2017 Norway trip ("To Hejlle and back" / "Norway and how not to do it")

[Icefever]

This has been a wonderful write-up on a great trip....I've enjoyed Pete's way of painting a story.  Meeting up with him yesterday has now let me put a character into that story which has made an even better read.....cheers mate.   

ps....Great photo's also.

[Brizzlerob]

 

[snowy]

Stunning! keep it coming!

[PRD]

I hope that the author will do another trip soon so we can continue to enjoy his fantastic narratives .

[pross]

Great write up again and stunning pictures. Brilliant

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

+1  that church looks like something out of lord of the rings or game of thrones

[Rynglieder]

Day 9 Hjelle – Maloy ( 160 miles)

We had three full days to look forward to from our base in Hjelle. The intention was to use one to ride out to the Atlantic Road via the Trollsteign (Troll's Ladder) and back and the other days to do as little or as much riding around the area as we fancied. After hauling myself out of bed and stepping out of our lounge onto the veranda at the front I was greeted with the hiss of car tyres on the wet road in front and light rain falling from the clouds clinging to the hillside around us. I decided that today was not the day for the big ride and set about looking at the map with a mug of tea at my side.

In the end we decided we would ride back west to Stryn, the largest nearby town that we had passed through yesterday and at least pick up a few groceries, we would see where we went from there if the rain was not getting any worse.

After a quick supermarket visit it did seem to be easing a bit so we decided to continue west toward the coast, there was no particular destination in mind which gave us the comfort that we could turn round at any time we wanted. Maloy was picked at random from the map and we set off.

It was a reasonable couple of hours ride, the road was pretty much flat as it tracked along the waterside at sea level. The landscape was reminiscent of going along the Great Glen between Fort William and Inverness in in Scotland. It was of course a very steady run, probably averaging just over 40mph given the limits on the road - it seemed such a shame, the bike was crying out to be let loose.

Maloy, our destination, was an island separated from the mainland buy just a short span of sea and was entered over a tall, arched and curved bridge. The town its self was pretty unremarkable and I am sure that with a bit of planning I could have picked somewhere a bit more attractive. Nevertheless we found ourselves a drink and watched the boats in the commercial harbour for a while.

The route back was the same way that we came, there was not really much choice. Approaching Nordfjord we felt the need for a "comfort break" and located the public facility at the side of the Fjord. Entry it seemed, was by contactless Visa card at a charge of 10NoK (£1). This just about summed up Norway for me; High finnancial investment in excellent modern facilities, embracing the digital age and moving to a cashless society. However, me and the missus are not Norwegian we are British, so noticing that the door had been left slightly ajar we both nipped in and stole a piss.

Our run out to the coast had left time in hand so after stopping briefly to take some photos at Oppstryn ( the end of the lake as we were approaching Hjelle) we agreed that we would continue past our chalet and ride a little way up the valley and climb to the start of the Gamle Strynfjellsveg.

This is the old mountain road into the Stryn valley which is now made moistly redundant by more modern roads and tunnels but which survives as a tourist route and still serves the local ski resort. We were not going to go too deeply into it as this was to be our exit road when our time in the area came to an end, but from a leaflet we had picked up we knew there to be a hotel with a viewpoint where you could take in the scene down the valley.

We climbed a series of hairpins on the [15] road and then turned off onto the old route where some tighter hairpins on this narrower road bought us to the hotel at Videseter. It did not look as if non-residents were encouraged, there was a barrier at the car park and there did not seem to be drinks of any sort available to casual tourists. There is always somewhere to park up a motorcycle even on a narrow road, so we managed to take a couple of pictures in the fading light before dropping back down to our accommodation where we grudgingly attended to our laundry and spread it about the place to dry overnight.

No beer again tonight, steps will have to be taken.....

[PRD]

Really enjoying this.

[Rynglieder]

Day 10 Hjelle – Stordal (140 miles)

First mug of tea and cigarette on the veranda and I looking at rain again, probably worse than yesterday, in fact I could barely see the hill in front of us.  There was a realisation that if I wanted to reach for the Atlantic Road it would have to be today but already I knew the route including the Trollsteigen was unattainable. I allowed the Zumo to calculate a direct route, it was still going to be a lot of mileage and the weather was against us but we would have a go.

We left Hjelle and traveled east along the valley to the hairpins where we had climbed to the old postal road the night before but this time stayed with the modern road and tunnel toward Geiranger. I had promised myself I would keep the stops to a minimum but emerging at Langvatnet high in the mountain peaks with bare slopes and patches of snow a pause could not be resisted.

Continuing round toward Geiranger we passed the entrance to the Dalsnibba viewpoint (1500m above sea level) but again we elected to pass by, partly because of time and partly because judging by the heavy cloud we would not have seen a great deal anyway. Even though it was overcast the twisting, turning road [63] was a spectacular ride even at the now usual pedestrian pace.

Just before Geiranger village we came to a viewpoint overlooking the fjord and village and my instincts got the better of me again, we pulled the bike up between more coach loads of Chinese tourists and spent a short while looking at this iconic view, the one that seems to appear first whenever you search for tourist information on Norway. It's funny, on the brochure pictures the sun always seems to be shining and I found myself wondering how many days or weeks the photographer had to wait.

We dropped the last mile into Geiranger but simply passed through, we climbed the hairpins at the other side of the fjord and again skipped the viewpoint on this side as we made an effort to make some progress.

But the reality was that we were not covering enough distance. It was cold, wet and slow. I remember calculating at one point that we had managed to cover about 12 miles in half an hour and reaching the Atlantic Road was looking more and more unrealistic.

We eventually reached Eidsdal where another ferry ticket was going to have to be purchased if we were to go on. I searched in vain for a hot drink to sip whilst I decided what to do but nothing seemed to be open so I settled for a smoke. It seemed a bit pointless just to go back the way we had come, but equally I was not sure what the point was going to be of joining the ferry queue. In the end we boarded the ferry in the hope that the roads would open up and be quicker on the other side of the Fjord.

This was the case to a certain extent, there were less steep ascents and descents and the road flowed pretty well but only at the usual 50 or 43mph. We pressed on in the rain eventually reaching Stordal where we came across a petrol station that offered the chance of a hot drink and to get out of the rain. There was a canopy on the outside sheltering a table with an ashtray where I spread out my map and sipped my coffee whilst gathering my thoughts; should we carry on or not? Eventually I reached the bold and firm decision that I would go back into the petrol station and buy a second coffee. It was also time to think about something eat again and again with a degree of caution we purchased a "Burger Dog" (It may have been Poodle, but I can't be sure).

It was time to let it go. Although it was one of the points I was looking forward to on this holiday, there was going to be no pleasure in getting there at the speed I had now disciplined myself to riding, in fact it was just TEDIOUS. I then knew for certain what I had begun to realise the day before; taking a four day break in the middle of a tour had always worked well before for us, but this time it had been the wrong thing to do. We should have picked additional overnight stops. A hotel near the Atlantic Road would have needed a 150 mile ride from Hjelle rather than a 300 mile round trip. And so this little petrol station in a rather remote village was to become the northernmost destination of our trip.

I would not have to go back the whole way that we had come though, if we back-tracked a few miles we could pick up a ferry to Stranda and then a route would open up that would result in a circuit of the Geirangerfjord, so this in the end is what we did.

The road from Stranda is the only road that we had ridden on in Norway that I would call in poor repair. The ruts and potholes added to our speed challenges somewhat and bounced and rattled the GTR for a few miles.

A sign for another viewpoint came into sight and again, as this route had not had much forward planning I was not sure what we were pulling off the road to see. We were about due another break anyway and it turned out that this lofty lay-by (Ljoen) gave incredible views down over the other end of Geirangerfjord. The way the road above overhung the viewing platform gave the added advantage of some shelter from Mother Nature trying to extinguish my cigarette whilst we watched the seemingly miniature ships below.

Back on the bike again we followed the [60] past Hellesylt down to Grodas, just beyond which we picked up on the route that we had travelled out and back on the day before. This time when passing through Stryn I remembered to stop off at the supermarket and pick up a beer, at least I would have a drink to help me consider my options for our last full day in Hjelle.

[Rynglieder]

Day 11 Hjelle – Dalisnibba – Geiranger – Hellesylt – Hjelle (100 miles)

Having had all of my ambition kicked out of me we agreed that we would have an "easy" day as our last day in the area. Ironically the weather was looking much better and there was even a bit of sun on the top of the hill in front of us so we rode out eastwards again up the Stryn valley toward Geiranger as we had done the day before. This time though we turned on to the road that headed for the Dalisnibba view point and "Geiranger Skywalk".

I was not sure that the toll for this road was actually going to be worth paying, there was still a lot of cloud around the tops but I reckoned it was sufficiently broken to offer us a reward if we were patient. This is another steep ascent with a series of tight bends and hairpins but I proceeded with some confidence; Carole has been my "wing man" for so many years now that I know she will be looking behind and up the road to give me warning of anything coming down the hill, this allows me to concentrate on balancing the bike and watching where the front wheel is going – I don't have to ask, I just know she is on to it. There are of course the obligatory charabancs filled with Oriental types that want more than their fair share of the highway, but we picked our way ever upwards with alternate views of mountain or the inside of clouds.

We had just divested ourselves of helmets and gloves and was looking at the mountains behind us when we became aware of a rising murmur from the tourists at the top of the car park and their rush toward the glass balustrade of the "Skywalk". We walked over to see what had caught their attention and found that the clouds had parted to form a nice hole that picked out the intense blue Geirangerfjord with a seemingly tiny cruise ship at its head, about 4500 feet below us.

As I expected the clouds shuffled around sufficiently for us to see pretty much all around us, even though it was by instalments. The [63] road below us which had carried us to Geiranger yesterday as it would again today looked like a perfect map or satellite image. I spent some time looking at it in frustration; a man ought to be able to ride a bike on that at a safe pace of this choosing, unfortunately Norway needs a 160mph bike like a dolphin needs a hand-drier.

We spent a fair bit of time at the top - if I have paid for a toll road I like to get my money's worth and the shifting clouds kept throwing up opportunities for the camera. Eventually we mounted up and made the drop down to the town of Geiranger.

Considering the number of tourists here it was surprisingly easy to park, nearly everyone is arriving by launches from the cruise ship or by coach. After withdrawing another wedge from an ATM we found ourselves a drink and something to eat from the supermarket and sat on the harbourside for a while. We then took a look at what short boat trips may be on offer and eventually settled on the idea of putting the bike on the Geiranger to Hellsylt ferry although it would not be due out for another hour. After procuring a small tin of Café Crème cigars from the supermarket (about £11.00 instead of the £5.00 I was used to) we passed the time by climbing the hairpins at the northern side of the lake and taking in the view that we had passed by the day before.

The ferry trip would give us a one hour cruise along Geirangerfjord so that I could take in a bit of the scenery without worrying about how fast I was going. I had noted before how reasonably priced Norwegian car ferries had seemed, but not so with this one – you really are stung for the tourist premium. This cost £67.00 which is almost certainly more than you would pay to cross the English Channel. It was nice though to be able to take a few pictures of the great number of waterfalls on both sides of the fjord.

Eventually we were offloaded at the quayside at Hellesylt but hung back by the white water running through the town for a while whilst coaches picked up the foot passengers to take them on the circuit back to their ship.

From there we found ourselves running back along to Stryn using the same road that we had done the previous two afternoons. Sadly I did not get the buzz from it that that I had done from riding the same stretch of the Mosel that I had done on three consecutive evenings s few months ago, Germany had proved a far better place to be at one with the bike.

It seemed right to end the day with a little detour into the village of Hjelle. Although we had been in the area for a few days we had always bypassed it with the tunnel that takes the main [15 route past the centre. After a few minutes looking along the fjord we made our way back to our hut and began to prepare ourselves for the journey southwards that would start in the morning.

[Rusty]

Very well done on what was a super write up ... haven't been here for a while .. pop back to check how things are going .. half an hour and 3  pages later !!! Thank you so much for taking the time to share this trip ... brilliant !

[shaggs147]

Interesting as always along with stunning pictures. That looked like quite a climb up the mountain! Have to say that although it's an expensive trip, you have been handsomely rewarded with the scenery and lots of memories.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Rynglieder]

Day 12 Hjelle – Lillehammer (165 miles)

There didn't seem to be anyone round to hand our keys back to once we had had a sweep and wipe round the chalet so we locked up and left the key in the door safe in the knowledge that it would take a really desperate and muscular Viking type to try and nick that old 28" CRT television.

We left the Stryn valley as planned by climbing the hairpins at the eastern end of the valley, past the hotel that we had paused at to take in the view a couple of nights before and this time properly onto the Gamle Strynefjellsveg mountain post road. It was a bright clear day for a change and plenty of places called to us to stop to absorb the landscape and take pictures. Sadly the all year round summer ski centre appeared to be closed for the season, so no coffee with my cigarette.

There was plenty of wildlife roaming the road, disappointingly there were no Elk just your usual mountain dwelling cows and sheep. This old road now just serves tourists and not many of them at that, very little traffic passed us in either direction. Although the first half of the road was in very good condition it started to deteriorate after the ski centre and my speed dropped even further as I made choices between the loose gravel in the middle of the road, the potholes in the vehicle tracks, or the steep drop down the side. I made a point of not riding over the edge and focused on trying to stay in the vehicle tracks and just nipping onto the gravel when a crater appeared. I was now starting to become nervous about facing a decent on this road assuming that I would have to face the same downhill run as we had climbed through the hairpins on the way up.

But that was not how it turned out. A house appeared, then another and another. The road went back to being reasonably surfaced and then emerged at a T junction with the main [15] trunk road. And a bonus – this must be a major arterial road as it had a 90kph speed limit, the first we had seen since leaving the expressways around Bergen.

Now I could legally ride at 54mph, the sun was shining and although the landscapes was a little more agricultural rather than rugged it was still a really great road to roll along. We were tempted off after a while or a sign for Billingen which suggested that there was parking, a coffee and some sort of country park to be found. It really was a nice spot, next to a rushing river in beautiful woodland, a place seemingly used as a starting point for hiking trails. We took our coffees on to the café's veranda and watched the sheep running back and forth over the bridge looking for whatever it is that interests sheep.

From Billingen we continued between mountain and river until we reached the E6 Highway which then took us south along a chain of rivers and lakes giving some enjoyable and sensibly paced riding toward Lillehammer. There were of course numerous stops along the way because that's how I operate and I'm sure a determined rider would have knocked off the mileage much quicker if they just wanted to get from A to B. One tourist guide I had read likened this route to the Mosel Valley in Germany; In my opinion it is short of castles and totally lacking in vineyards however I saw the similarity of a good road running for miles alongside a broad sweep of water and the towering hills on either side.

We arrived at the Lillehammer Turistsenter Budget Hotel at a reasonably early hour, the name of the place had concerned me a bit when booking but it really was OK; A nice room with a view down to the bike on the car park and the river (or lake) in the near distance.

As there was a fair bit left of the evening we got changed and having acquired a street plan of the town from the reception set of for a walk of about 15-20 minutes to the town centre. We did not particularly find a lot to see to be honest, the town is most famed for its Winter Olympic park sitting on the mountain above the town and which seemed a bit too distant for an evening stroll, but managed to get a hot meal at a snack bar before walking back to the hotel.

A can of something (which tragically turned out to be alcohol free) was purchased from the fridge in the hotel reception and we sat out at a picnic table in the grounds enjoying the last of the day's sun before retiring for the night.

I'd quite enjoyed the day with the bike today, it was much more like I was hoping the trip would have been.

[Rynglieder]

Day 13 – Lillehammer – Larvik (177 miles)

After the usual routine of breakfast, getting the gear on and loading up the bike we set out once again in sunshine. Initially we continued along the E6 again but I did not fancy motorway all day so broke away toward Gjovik for a route that would also avoid Oslo.

I do recall that it was a pleasant ride for the day but in all honesty not much else. Looking back through my photos there was apparently nothing that enticed me to pull out the camera until we reached Larvik on the south cost of the country in the late afternoon. The landscape we had run through was mountainous but not the rugged type of country we had experienced around the fjords, more like running north to south through mid-Wales.

Our entry into Larvik was somewhat compromised by major reconstruction work on the motorway and bridges but we found our way through the diversions into the town centre and then with considerably more effort managed to locate our hotel which was rather off the beaten track up at the top edge of town. The Trudvang Gjestegaard was a U shaped buiding wrapped around a courtyard and provided safe parking for the bike which we could also see from our room, it being the only one with a bit of a balcony.

As we had not stopped much during the day there was plenty of time to walk down the hill toward the town and harbour for the evening. I really enjoyed the hour or two around Larvik, maybe we were lucky, everywhere seems better when the sun is shining.

With the help of a town street plan picked up from reception, we initially found our way to the top of a crag in the middle of the town which had a lookout tower and a couple of cannons and gave views out to sea. I explored with the camera for a little while whilst Carole caught up with a few people on her various mobile devices. A walk along the esplanade then took us to the harbour and then beyond to a small park (Tollerodden) on a headland which had a little lido tucked away round the back.

Next destination selected from the street map was a waterfront shopping complex where we found another cash machine (yes, the money was gone again) and a supermarket where we picked up a little food and a can of Carlsberg to take back to the hotel. I had also run out of the cigarettes I had brought from Denmark on the way up so was forced to part with £12 for a packet of Marlbro to feed my addiction.

It seemed a bit of a slog back up to the hotel, but we were soon taking advantage of our little balcony for the last drink of the day.
 

[Rynglieder]

Day 14 Larvik – Hirtshals (40 miles + ferry)

It was a morning where we had time on our hands. The ferry from nearby Langesund back to Hirtshals in Denmark was not due to sail until 14:30 and we were only about 30 miles away from the port. The Larvik street plan we had been using the day before had a an inset showing the nearby small town of Stavern and this seemed as good a place as any to while away a bit of time.

We found our way by chance rather than intent to the Fredriksvern shipyard, a historic naval base now largely a heritage centre. The previous day's good weather was not to be repeated and we found ourselves exploring in something between light rain and drizzle. If the conditions had been a bit better I would have been happy to spend a little longer around the boat sheds, barracks and fortifications, there were other old structures including a large pyramid shaped gunpowder magazine on islands just of the shore, I can't be sure if these were accessible to the tourist with a bit more time to spare.

Having had enough of the rain we rode back up to Larvik and then made the short run across to Langesund. We still had plenty of time in hand but there was not much to occupy us after a half hour walk so we decided we may as well do the last mile to the ferry port and hang round in the queue. It was not the brightest idea, there are absolutely no passenger facilities at the terminal and we eventually abandoned the bike and tried to take a little shelter under an overhead loading gantry. We were joined in our dry spot after a while by a young Polish biker who was making the same crossing and learned from him how he was returning to Poland after crop picking in Norway where had earned in a few months more than he would in a year in Poland doing his trained profession as a physiotherapist – those are the extremes of the economies in Europe I guess.

Eventually we were loaded onto the ferry, no sea cat this time – it was to be a large "super ferry" with a lot of HGVs to load and unload. The crossing was also longer in distance than the route we had taken into Norway. This combined with the slower ship was going to result in a 19:00 arrival back at Hirtshals in Denmark. This long on a ferry (without a cabin to sleep or refresh yourselves in) is more than enough and I found myself getting bored after a couple of hours. A visit to the on-board shop resulted in the purchase of a sleeve of cigarettes each and a multipack of cigars. The shop assistant the pointed out that this exceeded the amount that we should take into Denmark, but not before he had already charged it to my card. As I didn't facing the complication of putting stuff back and trying to get the card refunded I decided to add smuggling to my list of holiday crimes; not so much as a professional smuggler, just at the level of a keen amateur.

I knew when booking that it would be early evening when we reached Hirtshals so I had reserved a room at the Hotel Fryklit again. At least we knew where we were heading and we would not be checking in too late. We also knew where we could pick up a bit of milk so that Carole could have her evening cup of tea again as the facilities would be there for us in the room. We checked in just in time again, by the time we had walked the corridor to our room (and found that just like the last time the bike was parked right outside) it was absolutely hammering down and we were grateful we only had to scurry a short way to get the bags off the bike. The wind had also picked up and the evening was spent watching the flags disappear one by one from the flagpoles in to the darkness.

The next days could be wetter, but they would certainly be cheaper.

[Brizzlerob]

Still really enjoying this - getting a little down heartened knowing that it will be coming to an end in the not so distant future