Norway from UK, via Denmark - Summer 2009.

[AdamA]

You might have seen this already if you frequent ADV rider, but I thought I would stick it up here for anyone that doesn't and is interested.

Prompted by Gravel Seeker on ADVrider, I thought it was time for a written RR.
There's a couple of threads on there with some vids we made, but as we have 1000+ pictures between us of the trip to Norway that Funners (Guy) and me took this summer (and hey, it means I can relive it while off the bike over a cold spell.) here goes....

What follows is a tale of Mountains:

Fjords:

Seas:

expensive food:

wild camping:

And fun:
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[AdamA]

I am going to cheat a bit (not least of which because I am copying and pasting this off ADVrider) as I will be robbing Funners' pictures as he took loads more than me, just as I used his video footage in some of the vids above, and will also steal his writeup from elsewhere, a) so you get his thoughts on each day, and b) cos my memory is shit and without them I won't remember what we did when.

After months of anticipation and planning,
Friday 26th June finally arrived and off I set to meet Adam at the "Welcome Cafe" near Cambridge ready to ride to Harwich to catch a ferry to Norway.
I'd planned a nice cross country route to avoid main roads and ended up having a thoroughly nice ride down, the only slight issue being that I ended up being about 45mins later than I thought, but still in plenty of time.
Nik Sampson was there with Adam and was good to have a natter with him again:wink:
I'd left my waterproof liners in all the way down having seen the weather forecast and was vindicated 10 mins after arriving as the heavens opened and we left for Harwich in the biggest thunderstorm I've seen for a long time, the road was under nearly a foot of water in places an visibility was down to less than 10 yds in places....1
Luckily it only lasted about 20 mins and then we cleared it back into blue skies and dry roads near Finchingfield and all the way down to Harwich.
We'd arranged to have a coffee with Fanum and passed the time till we boarded the ferry for the 22hr crossing to Denmark.
Our first shock was Carlsberg at £5.15 a pint... and this was still on the boat !!

Guy's bike ready for the off from Yorkshire:

Both the bikes at our meeting point near Cambridge next to Nik's TL1000.
(Nik just met up to say hello. Just the two of us made the trip, after two others had to pull out due to redundancy as the recession hit hard).

Yes, BMW GSA riders. Don't take the pish and I will leave harleys well alone. :deal

Nik Sampson:

Guy getting ready for the rather damp off:

Leaving the port of Harwich:

The first shock came in the bar of the ferry, where the beer was at Danish prices of £5.15 a pint of Carlsberg.1
Your's truly hitting the bar:

The ferry crossing is quite long, leaving the UK at 18:00 and getting in at mid day the next day, so plenty of time to relax, eat some fine Danish food and drink a couple of pints before hitting your own cheaper supply.:evil
Next morning we woke to some fine weather and views across the sea to the off shore wind farms from on deck:

I also got cornered by a harley rider and was perhaps a little too polite to make my excuses....

 

[AdamA]

Saturday-Denmark, ...very flat....very straight and (sorry to any Danes) VERY BORING, it shows as we only managed 5 photo's between us of the Danish section !
we arrived in Hirtschells again in plenty of time and having fueled the bikes, we grabbed some pizza from the fuel station ( one thing about Scandinavia is they have a snack bar in every fuel station nearly)
the 2nd ferry trip took about 4 hrs and left us finally in Norway at about 00:45 on Sunday Morning, we'd already decided to push on for about an hour to clear the city limits of Kristiansand and made good time in the cool night air and clear roads, we ended up finding a clearing beside a small road at about 2am and set up with Bivvy bags and sleep mats went to sleep under the stars !

I got us a little waylaid as soon as we left the ferry as my Zumo had a minor melt down, so Guy led for a while as I let it sort it'self out. I had got a rough route worked out, from knowledge of 4 previous trips in the winter for work, and from scouring the internet for places worth visiting. It was loaded onto both sat navs but was there as a guide only and we were quite up for just taking the road that looked the most fun then sorting things out later....

As Guy said, the roads in Denmark were seriously straight and boring, and with relatively high temperatures it wasn't long before he decided to pull over for a breather.

Quite why he chose a main road layby with no amenities over somewhere more picturesque, or indeed the layby opposite with it's cafe I have no idea.

I think it was just a chance to try out his new stove in anger getting a wet on to be honest.

As my Zumo was playing the game again now I took the lead once more for the run up to Hirtshals on the North Coast of Denmark so we could catch a second ferry over to Norway.

The 200odd miles passed uneventfully, with little to note, or indeed take pictures of. Denmark, whilst a pleasant enough place, isn't exactly noted for its stunning scenery, so some engineering provided what little interest we could find on the way

We soon arrived at Hirtshals, way too early for the ferry (we had the choice of a very relaxed trip up for the ferry we had, or run the risk of jail time busting a gut to get an earlier one. Sanity won) so headed off to fuel up both us and the bikes, so they were good to go as soon as we reached Norway.

We then had a LOT of waiting around at the ferry terminal.

It was more than a tad warm with the sun reflecting back of the tarmac, and despite passing the time chatting to the various nationalities (mainly Norwegians and Brits tho) of biker that turned up it seemed and age before we boarded.

The crossing to Kristiansand was only 4 hours, but as we caught the last ferry of the day it didn't dock until 00:45 Sunday morning. We talked it through whilst waiting and decided after almost 24hrs on the two ferries and the few hours sat waiting for the second one that we would be rested enough to get a couple of hours riding in straight away while the roads were empty, getting us up into the mountains ready for the Sunday's ride.

No pics, cos it was dark.:evil
We made it to the western side of Byglandsfjorden by about half two in the morning.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...429482.48112&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address

We had a choice of 2 man tents or bivvy bags depending on what level of comfort/weather protection we wanted each night. As it was late we just slung the bivvy bags out close to the back road and got our heads down.

Sunday-we awoke to a swarm of Midges which took delight in eating Adam alive... so we hurridly packed and set off very early doors to escape the little bst'ds !
breakfast was partaken an hour later with lovely views accross the valley.
As you ride North thru Norway the scenery changes dramtically, theres LOADS of waterfalls, each one bigger and more spectacular than the last and the valley's and fjords are just so dramatic that words can't describe them.
we had set out to cover around 300 miles a day to keep roughly to our schedule and Sunday eve saw us bang on, and we pulled up at a lovely picnic area to make some food and we ended up stopping there.
we were befriended by a local biker and his family and he insisted on making us some hot dogs on his BBQ as he was cooking for him and his mrs anyway....top people !
the sun was hot and we took the opprtunity to wash some smelly socks and T's and let them dry in the sun !

The sun (if it sets at all) rises early in Norway during the summer, so by half five I was up and about again, and ready for a shower. The closest I could get was a quick skinny dip in Byglandsfjorden tho. A tad chilly but it set me up for the day ahead.
Unfortunately when I returned to the bivvy site I realised it was infested with midges and in the short time it took me to dress I got bitten to hell.
By this stage Guy was stirring so I told him to stay in his bivvy until he was good to go and I would meet him up the road a bit when I was clear of midges, before taking off on the bike....

Guy soon caught me up, and we carried on for a while before stopping for some breakfast in a big car park with plenty of non midge friendly tarmac. :wink:

Not the worst views for breakfast ever, but by far the worst from this trip.


We headed North on the 9 to Haukeligrend http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...420578.67253&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address then NW on the E134, bypassing the tunnels for the most part and taking the far more interesting roads built years beforehand.

The views started off good and got progressively better as the day went on.

It was at this point that we reached the first gravel road on the trip.
In the first video above you see me riding it from Guy's onboard footage as the first clip of action...
It was the white road here:
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...383254.45378&zoom=15&layers=B0000&tab=address
Fantastic if you are ever there....
These pictures are from the bridge we pull up at at the end of that clip.

I thought it best not to check out how solid it was until after we got the bikes across.:wink:

So we got another brew on to calm our nerves.

Unfortunately the next pass over a newer tunnel at Roldalsfjellet
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...373925.53532&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address
was closed when we got there so we had to take the tunnel.

We carried on North, turning onto the 13.
Next stop was for one of many stunning waterfalls.

I don't know what the fall is called, but when we got back to the bikes we realised it is a couple of hundred metres up river from Låtefossen, one of the most famous falls in Norway.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...365034.54411&zoom=14&layers=B0000&tab=address

We carried on up the 13, through Odda and up the west shore of the fjord on the 550.
By this stage it was the middle of the day and getting real sticky with temps of around 33 degrees and a lot of humidity. I was getting tired and well, accidents happen so I pulled over for a rest in some shade at a bus stop, to avoid having one.

Guy, recording this stretch pulled up along side to see what was up.
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Well, like I said, accidents....
Amazing what happens when ya forget you have panniers innit? Yer mate knock ya off.
Pics from the bus stop...

Did I mention I was tired?:wink:

We eventually made it to the ferry over to Kvanndal.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...369221.55583&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address

Bikes normally load first so you can get get away in front of all the traffic. Unfortunately due to a minor faux pas with ordering a couple of burgers not realising when the next one was due we rode on last, with a burger precariously balanced...

From Kvanndal we headed West on the 7, pausing at the stunning Stiendalsfossen waterfall.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...340380.30827&zoom=15&layers=B0000&tab=address

From there we took the 16 to Dale and then turned onto the 569.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...327101.49967&zoom=11&layers=B0000&tab=address
We stopped for another breather overlooking Tyssesundet lake below.

Got to see how far down/deep it is haven't ya? :evil

Whilst we were sat there a female cyclist came past, stopped and turned around to say hello. Turns out she was a brit living out there. Her two younger male friends caught her up while we were sitting chatting.

We carried on North onto the E39, eventually stopping early evening for dinner at a picnic site overlooking a lake at the foot of Strelifjellet.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...315587.21745&zoom=13&layers=B0000&tab=address

We took a fair bit of camping food with us, as we were intending to make use of wild camping as much as possible, and I knew from past experience Norway costs a small fortune to eat (and drink - so we had vodka and brandy with us:evil ) out. We bought fresh bread and milk locally, and had mainly gas station burgers for lunch.
Whilst we were cooking and eating, various well attired families tipped up and had picnics next to us. We realised after a while, us not being at all religious and coming from a country where it is not the norm) that they were on there way home from church (it being a Sunday) and were making the most of the long warm sunny Sundays Norway was having.
After we had eaten and cleared up most people disappeared, and the place quietened down. We dicided not to waste such a great spot and stay the night.


A lone bike turned up. At last someone from my religion! :wink:
The fella riding it was built like a brick shithouse and immaculately groomed. The bike we agreed, was a stunning custom build. Neither of us being particularly into customs it must have been good for us both to notice it...
The fella stayed and chatted for a while, until his family in the car caught up and went off to light the BBQ.
Guy and me chatted for a while and looked over the maps planning the next day's ride.
About 20 minutes later the bloke came back with two of the biggest hot dogs I have seen. He hadn't even cooked their food yet. Top man!

We washed it down with some vodka and after a bath in the stream running past us got our heads down in the midnight sun.:freaky

 

[AdamA]

Monday, saw another early start, on the road for about 7am, breakfast in another garage, more ferry crossings, riding up by Sognenfjord which is just HUGE, the scales involved are just immense !
Another ferry crossing and we made our way up to see a Glacier again the size is hard to comprehend tillyou realise the little black specs on it are people not penguins !
Lunch time saw us climbing up over the "snow road" which thanks to the unusually high temps (30deg C plus) was very open, one thing we hadn't been sure of, again the views were just amazing, like Lord of the Rings but for real !
our evening meal was at a picnic spot over one of the higher fells, which kept the insect life down to some extent !
Then we hit the dirt roads which are a mix of hard pack and gravel, fun to ride on on 300kgs of bike !
We finally found the hytte we were looking for and hired that for the night, again the views were just out of this world.

Getting ready to leave the picnic site on Monday morning.

We took the back road to the next ferry which took in some more hairpin passes.:evil

The views from the top of this pass:
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...316963.11405&zoom=14&layers=B0000&tab=address

We then followed the coast of the massive Sognefjorden to the ferry at Ytre Oppedal.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...314775.61405&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address

I didn't keep track of the daily mileage, we averaged 300-350 tho, with one enforced very long day towards the end, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. Here's Guy's GPS stats on the ferry crossing tho.

I assume that is from his front door....

The route then followed the northern shore of Sognefjorden East on the E39 and 55, heading ultimately for Fossbergom, taking in more and more stunning scenery along the way.

Another ferry came and went.

And then a fantastic detour from Gaupne
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...409111.55155&zoom=10&layers=B0000&tab=address
up the 604 to take a look at the Nigardsbreen glacier.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...406633.52421&zoom=13&layers=B0000&tab=address
The road there was plenty twisty and made for really fun run (it's the road on the first video where I am nearly getting my panniers down :evil ).
The scenery on the way up was great.

but nothing compared to the views of the glacier itself. These pictures do NOT do it justice.

Motorcross boots and warm motorcycling gear prevented us from taking the trip over to the glacier itself. Next time....

We headed back down to the 55 and paused to fill the tanks, and for a burger and ice cream.

Carrying on along the 55 a small water feature caught my eye on the opposite shore.

Then started the climb onto the stunning pass over the high mountains near the Jotunheimen.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...436812.52565&zoom=14&layers=B0000&tab=address

Guy stopped at the top for the obligatory bike in front of huge snow bank shot.

Before joining me at the viewpoint at the top.

Once we crossed the mountains, with day was getting long, we took the 51 south to Fagernes,http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...=995439.75132&zoom=9&layers=0B000&tab=address
pausing to cook dinner on another higher level pass.

At Fagernes we headed East on the start of long a gravel section, heading for the nights accommodation in a Hytte at Lenningen.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...537533.90989&zoom=16&layers=B0000&tab=address

Like I said, it was getting late. We were tired. The above pics were all taken in the same place, whilst I looked on the maps for the Hyttes. It was only when Guy was reviewing his pics when we got back we noticed the signs for the hyttesenter.

We made it to the Hyttes with no mishaps and settled in for a night of showers, vodka and music off Guy's iphone...

We chose the Hytte that night as we had dropped down into the trees. we had found that between the trees and the snow there were few midges, but above the snow line was a little chilly and below the tree line I was getting swarmed.

 

[AdamA]

Tuesday, more tight roads, mixed with gravel, mountian passes, hairpins, hairpins on gravel, and as we made our way north to Trondhiem we could see an immense thunderstorm in the distance, I stopped to put my water proof liners in my riding gear and it proved to be a good move as 5 miles later the heavens opened, just as we hit another dirt section....it's fair to say that we were filthy by the end of it
At a coffee stop we decided that we would look for a hotel in Trondhiem to avoid the weather and set off looking for one.
I pitched up in the reception looking like a Paris-Dakar reject covered in grey filth from head to foot, they never even batted an eye !
the only slight hiccup being that it took 3 goes for the bloke to undertand the difference between "twin " room" and double1 , Adam nearly had to sleep on the floor !
Trondheim is a funny mix of very modern glass and stainless buildings cheek by jowel with proper old world Norwegian buildings, once we found the town proper it was a very intersting place to walk about.

We left the Hytte bright and breezy after a good night's kip in beds.

There was lots of gravel roads today, and more high level views.
I'd been a tad cautious on the gravel the previous night. I only started trail riding three years ago, and TBH at 5'8" the GSA felt a bit of a handfull on the loose.
Chatting to Guy (a far more experienced trail rider) over a vodka or three at the Hytte tho saw me following his advice this morning. "Just ride it like you do your WR250!"
Suffice to say the pace was considerably higher.:evil

We skirted Lillehammer, and as we were enjoying the gravel stuck to the back roads paralleling the E6 North to Valebrua
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...573798.55833&zoom=10&layers=B0000&tab=address
We then headed NorthEast over Ringebufjellet towards Atna
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...573798.55833&zoom=10&layers=B0000&tab=address

Not many pics on the gravel for some reason.....

As we continued North towards Trondheim the scenery got greener as we dropped to a lower level for the most part. The roads also got bigger and straighter for a while, giving Guy a chance to practice his on the fly shots...

We then took the 219, 27, 29 up to the E6 to Oppdal and Berkak
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...549435.05535&zoom=10&layers=B0000&tab=address
We stopped here (somewhere) on route for a fill of the tanks and the bellies...

For the most parts the roads were bigger on this section, and we had to watch our speed around the more built up areas. Norway has very strict and very costly speeding laws. Out on the open road it was never an issue (we only saw a couple of police vans the entire trip) but it pays to be cautious near the towns.
If I am honest I found this stretch a little boring (it was pleasant enough, just not the stunning scenery we had been subjected to in the mountains). I don't like main roads, but we wanted to get to Trondheim and needs must. As such I didn't take many photos, so the next batch are all Guy's.

Somewhere near Berkak we turned off onto more gravel and tarmac back roads. It was between here and Trondheim that we got caught in a BIG downpour, which turned out to be out only rain of the trip.
Not too many pics from this section, as we were head down going for it trying to get avoid/get out of the rain.:evil

We eventually got to Trondheim and found a hotel in the city centre. Guy went in to see if they had any room while I waited out with the bikes.
And waited. And waited. And waited....

I was roasting in the mid afternoon sun and getting more than a tad irate tbh, and when Guy eventually reappeared the first word he uttered was simply "don't" as he knew I would be fuming.

Turns out something was lost in the translation and it took three attempts to get a "twin" room with two single beds rather than a "double" room with one bed for two. Now I'm a squaddie and will sleep anywhere with anyone, but apparently Guy wasn't up for it.:lol3

Not that our "twin" noticeably had 2 beds mind.:evil

Mr's Funners assures me he will never bridge a three inch gap tho. :wink:

After a quick shower each, where I noticed the results of the midge attack on the first night:

We headed out for a wander around the older part of Trondheim.

We took loads of pics of the various styles of buildings and the old docks. I will just stick em up for the most part as I don't know what half of them are...

Apparently this is a camera obscura....

It was at this point we realised that we were a tad starving, and it was getting late, so we found a Pizza Restaurant (Pepe's Pizzas a few pics back) on the riverside. We ended up with two garlic bread, two large Pizzas and two cokes, and it cost £63.1
Here's Guy looking at the bill.

Mine was shit too.:cry

After we'd eaten we wound our way back through more of the old city to the hotel.

We came to the Catherdral.

Like I said, i don't do religion, but I like gargoyles so did a lot of this.:evil

And with that, we hit the hotel....

 

[AdamA]

Wednesday not quite so early a start, and we headed towards Kristiansund, Alesund and the Altlantic coast, where yet another type of terrain, much more rolling and the mist coming in over the sea, gracefull arching, curving bridges and over all to quickly really, worth the effort of going tho !
Next was "Trollstigen" a sinuous piece of tarmac draped over a rocky hillside and a roaring tourist trade at the top !, again, more impressive than words can convey, even photos don't do the place justice it was that good we had to ride back down and do it all again !
Next, Geraingerfjord which was breathtaking, very pretty and stunning scenery.
That night we "wild camped" just down from a frozen glacial lake at around 740 meters altitude(2428 feet), a nice camp fire, tea made and off to sleep again in Bivvy bags under the stars....well, twilight anyway, we were now so far North that it didn't really get dark at all just a kind of twilight around 2 am before the sun came back up again !

This was a day I was REALLY looking forward to. The Atlantic Road, Trollstigen Pass, Geiranger and wild camping. What more could anyone want?

It took us a while to get going in the morning. There was no rush tho, we would get to where we got...
The bikes on the pavement outside the hotel (with a couple that had also stayed the night there) after retrieving them from the secure underground parking a block away.

From Trondheim we took the 704 and E39 to Buvika, then dropped onto the old coast road for a while, before dropping onto more gravel back roads near Vormstad for the run down to Rindal, Surndal and the ferry across Halsafjorden. The main E39 to the ferry was closed, but we were happy on the back roads anyhow.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...1023057.35585&zoom=9&layers=0B000&tab=address

We paused for bacon butties, but my shite pizza from the night before was, well, shite.:huh so Guy ate by himself.

As we approached the ferry this fella was skiing along the road.

He was a fair way out (couple of miles) and whilst we were there he must have done a good ten miles back and forth. Nutter...

Once on the other shore we headed to Kristiansund, to catch another ferry across Bremnesfjorden. They are building a tunnel across, but despite what the latest Zumo mapping says, it's not ready yet!
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...447980.61312&zoom=11&layers=B0000&tab=address

We filled up in Kristiansund, and I felt up to some food by then.

Then headed down to the ferry across to Kjerkvagen.

Unfortunately when we got to the Atlantic Road it was shrouded in sea fog, so despite still being a fun ride, it was far from at it's most spectacular hence there's not any photos (there's some video footage floating about tho so I will get that up later). Oh well, next time...

If you aren't aware of what it is, it's basically a series of bridges between small islands linking up part of the coast.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...416988.18147&zoom=13&layers=B0000&tab=address
Without it the drive around on the mainland takes ages, whereas the Atlantic road is a stunning twenty mins in good weather. A search of You tube will show some decent videos of it.


From there we turned inland for the start of the long run back south for the second half of the trip. We followed the 64 down to Andalsnes.

From Andalsnes we turned onto the 63 to ride the most excellent Trollstigen (Trolls ladder) Pass.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...431655.53987&zoom=14&layers=B0000&tab=address

What an utterly fantastic place. Racetrack smooth tarmac, glorious hairpin bends and views to die for. Literally if you keep an eye on them too long.:evil
A definite highlight of the trip, if not quite my favourite....

From Trollstigen we carried on South on the excellent 63 towards Geiranger.

We snuck down the old road past a tunnel just North of Geiranger.:evil

Before dropping into the stunning Geirangerfjord.

From Geiranger we carried on South East past the shore of Breiddalsvatnet, before turning onto the 258.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...417316.36746&zoom=11&layers=B0000&tab=address

The road here turned to gravel for the long climb up onto Strynfjellet, and what a fantastic road it was. The sun was in our eyes as it was late and dropping down to the horizon, so as well as a great fun ride up into the cold cold ski area we were looking for somewhere to camp. We found a great looking spot, but after a few moments there it soon became apparent that it was crawling with midges, so we carried on past the ski lift and down the hairpins until we found this magical place.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...on=411296.47&zoom=14&layers=B0000&tab=address

After a feed I took a bath in the stream, Guy wussed on that, and then we settled down for the night by the fire (luckily the spot's previous occupants had left a couple of log) with a a bottle of vodka.:evil

By far my favourite memory of the trip.

 

[AdamA]

It was at this point that we reached the first gravel road on the trip.
In the first video above you see me riding it from Guy's onboard footage as the first clip of action...
It was the white road here:
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...383254.45378&zoom=15&layers=B0000&tab=address
Fantastic if you are ever there....
These pictures are from the bridge we pull up at at the end of that clip.

Here's the full clip of this road. No sound off Guy's setup unfortunately so stick your favourite track on.
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[AdamA]

Thursday
another early start on the road for about 6:30 am, saw us covering lots of ground and we ended up in Voss by dinner time, we had the obligatory Burger from a garage again (cheapest food we could find at £26 for two !) a quick spin round Adam's old haunts before departing to do the Gudvanga Tunnel, not the longest but still 11.4 km long...they are quite chilly inside them !
We went out of our way to do a tunnel that spirals around on itself inside the mountain, quite surreal going round and round inside a tunnel TBH, but fun all the same .
That afternoon saw us climbing yet another pass of hairpins to find another view point on the top, this was a wooden one with a glass plate at the end and looked like a Ski-jump, yet once more the view over the fjord below took your breath away.
We climbed up above the tree line and eventually found our camp spot next to a stream and some snow, the view down over the valley was amazing (I'm going to run out of description before long !!)
This camp site was even higher than the previous one at 1198m or 3930 feet altitude.
again, food, Vodka were the order of the evening and then bed....

The next morning we rose early once more dropped down the valley a little to arrive at the Hotel Videster, with it's 57 rooms that we didn't even know was just out of sight down the hill.
http://www.videseter.com/

http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...409207.62758&zoom=16&layers=B0000&tab=address

Not that we would have stayed there mind, we were happy wild camping. It just wasn't as wild as we thought.
We stopped to take a look at the waterfall alongside the hotel.

From there we dropped down a great set of hairpins onto the 15 to Stryn,
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...395511.74714&zoom=11&layers=B0000&tab=address
then took the 60 and E39 and the 13 south
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...380435.82947&zoom=10&layers=B0000&tab=address
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...380435.82947&zoom=10&layers=B0000&tab=address
towards the ferry at Dragsvik.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...368868.85323&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address

There were not many photos taken on this stretch as we were enjoying the ride too much, and not hanging around....
Somewhere on route tho we saw a large cruise ship in the Fjord...

And I think these photos were taken by Guy on these hairpins tho:
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...367628.05969&zoom=14&layers=B0000&tab=address

Before taking the ferry to Vangsnes

We then continued our way down the 13 via Vikoyri and across Vikafjell (another great ride - sorry no pics) to pick up the E16 to Voss.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...378120.15564&zoom=10&layers=B0000&tab=address

I was really chuffed to be in this area, as my first unit in the Army spent every winter in Norway, staying in and around the Voss area. The Vikafjell was our weekend playground....

We arrived in Voss around lunch time,
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...361039.92493&zoom=13&layers=B0000&tab=address
so stopped at the Park Hotel, an old stomping ground that I thought would be a good spot for lunch.

The ski lift up to Hangur, another weekend haunt.

Unfotunately the Park was dead busy so we decided to have the usual bike/belly fill up at the fuel station...

From Voss we headed due South towards Trappefjellet on a back road, to visit a hostel I spent much of my time in Norway living
at.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...n=363793.526&zoom=11&layers=B0000&tab=address

After a quick blast there and back we headed off to Granvin on the 13
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...=367228.5846&zoom=11&layers=B0000&tab=address
a route I had driven many times in various Army vehicles to and from the port.
It was much more fun on the GSA tho!:evil
Especially the Skjervet hairpins.
From Granvin we took a circular route to Granvin, via a long tunnel and back over the 572.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...381385.38391&zoom=11&layers=B0000&tab=address
before heading back to Voss, pausing for some photos of the Skjervsfossen waterfall.

From Voss we headed back north on the E16, to the shores of the Oppheimsvatnet, and the Oppheim Hotel.

16 years previously the scene here looked slightly different for me:

It was slightly warmer on the bike.:wink:

We carried on up the E16 for a few miles, before turning off for the Stalheim Hotel.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...374406.31897&zoom=15&layers=B0000&tab=address

I had been here a few times before and approaching it from the North had seen a view similar to this:

Imagine there being less trees so clearer views of the road snaking up the hillside, and a lot more snow...:evil

I had seen these hairpins many times during the early 90s and always wanted to try the old road, but it is closed during the winter.
It didn't disappoint this summer tho!

This road is the REALLY twisty downhill section towards the end of the second video in my first post. It's one way so you can go as fast as you dare.:evil

We continued along the E16 to Gudvangen, where we stopped for a breather at the end of the Fjord.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...379123.11585&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address

From Gudvangen we carried on along the E16 through the three tunnels to Aurlandsvangen.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...393529.85413&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address

The temp outside the tunnels was a very sweaty 35degrees. In the tunnels it plummeted to around 15 degrees.1
We might have somewhat exceeded the speed limit to get through them and back into the sunlight.:lol3

We took a small detour South East on the 50 to visit this pass:
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...408092.53723&zoom=15&layers=B0000&tab=address
purely cos the shape on the map intrigued.
Basically it zig zags its way up the mountain mostly INSIDE it, in quite narrow tunnels (hence the traffic lights at the bottom). It was quite a laugh and had some nice views from the top.

On the way there we had gone through this tunnel:
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...407402.53479&zoom=15&layers=B0000&tab=address
and I had noticed the old road running around the shore. I doubt it was legal but we rode it back anyhow.:evil
No pics, but its the last gravel road at the end of the second video in the first post. Fantastic fun with a fairly abrupt drop down to the water on the left hand side and loose gravel to play on through the numerous tunnels. Highly recommended, legal or not.

Back at Aurlandsvangen we chose to bypass the ridiculously long Laerdal tunnel (26KM?) and take the most excellent "Snow Road" over the top instead. Top choice!
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...412418.40393&zoom=11&layers=B0000&tab=address

The first climb and views from it...

At the top of the first set of hairpins an amazing wooden viewpoint has been built.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...402780.26612&zoom=13&layers=B0000&tab=address
This is it from the town below:

And from the road near it:

and the views from it:

We carried on up and over the amazing "Snow Road" towards Laerdal.

It was getting fairly late afternoon now, and as this was wild country, we started to look for a good spot for the night, again between snow and tree lines.

Here I am pulling over cos I think I may have found the right spot.

Yeah, this should do.:wink:
It's pretty high mind:

http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...410015.67871&zoom=14&layers=B0000&tab=address

We pull the bikes onto the grass and set up camp for the night.
As we are only JUST below the snow line, we take the opportunity for a little play in the white stuff too....

Another FANTASTIC spot to spend the night.

 

[AdamA]

We carried on up the E16 for a few miles, before turning off for the Stalheim Hotel.

I had seen these hairpins many times during the early 90s and always wanted to try the old road, but it is closed during the winter.
It didn't disappoint this summer tho!
This road is the REALLY twisty downhill section towards the end of the second video in my first post. It's one way so you can go as fast as you dare.:evil

I just remembered I had put this one up as a separate clip.
It's another I need to reload as YT squashed the picture, but you get the idea:
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/llc1ZbWDtlA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/llc1ZbWDtlA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

 

[AdamA]

Friday early again, down thru the hills to some lovely flowing roads.
we climbed yet another pass and as we reached the summit I slowed to take a picture of the lake with the sun glinting off it, speeding up again, I saw one of the many sheep on the right side of the road now they are usually quite docile and dont seem bothered by the traffic but we'd been giving them a wide berth as a matter of course, I slowed and moved to the centre of the road and the bloody thing suddeny bolted and set off accross the road right under my front wheel !
I hit the brakes hard and swerved left to avoid it but to no avail, I hit it quite hard at about 40 mph, I was convinced from the impact that not only would I be on the floor but that the bike would be fooked as well, so I was a little surprised to find me not only still on board but still rolling as well...
I pulled up in a parking place to check the bike which seemd fine with not even a mark to show for it, so I wandered back up the road to check the sheep which hadn't fared as well....the poor bugger couldn't move, at that point a car pulled up and a nice Norwegian couple got out, checked I was OK, then started looking at the sheep, they made a few phone calls to the farmer to let hime know, moved the sheep to the shade as he wasn't sure if it would survive or not
they were very pragmatic about it and helped me sort it all out.
ARSE BISCUITS ! not a good start to the day !
Another check of the bike and I was on my way, stoped for a coffee at the next garage and had some brekky as well....chocolate croissant for the shock !
Our objective for fri was to end up at Lysebotn to give us a ride up the pass and an easy ride to Kristiansand for the ferry on Sat eve, so having plenty of time we stopped off at Voringfoss which is quite a big waterfall with a HEOOOGE drop off....and no guard rails !
More passes, more twisty roads and everything according to plan....
we ended up in Songesand half way down Lysefjord with aview to catching the ferry to Lysebotn....

Friday morning saw me rise early, and after realising my helmet camera had gone flat for the run over the snow road, I left Funners to pack up his tent and had a quick blast back over the Aurland and back to get some footage on fresh batteries.
When I arrived at the Fjord I noticed a cruise ship steaming in.

Turns out it's the same one we saw before in another Fjord...


When I arrived back Guy finished packing his bike

then joined me on the road and we headed down to Laerdal to pick up the E16 East then the 52 South East to Gol
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...447327.76081&zoom=10&layers=B0000&tab=address
Before turning first West on the 7 and then south on the 13 back to Odda.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...=872847.53305&zoom=9&layers=0B000&tab=address

I think it was somewhere on this stretch near Eldrevatnet that Guy's sheep interface happened.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...453552.41754&zoom=13&layers=B0000&tab=address

We weren't always riding right with each other, as we both had the route, so if one stopped for a photo generally the other would carry on and catch up further down the road.
Only this time I got all the way to Tuv and he still hadn't caught up.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...474051.68511&zoom=13&layers=B0000&tab=address
I hung around for a while and was just turning around to go find him when he eventually turned up, so we stopped for a good breather at Helmsdal before cracking on....

This was another stop for some shade. Things felt SERIOUSLY hot and humid at times. NOT the Norway we were expecting. Not that we minded.

On the way we paused at the huge Dam at Sysenvatnet.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...=412092.4566&zoom=13&layers=B0000&tab=address

Our next stop was at the simply stunning drop of Voringfossen falls.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...403509.08258&zoom=14&layers=B0000&tab=address

I'm sure I meant to take a photo of the old woman in traditional dress.:evil

We dropped down to Simadalsfjorden where we stopped again for a fill of fuel and burgers.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...396760.73052&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address

From there we ran back down the 13 then E134 through Odda towards Roldal.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...n=743001.4896&zoom=9&layers=0B000&tab=address

When we reached the tunnels under Roldalsfjellet I realised as we came out of the first one to cross Gorsvatnet
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...370964.92309&zoom=15&layers=B0000&tab=address
that the pass over Roldalsfjellet that had been closed earlier in the week was now open, so once through the tunnels we had a couple of runs over it, as it turned out to be one of the best roads on the trip. I'm so glad that fate let us ride it on the way back south. A definite highlight.

This is taken from the pass, looking back at the main road where I noticed the pass was open as a car was driving up the hairpins.

From the southern end of Roldalsfjellet we took the 520 South West to Sauda.
My god what a road! I found out about this road from this website:
http://www.roadmc.com/default.asp?pub=0&sub=6&labb=US
If you click on the Norway button, then the Sauda-Rolldal 2002 you will see a video they made of it. It does the road no justice whatsoever.
It's not often a road leaves me worn out at the end, but this is one of the few. There was just no let up from end to end. Corner after corner after corner. Fantastic.

Not surprisingly there are no pics from that stretch.:evil

We paused at Sauda to top up the tanks, and I gave guy something to do by spreading the contents of my wallet over the main road as I pulled off with my wallet sat ON the pannier instead if IN the pannier.
After he had scooped it up and caught me up 1/4 mile down the road (what do you mean I need to look in my mirrors? :dunno ) we headed South to the ferry across to Sand.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...343437.45727&zoom=14&layers=B0000&tab=address

Sand looked stunning in the afternoon sun on the opposite shore.

From Sand we headed first East on the 13 then South on a back road across some more fine hairpins. We didn't stop much on this stretch, or indeed take many photos as we were keen to make Lysefjorden before the end of the afternoon, to enable us to make the ferry back to Denmark the next day.
It was the one real deadline we had to meet on the trip.

We picked up the 13 once more, heading south past Ardal
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...340176.50146&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address
after which we turned off on the back road SE to the North shore of Lysefjorden at Songesand, to catch the ferry to Lysebotn.

Unfortunately......

only to find that the ferry only caled in every thrid Wed of a new moon when the sky was green !
Ahhh the best laid plans etc...we looked at taking the bikes over dirt tracks to Lysebotn, but decided it was too risky so we decided to go to the main ferry port at Forsand to see what times the ferry ran from there...

I'm glad we did as the route we looked at on the map I have researched since we got back and, well, it doesn't actually seem to exist.1
So we belted back up the the 13, then down to Forsand.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...333858.06579&zoom=12&layers=B0000&tab=address
Across the huge bridge over Lysefjorden

50 miles later we pulled in to find it was no better...the ferry [the next day] got into Lysbottn at 14.25 only 2hrs before we needed to be in Kristiansand and 120 miles away over twisting single track roads...
plan 2 involved getting yet another ferry, to Sandness a night in a hotel then early start to ride accross country to Lysbotn early doors before heading down country for the ferry back to Denmark.

So there we were, at the mouth of Lysefjorden at about 22:30 by now on a Friday night, after having already ridden 400+ miles of mega twisty roads, too late to start knocking on peoples doors for a Hytte and feeling more than ready for a bed for the night. So we weighed up our options and blasted back across the bridge to the ferry at Oanes over to Lauvvika. we asked one of the guys on the ferry and he confirmed our new plan to head to Sandnes and find a hotel was probably the best option to find a bed this late.
So once the ferry touched the slip we blasted off into the night (it had actually got dark for a change) for a manic run to Sandnes to find a hotel.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...345079.68445&zoom=10&layers=B0000&tab=address

The hotel we found was The Smarthotel, Forus http://www.smarthotel.no/?s=360&pos=0
Note on the website it says "It's FANTASTICALLY SIMPLE to book a room!".:rofl
I think it took us the best part of half an hour to a) book and pay for the rooms online in the lobby b)use the reservation number to print off key cards and c) find and gain access to the underground car park behind the hotel.

Suffice to say two not so happy campers crawled into their separate rooms that night, and went out quicker than their lights upon head hitting pillow....

 

[AdamA]

[Saturday.]This time it went to plan and after a good nights sleep in Sandness we departed for Lysebotn,
We arrived at the precariously perched Eagles nest cafe at the top of the pass to find it closed....with no idea when it would open....Hmmnnn I see a theme here..
so we headed down the drop into the town itself, a very pretty place with an excellent cafe at the campsite, Bacon, eggs, a warm baguette and coffe for £10....each !
after food we set off for Kristiansand and made the ferry easily,
an easy crossing saw us back in Denmark for 9pm, we found a campsite and got sorted for the night.

It really was an appreciated night in a Hotel to be honest. Friday had been a LOOOOOOOOOONG day. But a surprisingly enjoyable one. The extra pressure added a certain something....
So Saturday saw us once more rise dead early and get on the (almost empty) road to Lysebotn.

For anyone who isn't aware of the place, or why we were heading there, just take a look at the map.:evil
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...365649.44763&zoom=14&layers=B0000&tab=address

The vies from the top at the eagles Nest were absolutely Stunning. Just a shame it was shut cos I was starving having been up a couple of hours and not yet eaten...

The run down to the town below was as fantastic as I had hoped.
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As was the breakfast when we got there.

And the views at the end of the Fjord.

After breakfast we took a short trip up the opposite side of the valley to see if we could get anywhere near high enough for this kind of view:

The closest we could get was:

We headed back up the pass (Lysebotn is pretty much the end of a dead end road) and continued West to the 9.
http://www.gulesider.no/kart/?spraa...389575.22888&zoom=10&layers=B0000&tab=address

We then followed the 9 all the way south to Kristiansand and the ferry.

I'm normally one for ATGATT, but you may have noticed a couple of shots with me not wearing gloves during the report (they were on the pass that was closed on the way North). Other than that I had kept fully kitted up the whole trip just the same as I always do. However as we dropped further south and down to lower altitudes things got hotter and hotter.
I had been running with my cuffs open as wide as they go, collar wide open and MX gloves instead of road gloves in an attempt to keep cool, but it just didn't work, partly because the GSA screen does such a good job of keeping me out of the elements.
When we reached the main road south and left the twisty mountain roads I felt comfort and staying alert in the heat was more important than the protection my lined Rukka offered, so I strapped it to my bike and changed into a pair of combats and a thin (non windproof) fleece. Much better.:wink:

We bimbled back to Kristiansand uneventfully at around the speed limit as things got more built up. We had quite a wait in the midday sun at the ferry terminal before eventually boarding and leaving Norway behind.
Farewell good friend, it had been a blast.:cry


The ferry, as you might have heard be say in the video, was more like a floating shopping centre than a boat. The shop is tax free and well frequented by Norwegians after a bargain. The trip is four hours so many people spend the weekend in Denmark and pic up some cheap booze on the way back home.
Four hours is plenty of time to wind your mate up tho.:evil

We soon reached Hirtshals once more and got down to the lower decks to retrieve the bikes.

Once through customs (the queue took longer than clearing it) we nipped down the coast to this camp site:
http://www.tornbystrand.dk/default.asp?lanGuid=3
It was the only proper camp site we used, and quite a good one it seemed. We ended up next to an Australian couple IIRC. There's a small haze of vodka clouding my memory....:evil

See I DID take a tent.

 

[AdamA]

[SundayWe only had 230 miles to do and all day to do it so we elected to follow the coast down to Esbjerg, called in at the lighthouse buried in the sandunes, managed a ferry ride with the wildest pilot yet....he slammed into the quayside so hard Adam nearly went straight over and it was only because I was jammed against the side of the boat that I didn't !
Finally we made the ferry port, booked in, boarded and set off for England

As we had plenty of time to make the 230 miles to catch the ferry at Esbrerg we decided to follow the coast rather than take the same boring direct route we had ridden up a week before.

The one place I knew of and wanted to visit on the way was the Rubjerg Knude Lighthouse just a few miles down from the campsite.
Built in 1900 it is slowly being reclaimed by the sand dunes.
I'm not sure when this pic was taken, but it looks a little different today:

The car park was fun on a fully laden GSA.1
Soft fine sand isn't the best on most bikes mind....

As you can see Guy gave up before the top of the dune (can't blame him, it was hard work in my Lowa Mountain. MX boots must have been proper hard work.
It was a great place tho, and I think the top of the dune is possibly the highest place in Denmark.

We carried on down the coast, including taking the fun ferry across to Thyborøn.
After a week of many ferry crossings I had had a few close moments. Being short of leg (29") a GSA on a moving platform is a bit of a handful for me, but I managed. How the hell I stayed upright as this one slammed into the jetty I do not know tho.:huh

We made it down to Ebjerg with nothing further to note, and soon loaded on to one last ferry.
We found out Grolsh was marginally cheaper than the Calrsberg for the return leg, so that made us a bit happier.:freaky

I was actually being subtle over his shoulder, but what the hell..:evil

[Monday]we landed in Harwich at Midday and I was home by about 4pm.
seemd strange riding on the left again !
So...after nearly 12 months of planning routes, sorting out kit etc it's over, seems surreal somehow,
I'm also now looking forward to the next one.
Norway, the land of Fjords, hairpin passes and waterfalls, well worth a visit !

We pretty much blasted back on the motorway when we got back to Blighty.
We said our farewells outside Colchester as we reached the A12 and set off our separate ways.

I assume this is Guy's final mileage:

Just under 3500 miles of great roads, great views and great company.
Thanks for the memories Guy. :beer

Best I get planning the next one huh?

 

[AdamA]

Some bonus pics off Guy's iPhone:

And of course if you get proper bored over the winter you can take a look at the full footage from my helmet cam:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=486953

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Wow, what an epic ride report, thanks for taking the time to do that.

My girlfriend is about to start learning to ride a bike and one of our intentions in a year or two is to tour Norway together, this will be a great resource when we come to plan that trip, and quite the inspiration in the mean time.

Cheers,

Justin.

 

[Bengaz]

Nice report.
Wow, it sounds very costly over there.

 

[AdamA]

Wow, it sounds very costly over there.

To be honest it's not THAT expensive.
Alcohol is a major expense, but taking your own spirits means it's cheap and also it makes friends (should you stop anywhere with more people than sheep unlike us) and can also be used as currency in the event of needing a hand from locals. Next comes food. It is ridiculously expensive if you eat out, but not as bad if you self cater from supermarkets.
We took our own food for the evening mountain top camps, and topped that up with fresh milk/bread etc.
The rest of the time it was a a fuel stop pastry for breakfast and burger for lunch which raged from 10 to 15 quid which isn't cheap, but they were usually massive tbh.

Petrol was costing me roughly £38 a tank rather than £33.

Accommodation ranged from free wild camping to £25 each for a Hytte, and £50 each for a room in a hotel.
Ferries were the major cost of the trip:
Harwich to Denmark was a little over £700 return for 2 blokes 2 bikes in a 2 man cabin and breakfast and two dinners.
Denmark to Norway was a little over £400 for the two of us return.
Then we probably went on 10 ferries accross fjords which were all around £9 for the two of us. So a little under £600 each in ferries.


I had set aside £1400 for the trip (including a contingency for getting nicked speeding) after the ferries were paid for, so I was pleasantly surprised to find £800 still in the account when I returend home.

So thats about 1200 it cost me for 10 days....
£120 for fuel food and accommodation isn't much/any more than I would expect to pay on a 10 day touring trip in the UK tbh, and that doesn't require costly ferries to get there and back.
If you are happy camping or Hytting then there's no reason it can't be done on the cheap.

 

[Bengaz]

Thanks for that. I guess a spare pannier full of selected grub (and booze) must really keep the cost down.
Did you take a trowell

 

[Bengaz]

Just had another thought. Would it be cheaper to go North shields to Bergen directly?
5 minutes to the ferry terminal for me

 

[AdamA]

Thanks for that. I guess a spare pannier full of selected grub (and booze) must really keep the cost down.
Did you take a trowell

No, there's loads of places to stop and do the business during the day, and many of the picnic spots have toilets such as the one we camped at the first night.

Just had another thought. Would it be cheaper to go North shields to Bergen directly?
5 minutes to the ferry terminal for me

It would indeed, and would have been the route of choice were it not for the fact that DFDS closed the route 12 months ago, leaving just the choice of the route we took or Dover-Calais (or similar) and ride all the way up.*

We chose the longer ferry as when you factor in fuel costs and the fact we wouldn't have managed the whole trip on one set of tyres then it didn't work out any more expensive and saved the boredom of Northern Europe's motorway network.

*= There is a possibility of a freight crossing from Newcastle still, but they just squeeze you on as and when they can with no guarantees of getting the crossing you pay for, and not much in the way of facilities onboard.

 

[Bengaz]

No, there's loads of places to stop and do the business during the day, and many of the picnic spots have toilets such as the one we camped at the first night.

It would indeed, and would have been the route of choice were it not for the fact that DFDS closed the route 12 months ago, leaving just the choice of the route we took or Dover-Calais (or similar) and ride all the way up.*

We chose the longer ferry as when you factor in fuel costs and the fact we wouldn't have managed the whole trip on one set of tyres then it didn't work out any more expensive and saved the boredom of Northern Europe's motorway network.

*= There is a possibility of a freight crossing from Newcastle still, but they just squeeze you on as and when they can with no guarantees of getting the crossing you pay for, and not much in the way of facilities onboard.

Shows how much time I spend by the river lol.