Touring Norway

[cycle_tourer]

Hi,

Me and my partner are going to Norway this summer to tour. Our plan so far is to fly into Tromso then cycle down to the Lofoten islands, ferry to Bodo and then the RV17 coastal route to Trondheim. We have three weeks. I've looked at some of the websites mentioned on here with travelogues etc (cycle Tourer, mistymornings etc). which have been really useful. We have the Lofoten islands bike maps pack that is advertised on the bike Norway site, the LP and Rough guide books. Seems like tunnels and midges may be a problem, and that Norway is expensive. We'll be camping, hopefully wild camping a lot of the time, which i gather is allowed. We have reasonably decent waterproof and camping gear (Carradice, Ortlieb, good tent, down sleeping bags etc).

We've never flown with bikes before and are dreading it a bit. We are looking at flying with these people: http://www.norwegian.no

Anyone have any tips? Either about the route (esp RV17) or general advice about cycling in Norway?

Cheers

[rickwiggans]

Norway is an amazing place - I'm sure you will enjoy it. We found it not too expensive - as long as you don't eat out all the time, and shop at the big supermarkets. More than the UK, for sure, but not as bad as we expected. Tunnels can be an issue - there are LOTS of them , and some are very long. Bikes are forbidden in quite a few. However, where a tunnel has been made to replace a road, the old superseded road is usually still there for you to cycle along.
Rain - there is a saying, that if you are in Norway, and it isn't raining - then you must be in a tunnel! Most years, there is a fair bit of rain, but we were there last year for seven weeks, and didn't do too badly. Midges can be worse than Scotland - be prepared! The Lofetens are outstanding - don't miss.

There are lots and lots of well equipped campsites - there seem to be many more on the ground than are marked on the maps.

Wild camping is allowed - but you must obey the rules. You can pick up a booklet at the tourist centres. It is called "Every Man's Right". Basically - you must not be within 50 metres of a dwelling, on uncultivated land, stay one night, don't leave any mess. There are sometimes local byelaws preventing it - generally in National Park Areas - but mostly it is absolutely fine. Traffic light compared to here, and because of the low speed limits is not too daunting. PM me if you have any specific questions

Cheers


Rick

[pal]

I did a tour around Bodo/Lofoten a couple of years ago and agree with the previous poster that it's absolutely stunning. There's the occasional wave of camper-van traffic on the main road (coinciding with the arrival of the ferries) but it soon passes. I didn't have a problem with midges (but perhaps they just didn't like the taste of my blood...)

While I was there I picked up a booklet about the RV17 which looks pretty helpful (it includes the ferry times and details of accommodation, as well as a route guide). It looks like you can download the latest version: http://www.rv17.no/index.krv?page=pager&art_id=2051

[myheadsashed]

www.trailblazer-guides.com

Check out 'Norways Artic Highway'

[travelling]

most of the scandanavian countries beers are very exspensive but the people are very friendly

as to flying with bikes.. wrap up the frame with those grey pipe insulating tubes ..they work great then in a box or back whatever your choice,, check the cost before you book though many quote one price i.e say £105 then you get to check in and all they charge you for is the bike box they insist you use if you havn't got one already.. BUT it really does depend on who you see so clarify that. Also when you book your ticket make sure you notify them a bike is coming if you are doing it through an agent or on the net

[cycle_tourer]

Thanks for all the replies so far! What's the availability of meths like in Norway? For burning not drinking!

[rickwiggans]

Can't speak from personal experience - but Trangia meths stoves are very widely used in Scandinavia - so I guess it is readily available

Rick

ps spotted this link. Not read it, but it may help you

http://www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/norway.shtml

[syklist]

Thanks for all the replies so far! What's the availability of meths like in Norway? For burning not drinking!

There are two products available for Trangia type stoves in Norway:

Rød Sprit is available in most petrol stations and outdoor shops and is basically ethanol. The price varies in but expect to pay something around NOK 80 for a litre. We found in the past that Shell's own brand was somewhat cheaper. The big disadvantage with this fuel is the flame is rather sooty. Adding around 10% water to your fuel alcohol reduces sooting to an acceptable level. I usually do this when I pour it into our fuel bottles so you don't have to do it every time you fill your stove. I'd take a good pan scrubber with you.

A better product is Fin Fyr which is ethanol with some other alcohols in it. This appears to be most widely available during high season. You can sometimes find it in petrol stations but also usually in high street outdoor shops like Perry Sports, G-Sport etc or smaller independent outdoor/fishing tackle shops. This burns much more cleanly and in 2008 cost no more than Rød sprit. Use this if you can find it.

You can get medical grade ethanol from dispensing chemists, but last time we tried it was NOK 700 per litre, so we gave that a miss. We usually travel up by train from the Netherlands and take 2 litres of 'Bever spirit' which is methanol and gradually dilute it with Fin Fyr or Rød sprit.
HTH
Stan

[MartinBrice]

NORWEGAIN
flying with norwegian is fine, it's a good airline. i flew to Stavanger and back last summer. I put the bike into a big CTC-type bag, and put pipe insulation on the frame but that wasn't at all needed and I left all the stuff in the arrivals hall and bought a bit of plastic for the bike for the return journey. norwegian seems to want only that the bike has the pedals taken off and the handlebars turned - my recollection is that it doesn't insist on the plastic bag. But I did it anyway. Booking a bike with norwegian is a bit complicated - you buy the ticket and the telephone them in norway to book the bike on, and then when you arrive at Gatwick they have no record of the booking. then you check in your hold bags and are given a receipt, which you then queue up (with the bike - so don't put it in the plastic yet cos you can't wheel it around) to pay for the bike's transport. then you return to the check-in desk (still with bke) and hand over the stamped receipt for the bike's transport, and they give you the long sticky tape you put on the bike - the destination thingy. then you take the bike to outsize baggage, and ONLY THEN put it into the plastic bag and stick the tape thing on and hand it over. it sounds dreadfully complicated but it isn't really and took only about 15 minutes. i suspect it's only like this because Gatwick is run by BAA (for now until it's sold) and they can't run a booze-up in a brewery. at stavanger it was completely different - very efficient and friendly as always in norway. the bike didn't have a single scratch on it anywhere, going out or coming back. i arrived at gatwick 3 hours before departure to give me plenty of time for fettling the bike. you don't want to be doing that in a hurry.
CAMPING
i found wild camping almost impossible because there wasn't a single flat piece of land big enough to put a small tent on, although this is was the rugged bit of the south. flat bits of land by the road tended to have beehives on, so i didn't camp there.
METHS
you can get meths anywhere in norway, lots of supermarkets stock it and all garages. i can't remember what it's called, i think it's called red alcohol - rodsprit i think. it burns a bit fiercer than the stuff in the UK. it's red, not blue.
CAMPSITES
i found using campsites quite comfy - they all seem to have a little kitchen you can sit in and use their cookers and get out of the weather. most campsites seem to be designed for campervans rather than tents but everyone - everyone - spoke perfect english. the showers were good and hot everywhere. they cost about a tenner a night for little ol me, my bike and a small tent (twice what it cost in France) but the facilities in terms of clean hot showers, sitting rooms, kitchen, etc, made it worth the expense.
NORWAY
it's a beautiful place. the roads are good. the people are a bit reserved but perfectly polite, crime seems non-existent. I locked my bike while inside shops but no one else did. it's normal to see unlocked bikes at bus-stops - people cycle to the bus-stop and leave their bike there, unlocked, all day, and return in the evening.
TUNNELS
avoid those bloody tunnels - take lights - lots of them, and a bright jacket. the tunnels are scary - dark, cold, the engine noise is terrifying. those under the sea have steep exits. they are badly lit. many are banned to cyclists- BUT
COACHES
You can put your bike on coaches - in the underneath baggage area. so if you are behind schedule or it's raining, take the coach.
SHOPS
shops are few and far between - you will pass only one per day, and do stop and stock up. buy cheese that it ready-sliced, and bread that is ready-sliced. saves a lot of faffing for lunches. the shops tend to serve people living across quite a wide area so are well-stocked, and it's normal to see a small shopfront conceal an absolutely massive interior.
ALCOHOL
beer cost is prohibitive, so buy as much duty-free scotch at the airport on your way out (put it into plastic bottles or buy Teachers already in plastic bottles), even if you don't like it you may find it helps to break with ice with norwegians - for whom alcohol is a rare luxury.

er, that's it

[syklist]

Hi,

Me and my partner are going to Norway this summer to tour.
[snip]
Anyone have any tips? Either about the route (esp RV17) or general advice about cycling in Norway?

As mentioned you can find a free guide to the route in Tourist Offices. Jerry Webb has done most of the RV17 as have Brian Fish and Karen Strojek (2007 tour). You've found our site and the Cycletourer website already. We tend to take home made Google maps of the route when there is no guidebook and road maps in the freytag & berndt series. (1:400 000). Another good resource is Trentobike website. You can search for travelogues of trips in Norway.

My main tip is prepare for both very bad weather and extremely good weather and everything in between. This makes packing a bit more difficult. The West Coast is generally wetter than other parts of Norway, and the weather can change rapidly from sunshine to storms and back. If you do get a good day (we usually get them when we have to do a big climb) then you will need to use sunblock and drink lots of water. On bad days don't forget to stop and eat on time and take plenty of high calorie snacks. If you are planning on camping I'd also recommend taking a tent that pitches outer tent first.

I wouldn't let rainy days put you off though. Some of the most memorable images we have of our trips are of Norway in the rain. Having said that we generally expect to get a nice sun tan on a Norwegian cycle tour
HTH
Stan

[cycle_tourer]

With regards to bad weather and what to pack, i was wondering if it would be worth me getting some waterproof overshoes? I've never used them before, as i use sealskin socks, are they worth the investment? Also does anyone have any recomendations for gloves? I have some sealskin MTB gloves, but they let water in eventually and because they are so padded they are a nightmare to dry once wet. Am i better off taking my normal winter l/f gloves?

[syklist]

With regards to bad weather and what to pack, i was wondering if it would be worth me getting some waterproof overshoes? I've never used them before, as i use sealskin socks, are they worth the investment? Also does anyone have any recomendations for gloves? I have some sealskin MTB gloves, but they let water in eventually and because they are so padded they are a nightmare to dry once wet. Am i better off taking my normal winter l/f gloves?

Footwear. Our chosen gear is one or two pairs of woollen socks (depending on conditions) combined with a pair of waterproof socks and Shimano cycling sandals. The sandals don't fill up with water (and don't stink as much as wet boots do) though the waterproof socks eventually will. However the wool keeps your feet warm, the waterproof socks keep the wind at bay and you get a warm nice foot bath all day. The next day we put on wring out the wool socks and put them and the waterproof ones on again. After about ten minutes cycling we have warm feet again.

Handwear. We've done the Rallarvegen twice (highest point 1300+m above sea level, inland in the south). The first time we used thin cycling gloves with fingers and thumbs and our hands got very cold. The second time we took thicker padded gloves and our hands were ok. Minimum temp on both days was not much above 5'C. The padded gloves did get and remain wet but kept our hands warm. I'd take something that keeps your hands warm when the weather is wet and windy.
Cheers
Stan

[RobinSmith]

Flew to Tromso with Norwegian last year - bikes no problem, used cardboard bike box free from a bike shop. We cycled directly to Trondheim, wild camping by fjords most of the way, staying in Stugas (small huts with cooking and drying facilities either on campsites or farms, around £30/night) when the weather was really bad. Sealskin socks very good, but will leak from the top after about 3 hours of continuous rain - I don't think you can expect to stay 100% dry, so I advise you to stay in places with drying facilities when it rains. That said, we had some fantastic days, and were often too hot at night due to 24hrs sun! Really didn't see any midges until south of the Arctic Circle, but thereon inland/wooded areas were as bad as Scotland - you maybe lucky if you stick to the coast. We cycled through every tunnel. Traffic was very light, and it is really just like night cycling - take lights/reflective clothing and cars will see you, and Norwegian drivers generally give plenty of room. Also I advise you to go from Bodo to Fauske and cross the arctic circle this way. The E6 from Fauske to Mo-iRana through the Saltfjellet national park is the best road I have ever cycled.

[iviehoff]

In order to get from Tromso to Trondheim via Lofoten in 3 weeks, my suggestion is that you take the ferry from Senja to Andenes, the northern tip of the Vesteralen islands. That cuts a corner off, and is also an especially scenic route. That will avoid you being in too much of a rush. You may also want to approach Trondheim by cycling along the north side of the Trondheim fjord, and getting a ferry across that goes right into the centre of Trondheim.

You won't have any trouble with tunnels on this route. The only tunnel you will encounter that you can't cycle through is just south of Ornes. But the coastal route is marketed to cyclists, and so there is an avoid of this tunnel by taking a ferry out of Ornes. It doesn't run very many times a day, so check the timetable. I recall an early start that morning.

We managed to do quite a lot of wild camping in this general area. Only one night do I remember finding it very hard to get somewhere, but we did eventually. It is the western fjords south of Trondheim that are very difficult for wildcamping as someone said. There is even a feasible wildcamp quite close to Trondheim city centre, but I'm not putting that up in public, you can PM me if you are interested.

You'll find the midges are not too bad at all in much of this part of Norway. There were a couple of well-treed wildcamps where we were bothered, and a few marshy areas, but in general we were not bothered most places most of the time.

[cycle_tourer]

Thanks that's great advice. Will PM you at some point re campspot.