Made it to Alesund

Made it to Alesund

show details Jul 9

Waking up with the sound of thunder as a water fall is just below us in the beautiful located hotel..

We find that again we have been fogged in or is it light rain. Any way we head for breakfast,Well I think all of Japan has emigrated to Norway the place is just full of tourist. It is hard to find any fish left  but of course we manage to push them aside and get fed.

We again put on our wet weather gear but are very disappointed the road from the hotel  has 11 switch backs but we can't see them. The guide Peter stopped at the top so we could take a good photo but it was a white out.

.Then it plateau out the then down the other side, but we had to be careful not to run over any "TROLLS" as we were in troll country, we crossed our last ferry of the trip and the sun came out .

Over another fjord and onto the  Trollveggen ( Trolls Wall) we look up at the sheer 6000ft rock.This is where the rock climbers climb (silly buggers) Then onto Trollstigen (Trolls Staircase Norway's most famous road) The road is a little damp but just fanatic to ride..

Manual has a picnic again ready for us but the side of a lake it is like our last supper with lots of fish and caviar, salami cheese and coke. it was very nice.. Apparently Edelweiss  puts on two picnics each tour 

Leaving our lunch stop we ride along the lake no traffic and it is so much better then the great ocean road, wonderful sweepers and a hot mix surface.

Arriving at Alesund Peter takes us to a look our above the city, the view is just beautiful with sun shine the place just glistens

Our hotel is right on the water front and little boats glide by our window, like a little Venice

The last supper again was a buffet and we were given our T shirts and a questionnaire to fill out .

The young ones and 3 Americans left on an early flight and the German couple and one American couple are left,so we shall spend the day exploring the City

Vic says he does not think he has put on any weight  that is cause we can't afford food.. last night one beer was 93Nk about $20 aus dollars  .

Well that's all folks sure hope that you have enjoyed our holiday as much as we have ,We catch a flight on Sunday to Denmark then to Thailand then to Sydney if all this go to plan..

Thanks a for all your great comments.. Yes Vic's hair is growing and he may need another hair cut in a couple of months  

love you all

Lyn N Vic

The professorial motorcycle travelers 

Sognal to Geiranger

Sognal To Geiranger
Leaving our wonderful hotel which was on Norway's largest fjord the breakfast was very good, again Vic tasted all the fish delights he could find... Pickled herrings, tomato herrings and blue vein cheese  a real combination, heaps of Omega 3.

It was raining when we left at 9am and our guide promised that it would fine up after the first tunnel..OK it did but the tunnel was 7.5 kms then we went into another long tunnel and came out the other side into blinding sunlight.. a beautiful day. 

What a fantastic riding day it turned out to be, after leaving Sogndal the first 35 kms was along the side of the fjord until we caught a ferry across to Hella and then the fun began, sweeping roads which ran alongside the fjord then we started to climb up and over several passes and had a picnic lunch at the top of one organised by the guides. Then off again to ride a narrow twisting road over a plateau still covered in snow drifts, surprisingly it was still quite mild. After climbing again to the top of another pass we descended into Geirangervegen on a masterpiece of a road that won a prize for road construction back in 1924 at the World Expo in Paris. It is one of the classic bike rides over here, photos don't do it justice.

The area around Geirangervegen where we are staying is on the World Heritage List and the view from our window is just staggeringly beautiful. Perhaps you might like to check out the Hotel Union Geiranger website to see what harsh conditions we have to endure.

Tomorrow is the last riding day and we are riding the Trollstigen (Troll's Staircase) which is Norway's most famous mountain road and will see the Trollveggen (Troll's Wall) a 6000ft vertical cliff. 

Rest day Bergen

Rest day Bergen  July 6

Wow a perfect day of rest. 

The sun cam out and the Temperature was 17.9c no wind  just sunshine all day, two days in a row it is a bonus.

Bergen is a UNESCO world Heritage listed.The whole town has been restored  as it has been destroyed by fire .The great fire in 1702 reduced the whole city to ashes

 It is also know for its wet weather as it rains for 265 days a year, one time it rained for 87 days in a row.

All the little coffer cafe had there seats out and sun umbrellas ,we started out with our jumpers and soon discarded them and went looking for t shirts 

We took a little train ride around the town to see the sights and to learn about the history After the little tour we set of walking we saw the Leprosy museum the city gate 17 century churchs. We had lunch at the fish markets and sat out side in the sun. Then we had an Ice cream  saw lots of Trolls  Many street markets, food stalls buskers  and thousands of tourists, three big cruise liners are in port that are caring many Americans and Italians. 

Now the saga of the passports

The young ones had to fly back to Oslo as the Bergen Canadian office is on Holidays ,They had to apply fro a temp passport in person. The office closes at 4pm the only flight was at 2pm..

They say that their motorcycle tour is over until they get a passport, but they hope to see us in Alesund (the finish) for the farewell .

Tomorrow we are off to Sognal 225 klm 

More tunnels  they say in the guide book it will seem like Swiss cheese as we ride through them all  one tunnel is 16miles long then a 30 mile one,or we ride the switch backs of Stalheimskleiva

Bergen July 5

Day 6 to Bergen July 5 2011

Wow another fantastic riding day,

After leaving Sola it was the best hotel and food so far about 9am

.David who had the crash yesterday is now riding a BMW 800 and his wife Sue is in the Van as she has been bruised and was feeling the  effects of the crash.

Peter the tour leader took us again onto a Highway and we were in 2 nd last position, remember no overtaking other riders, we headed to our first ferry ride it was 30 minutes across a fjord and the cost 183 Nk (about 35 AUD)we were told that morning tea was after the ferry so we waited as it was only 30minutes from the start.. 

Well bugger me they had morning tea on board .

 When we rode off the ferry it was like a" le Mans" start every body jockeyed for position cars, trucks bikes all super fast .again we were 2nd last .Back on a highway  well we had enough and stooped to put on our wet weather gear as it started to sprinkle and Vic a comfort stop,and  waved the last rider  through..

We had the best ride even going to 110 until we caught up again with the pack

We then headed to off to a beautiful waterfall it was just amazing cascading down from a great height.

Again Vic wanted to go a little faster so we took off again and we looked back and there were two other riders joined us. again it was great 

The weather had changed and the sun came out and it was just brilliant again we met the other slower riders with  Peter , at another waterfall,taking off all out wet and warm clothes and tried to get a Norweigen suntan.

Heading to another ferry which cost 84 NK as we were super fast, we left the guide and the rest at the dock and waved them good bye.

Then  the most brilliant road ever 160klm of perfect sweepers and bends along side a lake in and out of tunnels must have been over forty..(i think we spent more time underground in the tunnels...  like rabbits) They sure know how to build tunnels .The weather stayed perfect all day arriving in Bergen at 7pm it was a long but a great day.over 400kl in the saddle again

Peter the tour guide has raised his arms in despair with us as he like to keep all his charges  in check.

Tonight we are in the Best Western Hotel and the meal was served here it was the worst meal we have en counted. So we walked down the street to get an Ice cream   

Tomorrow is a rest day in Bergen and we are going to explore the town on foot but not to eat in the hotel

Oslo to Vardal July 4

From Oslo to Vardal July 4

Wow what a great day, leaving our Hotel in Oslo we fill up with petrol and Vic was in 3^rdposition we headed West onto a highway which was boring, although there was no traffic as it was Saturday morning,>After about ½ hour Vic had had enough of Highway riding and told Manual that we are going to ride our own ride into the mountains, we took off and “the beautiful young” ones followed as they were also fed up with Highway riding.

Vic had already put in his GPS what route he wanted to do as he picked out a great ride with many sweepers and corners around a lake. We rode away from the group , we never saw them again until we arrived at the hotel.

Manual told us that there was an ancient wooden church built in the 14^th century that we must see so off we rode. The road was fantastic no cars or any traffic the road just followed the lake, there were many beautiful waterfalls cascading down the mountain we saw a couple of signs in Norwegian which we could not read so we just rode on.. UNTIL the road had barricades across it  Just 6 klm from the road junction the road was closed as they were doing repairs to a tunnel, so we had to turn around and go right around the lake which was klms around, we took the detour road which they were repairing and it was in bad shape, big pot holes big bumps in the road, but it all made for interesting  riding. The V strom never missed a beat Vic is so happy with the motor and the handling

We stopped at the Church which Manual suggested and waited for the rest to arrive we waited for 1 hour but they never arrived, They took another road and saw another church built in the 12 th century..

Moving along we stopped and had a Pizza for lunch then rode the mountains and valleys saw so many interesting things along the way, there are house which has grass growing on the roof, with goats eating off them truly amazing, did many switch backs to our beautiful location on the lake..

We rode over 400klm s today and beat the group to the hotel by half an hour

The saga of the bags They arrived this morning

The passport woe , will be resolved when they get to Bergen,

So far Norway has mountains lakes,waterfalls good roads and very expensive beer..and food we should have eaten more Goulash we now are on a seafood die

Oslo Norway

We have arrived in Oslo Norway
Breakfast again at 6-30am with our usual cereal, smoked salmon and bacon and eggs followed by black coffee
Left at 9am brought our bags down to be put in the Van
The briefing was good, we are not to overtake fellow riders, if you don't like your position when we start you have to wait until coffee time to change..
We have many BMWs and one Ducati and the V strom Vic does not like his position which was 3rd behind the rattle of the Duke,( He has learnt patients from the previous tour and there is no Mary on this tour)

Most riders are over the 60 mark and all very good.They just want to ride so we set off North from Goteborg it is 27dec and beautiful, we ride into the flat country side with the rape seed in full bloom broad beans and a little wheat it is very beautiful, There is no hills or mountains just narrow twisty roads that run through small villages We meander pass the largest lake in Sweden and it just glistens in the sunshine'
Morning tea and Vic changes position he now is last so that he can corner faster the speed limit is very strict we saw many speed cameras and the fines are very expensive.

Lunch in a little place called ED and it was very quick service and we had a salad getting healthy now
Again Vic changes position he now is second behind Manual WE enter Norway just on peak hour and it starts to sprinkle with rain, the traffic is bumper to bumper and it is hard for the leader to keep tabs.One couple who I have called the beautiful young ones pull over to put their wets on, the rest just ride on( they did wave us on)
Arriving at our beautiful hotel on top of a mountain overlooking Oslo it is a sight to behold..It is right under the Olympic ski jump which holds the winter world championships for ski jumping.
Our bags are not in the room, Vic fetches ours from the foyer, another couple who is looking for there's finds out that they are still in the van which has gone to Aldesund with the bike trailer they should get them back tomorrow (Been there done that)

The beautiful young ones are now lost, Manual can't contact them they have not contacted him, We are sitting down to dinner, he gets a call they are lost somewhere in Oslo.But will get to the hotel by 9pm
It is now raining..
It has been a different sort of riding tour really sticking to the speed limits and watching out for radar very frustrating for Vic who knows nothing about speed limits.. hahaha
All the people are very nice
We are off to tour the Viking Museum and other culture stuff tomorrow catching public transport, and if there is time Vic and I will go for a ride in the country side