Train, Walk and Explore

Posted on by Hanna

Here, in the wild rugged mountain landscape, was Mannen.
A high-altitude unstable mountain section, which threatened the Norwegian residents in the valley with extinction. For decades, families were evacuated. The mountain section threatened to crash into the valley. Today, the greatest danger is over after several major landslides over the past six years.

Down in the valley, between weathered mountain peaks, the train runs from Dombås to Åndalsness by the sea. Raumabanen, is the name of the railway.

Here, Harry Potter rode by train with his friends heading for Hogwarts in the film, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince.

In March 2008, a film crew secretly arrived in Norway to shoot the sixth Harry Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”.
The recordings were made to avoid snow shortage, after the film team had waited for two months for snow in Scotland.
The fact that the scenic area is surrounded by mountains and valleys also played a role in the choice of location.
For several days, a film team of 20 people surrounded by great secrecy, worked at Bjorli in Lesja municipality in Oppland to make a recording for the latest Harry Potter film.

Ingrid Nergården Jortveit wrote an article in the Norwegian newspaper Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen. I have translated fragments from that article.

Geiranger Fjord by hannaswalk.com

We went by a train journey into the dramatic outstanding Norway. Trolltinderne, the Troll Peaks make you humble, and with a good reason: Mannen!

We bought an interrail ticket to Norway. It gave us access to travel in this stunning country as pioneers, or that was the feeling it gave me. Going by train, busses and small ferries. Planning a route of our own.

Watching dramatic mountains torned by the wonderful sparkling blue fjords. It seemed to be an impossible feat, the thousand meters high mountains rising majestically right out of the sea. I watched them with awe. Tiny ships seemed to vanish in the shadows from mountains and waterfalls a true adventure.

Valley of Romsdalen by Johan Frederik Eckersberg (Norwegian) 1857
Norwegian Waterfall With Sawmill by Themistokles von Eckenbrecher
Troldtinderne i Romsdalen; foden af Romsdalshorn til højre, 1894. Hans Gude 1825 – 1903.

19 thoughts on “Train, Walk and Explore”

  2. Fabulous landscapes Hanna, loved reading this! I was about to argue about Harry Potter, knowing it was supposedly filmed in Scotland, but right enough, we certainly do run out of snow on the west coast at times! Lucky film crew to get a trip to Norway 😊

    • Thank you for your lovely comment, Margaret.
      It’s great that Norway could add snow, railway and veteran trains to one of the wonderful films.
      The Harry Potter universe is marvellous 💖
      The thought of being on board the Hogwarts Express has always filled me with excitement 😊
      I wish you a splendid New Year!!! ✨✨✨

  3. Breath taking landscape! Since we live so close to Norway now, we might just visit it once again, and then go to this region. Absolutely stunning!

  4. Beautiful. I enjoy your mixture of photos and paintings.
    This March, it will be six years since I’ve been to Norway, and I’m resolved to get back there soon.
    Best wishes for a good new year, Hanna, RPT .

    • Thanks a lot, Robert. It is a wonderful task to find ancient paintings of great natural scenarios. Sometimes the drama is embellished, the reason for that is often very interesting. Often art and history are closely linked 🙂
      I hope your trip to Norway will be met soon
      Wishing you a wonderful New Year!!

    • Hi Mike. Those painters got out and about at that time. Some motives have been difficult to access. The waterfall has outstanding colours and shades but I’m glad I don’t have to walk through it!!! 🙂

  6. This is impressive Hanna, story and pictures. I looked up a bit about the landslide in 2019. I figure it must have been eery for the people living there, the threat of being crushed by many tons of rock. What I in particular like is the name of the mountain. Mannen! I understood it means: (the) Man, wich is cool by itself, but in Norwegian it sounds like an extra extra extra man, beyond man-ship, a MAN. (In my language, Dutch, mannen means the plural of man, in English: men, and I gather it sounds just als we pronounce our mannen.) 🙂

    • Thanks a lot for that, Peter. Your thoughts about the name Mannen is interesting.
      It is as if the mountain is being personified by the threat of wiping out the people of the valley. The Man gets an extra dimension 😨
      Mountains can appear intimidating when the weather is bad. They are piling up like giant trolls. Maybe that’s why the Norwegians sell the little ones of them as souvenirs 😀
      Years ago I found a video about THE Sunrise in Norway
      Watch in full screen 💡

      • That certainly is a majestic sunrise Hanna! I realise I didn’t have an idea about the shape of the Norwegian mountains. Sharp, like the edge of a knife. I can fully understand the awe the people must have looking at their mountains and perhaps even fear. But beautiful they are! Thank you for the link!

      • It is very dramatic and outstanding!
        In southern Norway the mountain peaks are round. Seen from the air, it looks like a giant egg divider has been at stake – crisscross. Norway is a country full of contrasts. Glaciers at the top and fruit growing on south-facing slopes in addition to large orchards by the Hardangervidda. Loosely told!!! 🙂

  7. Absolutely stunning landscape – feels almost other worldly. How I long and dream of visiting and exploring this part of the world one day!

    • It is worth it, Ab 🙂 Especially if you can avoid the high season. I love nature and silence, but that is almost each others opposites. Maybe you can find a small fjord that nobody knows about. There you can kayak and sail close to the mountains 😊

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