Before we left Molde, we decided to use the campground’s new sanitary dump. It would have easily accommodated Rover’s American-style discharge equipment, but the space was surrounded by low bushes and despite several attempts there was no way we could maneuver into it. So we gave up on that plan and made our way to the ferry dock.
We timed it perfectly. All the other vehicles had been loaded, and the crew was about to raise the ramp when they saw us coming and waited for us. We drove right on and the boat was moving within a minute. Then it was off the ferry and across hillside farm country to the city of Ålesund. The GPS gave us an interesting and totally unnecessary route to a “bobil parkering” right on the waterfront. It is an unstaffed place with free showers, toilets, water, and dump, but no electricity. We are among about 20 other motorhomes. Rover’s front end is less than 10 feet from what our (Norwegian) road map calls the “Norwegian Ocean.” And we are literally just a couple of blocks from the city center. It is a great place to be . . . if only it hadn’t been so difficult to get to.
Ålesund is a lovely town. It burned to the ground in 1904 and was rebuilt in a few years in the Art Nouveau style. All the buildings in the city center are now brick or stone, most with some lovely detail in their design.
We took a “train” tour (the wheeled variety) through the city and up a hill overlooking the town. We also walked the streets and toured several museums. In one we saw a replica of the 18-foot enclosed lifeboat “Uroed” that crossed the Atlantic Ocean with four men in 1904.
A clerk in a store told us they are having the same weather now that they had in January: she called it “a green winter.” It has rained off and on since we arrived here, but the only heavy downpours have come after we have returned to Rover. As today’s rains fall, we can watch the ferries and fishing boats pass directly in front of us.
