Living in Norway in the summer has a sweet strange taste of some fantastic summery days, and some rainy windy days which make you go "Huh, is this summer?" When we has a weekend of sun I couldn't wait to get out the door to do a short bicycle tour in my new home of Trondelag.
Click Here to see an Interactive Map of my route.
I left on Saturday in golden sunshine and I took my time getting across the waterfront downtown. The road outside the city is freshly paved and beautiful. Three bike-tourers pass me going, and one lady coming the other way. During the breaks of traffic it’s beautiful to look around. Rock faces, trees, fjord, Pure Norway.
Barely outside the city. I can see the ferry coming and speed up a little bit to race it to the quay. I arrive just a few minutes before the boat. The three bike tourers who passed me had been waiting for the boat. I buy a waffle with Brunost and a candy bar.
The three cyclist turn out to be Germans, just flew in yesterday. Today is day one, which explains all the go-pro selfie-ing. 1500km and 4 weeks to the NordKap. At least that’s their plan. One admits he’s never been on a long bike tour before.
The ferry has great views and passes too quickly.
Departure from the boat is a Motorcycle rally send-off. The Germans take iPhone videos.
I catch up the germans to ride their draft for a few kms. I see that the two have new bikes, one chainring and a mega-range cassette in the rear. They have electric/wireless derailures.
(I just learned what these were from watching the Tour de France)
They also have fenders which are a little too short.
The taller man has done this before, full fenders, front panniers, and a conventional drivetrain.
I let them go ahead and I slow to my natural pace and enjoy the view back across the fjord. Trondheim looks beautiful.
At the turnoff to Vanvikvan the plan goes awry. I had planned to stop at the coop to buy two breakfasts and two dinners. Tomorrow is Sunday, and no stores will be open here. But descending 50m to come back up 50m? I can’t bare to. So a critically short food situation will have to take me through. I stop in another few hundred meters to eat lunch. It’s cold in the shade, even with my hoodie and scarf, the wind is blowing up the mountain pass so I switch to the sun.
Onward and upward, and down the other side I see a solo bike tourer coming up so I stop to say hello.
This is more bike tourers encountered in half a day than in two months in Poland!
He travels light and does double, or more, kms than I do a day. He’s enthusiastic and recommends a road he took which he says is beautiful.
A little ahead I stop at a farm stand, they have wood, eggs and one last bottle of cold berry juice, score!
I go to the small beach on the big lake and doze and swim. It’s so refreshing!
A short km more and I headed up a forest path to make camp for the night.
Not that I have to hurry, it won’t get dark.
I’m fortunate that my tent is impossibly easy to set up.
I make a little fire, just because, and to keep the bugs away. It’s very buggy here.
I eat my second sandwich for dinner, I can hear the occasional car on the road, but otherwise it’s very peaceful here.
27 km was enough for day one.
Im a real wuss when it comes to distance, I can confidently claim that no one bike-tours fewer kilometers than I per day. I don't care, I like taking my time and enjoying the sites and activities.
Day Two: I eat my granola and dried fruit and head off. I'm a little short of water so I ask an older couple sitting on their porch for a fill. They happily oblige, and I pretend that I can understand more than 7% of the small talk. Their yard has tiny wild strawberries which are delicious. I eat a few and then bring a small handful up to the lady as a way of saying thanks.
On I ride, and a long descent into a valley gives me a view of the climb up the other side, ugh. I hate going down to go up. I hate using my breaks. This was both. The uphill was surprisingly easily accomplished though and I biked past some mountain lakes until the road forked off to descend back to sea level.
This first glimpse of fjord was exhilarating. And just then I was passed by a classic British saloon car.
At the next turn off, only a few miles from the day's destination, was a small mom & pop gas station, open on Sunday. Though they had ice cream, candy and soda... what I really wanted was a waffle with brunost, ok and an ice cream pop too. It was just the shady break I needed from my overheated state. Many folk came through for some gas or Ice Cream, one even stuck the gas nozzle into the back of his electric SUV, but it was only to fill up four gas cans for the boat... only in Norway.
The last little stretch brought me into Råkvåg, a cute little former fishing village turned tourist town.
I sat in the shade to eat my first hot meal in 32 hours. Cod-Burgers with boiled potatoes and vegetables. It was fantastic, I guess hunger really is the best sauce.
I wandered through the village, woozy from my exertion and saw the museum which explained the historic herring fishery. The exhibit was split between two adjacent wharf-houses and you had to cross from one to the other on an open metal gangplank, one story up. That was basically the best part.
I cycled off to the campground and met the owner, who showed me the spot to camp... they don't really have a tent space, so he gave me a triangle of grass right in front of the water! The campground was idyllic, and being so tired I naturally went for a swim and a shower and ate some vittles before sleeping.
Day Three began with an early morning as my tent overheated in the 6am sunshine. I packed up and went back the way I came, buying a days load of food and more, now that it was Monday and things were open again.
I crossed over back to that little gas station to have another of their waffles... even better morning fresh. Then up the 150m of elevation and around the backside of the mountain and down past farms, over a gravel road and a steep brake-testing descent... to end up just across the fjord from where I had started the day... it would have been only a ten minute boat ride.
Oh well, I enjoyed the view and struggled on through the midday blazing sun. It was touching 80 degrees, which in Norway feels hot. I found a trove of wild strawberries and enjoyed heartily. Then a beach packed with all of humanity, which I enjoyed too. But unlike everyone pictured... I sat in the shade.
In the morning of my fourth day I went to the manor house for, what else, a fresh morning waffle, The staff were muttering around in period dress with nothing to do. I though it would be nice to give them something to do so I took the tour... in Norwegian. I probably could have asked for English as I was by myself, but it was good listening practice. I understood some things... though I still don't know why its called Austrått, and what, if any, connection to Austria there might be. I'm glad I did because the story and artifacts are quite interesting.
Next I rushed over to the fort to take the 12:00 tour, which was amazing for a WWII history buff like myself. Again I was alone. From the outside you see the guns, and a few protective bunkers. But the tour went down inside the bunkers carved into the mountain, incredible labyrinthine barracks, store rooms, and on and on. I would have gotten lost if it weren't for the guide. And then the coup, the 5 story rotating innards of the turret. All amazingly preserved German engineered machinery, we climbed up through the hatch between floors... I'll stop now before I gush any more. and tag a few pictures at the end for the interest of mechanical computer hobbyists.
Now it was time to go home, a short bike ride to the fast boat which sped me home, comfortably, at 35 MPH with fantastic views and close passes by two Hurtigruten ships, it was my lucky day!
