So enclosed is this little group of turf-roofed houses by high mountains that the inhabitants do not feel the warm sun's rays during the greater part of the year.
The Hjörund Fjord
From this place, by easy road, we drive along the widening valley, and, passing several poor farms, we at length arrive at Öie, a small hamlet picturesquely situated by the shores of the narrow Norangs Fjord, an arm of the grand Hjörund Fjord. By the Norwegians themselves this is thought to be the grandest of all their fjords. It is not easy to decide, however, as each one of them has its own particular characteristics.
The mountains around here attain a height of some 5,000 to 6,000 feet. Their tops are peaked and pinnacled; some even appear to lean forward, as though ready to spring out across the fjord or valley. Decorative patches of snow and glacier rest between their huge flanks, and woods of hardy birch and alder clothe their bases.
Majestic scenery is this, of the sharp peak and pinnacle type, and of its kind no grander is there in the whole of Norway.
"The mountains near
Stand up in fixed and monumental gaze,
As pyramids precipitous and bold."[[1]]
[[1]] G. Gilfillan.