We were up early for breakfast. The buffet was available, but there was no one else about
The train left Oslo at 8 in the morning in comfortably warm weather.
The long distance trains are very comfortable with plenty of room between seats and free wifi. In addition to the usual dining carriage, there is a family section which includes plenty of space around the seats, so that there is space for prams or pushchairs and a playroom showing films for older children.
The playroom includes tubes to climb through
First impressions of crossing Norway are that there is a great deal of water and a huge number of trees.
As we climbed higher, we started to see snow on the hills and low cloud around us
The highest point we reached was at Finse, the highest railway station in Europe at 1222m
By now, it was dull and often raining but the scenery was magnificent. At busy little station at Myndal we changed trains to take the scenic railway down to Flåm on the Sognefjord, at this point 100 miles from the North Sea. It is Norway's largest fjord and there were two cruise ships anchored at Flåm.
We were lucky to be near a door when the train stopped in the station - we managed to get seats, but not everyone was so fortunate.
The route down the 900 metres to sea level was steep and when we reached a scenic waterfall, the train stopped and let passengers out to take photos. For the rest of the trip there was nearly always a waterfall in sight and at times ten.
In Flåm, we had a 30 minute wait before the boat left for the Sognefjord trip. The boat was crowded but again, we were lucky to get seats indoors.
The scenery was magnificent, but we were hampered by the weather
Some photos from the fjord trip
Free entertainment was provided by the piper of an Inverness Scout Group who were on the tour.
On our two hour voyage we passed small villages with pretty churches. One village was also the hydroelectric power station for Oslo.
It was most impressive to see mountains rising vertically above the fjord to over 1,000 metres.
At Gudvangen, we left the boat and boarded buses for a scenic drive to Voss which included a very steep descent down the old main road, now bypassed by a tunnel.
The final leg of the journey took us from Voss to Bergen where we would stay for the night, before sightseeing in Bergen, then returning to Oslo by train the next day.
Pat and John on tour