Norway (all)

I undertook a short tour in Norway in the summer of 2011, beginning in Lillehammer. The page describes the four days of touring, providing maps and photographs of the area. Riding in the Jotunheimen mountain range was particularly spectacular. For those interested in great climbs which are a bit off the beaten track, this is an excellent choice. I've also provided some information on getting around and the hotels and restaurants I used. I would highly recommend the trip, although I may have felt differently had it rained

Fahrradtour durch Norwegen und Schweden von Trondheim nach Oslo 2007-07-18 - 2007-08-06

Fahrradtour durch Norwegen und Schweden von Årnes bei Oslo nach Trondheim 2008-07-12 - 2008-08-10

Fahrradtour entlang der norwegischen Küste und durch das Fjordland von Bodø nach Bergen

At the border between Norway and Russia is a hamlet called Grense Jakobselv. In the late summer and early autumn of 2010 I rode to this place, and back again. All around the Scandinavian Peninsula, in some 6 1/2 weeks.

Excerpt from Day 25: Græsli to Røroswildlife.

We noticed some curious things about reindeer. Firstly although there was nothing to stop the reindeer from walking off the road and onto the tundra it chose to stay on the road. As it moved along the road its legs looked like (Damae's term) egg beaters all flailing in different directions. It looked like an unfeasibly ungainly animal that was testing the limits of Darwin's theory. However, even more suprisingly, once it finally found its way to the rough undulating tundra it moved with astonishing ease and grace. The head and body just seemed to glide across the landscape on top of those big hooves.

National Cycle Route 9 was an unknown quantity for us in 2008. There were no travelogues to be found of the whole route, nor any guide books. Armed with some home made maps we set off, boldly, from Trondheim. It was another route of contrasts, from the majestic to the banal with some surprises along the way, including a long ferry down Lake Femund.

The travelogue contains the story of each day's cycle with pictures and videos, a gallery, route and map information and trip statistics.

Excerpt from Day 12: Florø to Barmen - getting going

All was quiet when we awoke. There was no sign of the Polish tradesmen nor their vans and we hadn't heard them leave. The sun was shining and the tent covered in dew. It was going to be another lovely day. It was also just a little exciting to be back to the coast of Norway and a part of it we'd not been to yet. We realised too that now we were following the coast our rate of progress would be determined not just by how much energy we had. For instead of following river valleys we were now cutting across the ends of fjords and hopping from island to peninsula and back which meant we would be at the mercy of ferry timetables.

The coast route, part of which forms the NSCR in Southern Norway, carries on past Bergen. We chose to follow it up to Trondheim and were treated each day to beautiful scenery, skies and some special places. Not to mention some challenging cycling.

The travelogue contains the story of each day's cycle with pictures and videos, a gallery, route and map information and trip statistics.

Excerpt from Day 5: Haukeli to Røldal - going over Vågslid tunnel.

Looking at the old road we briefly entertained the idea of staying on the main road and cycling through the tunnel. The old road in contrast climbed sharply so it was tempting to take the main road. However we were following the route 3 so it was now time for a real challenge.

After packing in and gathering our energies that is exactly what we got. The further we climbed the more our muscles protested, our heart rates soared and the sound of the main road waned until it was no longer to be heard. It was the challenge of being a cyclist once more, alone in a landscape just you and the hill: the sound of your breath, the wind and the noise of the bike underneath you.

National Cycle Route 3 is a challenging and rewarding route, with several major climbs and varied landscape. We followed it to Førde where we headed out to Florø on the coast to start part two of the trip.

The travelogue contains the story of each day's cycle with pictures, a gallery, route and map information and trip statistics.

I wanted to see the midnight sun... and I saw it :-)

Without forgetting some fantastic landscapes, exhausting roads... and a little rain :-(

In 2008 I spend 3 months cycling the North Sea Cycle Route on a recumbent bike through Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Scotland and the Netherlands.

This is a day-by-day travelogue, with zoomable maps.

Well, I have participated this tour 4 times. [...] It is partly a race. The Norwegian teams are very strong. They do the distance of 540 kilometers in less than 14 hours, which results in an average of round 40 kilometers/hr.

There is a rather 'high' mountain to climb. The Dovrefjell mountain is only round 1.000 meters high. But remember: you start at sea level. And as all the little rivers cross the climb, you got the feeling you do this mountain three times... There is only one receipt to finish the tour: ride your own speed! Feel well. Do not burn out in strong groups. Lillehammer is key station. Only 180 kilometers left to head for Oslo. [...]

Keep in mind: the big teams ride in groups and do not like others to take advantage of the group. I learned quickly, as one of a group rider pushed me out of road. My warning 'if you do it again...', was not heard. He repeated: 'if you quarrel, we are forty, if like to can discuss it with all our tour guys...'. No way! Stay out of teams!

There was a moment when an idea popped up in my head: I should go to the North Cape. Or actually, I acquired the strong inner conviction that I had to go to the North Cape. I could hardly think of something else.

So in spring of 2009 I left my house in Holland, followed the coasts of North sea, Wadden sea and Norwegian sea until that magical northernmost point.

4625 km through amazing landscapes with extreme variation: from the flat countries where it is sometimes hard to tell where land ends and sea begins, to the fjords where granite rises vertically out of the water.

We don't just have our house on our bikes, we also have our two dogs, Jack and Paco, along for the ride. That's 60kg of furry luggage and another 50-60kg of non-furry luggage between the two of us! Needless to say we don't go fast but we do go everywhere, refusing to let our extra load stop us from tackling hills with grades of up to 18%. We have been on the road with our two dogs since July 2008. So far we have covered 17,000 kms and 18 countries in continental Europe.

Travel By Bike is a website about a group of enthusiastic bikers with more than 10 years of travel experience. From Belgium through The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom. Do not forget look at to the page 'pregnant on bike', reading our travel stories and watching the beautiful pictures!

www.velopourvous.com est le site de l'association ``Vélo pour nous, vélo pour vous'', qui à pour but de promouvoir la pratique du vélo.

Entre autres, il raconte les voyages en vélo de ses adhèrents, et pas seulement...

Une grande partie est dédié au voyage de Claudia et Thomas autour d'Europe. Leur but est de faire un inventaire de la culture du vélo en Europe. Des jolis photos et un impressionant carnet de bord vous attend à les découvrir...

From June 16 to August 1 2008, I cycled from Alta to the North-Cape, there I started a 7-week trip through Finland Sweden Denmark Germany Netherlands Belgium and France back to Switzerland.

Day 3 Vilshäred to Kärradal

The day started early. Although the campsite itself was quiet, the road next to it had a surprising amount of traffic. Added to this there was someone racing around in the middle of the night on a moped without a silencer.

At around seven our neighbours decided to start rooting around their car for something vitally important ('oh my God where is my Thermarest inflatable dialysis machine I need it right now' or something similarly life threatening) and by quarter past, it was clear neither of us was going to get any more sleep.

'Oh well' we thought, 'there is always a shower to look forward to'.....Which in retrospect was another of those things you shouldn't say on cycling holidays. For Vilshäred campsite introduced us to peaceful and neutral Sweden's secret weapon: a variation of Chinese water torture known as 'the one kroner shower'.

It was an unforgettable tour of contrasts: from the baking sun in Sweden to the rain and floods in Norway. The gorgeous Swedish coast versus the majesty of the Norwegian fjords and glaciers.

The travelogue contains pictures, videos and trip statistics per day plus some things we have learned from this tour.

Vagabondages autour du monde d'un apprenti voyageur.

Un ou deux ans de voyage au programme pour découvrir l'Europe du Nord, l'Asie et l'Afrique du Nord différemment.

Prochaine étape : la traversée de la Russie en hiver

Vagrancy around the world by a apprentice traveller.

One or two years to discover in a different way north Europe, Asia and north Africa.

Next step : from St Petersburg to Vladivostok during winter time

This is the story of a three-month solo cycle ride around Norway, starting in Bergen, and exploring the Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark counties and a bit of Sweden. The scenic Atlanterhavsvegen (voted one of the world's best road trips) is also described.

Hi everybody, we are 8 students of Udine's University and we will across Europe with a bikecycle. We will start on 08 of August from Nordkapp and after 24 days we will arrive in Lignano Sabbiadoro. We will link the north pole with the Adriatic Sea. Our project is with the Sponsorship of our University. We will meet a lot of students about the University that we will find along our tour. So for more information you can ask at info [at] noborderbiking [dot] com and visit our website www.noborderbiking.com .
[Email address obscured to fool spam trawlers. Ed.]

We enjoyed our first tour of Norway in the fjords, so two years later we went back to see more. For many bicycle tourists Nordkapp, the northernmost road in Europe, is the final destination but because we had limited time we decided to start from Nordkapp and head south. We cycled through Lofoten, along the Coast Route, then through the fjords to finish at Skjernøy, close to the southernmost point of Norway.

The original plan was to cover Scandinavia from Nordkapp to Copenhagen with a long stretch along Sweden's east coast. However, safety concerns resulted in a hastily arranged detour along Finland's west coast.

My memory will be mainly of glorious sunshine and, another pleasant surprise, the wind blowing North to South for a good few days when I needed it (as evidenced by the grim determination on the faces of the cyclists heading the other way.)

Epilogue. ``Why have we come all this way to go cycling in Holland''.

Last year we wondered if we should have done the NSCR in Norway last, after doing all the other sections, seeing the spectacular range of countryside and the beauty of it all. This year's trip has sort of confirmed that we might have been right. That is not to say that there is no beauty in the Danish landscape. There is, and in our opinion the loveliest sections of the Danish NSCR were in the Northern part of the Jutland. As for the rest of the route there were gems to be found every now and again, which made it worth doing.........

.............However when you compare the Danish section of the NSCR to Norway, say the NSCR, Rallarvegen or Numedalsruta, the Danish NSCR falls short in sheer WOW! factor. The Rallarvegen in particular has fantastic scenery and it a great challenge. It is also amusing to be cycling at an altitude higher than the highest point in the UK. The Numedal, although it changes considerably from the higher reaches down to Larvik, is just gorgeous and treasures such as the stave churches complement the beautiful scenery.

Epilogue.

Indelible impressions.

The final irritation on arrival in Schiphol did not diminish the wonderful memories we have of the tour and of Norway. The amazing light and vivid colours of sky and sea, the torrential summer downpours, still stay with me to this day. Not forgetting the range of roads and routes and landscape. I still have flashbacks of places that I did not photograph and have no idea where they were on the route.

We wonder if we should have done the NSCR in Norway last, seeing the spectacular range of countryside and the beauty of it all. I suspect that everything else will be an anti-climax after this. Still we started here with the NSCR and we'd like to go back one day and do it again.

This was our first ever long cycle tour, (and my first attempt at a travelogue). The trip was a wonderful experience for the both of us, and got us hooked on cycle holidays. As well as the travelogue there are picture galleries of the trip, and some information about the bikes and gear we used, plus things we learned about cycling.

The Kystriksveien is a beautiful and unspoilt 670 km route along the RV17 coast road from Steinkjer in Trondelag to Bodø in Nordland, Northern Norway. We cycled along 450 km of the juicy bits (using ferries and a couple of buses for the rest) between 29 July and 13 August 2006. This travelogue describes the route we followed and the accommodation we found en route, with additional notes on web links and maps/guides for the journey. The Kystriksveien is known to just a few touring cyclists who appreciate how quiet and scenic it can be; it isn't a destination that sees a lot of cyclists, even during the high season between June and the second week of August.

At moment Raoul (who has left on 12 May from Civitanova Marche, Italy) on his bicycle is along the road to Kaamanen (Finland) where he is going to stay overnight. In the next two days he will reach Nordkapp!!!!! ;-))

A three week bicycle journey through the south of Norway in the year 2004. It was a round trip from Oslo - to Geilo - Flam - and back to Oslo. An amazing journey in a great Country. A detailed travelogue waits for you.

The cycle tour in 2006 we decided to make within Norway. We had in fact never been to the coastal areas between Trondheim and Bodø before. A lot has been done to promote cycling along this coast line, and the choice was not too difficult to make. The coast of Helgeland, as this area is called, is not as well known as Lofoten, that lies farther to the north, but we had already cycled in Lofoten, so this time we went for Helgeland.

15 giorni per andare dal centro della selvaggia Norvegia alle isole Lofoten, lungo la mitica rv17 con le nostre mountain bike cariche all'estremo.

Un team per la prima volta formato da 6 persone, incontri e avventure tra traghetti e fiordi.

During July and August 2005 we cycled through amazing Norway. Mountains, glaciers, fjords, forests, carribean-style beaches (with cold water :( ...), space and stillness. We cycled from the North Cape down to Oslo via the Lofoten, RV 17 Coastal Route, Trollstigen, Geiranger, RV 55 and Rallarvegen. A lot of pictures, tips and travel stories in Dutch (English translations will soon appear).

In juli en augustus 2005 fietsten we door fantastisch Noorwegen. Bergen, gletsjers, fjorden, bossen, bounty-eiland-strandje (met veel te koud water :( ...), rust en ruimte. We fietsten van de Noordkaap naar Oslo via de Lofoten, RV 17 Kustroute, Trollstigen, Geiranger, RV 55 en Rallervegen. Veel plezier!

In the summer of 2006 I have cycled from Stavanger in Southern Norway to the Nordkapp. It took me 3.260 kilometer along fjords, across islands and over highlands. These pages put together stories, pictures, maps and information about the cycling trip.

If you have two weeks to spare and a young children, the Lofoten and Vesteralen islands are an ideal area for a summer tour - gorgeous scenery, warm weather, white sandy beaches, and 24 hour sunshine. Best of all, the roads are free from traffic and pretty flat in this area since they hug the seashore. Self-catering accomodation in rorbus (fishing huts) is affordable and very memorable. This is the story of our madcap journey above the Arctic Circle in 2005 with two touring bikes and trailer bike, complete with a guide to accomodation on the islands, some tips about places to visit, and a brief list of what to take with you and what to leave behind. The area described is quite popular with touring cyclists but nowhere near as busy as other destinations during the summer holidays, so people are friendlier and there's far more space to relax in - like New Zealand, but only a couple of hours from the UK by air.

Welcome to Jørn's cycling homepage. If you are searching for ride reports from The Great Trial of Strength and the Tour of Jotunheimen and general information about tours in Norway, you have come to the right place. You can also find information and result from the local races in Trondheim. You can also read more about Velocipede (tm), a Windows based training log program for cyclists, and the Rec.Bicycles.* FAQ file. If you are cycling the net, I also have a list of other cycling related sites around the world. Want to know more about my bikes?

In the summer of 1999 I cycled a little over 7000km across Europe, from Nordkapp, at the northern end of Norway, to Calabria, the southernmost region of Italy. It was the best bicycle ride and adventure of my life so far. This is my attempt to share what I saw and felt.

Six days - eight fjords - nine mountains.

Glaciers, waterfalls, white nights, trolls...and 200 great-spirited cycling enthusiasts sharing the Fjordland fairytales.

Radtour Kristiansand - Stord - Bergen - Shetlands - Schottland - England.

Die Nordsee-Radroute macht süchtig! Mir geht es jedenfalls so, nachdem man im letzten Jahr gerade da aufgehört hatte, wo es immer schöner wird. Das war in Kristiansand, etwa an der Südspitze Norwegens. Wie kommt man da am besten wieder hin und von dort aus weiter? Das weiß am besten unser Freund Terje Melheim, der auf der Insel Stord südlich von Bergen gleichsam Schildwache an der Nordseeroute hält, die genau über diese Insel führt. (Mit Turid und Terje stehen wir seit vielen Jahren in E-Mail-Kontakt, außerdem haben wir uns weiland an der Neisse einmal spontan radelnderweise persönlich kennen gelernt). Unvergessen ist auch die Eröffnungstour der Nordseeroute 2001, die im Internet eindrucksvoll dokumentiert ist und mit etlichen Feierlichkeiten (auch auf den Inseln Bømlo und Stord) begangen wurde. Wer hätte gedacht, dass man einmal in diese nördlichen - und wie wir glauben finsteren - Gegenden verschlagen würde, und das auch noch mit einem Besuch bei Turid und Terje verbinden könnte?

Réveil paisible avec le chant des oiseaux, avant d´aborder 2 cols successifs. Pas le temps de chauffer la ``bête'', ca monte dès le premier virage. Après 2 km, je rejoins les italiens qui ont campé dans le jardin d´une maison du village précédent. Au sommet du col (275m), je décide de continuer à mon rythme qui est légèrement plus rapide que le leur.

Passé Hauge, je poursuis par la route de Rekefjord. Elle est splendide mais très sinueuse, le dernier troncon avant de rejoindre la route 44 n´est même pas asphalté. Je reprends des forces sur la place centrale d´Egersund en terminant mon saucisson emmené de Suisse. Egersund est une ville principalement active autour de son port.

Après cette partie montagneuse, je pensais pouvoir continuer tranquillement en longeant la mer du Nord. C´est un peu plus plat, mais un vent violent de face me rend la progression difficile... je ne vois pas le bout de ces longues lignes droites qui n´en finissent plus. Enfin la voilà cette AJ de Vigrestad, que j´ai cherchée durant une demi heure, qui se trouve en fait dans le hameau voisin de Härr. Seule une famille danoise y loge avant d´aller reprendre le ferry à Kristiansand. Je m´y cuisine un excellent riz casimir au Gruyère pour me remettre d´aplomb.

Je suis fatigué après cette journée résumant bien le monde de la petite reine en Norvège : ca monte et ca descend tout le temps et quand c´est plat y a du vent latéral ou de face.

La tappa prevista [Lillehammer - Gjovik] è talmente breve che ce la prendiamo con comodo e tentiamo di visitare Lillehammer, che però non offre un granchè. Così partiamo lungo il percorso che ci indica la nostra cartina, prima lungo la principale e poi lungo stradine secondarie che saliscendono nel bosco, dove ci fermiamo a raccogliere mirtilli. I miei loschi intenti di papparceli a pranzo affogati nel gelato sono bloccati dall'Anto che propone di portarli alla famiglia Servas che ci ospiterà alla sera. A malincuore accetto. Dopo pranzo ci permettiamo addirittura un pisolino a Moelv, dove un ponte ci conduce sull'altra sponda (est) del lago, che seguiamo docilmente fino a Gjovik. Qui la nostra ospitante si rivela una simpaticissima persona, con cui si instaura immediatamente un gran feeling, che rischia di sfociare in amore aperto quando concludiamo la cena con i nostri mirtilli più le sue fragole e una vascona di gelato alla vaniglia. Dopo cena, benchè quasi tramortito dalle tre o quattro porzioni di gelato, riesco a seguire l'Anto, la signora e la figlia in un giro turistico della cittadina, che le nostre due amiche coronano con un bagno in piena digestione in un laghetto artificiale freddino nell'aria fresca della sera. Ma sopravvivono, anzi, sono proprio contente.

It has become some kind of a family tradition to go on a big bicycle tour every summer. But this time we did add some enhancements to our usual plans. Bernhard had already been cycling on our previous tour, when we toured Gotland in the year 2001. But this was in a way the first time with slightly longer daily distances and in areas that could not be called totally flat. Our popular starting point of earlier years in Gothenburg was replaced by Oslo for this tour. This was worth a try, because it brought us closer to the areas we intended to visit and it gave us the opportunity to see different places as soon as the tour started. The clear disadvantage of Oslo is that it is kind of tough to find a legal and good way out of the city, especially when traveling to the east, as we did. And it adds a slightly longer and more expensive ferry trip from Kiel to Oslo. But on the other hand, after having done the ugly traffic of the Oslo area on the first day, things should get nicer at least from the second day onwards and we could see more of Norway.