Norway recommendations

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Sunny
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Norway recommendations

Post by Sunny »

A few years back we were due to go and follow Abel around Norway on the bikes, but he had to cancel and we never rearranged. :(

I still really fancy going - though it's fairly likely to be in a car rather than on the bike, given Muz no longer has a road bike.

We did Croatia/Bosnia/Montenegro last year by car (another postponed bike trip plan), and although there were some roads where I'd have killed to have been on the bike (Sedlo pass for example), it was still a excellent trip. So...

Where would you go if you were going?
Any recommendations on roads/places to stay/things to do/avoid?

Hit me up 😎
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by KungFooBob »

I did new year in Oslo a few years back.

I spent a lot of time and money in the Hard Rock, because it was actually cheap compared to everywhere else local.

I think they pulled out of Norway.

HTH.

WAIT!

I went to the Kon Tiki Museum, it smelled funny.
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Sunny »

Thanks Bob 😆
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Cousin Jack »

I did a bike tour of Norway/Sweden with Magellan back in 2019. I will try to look up the route and give you some comments on places we went to.
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Cousin Jack »

Right, found the copy of the route, unfortunately only a paper copy or I would send you the lot. I don't have the gpx files any more.

Started with a ferry, Felixstowe - Hook of Holland
Stops in Oldenburg, Germany
Flensburg, Germany
Hirtshals, Denmark
Ferry from Hortshals - Kristansand, Norway
Sandnes, Norway
Ulvik, Norway
Geiranger, Norway
Havsteur Haholmen Island, Norway (via a short boat ride, bike or car left on mainland)
Verdal, Norway
Mo-i-Rani (ride north for a bit to cross the Artic Circle)
Stromsund, Sweden
Mora, Sweden
Gothenburg, Sweden and then a ferry to
Frederickshaven, Denmark
Flensburg, Germany
Wardenburg, Germany
Hook of Holland and ferry back to Felixstowe.


Not sure which bits might be of interest to you, but narrow down the bits you might like and I will send you more info. Scenery in Norway is ace, but you need to get used to being teetotal.. A small beer was about £10, and a decent bottle of wine is mortgage territory.
Last edited by Cousin Jack on Sun Oct 29, 2023 9:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Count Steer »

@Bigyin and @Beancounter did a Norway trip with Abel iirc. They may have some info. I seem to remember a trip involving some local knowledge via LadyBMW? but apart from them (inc Nippy?) eating whale meat and having to plan quite carefully to get fed as food options seemed a bit scarce it's all a bit hazy.
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Bigyin »

Count Steer wrote: Sun Oct 29, 2023 9:18 pm @Bigyin and @Beancounter did a Norway trip with Abel iirc. They may have some info. I seem to remember a trip involving some local knowledge via LadyBMW? but apart from them (inc Nippy?) eating whale meat and having to plan quite carefully to get fed as food options seemed a bit scarce it's all a bit hazy.
Not Beany, but Abel went with Funners in 2009 then again with me in 2016........He has been back twice since and spent his honeymoon in June this year with his new missus Jade on their KTM's.

Food and drink eating out were extortionately expensive .....2 pizzas and 2 beers was over 50 quid at the only time we didnt eat from the camping food we took with us on the bikes. A 6 pack of Budweiser tins from the supermarket was about 11 quid but one campsite place we bought a couple of 500ml tins of Heineken after a particularly long, hot day worked out at £6.70 ....each.

If you like spirits take your own as we each took a bottle of Southern Comfort as well.

For some of the places we went there is a you tube record of the trip with about 8 vids he put together on our return but feel free to fast forward through them to find locations we visited. Lots of the places @Cousin Jack mentioned we also hit but there were others

This is the first vid covering the start through the low countries/Denmark/Sweden then into Norway



Get hold of the ex squaddie on FB and he will be a font of knowledge for you @Sunny :thumbup:
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Sunny »

Cheers folks - I shall have a mooch through those!
(And I will give Abel a nudge, though having been off FB for four years I'll have to remember how it works 🤣)

What about accommodation? We Airbnb-ed our way around Croatia etc, which worked pretty well, but I seem to remember something about wooden lodge type places in Norway?
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Cousin Jack »

Hyttes (spelling?) Never used them myself (we stayed in hotels) but IIRC Abel and co used them. Sort of glamping, but not so posh. Supposed to be OK.
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Bigyin »

We loved the hyttes as they had electricity and a heater when we had been soaked on many days and it was handy to dry off wet bike kit.

Our plan was to wild camp but the shit weather meant we used hyttes more than planned. We still used the tents but the hyttes varied from a basic hut with bunks to one we had that came with separate rooms, a living room and a flatscreen telly. Cheaper than hotel or Air BnB and an alternative to camping
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Bigyin »

Bigyin wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2023 1:54 pm We loved the hyttes as they had electricity and a heater when we had been soaked on many days and it was handy to dry off wet bike kit.

Our plan was to wild camp but the shit weather meant we used hyttes more than planned. We still used the tents but the hyttes varied from a basic hut with bunks to one we had that came with separate rooms, a living room and a flatscreen telly. Cheaper than hotel or Air BnB and an alternative to camping
Couldnt edit the post on my phone but added these to give an idea

Image

This one was at the Danish/German border on the way back

Image

Couldnt upload a pic of the Gucci one as the file size was a bit too big
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by gremlin »

I got mugged in Bergen some years ago. £14 for a bottle of Bud. :o

I've always fancied a bit of Scandi biking as I have a few friends in Sweden. The roads look stunning and Swedes and Norwegians are lovely and embarrassingly proficient in English.

That's not much help at all, I know. :D
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Sunny »

Almost as helpful as Bob there Gremmers 😆

Hyttes! That's what I was thinking of!
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Beancounter »

Count Steer wrote: Sun Oct 29, 2023 9:18 pm @Bigyin and @Beancounter did a Norway trip with Abel iirc. They may have some info. I seem to remember a trip involving some local knowledge via LadyBMW? but apart from them (inc Nippy?) eating whale meat and having to plan quite carefully to get fed as food options seemed a bit scarce it's all a bit hazy.
I was on the 2005 Nippy tour with m00, LadyBMW, SteveMac, Sam In Cumbria and Johnny Honda. We didn't cover the ground that Big and Abel did - we docked at Bergen and took the country roads to Andalsnes before heading south for the ferry home.

As Big says, it's an expensive place. Seem to recall quite a few cops in the larger towns but not out in the sticks (YMMV).
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Bigyin »

Beancounter wrote: Wed Nov 01, 2023 12:56 pm
As Big says, it's an expensive place. Seem to recall quite a few cops in the larger towns but not out in the sticks (YMMV).
I think we saw 1 cop the entire time we were in Norway and he was manning a speed trap heading into a town on a main tourist route. We stayed off the main E routes and used back roads most of the time and, as those who know Abel , we also used routes and trails nobody else had been on in years judging by the rock falls that hadnt been shifted in the middle of the road and the fact we rode for hours at a time barely seeing anyone else :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Cousin Jack »

Bigyin wrote: Wed Nov 01, 2023 8:54 pm
Beancounter wrote: Wed Nov 01, 2023 12:56 pm
As Big says, it's an expensive place. Seem to recall quite a few cops in the larger towns but not out in the sticks (YMMV).
I think we saw 1 cop the entire time we were in Norway and he was manning a speed trap heading into a town on a main tourist route. We stayed off the main E routes and used back roads most of the time and, as those who know Abel , we also used routes and trails nobody else had been on in years judging by the rock falls that hadnt been shifted in the middle of the road and the fact we rode for hours at a time barely seeing anyone else :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
On my trip we were on some major roads at times (we went from the south coast to north of the Artic Circle), but major in the sense that they were main roads between smallish towns in a very rural area. Traffic was very light, traffic police were invisible. IIRC they have a national 50 mph speed limit, we managed to exceed twice that in suitable places. :D
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Sunny »

50mph? :shock: :shock: :shock:
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Count Steer »

Sunny wrote: Thu Nov 02, 2023 7:03 pm 50mph? :shock: :shock: :shock:
Yebbut...they have an NSL of 50 but you can actually do more than that because there's no traffic. We have an NSL of 60 and you're lucky if you can do 40. :(
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Bigyin »

Sunny wrote: Thu Nov 02, 2023 7:03 pm 50mph? :shock: :shock: :shock:
I do remember Abel clocking me at 80 on one of the gravel roads ……. Same as most places around that you don’t dick around in busy build up areas but out in the sticks game on :thumbsup:
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Re: Norway recommendations

Post by Demannu »

As has been mentioned perhaps once or twice, alcohol is a smidge pricey, so is fuel.
However it is a stunning country so worth overlooking the alcohol issues!