Travellers’ tales: Seven days, 700km and eight ferries – a ride through Norway’s fjords

Touching down at Bergen in a balmy 24°C mid-June, I wondered whether I was a bit of a wimp packing winter cycling gear “just in case”. I was about to set off on my dream seven-day cycling tour round the Norwegian fjords organised by Saddle Skedaddle.

Two days later I was flagging down our support van to change into my longs and a warm top. By then the temperature had dropped to 7° and my teeth were chattering after hours of riding through heavy rain.

When I started to research cycling around the fjords I realised that planning my own tour would be a challenge. You have to avoid the many long tunnels where cycling is not allowed and factor in numerous ferry rides across the fjords.

The tour leader, Mitch, confirmed this at the briefing, explaining that the route involved eight ferry rides and a series of taxi transfers to avoid tunnels or particularly busy roads.

Mitch also described the two kinds of terrain we should expect. The first involved long hill climbs that sometimes took you above the snow line. The second featured ‘Norwegian flat’ or the rolling hills you find along the fjords and North Sea coast.

Myrkdalen to Balestrand

The tour started at the ski resort of Myrkdalen. We immediately set off on a 23km climb that took us above the tree line to a snow-covered mountain pass at 1,000m. Most of the climb averaged a 4% gradient but a 5km stretch hit 7%.

As we neared the top we experienced the first of the many heavy rain showers that would become a feature of our tour.

Fortunately, a long 24km descent followed the climb. Some 16km of Norwegian flat then took us past the famed wooden church at Hopperstad to the Sognefjord, the largest fjord in Norway.

We ferried across the fjord and then rode a short 9km around a spur to our hotel in the small town of Balestrand. As the rain had stopped some of us went on a bonus ride that took us past Balestrand’s famed wooden 19th-century villas and more of the Sognefjord.

Balestrand to Førde

The second day was the hardest cycling of the tour. Our 104km route took us over two big climbs with a combined ascent of 1,722m.

The climbs would be challenging but doable in ordinary circumstances. However, this was when the bad weather really set in. There was heavy rain pretty much all day and the temperature dropped to 7°C.

To avoid getting too chilled, we took our morning coffee break in a disused road tunnel at the top of the first climb, the only dry spot we came across that day.

At least we travelled through some magnificent scenery. The lower parts of the route carved through virgin forest and once we got higher up there were mountain views. It really felt like we were out in the Norwegian wilderness.

Førde was an unremarkable modern town but our hotel featured a sauna which was the perfect way to warm up after a cold wet ride.

Førde to Sandane

By the next morning almost all the seam tape had peeled off my hitherto trusty rain jacket. When I mentioned this to Adiana, the other tour leader, her response was: “Yep, that’s what Norwegian rain does to a jacket.”

I missed that seam tape, as the weather did not improve much on our third day. Fortunately we had only one 500m climb to get over. The rest of the ride was an undulating route of Norwegian flat that took us along a series of large lakes to a spur of the Nordfjord. We then cycled along the Nordfjord for 35km until we reached our hotel at Sandane.

Most of our hotels welcomed drenched cyclists. However the Sandane hotel, with its pretensions of grandeur, greeted us with a stern letter setting out their strict dinner dress code (no flip flops, shorts or pyjamas allowed!).

Sandane to Ulsteinvik

The fourth day began with a taxi transfer through a long road tunnel under the Nordjord.

We began with a relatively gentle climb through woods along a narrow road. There was not much traffic but the vehicles we did meet drove pretty fast. This led to our first excitement of the day.

Valentin, the driver of our support van, pulled over to avoid a speeding car and ended up stuck in a deep drainage ditch. As we had to wait for a tow truck to come out and it had briefly stopped raining it seemed like a good moment for our morning coffee break.

This was when we discovered that Norway hosts a surprisingly ferocious contingent of midges – a nasty surprise for the whole group.

Once we got going again we quickly reached the Vanylvsfjorden. After riding along the fjord for 18km we split into two groups to make sure we all got to our next ferry on time. The ‘fast’ group took the long seaside route around a peninsula that bordered the north Atlantic while the ‘slow’ group took the more direct route across the middle.

After several days of trying to eat lunch in the rain, both groups found more sheltered lunch stops. The fast group persuaded a llama petting farm to open their tearoom. The slower riders were able to sit in the covered stand of a local football club in the small town of Eidsa.

The two groups reunited for the first of our two ferry journeys, just in time for another soaking as the heavens opened as our ferry was docking.

Ulsteinvik to Vestnes

The next day opened with a short but steep 3km climb to get our legs warmed up. After that we had 110km of ‘lumpy’ road that took us along the North Sea coast and the start of the Midfjorden.

Although the weather was still wet there was less low cloud so we had unobscured views for most of the ride. Along the fjord there were a series of towns with big boat yards that supported a vibrant fishing and shipping sector.

Unlike the sparsely populated image I had, the lowland areas were dotted with substantial, colourfully painted wooden houses, spaced about a kilometre apart. Many houses had large painted wooden trolls out front.

We finished with a 45-minute taxi transfer to Åndalsnes to avoid a particularly busy main road.

Åndalsnes to Geiranger

The start of our planned route was blocked by a landslide so we had to take a two-hour taxi ride to get us around the landslide and back on course.

Our new starting point, the Gudbrandsjuvet café, showcased a spectacular view out over a waterfall, good coffee and some moreish cardamom buns. Fuelled and refreshed we set out on a 24km scenic climb up to the Trollstigen mountain pass.

For once it was dry and although it was a long way to the top it was gently graded for all but the final section. At the top of Trollstigen there is a viewpoint where we could look down at the rather daunting route we would have faced without the landslide.

After a brief stop to take in the views we headed back down the way we came before turning left and descending to the Storfjorden and then along some scenic Norwegian flat to our only ferry of the day.

On the other side there was a challenging 10km climb which took us to a viewpoint overlooking the famed Geirangerfjord. As the heavens had just opened again I didn’t initially appreciate just how spectacular the view was.

The descent to the fjord was via a busy road with a long series of sharp hairpin bends. Doing this in the rain was a challenge, especially when I managed to puncture on the final bend. Fortunately our hotel was a short distance away so I limped in riding on the rim.

The hotel itself rose from a hillside above the Geirangerfjord and offered picture-postcard views of one of Norway’s most spectacular fjords.

Geiranger to Ålesund

On our last day of riding, the sound of heavy chain links woke me at 5am as a cruise ship deployed its heavy anchor. One of three massive cruise ships to arrive in the small port of Geiranger by 8am.

Geiranger itself was a short 15-minute ride from our hotel. From there we took a small ferry along the fjord for an hour. Once away from the cruise ships you could really appreciate the majestic beauty of the fjord and the steeply sided glacial valley it ran along.

We disembarked at the small town of Hellesylt and began the final leg of our tour. The first 75km of our ride demanded a series of sharp climbs with a total elevation of 1,000m. As this was our first and only rain-free day it allowed us to really appreciate the mountain views.

Two short ferry trips took us to the long peninsula that led to our destination at Ålesund. We finished with a 20km coastal ride before arriving at our final hotel looking out on the Ålesund harbour.

Was it worth it?

Was it worth the hard riding in the rain? Absolutely. Despite the bad weather, this was the trip of a lifetime. The Norwegian fjords really are one of the world’s great natural sights and I can’t think of a better way to see them than on a bike.

I worried about going on an organised ride with a group of people I had never met before. But although we all came from different backgrounds and countries everyone quickly bonded, in part because we all faced the same adverse weather.

The tour leaders, Mitch and Adriana, and our support driver Valentin, all played a big role in making the tour as enjoyable as possible and maintaining morale on the really wet days. Mitch and Adriana had to cycle through the same adverse weather conditions as the rest of us, though Adriana sneakily did the ride on an electric bike!

Would I recommend the tour to others? Definitely.

Saddle Skedaddle was optimistic calling this an intermediate ride. The sheer number of climbs and the cold weather made it far tougher than expected. Be fit and be prepared for long days in hilly terrain. You’ll also need to have good waterproofs!