Day 9: Drive around Balestrand (Norway)
The plan is for a days driving around the Lustrafjorden and to generally follow the Sognefjellet National Scenic Route.
We queue for the short ferry across to Hella.
Despite the light rain – the fjord is looking promising.
We pass many quant churches over looking the water.
The day starts to brighten up and the rain recedes.
There are plenty of "pulling-in" places today – something there isn't enough of in Norway - there is so much to see!
Car still looking reasonably well/clean after a week on the road.
Looking to the calm water from the "top" of the fjord.
There are just so many picturesque scenes around every bend.
We probably should have pulled in a bit better here
We reach Jotunheimen National Park – a popular hiking area – and climb up to 1392 meters. The Turbo S just loves motoring up the steep road and pulls out of the hairpin bends with enough energy to pin you back in your seat – despite the 18% incline.
Time to turn back – gliding down the road to again recuperate over 5% of battery.
We decide to travel back on the other side of the fjord – which has a much narrower road – often it is just the two meters width of our car.
At the end of the road – it doesn't go all the way around the fjord – we plan to cross over here by ferry.
Unfortunately, the ferry is tiny – the smallest we've seen in Norway - and it is both full and the last ferry of the day! Duh, so much for our record of great planning! We need to add "last ferry times" into our future planning documentation.
After discussion with the ferry operator – we have no choice but to go back the narrow road we came and return to the hotel via the route we took earlier today – adding about 100 km to the our plan.
But hey – we came to drive the fjords – so we're not complaining.
We push on – with traffic light on this rarely used road.
Right down by the fjord.
We have two related challenges we're facing: (a) will we have enough battery energy for the double-back and (b) will be get back in time for 21:00 closing of the local restaurants and/or hotel bar? We could stop at a few Mer or Eviny high-speed chargers for a few mins but that will put us further behind time-wise.
We decide to trust our PCM estimation – which has us arriving at the hotel with 4% battery remaining – and drive on to the ferry at Hella to cross back to our island village of Balestrand.
Making the ferry in plenty of time.
Car looking sleek in the queue – it is amazing how low the Taycan is compared to "normal" cars these days.
On-board for the short ten minute crossing.
With 8% battery remaining – PCM estimates again proving very accurate – even in this mountainous environment.
Pulling into our hotel at the predicted 4% for a travel ESVE provided destination charge.
My co-driver runs to the hotel bar to order with 13 minutes to spare before last food orders! Great teamwork as always!
We've wanted to drive around the fjords of southern Norway for so long and it was such a privilege to finally get to do it today!
The days charging stats
| Location | Start SOC % | End SOC % | kWh added | Cost | Duration | Ambient Temp | Battery Temp | Charger Type | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kviknes Hotel | 4% | 100% | 80.4 | €0.00 | 3 hours 23 mins | 14.5 | 31 | AC 22 KW Travel EVSE | Hotel 480 V socket |
Today we did 305 km over 8:17 hours, with an average speed of 38 km/h, consuming 23.9 kWh/100km.
