When we awoke in our excellent free rest area we were relieved to find it was not raining and the forecast for the rest of the day was good. So the walk to the Engebreen tongue of the Svartisen Glacier was on.
Holandsfjorden with Engebreen on the left
Basil hardly had to get out of bed because the passenger ferry dock was only one kilometre along the road. He did his duty and then had the rest of the day off.
The ferry, all fifteen minutes of it, costs 170 NOK (€18) return each. Our journey was much enhanced by the fact that the ferry was being supplemented today by a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) with a 300 BHP engine. So the 15 minute trip only took an exciting 2 minutes at 50 kph. The dogs seemed unphased and it was an exhilarating start to the day.
Holandsfjorden from the boat dock
We thought the walk would be relatively quick and straightforward and we would be back on the road shortly after lunch. The walk was after all only 10 km in total and was described as “moderate”. It turned out not to be the case. We got the 10.15 ferry and didn’t catch the return until 4pm.
Engebreen
The first two and a half miles was straightforward, on a well defined track, around the glacial lake which has formed at the base of the glacier. In 2007 the glacier was only 20 metres above sea level, so the two and a half miles would then have brought visitors to the base. Unfortunately for us and maybe the planet also, the glacier is now about 200 metres above sea level.
Sarah with the glacial lake and the glacier in the background
To reach it now there is a further 1 kilometre across and up bare rock, which was, until recently covered by the glacier. No soil has had chance to form on the rock so it is completely devoid of vegetation. The path traverses this bare rock and the same time rises in altitude. For the first half the authorities have put in chains to help people and minimise the chances of accidents. The second portion is up a steep river gulley where frequent scrambling, requiring hands and feet are required.
Engebreen – the rock below the glacier is where it is necessary to climb. The vertical gap between the glacier and the lake is about 200 metres, but that requires 1km of climbing
We had not gone far on this second section when we decided the dogs could not really go any further. Mabel was physically capable but her tugging made Sarah unstable and unable to effectively use one of her hands. Melek, on the other hand, had already been hauled up a few of the steeper sections and had been rescued a couple of times as he started sliding on the rocks.
View from the rocks as we climbed up
So we set up a base camp and I stayed with the dogs while Sarah took the first turn to climb to the glacier. She was gone for over an hour, because she had never seen a glacier before and made a thorough examination! I went next, but because I have been on a glacier in Switzerland before, satisfied myself with just getting to the area immediately below the glacier to get some photographs.
The Engebreen Tongue of the Svartisen Glacier – for scale you can just see a man, on the rocks, silhouetted agains the glacier, left of centre.
We had some lunch while still sitting on the exposed rocks and then we headed down. Getting Melek down was even more difficult than getting him up. He does not fully understand the command “wait” and so while I was negotiating the trickier bits, intending to lift him down, he sometimes attempted to get down by himself requiring Sarah or me to rescue him at the same time as trying to prevent myself from falling.
Finally we got down and trudged along the lakeside track back to the boat dock. Again we got an exciting ride on a RIB, this time with the helmsman throwing in some tight turns for our entertainment.
Back in Basil we have simply moved one kilometre back up the road and are ensconced for the night at the same free rest area we stayed last night. We will sleep well tonight. It may have only been 6 miles but the long scramble to the glacier and back has taken it out of us. It feels as if we’ve had a very fulfilling day.