Norway: Lindesnes to North Cape 2009 (Southernmost to northernmost point)

[Gravel Seeker]

Hi guys, happy holidays and all that.

I've written a few of these before and know that alot of people mostly just look at the pictures. Never the less I am going to write a little, just about enough to tell the story and I hope you'll have the patience to tag along.

It's alot of work converting picturefiles to jpg, adjusting the size, uploading to a webhost and writing the damn ride report with all the links. In the past I've grown tired of working on the thread in the later stages and may have rushed it just to get to end making for a halfassed RR.

So I'm going to try to keep this one coming at an steady pace without rushing it so please keep checking for updates.


P: Lars

I'd been planning this trip in my head for quite some time. The main inspiration was "Atlanterhavsvegen" - The Atlantic coast road. I'd seen som pictures of this funky looking bridge and figured I had to go see it.



The more I thought about the more I expanded the route to get to and fro this bridge and ended up with a plan to ride from the southernmost point of Norway - Lindesnes - to the northernmost point of Norway and Europe for that matter - North Cape.



Now, I had planned for this to be a solo trip. During my 10 years as a motorcycle rider I'd actually never ridden solo longer than day trips and I felt it was about time I did something about it.

I didn't keep it a secret per say, but I didn't tell anyone about the planned trip either. Untill someone asked me what I had planned for summer vacation that was. That someone was Lars. A long time friend and riding buddy, who also happens to be my cousin. He didn't have anything planned for the summer either and asked if he could tag along. So now there were two.

[Leafshutter]

I´m in!

I have a trip to Norway on the todo list for the spring, looking forward to some inspiration!

[subvet]

Norway ride report


Norway on 2 wheels is up near the top of my bucket list.

[Klay]

One of my dream trips...the Atlantic road.

[Laromonster]

[syntec4]

[GB]

keep it comin'... exploring Norway is always a super scenic experience

[Gravel Seeker]

Originally Posted by Gadget Boy

keep it comin'... exploring Norway is always a super scenic experience

Yeah....sorry....aint gonna happen in this one......

[Gravel Seeker]

Day 01 - 25/7-09
690 km - Total milage: 690 km
Oslo - Lindenes - Stavanger

A few years ago I shipped my bike to Australia for a trip and this is what my bike looked like at 2 am the night before stuffing the container



Not being one to break habit I was still working on the bike 'till about midnight the day prior to departure this time too.



And then I had to pack. And on top of that we had agreed to meet up a bit south of Oslo at 5am. It was a 1 hour ride for me just to get there. Awsome.




So this was the planned route for the day



I actually managed to leave the house at 4.10am and hauled ass on the highway. Maybe a third of the way to the Esso we had decided to meet at, the sky opened and was soaked before I arrived at the gas station. And as it turned out Lars was running a bit late.... Don't you just love those days ?!





The rain was pretty much gone within an hour, but it was still overkast and cold. We stopped at the next gas station around 8am and by that time I had severe problems staying alert and even dozed off a couple of times. The sun started warming and soon we were warm and dry again.




P: Lars

A cup of coffee and some food and chocolate before we were off again. Lindesnes lighthouse next.

The North Sea, England and the Atlantic next



The current lighthouse at Lindesnes. Built in 1917.



From the tower you can see the remnants of the older lighthouses that've been here



And the first one where they simply built wood fires in the caveties



So here we are, southernmost point in Norway

Lars rides a 1996 BMW R80GS Basic and I ride my trusty 2001 BMW 650GS Dakar


P: Lars

As my handle indicates we love gravel roads, but it's impossible to do a whole trip like this off the asphalt. At least on our time schedule, but we did ride a few.



And stopped to have a look at this brilliant green hillside (it was absolutely radiant through the red tintet lenses I have in my goggles)



Across the road was some running water and we felt inspired





Here's an example of old and new.
The old tunnel (on the left in the picture) goes paralell to the new one (on the right)


P: Lars

View from the other side



And Lars took a picture of me from the reversed angle


P: Lars

Selfportrait. Don't we just love'em !



Better get a move on before we have to pass all those cars again....



We arrived in Stavanger late afternoon where Yngve was waiting. He works at BMW so we had a plan to replace the camchain tensioner on my bike. (It's not a recall, but BMW has made a fix..... better safe than sorry).



Left: Old
Right: New



The day ended with the three of us riding to Yngve's house for dinner, a couple of beers and an early night.




.

[Thorne]

[Viking]

I will be watching this one with a lot of interest. Used to live in Stavanger and grew up in the country outside Namsos. Looks like a great trip,

[Gravel Seeker]

Thanks, let's hope it doesn't completely suck then

I'll post the next bit in a short while

[Gravel Seeker]

Day 02 - 26/7-09 (Hiking to Prekestolen)
0 km - Total milage: still 690 km
Stavanger

One of the things to see whilst in Norway is a place called Prekestolen (since Norway has two official languages it is also known as Preikestolen)

From Wikipedia

"Preikestolen or Prekestolen, also known by the English translations of Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, and by the old local name Hyvlatonnå, is a massive cliff 604 metres (1982 feet) above Lysefjorden, opposite the Kjerag plateau, in Forsand, Norway. The top of the cliff is approximately 25 by 25 metres (82 by 82 feet) square and almost flat.

During the four summer months of 2006, approximately 95,000 people took the 3.8 km (2.4 mi.) hike to Preikestolen, making it one of the most visited natural tourist attractions in Norway."

Yngve's place in Stavanger is only a short car and ferryride away from Prekestolen so day 2 of the trip was earmarked long before we left Oslo.


P: Lars

One can wonder if they're not related....



And Lars may not be at all the runway shows in Milan, Paris and New York, but he's not lacking in fashion sense..... from his vantage point looking out of his store window in downtown Oslo, he has picked up on the latest trend from all the 15 year old girls - the bare belly look.



We drove off the ferry and followed the line of cars going to Prekestolen. Hindsight is a bitch. Sunday. Late july, but the later of the two main holiday periods is still not over. Crap. None of us had thought about that, it'll be like Karl Johans street on may 17^th


P: Scanpix

And ofcourse, not far from the mainroad by the sea we were holted by a couple of officials and told that the parkinglot was full, we'd have to park in the ditch along the road and walk the rest. Not perfect, but it wasn't that big of a deal really. Was a bit longer than we thought though.

After a while we reached the start of the trail out to the pulpit itself and acc to Lars GPS (which he's always carrying) we had covered 3,8km on asphalt already.


P: Lars

Took a breather before taking on the trail from hell




P: Lars





They've built a long bridge over some marshlike terrain. The trail continues over the top in the background





After you make it to the top there's a sign telling you were you are. I've also added where we parked....



But the climbing wasn't over yet. Looking at the trees there's no question what people grab onto



Guessing that if we were in the US there would be fences...



First peek of the fjord.....



.........and around the next corner - the pulpit





Lars just making sure our track has been logged



There are many different ways to near the edge. Here's one technique. Used by many I might add. It's a huge drop.


P: Lars

Here is the other way



Lars isn't too keen on heights so I thought I'd show him how the view from the edge was.



Wonder how many pictures are now circulating around the interwebs with a point of view from the cruice ship looking up ?


P: Lars ('s camera, hehe)

Yngve packed the Jetboil and his wife had made chocolate cake. Mmmmm



However nice this place is, it's sad to think about how many people commit suicide here each year. It's our Golden Gate bridgde I guess.

Going back down. I wouldn't recommend this hike for those who have problems walking. That said I saw surpirsingly many elderly and obese people up there. Good on ya !


P: Lars

We had planned to continue the trip north after returning back to Yngve's, but we were too tired and decided to carry on in the morning instead. We'd been lucky with the weather so far......


.

[spirre]

Good stuff, Im in!
Will do a similar trip this comin summer, starting to feel a bit guilty of not seeing more of norway seeing as Ive been livin here for 5 years now :)

[froden]

Great photos! Rode to Lysefjorden myself last year (Brokke-Suleskar absolutely rocks!), but didn't visit Prekestolen :|