I wrote in last week’s blog about our recent trip to Norway for a Confirmation service.  We combined that event with a remarkable driving holiday.  This enabled us to appreciate more of the spectacular scenery as we travelled to other parts of the country which we hadn’t experienced before.  A driving holiday in Norway is a very different experience from negotiating the busy roads in the UK, mainly because it doesn’t involve the stress of too many vehicles sharing a packed road space at high speed.  The speed limit is considerably lower, the roads are mostly empty, and perhaps the biggest challenge comes in negotiating the hairpin bends.  The names of some of the most spectacular roads we travelled, such as Ørnesvingen (The Eagle Road) and Trollstigen (Troll’s Ladder), probably reveal their characteristics without any further need for description.  The biggest impediment to making progress along the Norwegian highway is the overwhelming desire to stop too frequently to take photos of yet more wonderful scenery!

We travelled across and through many mountains and along countless fjords, and we were blessed with magnificent autumn sunshine.  This offered an extraordinary clarity of light, particularly conducive to producing marvellous photographs, even for such an amateur photographer as myself.  The autumnal colours had developed further than in the UK, and we loved the fiery palette of orange, red and golden leaves which were then reflected in the smooth waters of the fjords.  I have always found it awesome to consider that as high as the exposed mountainside extends above the water level of the fjord, the hidden depth of the water will exceed that distance.  In places, the Sognefjord (Norway’s longest and deepest fjord) is over 1,300 metres deep: it is almost impossible to imagine the drop below the visible surface of the water.

At the end of our 400 mile drive north from Bergen, we visited Trondheim which boasts the oldest stone cathedral in Norway, built from 1070 onwards.  This stunning building was Northern Europe’s most important site of pilgrimage for Christians during the Middle Ages.  On the afternoon we arrived in Trondheim, the cathedral had closed for visitors, so we walked around the outside in the sunshine.  But I was determined to find a way to see this legendary building, and the best option was to attend a service later in the afternoon.  We signed up electronically for Aftensang (Evensong), not quite sure what to expect.  When we arrived at 6 pm, we were let in through an insignificant external door into the Lady Chapel where a small congregation was gathering.  The service was contemplative and peaceful, but also challenging as we found ourselves invited to join in singing ancient plainsong in Norwegian.  One or other of those requirements is manageable – doing both is taxing!  

After the service, I explained to the service leader that we were only in Trondheim overnight, and also that as a priest in the Church of England, I had long wished to see this iconic building.  She most graciously invited us to enter through the side door into the main body of the church, where we were privileged to have a glorious view, all to ourselves, of the Gothic cathedral with the sun setting through the great rose window in the west end.   What a memorable sight of the northernmost mediaeval cathedral in the world!

The natural beauty of Norway undoubtedly provides food for the soul, and we ended our holiday feeling spiritually recharged, and with the determination to return to Trondheim for the next stage of another driving holiday heading even further north next time.

Sarah Bourne, Chaplain for the Arts – 29^th Sept 2021          sarahbourne@banburystmary.org.uk

Sarah will give a talk on Mountains & Fjords in September 2022 as part of the Festival 200 at St Mary’s.