service that runs twice daily from mid-June to
August between Åndalsnes (Nkr105, 1¾ hours) and Geiranger (Nkr65, 1¼ hours), up and
over the spectacular Trollstigen pass. If you're driving, pause at Gudbrandsjuvet , 15km
up the valley from Valldal, where the river sluices and thrashes through a 5m-wide, 20m-
deep canyon.
Equally scenic is the spectacular ferry cruise (adult/child single Nkr206/103, return
Nkr327/157,2¼hours)thatrunstwicedailybetweenValldalandGeirangerfrommid-June
to mid-August.
TAFJORD
In1934anenormouschunkofrock400mhighand22mlong-inall,awhopping8million
cu metres - broke loose from the hillside. It crashed into Korsnæsfjord and created a 64m-
high tidal wave that washed up to 700m inland and claimed 40 lives in Fjørra and Tafjord.
Tafjord Power Station Museum MUSEUM
(Kraftverkmuseum; 70 17 56 00; www.tafjord.net/museum ; noon-5pm mid-
Jun-early Aug) Within the now-defunct power station, this museum shows how the ad-
vent of hydroelectric power changed the valley. The road that climbs from the village up
to the Zakarias reservoir passes through a bizarre corkscrew tunnel and, a couple of kilo-
metres higher up, a short walking route drops to the crumbling bridge at the dam's narrow
base, where you feel at close range the stresses this 96m-high structure has to tolerate.