geography

GEOGRAPHY

Here you can see were Norway is on the world-map.
It is in the north-west part of Europe and border to Russia, Sweden and Finland. The northern part of the country is north of the polar circle ,and the winter can be hard with temperatures as low as minus50. But on the west coast we are blessed with lots of rain and it's quite windy, especially between October and March. The snow in the lowlands comes and goes, snow one day and rain the next. On the east side and in the north it is more stable winter-conditions. In summer the temperature is normally 15-25deg. celsius, and the weather is often unsteady. Though we can have long periods with high pressure and nice, warm conditions. On occations in june we can go skiing on the glacier in the early hours of the day, then take a swim in the ocean when back down .

As you see at the map on the right, I live just a couple of miles south-east of Bergen. In this area we have lots of wild nature. There is long narrow fjords and steep mountains raging 4-6000feet high. We also have "Folgefonna" which is the third largest glacier in Norway. Due to the high mountains we have to pay a lot of attention to the weather condition when flying. Are there any strong winds (especially from the east) I stay on the ground, because it generates extreme turbulence and down-winds. In the warm season we also have strong thermals which is good for hang and paragliding, but not for microlights.
As you see, it's not every day I can climb to the sky. But when the conditions is right there is few places in the world you can have a better flight. The nature is absolutely fantastic and there is always an unexplored fjord or valley to find. As long as I use floats ,there is always a place to land. Often there is gas-stations near the sea, it's just to fill it up and fly on...