The Flåmsbana train slowed to a stop, sticking half in and half out of a tunnel. The train conductor walked up and down the carriages beckoning us out – we were at the Kjosfossen Waterfall.
Standing at 669 meters (2,195 feet) above sea level the Kjosfossen Waterfall is an immense cascade of white water with a total fall of some 225 meters (738 feet). It throws up a spray that drifts like fine gossamer and covers everything – it certainly covered us, and our viewing platform next to the train was some 300m away. It also covered all of the camera lenses of all of the collected cameras of all of the collected tourists. The viewing platform was full of people trying to take pictures through misted-up lenses. Including me.
The Kjosfossen Waterfall is large. It is very large.
You only really understand the true scale of it, however, when viewed in perspective.
Music suddenly blared from speakers hidden way in some far corner and this woman popped up out of nowhere and started to dance. It was all very strange, and it was only weeks later, when I studied these photos, that I realised what this was all about. The singing and dancing was all a pretence. What was actually going on here was a masterpiece of subliminal tourism. These strange women were there to illustrate just how massive this waterfall was. And large it really was.
Unfortunately, some of the tourists (like me) had zoom lenses. As I zoomed in on the beautiful woman before me I got the distinct feeling that maybe this was no woman after all, but a man in a wig.
What do you think?
From this distance it looks remarkably like Tony Blair in drag. I always wondered what he went on to after leaving 10 Downing Street…
And just as I was daydreaming about how good Tony Blair looked in a red dress and a blonde wig, the whistle blew. I was shaken from my reverie. It was time to get back on the Flåmsbana and continue our journey down to the fjords.
Points on this part of the walk (copy and paste the co-ordinates into Google Earth):
- Kjosfossen Waterfall: N 60° 44.820 E 007° 07.550
Trip Statistics:
- Date of Trip: 22 July 2014
- CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO INTERACTIVE MAP!!!
The Coastal Path 
Totally a dude. No doubt about it. Probably one of those teenage boy jobs in Kjosfossen and environs. There will be a vignette about it one day in a collection of memoirs about weird summer jobs.
Or perhaps it really is Tony Blair and this has been a post-retirement dream of his since he took the “Norway in a Nutshell” tour.
!
Well I have to say I could think of worse jobs, though they must get totally drenched. I think I’d don a dress and a wig and dance in front of a waterfall rather then going for Prime Minister, that’s for sure!
Went on this train yesterday – absolutely wonderful, but I can confirm they still have the dancing and the music, unfortunately.
Hi JC – It was all very strange, but then I got back home and looked at the photos. I only realised the scale of this enormous waterfall because the dancer was there. Perhaps that is part of it. I’m glad you enjoyed the trip. We just (literally) got back from Zermatt in Switzerland which was another off-the-scale experience. Nic
Yes I suppose it does help to add scale. The dancer there on my trip didn’t look like Tony Blair though.
Looking forward to reading about Switzerland – although I blame you and this blog for getting me addicted to going to Norway in the first place since it was reading these posts that first convinved me to go there 🙂 This trip was my third trip in a little more than a year. Perhaps you will get me addicted to Switzerland as well!
I’m thrilled my posts may have persuaded someone to travel to another country but good grief what if you hadn’t liked it?!? No pressure there! Switzerland posts to follow. What a fantastic place…