The Kingdom of Fjords and Glaciers - 8BA2502
Everyone arrived safely and we started our Norway tour with our traditional Welcome Briefing, then our city walking tour plus the first dinner at one of Bergen’s finest restaurants: Bryggeloftet.
Today’s tour will take us along some of Western Norway’s deepest fjords and into the highlands between Dale and Voss. We will board a 45 minute iconic train ride from Bergen to Dale, stop over at the Dale Outlet Center for the world famous Norwegian wool sweaters and then pedal almost 70 kilometers up and down the valleys on our way to Voss.
The forecast for today was pretty clear: rain, more or less all day. But nobody cared, everybody was ready to cycle. We rode up towards Myrdal through a beautiful valley. At the Mjolfjell train station, Oli waited for us with some snacks, before we took the train to Myrdal. Here we split up: the majority of the group took the famous and spectacular Flamsbana down to our destination Flam, four of us took the just as famous and spectacular Rallarvegen cycle path.
Today we awoke to a huge cruise ship docked behind our hotel in lovely Flam and Aurlandfjord. After a great breakfast we set off to climb up to Aurlandfjillet and had a beautiful view from the top down into the fjord. Then we kept climbing and rode across the glacial plateau only to enjoy a 25 km downhill ride back to sea level. Wow! What a rush. We kept on to see a beautiful 900-year old Stavvchurch in Kaupanger and finished our day in Sogndal.
We are halfway through our tour, so this was a good day to take it a little bit easier. We slept in and left our beautiful hotel on Sognefjord at 10:00am. We followed the fjord for two hours - and then the adventure started! We had arranged for a boat to take us to our hotel in Fjærland -and we had an awesome ride in a very fast boat. This gave us plenty of time in the tiny village and at the glacier museum nearby!
Today was another great riding day. We actually started in Skei where we encountered plenty of four-legged animals that stopped traffic. Then we climbed the foothills of Jostedalsbreen, Europe's biggest glacier. Then we followed along the coastline of Innikfjorden and finished in Loen at a super nice Hotel, the Alexandra. But not before we rode up into the glacier valley of Briksdalebreen. Happy that we saw this receding glacier up close, we rode back down and relaxed at an amazing all-you-can-eat dinner.
On a tour full of highlights, it’s not easy to single out just one day in particular. Nevertheless, today was something special. The day began as always, with a beautiful ride along fjords, lakes, and over mountains, only interrupted by putting on and taking off rain gear, a coffee break, and a snack stop. But then we reached Hellesylt, where the ferry to Geiranger was already waiting for us. The journey through the fjord was a dream – the scenery was truly unique! And our hotel for tonight, with its magnificent view of the Geiranger Fjord, is equally one of a kind!
Today we left our beautiful hotel at Geiranger Fjord and headed to Valldal. A steep climb from the hotel up the Eagles Road to get a birds eye view of the famous fjord below. After riding a long and beautiful downhill towards the ferry at Eidsdal we managed to take the boat over to Linge without ever breaking stride. In Valldal we stopped for coffee before we rode on to the Gudbrandsjuvet, a massive waterfall that empties into a narrow gorge under the main road. While we rode we passed through the strawberry belt of Norway culminating in a delicious slice of strawberry cake at Jordbærstova, a local store and restaurant. What a great way to finish the day.
We can’t really believe it - the lasr riding day has arrived. We start out in Stranda this morning, with the already familiar climb from sea level into the mountains. The weather is unstable as zsual, we get everything from sunshine to rain showers. After lunch we take our last ferry, and then we cycle into Ålesund. And as soon everybody has returned the e-bike…blue sky appears and the sun is shining! The perfect ending to a memorable tour with wonderful people!