04.07.20 Surnadal - Trondheim

125 km, cycling time 07:00, average speed 17.9 km/h, total ascent 986 m, net ascent 200 m 

Home again! A total of 763 km and 9000 m total ascent from Bergen.

Uneventfull ride on well known roads. Codl and grey start of the day, but dry.

Cold start of the day. July. at sea level!

The Surna valley -and now really back in Trøndelag

Coffee and vafler here - quite good in fact

I have been quite critical against the road authority, Vegvesenet, with respect to their attitude to cycling. But they have web cameras all around the country that you can access on the web.

Vegvesen FV65 Øvre Rindal

I have also complained about the lack of signs warning crossing cyclists when a cycle lane shifts from one side of the road to the other. They do have signs for horses though.

Horses crossing

For the lowest pariah cast, cyclists, warnings are clearly not necessary.

And then a final bit of food along the Orkdals- and Trondheimsfjord.

Nice view, table and benches(!), great weather by now

And that was it.

I forgot one reason why I am doing this. An inner urge. I remembet the famous long distance skater Jan Roelof Kruithof said, when asked, totally exhasuted. why he did it after the 1985 200 km 11 city skating race (and without any comparison with him): because I have to.

What next? I don't know. We'll see. Don't really feel like quitting my cycling career yet.

03.07.20 Molde (Bolsøy) - Surnadal

103  km, cycling time 06:04, average speed 17.2 km/h, total ascent 1378 m, net descent 100m

Tough finish as you can see from the altitude profile. Rain showers coming and going all day, but mostly avoided them.

After breakfast, Robert drove med to The western end of Tussentunnel on road 64. I had intended to use E39, but this way I avoided the much heavier traffic on E39. Good suggestion, thanks. I could have biked road 64 all the way, but that involves an additional 200m climb.

The impressive Gjemnessund bridge. 40 m climb though 

Nice to have a cycling lane...

For me this nicely symbolizes Vegvesen's (road authourity) and their former colleagues Mesta's attitude to cyclists: neglect, indifference, arrogance.

It was almost impossible to pass. Not sure I managed without scratching the car. Did they have a job to do? So walk, take another vehicle, or park more to the right. These guys have a LONG way to go before Norway becomes a cycle friendly country.

View from the top of the bridge

And that is how the bridge is secured
Surprisingly "tiny"

Another fjord, another bridge. Floating this time. That means, no ascent

How do they handle the tides on floating bridges?

Another typical example

Back in Trøndelag

After shifting of local borders, Halsa is now part of Trøndelag. But soon after I was back in Møre og Romsdal.

Staying the night at Thon hotel Surnadal. Intend to get home tomorrow, although it is 126 km. But for a last day...

02.07.20 Ørsta-Molde (Bolsøy)

107 km, cycling time 05:51, average speed 18.4 km/h, total ascent 1106 m, net ascent 0

A good day on the job as they say in top sport 🙂. Despite a bad forecast earlier, fair weather in the morning, some rain in the afternoon. Not too bad.

Approaching 

For the night, I stayed with Warmshowers hosts Berry van den Bosch and her husband Robert. Hard to find better hosts I assume. Robert came to pick me up with the car, because cyclists are not allowed in the tunnel connecting Bolsøy island to the main land. I was served a fantastic dinner, and we talked a lot about cycling and other topics. Thanks a lot, Berry and Robert.

Warmshowers is an organization that provided shelter for the night to (long distance) cyclists. We are hosts ourselves, and it was great to be a guest for once and exchange experiences. I would encourage everybody who read this to become host - it is not requiring; cyclists send you a message, and you confirm if it suits you, and not if otherwise. Few obligations in fact. No need to serve food - although the cyclists of course appreciate very much if you do. Lot of interesting talk with (mostly) foreign cyclists. It would be especially good if more people living outside the big cities would participate. In Norway, very few do - so far.

More tomorrow. Idea is to continue to Surnadal.

01.07.20 Stryn-Ørsta

107 km, cycling 7 hours an 5 minutes, average speed 15.1 km/h, total ascent 1664 m, net ascent 0.

Exhausted. There are two possibilities from Stryn to Nordfjordeid: E39 along Hornindalsvatnet (or even E39 all the way up to Volda, which is the fastest option)  or local road 613 to Hennabygda. The latter is slightly longer, but I did not realize it also involved an enormous amount of climbing. Bad research. But Google Maps did not show it. Worst, you don't know what's coming. You think, can't be more than 200m. The ascent continues. Can't be more than 300m. Etc. Ended up at 535 - and this is only a few 100m from the fjord!

Admitted, fantastic views. But the CBA was still negative 🤔. Never going from Stryn to Hennabygda again - at least not on a bicycle with luggage. 

But still, a wonderful day, enjoying West Norwegian nature. But getting colder, and a pretty strong cold headwind. 

Indvik fjord

Another view from the road side

Not a bad spot for lunch. This is at only 270m. The road where I came down is visible to the left of the spruce tree.

Coming down to fjord level again. Huge amounts of wild strawberries. If it weren't for the cycling, they would suffice for lunch!

Between Lote ferry and Nordfjordeid there is a 2.8 km tunnel (open for cyclists). The clue is to wait for the cars coming from the ferry, and then bike into the tunnel - no traffic from behind.

Coming from the ferry

And from there it was only hard work. Treated myself on a hotel tonight. Well deserved, in my own view at least.

A question I ask myself after such a day is why am I doing this? Several answers, they are all true:

• Experience Norwegian nature in slow motion - quite different from driving a car
• Set a goal and achieve it - it means nothing to the world, but a lot to me
• Prove to myself that I'm still not too old to do it

30.06.20 Jølster-Stryn

104 km, cycling time 5:46, average speed 18 km/h, total ascent 784 m, net descent 190 m

Mostly a flat stage, apart from one long, hard climb between Byrkjelo and Utvik. 500m in one long climb, tough for an old guy. And down is not so funny either, always afraid to run my breaks too hot. Break intermittently (to my brothers: "pompend remmen" 😀).

Took a long time to decide where to continue. Weather forecast very bad from Thursday. So shortest way was tempting, but then you must follow E39 all the time. Decided for a compromise, taking other roads today and tomorrow, and the E39 when the rain comes.

Today some rain was expected from 12, and serious from 15, so started early, before 07:30 (holidays!). 

First 23 km along the large large lake Jølstervatnet.

Look at the small detail: one meter of asphalt outside the white line. They can if they want to!

At 08:40. I deserved it.

So on to Byrkjelo. And suddenly the landscape change dramatically, and you're in a typical glacier valley, Våtedalen.

Våtedalen. You see the typical U-shape of the valley.

Goat herd. Curious as they are, they came out on the road when I tool a picture, stopping the cars

Regarding the goats: the brown goat cheese from local goat farmers is generally fantastic. If you haven't tasted it, give it a try.

In Byrkjelo, there was an interesting outdoor sculpture park. I am in no position to say something about the quality, but I found it original and funny.

Discussion about culture in Jølster: left side: "I don't like all this art" - right side: "So stay on the farm, then you don't see it"

Sysiphos and Kafka

So the long climb up to 640 m. Great views, if you had anything left to enjoy them.

Red circle: where I cam up the glacier valley

The down again. In fact that is when I am jealous of the electric bikes - safe breaking (I assume they work like cars?).

Fantastic views over Utfjorden on the way down (part of Nordfjord)

This is a kind of secondary road (not E), but still a lot of trailers

At the end of the fjord lies Loen. From here you can walk up to Skålatårnet, 1840 m, and you start at about 70 m. You can spend the night up there, there at two huts. A very old, round one in stone, and a modern one. Anbjørg and I walked up and spend the night twice, in 2007 and 2017. First time was nice and quiet. Now it has become a Facebook hype, and the second time it was totally overcrowded. I would still recommend it, if you have the energy (and knees!). But I would prefer not to spend the night up there - overcrowded self service huts are not my favourite.

Skålatårnet is in the clouds somewhere

There is another interesting but sad story about Loen: in 1936 there was a large avalanche that resulted in a flood wave of 70 m, killing 74 people. The same happened in 1905. Now they are constantly monitoring the relevant places.

Now remember my earlier criticism of how bikes are handled. This is a better example: a sign to follow the old road. Which is nice and quiet. Great!

Bikes follow the old road

And then it started raining again. Waiting in a bus shed to see if it would finished. Life of a long distance cyclist in Norway would be considerably worse without bus sheds.

A nice regional variety: small windows in the bus shed. Who needs a café with bus stops like this?

The rain did not stop, so just put on the rain gear. And then it became so heavy that I took another break in the next bus stop.

Coming to Stryn camping around 15:15. Good day.

29.06.20 Birkeland-Jølster

101 km, cycling time 06:35, average speed 15.4 km/h, total ascent 1435 m, net ascent 100 m.

A tough day, first "grown-up" distance, a LOT up and down - but a great day. Perfect weather fo cycling, partly clouded (skiftende skydekke), around 20 degrees, and the old body worked well. You get more and more used to it after some days.

The first 200m climb came early. Look at the picture, I was in the red circle just a little before.

After 1 1/2 hour, I was dying for a coffee and something sweet (I have a weakness for that), but nothing in sight. In fact, I haven't seen a single place to buy anything since Åsane, shortly after Bergen (apart from the ferries). So had to settle for something less (and healthier maybe).

Banana and water break

Great views though. There was also interesting information on the old post road from Bergen to Trondheim (cf. yesterday). Sorry, in Norwegian.

But soon afterwards, in Flekke. I didn't let this chance slip away.

Another tough climb after Flekke, then down to Dale. The part after Dale along the Laukelands fjord was the nicest part of the trip so far. Wonderful nature, and not so much trafic on the old road to Førde.

Tunnels on the old road also, not so long, and you are allowed to bike them

The bridge of the new road. Not for bikes, but there is a good alternative

Waterfall in the Laukelands fjord

The old road is quite narrow some places, but with little trafic that is
no problem

Lunch in Bygland, at the end of the fjord. Then today's longest climb, 350m, but not so steep, apart from the first part. Then the E39 for the rest of the way. Lot's of trafic.

So what's this? The white line on the side of the road. They make it "uneven" in such a way that you hear it well in a car, when you pass it.

And what's beyond this white line?

30 cm of asphalt. That is not enough for balancing a full loaded bike!

Room for improvement for #Veivesenet here too!

And finally arriving at camping Jølvassbu.

My home for tonight

Reminds me of something my mother used to say:

"Diogenes de wijze, die woonde in een vat

Waaruit men kan bewijzen

Dat de wijsheid schuilt in het nat"