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