Norway
Day 5 5th June
Sandefjord to Langesund
 |
| Brevik |
Our first day in Norway started with an
excellent breakfast at the Scandic Park Hotel. Ricky couldn’t believe the
amount and choice of food on offer. There was so much we decided to help out by
sneaking away a couple of sarnies for lunch! We decided to roll out before we
settled into a day of eating! The first ten miles saw us arrive in Larvik where
we had intended to stop for coffee, but it was Sunday and we could find nothing
open. We sat on the harbour wall and relaxed for a while eating some of the supplies
from the panniers.
The first ten miles had been fairly similar to
Sweden with hills not that much different from Yorkshire. The next fifteen
miles said welcome to Norway. We crossed a series of hills that climbed from
sea level to 400 feet, not that it was level once we got up to 400 feet.
Undulating would be the word. Very undulating. Now, sometimes you've always sort of known
something but then in one ghastly moment the truth strikes home. So let me tell
you that Norway is hilly. We spent quite a while going up or coming down.
Sometimes we did some very up or some very down just for a change, but they
don't seem to have got the hang of flat. We dropped down to sea level
from the 400 foot mark at Langangen only to climb straight back up again in
about a mile distance. The gradient was in the teens most of the way and above
20% in parts. The road was a switchback with one novel bit where I looked up to
see a bridge above me which I crossed 50 yards further on. There may not be
many cyclists tackle that particular hill as a lady in a car going down stopped
to offer encouragement.
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| Langesund |
We decided
to head towards Porsgrunn simply in the hope of finding food and we eventually
settled for a supermarket before retracing our steps and heading towards
Langesund. The hills were not as severe in the afternoon and we arrived at
Brevik on a sunny Sunday afternoon to join families enjoying the weather by the
marina. We joined in with ice creams before crossing the bridge that headed
south. This was another sea level to 200 foot climb at a steady 10%+ gradient.
We knew there was a campsite/hostel in Langesund but we lost the route.
The map said go into town on the road by the fjord
which we could see but not get to. Instead we went in on the road we were supposed
to leave on, so we missed the camping site and instead ended up at a hotel more
swish than the Scandic Park. That said, we met Reina, a management consultant,
who had taken time off to ride NSCR and had programmed into his phone every
turn of the route. I was impressed, but he rang the first alarm bell when he
asked what knowledge we had about ferries north of Stavanger.
The evening
was beautiful and we walked out at the back of the hotel to be stunned once
more by the scenery.
This had
been our biggest climbing day to date.
Day 6 6th
June
Langesund to
Risor (almost)
The hotel
provided a very nice breakfast and again we snuck a sandwich out for later. The
young lady in charge of breakfast asked if I was German even though we were
speaking English. Either that says my accent is bad or it underlines how English
is used as a common second language.
Reina joined
us and he mentioned that the ferry from Kragero didn’t run between 11.30 and
14.00 and that he was intending to be there by 11.30 to keep to his schedule.
We were more relaxed and quite happy to get the ferry at 2.00pm. We doubted
that we would cover the ground (about 30 miles) by 11.30 in any event.
So off we
went. Again we were climbing or descending most of the time, and over the
course of the day, we exceeded the ascent gained the day before. Today, for a
change, we had the pleasure of an off road section quite early. This took the up and down concept to a whole new
level. The up was now gut busting. At the top of one climb my heart was
thumping so hard I couldn't talk. And the down was even worse. The surface was
gravel so going up the back wheel was fighting for traction and coming down the
front wheel was slipping sideways. One part going down was so steep they had
put a tarmac surface in but, even then, the anchors were full on to keep the
whole rig stable. So the decision was made to give trails a wide berth where
ever possible.
Again, we passed a garage at about the ten-mile mark so
stopped for coffee. We continued on to Valle, where we had the biggest climb of
the day, through Helle, and arrived at Kragero just after 2.00pm. We got the ferry and we were happily rolling along after disembarking
on the other side when we got talking to a Swedish couple, also cycling (they later turned out
to be Agnetha and Ragnor). They teold us that there was no point in rushing as the next
ferry into Risor had already shut for the day. And so it came to pass. So, it's
Don't Panic; get the maps out - nothing, check the Garmin - not a lot, call
home for an internet search - fruitless. So that night our
hotel was somewhat less salubrious than the previous night where even the bike
shed had chandeliers. This night we are sleeping free of charge on the floor of
a house that is being built, the builder being kind enough to say we can use
it. The most important thing is there was an electricity supply so we could
charge Ricky's batteries.
Our
evening was impressive. We shared a meal with Agnetha and Ragnor (squirty jam, biscuits and chocolate cake) and we sat under a canopy of blue sky and tall trees
listening to the birds. We lacked nothing. There were no houses, no nothing,
just us in a shed in the woods. The word remote was simply not adequate. The
only thing we had to worry about was catching the ferry at 7:45 next morning.
Oh, and maybe bears.......
Day 7 7th June
Risor to Arendal
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| Ferry to Risor |
We were grateful for our sleeping
bags, and, although the floor was hard, we slept tolerably well. That said, we
were both up early, partly because the floor was uncomfortable and partly to be
ready for the ferry. Needless to say, we were there in good time along with
Agnetha and Ragnor. The ferry left at 7.45 prompt and covered the 2 miles to
Risor in quick time. Then it was time for breakfast. We found a bakery selling
bacon and egg sandwiches so we ate before setting off and then spotting a cash
machine. We set off again and Ricky spotted a purse lying on the ground (handed
in at the bakery). We set off again, and, this time, made it out of town.
It then became a day off
saving miles. First of all, we stopped by a road junction for a brief moment
after ten miles or so. There was sign that pointed towards Tvedestrand which
was not the way our route indicated. The signed route was considerably closer
and, we thought, probably much less climbing, so that was the route we took.
When we arrived at Tvedestrand we found a garage selling bratwurst so we ate,
and a sign to Arendal was spotted which again saved miles and, we thought, with
less climbing. So, again, we followed the signs and spent the afternoon on a
cycle path at the side of a main road.
We had originally intended
Arendal as an overnight stop. This was quite a large town, very busy and very
expensive. After checking out a few hotels who were asking in the region of
£200 for one night, Ricky found Tourist Information. They directed us towards a
camping ground a few miles down the road. This proved an absolute winner as we
received a very warm welcome from a lady who was a cyclist herself. And so we
had our first Wendy house of the trip! Very comfortable it was too.
Only a couple of photographs
were taken on this day as we had been away from the coast and had detoured away
from the scenic stuff in favour of making progress.
Day 8 8th June
Arendal to Skottevik
40.8 miles 2,844 ascent
NSCR day 8
We left our Wendy house about 9:00, again
in sunshine, with a stiffish breeze blowing us along. Our first port of call
was Grimstad and then on to Lillesand. At Grimstad we looked for coffee and
found some at a supermarket. Somehow we parted company through one village. We
managed to find each other via telephone calls but then Ricky went 1-0 up in
the falling off the bike stakes.
Arriving at
Lillesand we got sandwiches from the supermarket and we sat by a small grass
area for lunch where we were visited by a class of small children. We were given
a free ice cream each! That was good enough but then Ragnar and Agnetha turned
up. We had decided to press on to Kristiansand by a more direct route. Leaving
Lillesand I levelled the score's 1-1 in the falling off stakes as a kerb
decided to upend me. The afternoon ride was a real mix, sometimes riding by a
busy road and at other times through quiet woodland. At one point Ricky spotted
a sign to Kristiansand and it took us up a quiet meandering woodland track by a
fat running stream; then through some quiet country lanes before finally
delivering us back on to the road we had left, and not that far from where we
had left it at that. Still it was a pleasant ride.
As we
approached Kristiansand we saw signs to a campsite and followed them for our
overnight accommodation at Skottevik. We didn’t want to go into Kristiansand as
we anticipated that it would be expensive. Going to Skottevik was taking us a
little out of our way as it gave us three miles to run back next day. That
said, we had a really nice apartment for the night at a reasonable price, and
the place itself was absolutely stunning.
 |
| Approaching Kristiansand |
Day 9
9th June
Skottevik
to Tredge
We left Skottevik about 9:00.
Our first couple of miles were just running back over the roads we had come
down yesterday afternoon before heading towards Kristiansand. It was a good ten
miles into Kristiansand but the approach into the city was over quite
spectacular bridges. The city centre was quite quaint bring laid out on a
strict grid pattern but trying to keep an eye on the Garmin and watching what
was happening around us kept me busy. It was also
quite a traditional place, being mostly low rise traditional buildings although
there were more modern buildings outside of the centre.
Kristiansand came to a very abrupt end.
We passed a couple of blocks of flats, the road entered woodland and that was
it. The road kept reducing in width, and then it became gravel for a few miles.
At the beginning of the gravel stretch we came to a new climbing centre
(opening at the weekend) and we chatted to the young lady who was running the
place. After that the gravel road started to climb and it finally topped out at
about 450 feet. There was just the small matter of going down the other side.
Now, neither of us had yet got off and pushed the bike up a hill, but we
decided that riding down this one was definitely dangerous so we walked the
bikes down. Although much of this was gravel or, at best, unmade road, it was a
pleasant ride amongst the trees and running alongside lake shores.
Wonder of wonders, at
Tangvall we then came to a flat bit! For a while we were riding through
agricultural land with very little by the way of climbing. Oh bliss! We stopped
to eat sandwiches overlooking the sea before finally setting off again, and of
course normal service was soon restored to a lot of going up and coming down.
We had decided that Mandal
was our target and we knew that there were camping cabins on the way in. In the
event, we didn’t quite make Mandal as we passed some camping cabins by a marina
and we decided to stop for the day.
Fish soup and ice cream for
tea!
Day 10 10th June
Tredge to Lyngdal
The weather continued to be
good but today was much cooler with some cloud cover. In fact, this made it a
bit more comfortable for cycling.
It was
a good day too. We rolled out of Tredge about 9:00 having breakfasted on burnt
bread and squirty jam - such delights! Mandal was not far up the road and I saw
a lovely Bakeri go by. The smell of coffee....... it was not to be. We had a
mix of asphalt roads, then gravel roads and then some hard
compacted surface which provided quite a good ride.
Vigeland was where it all happened. We
rolled down the hill and I think we were both thinking coffee stop. We went
towards some buildings flying flags hoping for a supermarket but there was
nothing. We picked up the route again and there in front of us was ......... a
garage. Now, garages in Norway are all things. This one sold petrol, car stuff,
barbecue equipment, fishing tackle (this is Norway, remember), and fast food!
Did you know that pitta bread in Norway is about the size of a dustbin lid?
What's more, it can be stuffed full of meat and other delicacies (easy on the
green stuff) which these were. Washed down with coffee the feast lasted almost
an hour, but I was surprised when Ricky couldn't manage an ice cream desert!
Eventually
we roll off again intending to follow the E38 easier route but local advice is
to take the coastal route to avoid hills (this may have been irony!). So the
coastal route it was. We were doing the up and down thing and enjoying our
afternoon when suddenly we come across the biggest climb of the trip by a long
way. It topped out at around the 700 feet mark and the gradient up the first
500 feet must have been at about a constant 10%. After 500 feet it continued
upwards but at something like normal for Norway. We gained over 600 feet in
height in less than two miles.
As we
descended the hill we were getting closer to Lyngdal and on the lookout for
somewhere to stay. We stopped to make enquiries at an hotel in Rosfjord
(expensive) but we were redirected towards Kravik Camping just a couple of
miles down the road. Again, the Garmin took us straight there and we had yet
another Wendy house for the night. Again, this was another one of those places
where we had a walk out and found beautiful beaches set in magnificent scenery.
Day
11 11th June
Lyngdal
to Feda
What a day this was. Probably the
toughest day's cycling since going over the Pyrenees (that was another tour).
Ricky thought even tougher than that.
The day started off well enough. We
rolled off about 9:00 but today we were looking to knock off a few miles from
the route proper by going direct to Feda. This was to avoid two long dog legs
that took us on a zig zag course, probably because the E39 (the major road
through the area) was Syklista Verbotten, so we were banished to minor roads
and worse. All of the maps we had told us that the road 551 ran from Lyngdal
towards Feda so that was our selected route.
 |
| Our hosts in the rain |
We found the road number 551 from the map
but this soon ran out of tarmac and turned into an unsurfaced road. Not only
that but it was going up, and then up some more, and then even more. Not only
was it going up but the gradient was horrendous. The hills won. We both ended
up walking the bikes, both uphill and downhill. Walking a fully loaded touring
bike is not an easy option by any means and we both felt the strain of pushing.
Progress became extremely slow. As we struggled along the gravel road, the E39
was dangled in front of us as we came alongside it only to see the no cycling
signs as it disappeared into a tunnel, through the final hill that we had to negotiate
on the bike. And then there was down. This was harder than going up given the
road surface. We were both concerned about having a spill as we were without
doubt miles from anywhere.
Then
we got back onto tarmac but before we could celebrate it started to rain. Not a
shower but proper rain. We sheltered in a barn by the roadside together with a
Dutch gentleman. The farmer came down to talk with us and gave us some good
local information about the route. That saved us a couple of climbs later as we
were advised to stay at the side of the fjord rather than to follow the signed
route. The rain slowed so we set off again, but then it started heavy again. We
pulled off the road to shelter by a garage. After a few minutes the owners
turned up and invited us in for coffee. We stayed and chatted for a while - one
was a Leeds supporter and, behold, it stopped raining! What we didn't realise
at this point was just how high up we were. We were taking a long detour around
a fjord and it was downhill all the way to the end. Then we followed the
shoreline (as advised by the farmer), through a few tunnels and, hey presto, we
were more or less at the campsite where our Wendy house was waiting for us.
Recognising that this hadn’t
been an easy day, we had stopped at a supermarket and bought quite a bit of
food so we feasted on pasta carbonara, dried apricots, biscuits and lots of
coffee as we dried all our stuff in the beautiful evening sunshine. And, yes,
again, we found ourselves in yet another stunning location.
Day 12 12th June
 |
| Flekkefjord |
Feda (Svindland) to Sogndalstrand
We were climbing up hills from leaving
our campsite today. The general pattern for the day was climb to 800+ feet,
descend to sea level and repeat. We had gone through this process once by the
time we reached Flekkefjord where we stopped to look for coffee but we had
forgotten that it was Sunday. We climbed again before descending a series of
hairpin bends into Ana Sira where we ate our cheese sandwiches for lunch, after
a further 10 miles. We repeat the process again climbing to just under 1,000
feet before dropping through hairpins again some six miles later, this time
into Jossingfjord. We sit at the side of the fjord awhile and see a camper van
disappearing into a tunnel high above us on the far side of the water. We
realise with horror that this is the road out for us and so begin yet another climb, this
one seeming to be far steeper than any other as we negotiate hairpins and go
through a series of tunnels. Another rapid descent sees us entering
Sogndalstrand and we see signs to a campsite and that is our overnight stop.
This was a tough day. Most of the
climbing was in the very lowest gear a speed of 3 mph or thereabouts. That
said, descents were very fast in places and I clocked 42 mph coming down one
hill. That speed on a fully laden bike is both cold and scary as the draught
drags the bike all over the road.
So it was a tough climbing day, but the
scenery that we cycled through was even more impressive than everything we had
seen before. This was Norway in its remoteness and in its rocky glory. We also
encountered history in that Jossingfjord had seen significant events during
World War 2 that were recorded on displays as we went along.
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| Climbing out of Jossingfjord |
We also had another first as we rode into
Sogndalstrand. It was Sunday and we thought we may be going hungry as it wasn’t
a big place and finding a supermarket open would have been sufficient for us.
But, we found a restaurant that was open. We decided to have fish & chips
as we’d had a few burger variants over the last few days from garages. In his
excitement, Ricky ordered burgers, so we pretended they were fish & chips
and just enjoyed them anyway. Then it was riding to the campsite up a beautiful
river valley. We were charged 550k for the Wendy house but the owner came to
give us 50k back as his wife told him that he had charged us too much!
We had a lovely evening talking to the owner
and his family and to a German couple who rode in shortly after us. We almost
had celebrity status with the Germans as they didn’t believe our ages!
Day 13 13th June
Sogndal to Ogna
39.2 miles 3,618 ascent
NSCR day 13
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| The fjord with no name |
Our
breakfast cupboard was bare as we hadn’t seen anywhere to buy food the evening
before so it was squirty jam and Rich Tea biscuits on the veranda. We
posed for photographers with our German friends and had a final chat
with our hosts. The ride back into town was flat and we took the signed route
around a bit of a detour. The sun was shining and we expected less climbing so
we were enjoying the ride. All very pleasant it was. Indeed, it stayed that way
for all of the morning as we were mostly rolling along the side of fjords. One
such fjord appeared after just five miles (it’s nameless on the maps) and we
sauntered around it without a care in the world.
Climbing and some gravel roads soon interrupted
the reverie, and hard though this was, we were in beautiful mountain scenery.
We rejoined tarmac roads and rode beside a series of lakes before arriving in
Egersund where a halt for food and coffee was called. Egersund has been our initial
target for the day but we were there in the early afternoon so we decided to
head for Ogna. We had two choices. The first was to follow the signed route,
which was mostly on gravel roads, or to follow the main road (44). Given that
we had already ridden gravel roads earlier that day, and because of our experience
in previous days, we were tending towards following the main road. However,
Ricky had picked up from somewhere that this section of gravel road was flat
and that it was a section that children might ride. Ricky tried to get more
information and, just as we were preparing to depart, a couple of American lads
rolled in. They had ridden down from Stavanger and their view was maybe a
couple of climbs but mainly flat and well worth the effort. So, gravel roads it
was. During all of this conversation I’m looking at the contours on the map and
thinking just how flat is flat
 |
| Gravel road but stunning scenery |
Now, to be fair, the first bit was flat,
it was a disused railway line. Other than that, it was the usual gravel roads
but somehow the road seemed steeper in many parts. We had a few bits of walking
of the bike, both pushing uphill and walking down because the surface was very
loose. It proved quite a tough afternoon, but the scenery was as stunning as
usual and much better than it would have been following the main roads. What
was strange was dropping off the hills as we approached Ogna. Here we came down
a steep gravel road, through some large glasshouses growing flowers and the
hills just turned off. We were in flat agricultural land. It was like crossing
a line. It happened so quickly I’ve had a look at satellite images and they
confirm my memory.
Enquiries
with locals tell us that there is a camping place just out of town near the
railway so, after having some food at the local garage, we set off down the
road. We miss the first camping ground but another comes into view shortly
after where we get the usual, but this time quite large, Wendy house
Day 14 14th June
Ogna to Stavanger
51.6 miles 1,567 ascent
NSCR day 14
NSCR Stavanger ferry
And so to Stavanger. We'd talked several
times about how to get to Bergen from Stavanger, sometimes with others we've
met on the road. What we know is that the ferry to Nedstrand, the one on the NSCR
route proper, is no more. On our maps there is another ferry that would get us
in the right direction but that has also closed. The E39 road appears to be
open to cyclists but there are tunnels which may not be. To move north from
Stavanger can only be done by ferry and, even if we can solve that, we are then
hopping between islands and there are at least two minor ferries that we can find nothing about. We talk about going to
Hagersund, the next town up, but we’re not sure if we can get to Bergen from
Hagersund either.
North of
Stavanger has also been the hardest place to spot accommodation so, all in all,
we've booked a ferry from Stavanger to Bergen. So that's our cycling trip done.
We've ridden almost 600 miles, and done far more climbing than we did on our
previous NSCR forays.
So
our final day today was an unremarkable 50 miles on mostly flat land, some by
golden sands, some through rich farming land, some by main roads and some on
quite tracks. We happened across a rickety bridge that features on the NSCR publicity,
which was nice. Morning break was had sat by straw bales in a field and lunch
in a bus shelter as we approached the busyness of Stavanger.
We
even had confusion about where to get the ferry to Bergen but Natasha at
Tourist Information sorted that by letting us use her computer and by locating
overnight accommodation for us. It turns out the ferry terminal was just around
the corner from the bus stop where we had lunch. A bed and breakfast is arranged for us (although we left at 3.00am to catch the ferry). I was most impressed with the
security arrangements for the bike. There was a machine gun in the room.
Day
15 and onwards
We
started day 15 at 3.00 am by riding the ten miles out of Stavanger to the ferry
terminal. Strangely, this was really pleasant as Stavanger has good cycling
infrastructure so we rode by lakes and through parks as the sun came up. We
stopped for coffee at a garage as neared the terminal and we chatted to a
couple of local’s lads for a while.
We
arrived in Bergen at lunchtime. First stop was the railway station to arrange
the train to Oslo. We could get the bikes booked on but there were no seats
left for us to reserve. We found a bed for two nights (two different beds
really) at Bergen YMCA. This gave us a day to look at Bergen which we did by taking
the funicular up Florien.
Our
journey back was by train from Bergen to Oslo; overnight ferry from Oslo to
Fredrikshavn; pick up the van and drive from Frederikshavn to Amsterdam (with an overnight stop along the way); overnight ferry
from Amsterdam to Newcastle and drive home.
We
left Bergen on the Friday using the 07.57 train to Oslo to travel over the
mountains through the most spectacular scenery to date. We arrived in Oslo in
the late afternoon. The Stena ferry terminal was just five minutes from the
station. We docked in Frederikshavn before the shops were open (we planned to
get breakfast but could find nothing) and the van started first time.
The
drive back through Denmark, Germany and Holland was the longest part of the
journey. We knew that we would have to aim at the Sunday ferry to Newcastle so
we drove until about 7.00 pm and then pulled into a rest area for an overnight
stop, putting the bikes on the back of the van to give us a bit more comfort.
The only problem we experienced was getting onto the ferry as it was quite full
– motor bikes especially.
Finally,
we arrived in Newcastle and had the simple drive back to Leeds, although I did
have a senior moment as I came off the ferry to see a roundabout and I couldn’t
decide which way I should go around it!
So,
here endeth the North Sea Cycle Route. I don’t think we can claim to have done
it in its entirety but we have cycled all around the North Sea – sort of. It
has been quite an adventure, one that I have enjoyed tremendously (thanks
Ricky, I would never have done this if I hadn’t met you and I really am
grateful). What comes next, I wonder? I’m still planning to do some more of the
route around the English coast but I’ve found a passion for cycle touring
abroad that I didn’t know I had and I just know that I’ll need to find
something else to do. Watch this space!
The second challenge was in the route planning. We were able to obtain guides to our previous forays but we could find very little printed material about the route in Sweden and Norway. We relied mostly on the mapping available through the North Sea Cycle Route website. This proved to be reliable in the main but may be out of date in some respects. Information about ferries is not embedded in the NSCR mapping. We had rather assumed ferries would be freely available and they are in some places, but not all. We also assumed that the ferries shown within the mapping were running and this proved incorrect, particularly around Stavanger. We had several conversations with other cyclists who were finding it hard to work their way northwards out of Stavanger.
Our plan was to cycle 800+ miles at the rate of 45/50 miles a day. We reckoned on 18/19 days of riding. In fact, we cycled about 600 miles over 15 days. We were slightly under the 45 miles a day mark in the first few days so we opted to take the ferry from Stromstadt to Sandefjord rather than the Moss – Horten ferry. This saved about 100 miles of cycling and we did this so we had greater flexibility towards the end of the ride if we were behind schedule. In hindsight, we would have not done this had we known the difficulties in progressing past Stavanger as, in the event, we used a ferry to take us from Stavanger to Bergen and we could have ridden another 2 or 3 days with ease.
We departed Leeds for Newcastle on the 29th May to catch the overnight ferry to Ijmuiden. It was a calm crossing and the van was well positioned so we were first off the ferry and away on the long drive. This I was not looking forwards to but it wasn’t as bad as I expected by a long way. I had invested in a new sat nav with full European mapping and this advised which lane to be in at junctions. This helped considerably. We left Ijmuiden before 10:00 am but heavy traffic in Hamburg and around the Kiel canal slowed progress so we didn’t make it through to Fredrikshavn as planned. As the light faded we were passing Aarhus so we pulled into one of the small parks at the side of the road and got a few hours sleep in the van. It was quite a busy night with fairly constant comings and goings, including a recovery truck picking a car up, so we were up and off again at 5:30. This got us in to Frederikshavn not too long after 8:00.
