Cycling the National Cycle Routes 3, 1 and 9 in Norway.
We made big plans this year for a long tour, an almost circular route starting with the route Kristiansand up to Florø taking in much of Cycle Route 3. The idea after Florø was to follow the coast to Trondheim along Cycle Route 1, before heading down Cycle Route 9 towards Halden. Route 9 would take in Røros, the boat down Lake Femunden, Åkrestrømmen and Elverum. If we could get to Halden with some time in hand we planned to cycle down to Strömstad in Sweden and cross to Sandefjord on the ferry. After we'd decided on this plan, Damae heard that the Lofotens were the place to go. It was hard to see how we were going to work this into the first plan and in the end we had to accept that the Lofotens would have to wait for another year. Surprisingly, we made good progress on Route 9 and had a couple of days over when we arrived in Sandefjord. We made good use of the extra days by cycling up to Horton and then to Helgeroa and just managed to hit the 2500km mark. We spent our last night in Norway in an almost forgotten campsite on the outskirts of Larvik.
I'd recommend this trip or parts of it to anyone who likes cycling in Norway. Besides the section of main road between Haukeli and Røldal (which we would not attempt if we had children with us) the roads range from quiet to traffic free. Cycle Route 3 is a great challenge with a number of big climbs and varied landscapes. Cycle Route 1 took us through the lovely Norweian coastline between Bergen and Trondheim, and to the island of Ona near Midsund which is special. Cycle Route 9 took us through landscapes we'd never seen before in Norway, the lovely town of Røros, and past impressive forts in Kongsvinger and Halden.
So far, the travelogues for Part 1 (Kristiansand to Florø) and Part 2 Florø to Trondheim are finished (March 2010). Work is now starting on Part 3 of the travelogue from Trondheim to Larvik. You can subscribe to our RSS feed if you want news about the site
The Travelogue in words pictures and videos. Contents page.
Travelogue Part 2: from Florø to Trondheim. - National Cycle Route 1.
2010-03-23 Work in Progress Subscribe to our RSS feed for updates to mistymornings.net.
Travelogue Part 3: from Trondheim to Larvik. - National Cycle Route 9 / NSCR Sweden and Norway.
For the 'picture thinkers' all of the photos from Part 1 and 2 of the trip.
For the YouTube generation: just the videos from the trip.
