I am a somewhat lonely biker. As in almost none of my friends ride. However, in 2019 two young and naive acquaintances (whom later grew to close friends, funny how that happens when motorcycling) got their A and A2 licenses, and we decided we should do a yearly ride. I am a father of two, so I've had limited possibilities of taking off on long adventures, however squeezing in a couple of days has been doable. Anyways, after a soaking wet trip in 2019 we were ready for a long weekend of sunny skies, sweeping curves and adventure. And we got it all. The adventurers: I am the ugly mug on the right The bikes: Pernille on MT-07, Mathias on KTM Duke 390, and my trusty CB500X with Rally-Raid level 1 upgrade. Day one saw us leaving home early and heading out of Oslo with a plan of reaching Stryn in western norway by night. The plan was something like this: Oslo -> Sandvika -> Hønefoss -> Sokna -> Gol -> Hemsedal -> Sogndal -> Stryn and it turned out to be a pretty cool route. We stopped in Sogndal for burgers, and the second half of the day from Hemsedal to Stryn was pure joy. Nice weather, beautiful scenery, amazing roads. Off to a good start, loving every second! Between Sogndal and Stryn: We made it to Stryn around 9 PM, and while Pernille checked in with family, it was time for a few cold beers in town. Ended the night early as we had a long day coming up with some of the most stunning scenery norway has to offer. More to follow from days 2 and 3...
You make it sound as if you’ve never left home before haha, so young and enthusiastic! But that’s fine with me, as long as you keep us posted. Drive safe, and make some good memories while you’re at it!
Day 2: Stryn - Åndalsnes. Supposedly 160km or so, but we ended up on a boat in Geirangerfjorden due to poor navigation skills... We woke up early, and I cannot speak for the others, but I could feel the fun we had the previous night shaking my brain about. Nothing a strong coffee didn't solve, and after a quick shower, a basic breakfast and packing up we were ready to hit the road for the more scenic part of the trip. Day two was quite open, as we had only one goal: make it to Åndalsnes, and try to get there on twisty roads with stunning view. In hindsight I'd say mission accomplished... I can't quite remember the details, but I am fairly confident Pernille gave us wrong directions at the first opportunity and we left Stryn traveling opposite direction from what we planned. We did however, end up in Hellesylt, and looking at the map, I still have no idea how. We figured we should make the most of it, and decided to do a fjord cruise, which would take us from Hellesylt, through Geirangerfjorden, and that turned out to be the best detour I've ever taken. Getting a snack while waiting for the boat. In no particular order, a few shots from the cruise: Getting off the boat in Geiranger, we started ascending the "Eagles road" out of Geiranger headed for Eidsdal and the final ferry crossing of the day. Its hard to sum up all these experiences, because they were all majestic and almost too much to take in over a time span of hours. I've hit the limit on photos, so I will continue in the next post.
Next up was "Trollstigen", another iconic road. Unfortunately, the fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife, and visibility was down to ~5 meters. Oh well, an excuse to go back another time. We made it to Åndalsnes, drove around town for about 5 minutes and decided we would camp in the free. Loaded the bikes up with beer and snacks, and headed out of town looking for somewhere to settle for the night, preferably with a view. Oh how successful we were! The fog cleared and we had nothing but sunshine. BLISS! The river ran about two meters from where we set up camp, with crystal clear water. I've had worse views from bed That concludes day 2, and it feels good to relive the trip through these posts. I will finish up with day 3 sometime later, which will include some of the best gravel roads I've ever been on, and a journey up norways third highest road at 1 617m above sea level. Until then, thanks for reading :)
Great trip. Have always wanted to ride in Norway. Thanks to your report and pictures I don't have to now! :) From where I live it is about 1250kms to the ferry in Hirtshals but maybe one day!! Thanks for posting.
Thank you for the kind words. I've traveled a fair bit, and these roads are really as good as it gets, I would recommend it to any biker. I would however spend longer doing the same route, a lot of views to take in. And too little time to appreciate it all.
