Al’s Norway Trip

Norway and Scandinavia By Al Holtsberry

Everyone should plan to go to Norway.  Don’t go too soon, though, because after Norway I believe nowhere else will measure up.  Enjoy some other places before they are rendered drab.  Take Zion National Park, plus Glacier, plus Yosemite; add the skyline drive and 1000 waterfalls and you have an idea of the Norway west coast.  We had better also throw in a few hundred highway tunnels.

               Henning has been telling me since I knew him that I should go to Norway.  Four years ago we got serious about going but there was always something to delay the trip until this year.  Henning shipped a bike and made arrangements for the rest of us to rent bikes.  Henning’s friend Rick had his wife, a travel agent, arrange airline flights.  J.D. and I showed up at the airport.  Well actually, Henning and Brenda stopped by my place and drove me to the airport.

               The airports and flights were no worse than expected and Stephan, from whom we were renting the bikes, picked us up at the airport in Frankfort.  About an hour’s drive got us to Stephan’s place in Heidelberg where we began adjusting to the 6 hour time difference and packed the bikes for travel.  Some of the group had trouble with debit and credit cards.  Most places in Europe only accept the new kind of cards containing a chip or cards with a pin number.  For us from the U.S., and possibly for other foreigners, pay at the pump would not work for gas.  We had to go inside and sign the charge slip.

               On Saturday morning we headed north on the autobahn.  Getting used to the autobahn took a little time.  I have ridden in excess of 100 mph several times but never in heavy traffic.  There were many more vehicles on the autobahn than we usually have on our interstates and the speeds were much higher.  Driver’s skill, courtesy and discipline is very good.  No one takes their time in passing.  If they get in the passing lane they get past the slower vehicle and clear the lane.  When I needed to move out of the passing lane, because I was only going 100 and faster vehicles were coming up behind, then had to catch up with the group I sometimes reached about 120 mph.  There was construction in a tunnel in Hamburg causing a major traffic jam.

               We crossed into Denmark and left the autobahn.  Henning pointed out thatched roofs and Viking burial mounds.  After 825 kilometers (about 550 miles) we camped for the night in a campground near a wide beach and sand dunes on the island of Romo.

               On Sunday we had a relatively short ride to Henning’s sister’s home.  We learned that Denmark has almost no hills and is sandy.  It is also windy and they take advantage of that to generate electricity.  There are wind mills everywhere.

               As we turned a corner in a small town a motorcycle passed and motioned for us to follow into a small turn out.  The rider spoke briefly to Henning and then turned to the rest of us.  Speaking primarily to Rick but including J.D. and I he stated (after Rick got him to switch to English) that the licenses on our rented bikes were not good in Denmark and the fine would be two hundred dollars.  His act might have been convincing except that Henning had his back turned and couldn’t keep from laughing and his stating the fine in dollars.  He soon admitted to being related to Henning and invited us to stop by his place.  On the way he showed us some points of local interest including a factory that builds the large wind mills.  We learned from Henning that he, along with a couple of others, had built the first of the large wind powered generators.

               The dinner with Henning’s sister and brother in law and family, we were told, was standard for Denmark.  It lasted somewhere between three and four hours and included two of everything; two salads, two entrees, and two deserts; along with great fellowship and conversation.  If this is really normal I couldn’t understand why everyone in Denmark is not fat.  Well, I began to understand later but we will get to that.

               In the morning Henning’s brother in law rode with us to see a museum and then on to the ferry that would take us to Norway.

               The museum featured a large cannon installed by the German army during world war two.  It had the ability to shoot half way to Norway with a similar cannon in Norway.  Together they could prevent Allied ships from using the North Sea.  German fortifications which had been built 500 meters from the sea are now at the water’s edge due to rising sea level.

               We relaxed on the ferry ride and then rode several miles to a campground that was recommended by a local rider.  Denmark was sand, Norway is rock with occasionally a little soil where plants can grow.  Norway doesn’t build roads over mountains, they just tunnel through.  A first for most of us was a tunnel with a side road turning off inside.

               The camp site was by a lake with rocky cliffs across a narrow road.  We found a grassy spot for our tents and spent a pleasant night.  There was a very light shower during the night.

               Our first major stop was at a famous hiking trail to a place called, in English, The Pulpit.  The signs and literature say that the distance is 3.5 kilometers and the elevation change is about 300 meters (about 2 miles and 1000 feet).  This seemed like a short hike but it developed that most of the trail was over rocks that, though solid, were not level.  Each step twisted knees and ankles.  Rick had no problem but it turned out to be very strenuous for the rest of us.  I have a knee injured in an accident many years ago.  It rarely bothers me but on this trip got so bad that I had trouble getting back to the parking lot.  The views were spectacular and after the pain and soreness cleared up I think we were all glad we did it.

               We had expected cool temperatures and wind on the trail and at the top of The Pulpit so I wore my jacket liner.  When it was clear that it wouldn’t be needed I stowed it under a board walk intentionally leaving just a little showing so that I could find it easily on the way back.  When we got back it had been stolen.  After an expensive night in a hotel attached to a hospital and a very substantial breakfast, which was included, the first order of business was to buy a sweater to replace the lost liner.

               As we proceeded on up route E39 the mountains became higher and the scenery even more beautiful.  We went through tunnels that included passing lanes.  We ran into a major traffic jam, I think it was in Bergen.  Caution and patience are virtues.  We discovered that Henning is more virtuous than the rest of us.  We would have split lanes as several motorcyclists were doing but Henning waited patiently.  We spent the night in a cabin in a campground.

               Thursday was the most spectacular riding day yet, maybe the most spectacular ever.  Have I mentioned waterfalls?  We saw dozens of them.  Trollstigen Pass was so pretty and the road so good that we stopped and went up and down again.  We visited Geirangerfjiord where we took a boat ride and saw many waterfalls including seven side by side called the seven sisters with a larger waterfall directly across the fjord.  There were also old farms visible on the mountain sides.  The fjiord is a UNESCO world Heritage site.

In the afternoon, or possibly evening if we had looked at the time, there was a light shower and a double rainbow.  We rode the Atlantic Road and stopped near a beautiful bridge that has been used in BMW commercials and motorcycle brochures.  Henning kept going, without stopping to eat I should add, until the sun was low in the sky at 10:00 PM.  We tried to find a spot in a campground but the offices were closed.  We camped in a roadside park.  I was asleep when the sun went down but happened to be awake for sunrise at 3:00 AM.

               Just south of Trondheim we hit route E6.  We visited Trondheim where a statue in the center of town is in the center of a circle and serves as a sundial.  At a McDonalds, where a couple of our group went to get a Wi-Fi connection, a Big Mac was 95 Kr (about $16).  A coke was about $5.

               Route 6 was a pain because of the traffic.  There were very few places to pass and usually traffic coming the other way.  Vehicles traveled in long lines following the slowest.  We passed a farm field with fragrant yellow flowers, which I later learned was canola, and many logging trucks.  All through Norway we saw fields of potatoes. There were many lilacs in bloom.  Waterfalls were not as common but we still saw a few.  We spent the night in a cabin in a campground.

               In the morning we all thought that it was too far to make the morning ferry from Bodo to Sorvagen, on Lofoten, so we agreed that we would find something to do in the area of the ferry and take the afternoon boat.  We made a brief stop at the park denoting the Arctic Circle.  The elevation was fairly high and the area was tundra.  Temperature was in the 40s.  While going to the bath room J.D. set his helmet in the sink only to discover when he came back that the faucet was turned on by a sensor and had filled his helmet with water.

               As we approached the ferry and our elevation decreased I was surprised at the number of homes and the land.  Potatoes were being grown and hay was bailed in fields along the road.  Insects of all sizes were abundant.  I usually ride with my face shield open but the insects forced me to close it.  They collected in the bike radiators so thick that we worried that the bikes would overheat.

               Apparently Henning hadn’t really agreed that we couldn’t make the morning ferry.  He kept pushing and we arrived just before they closed the gate.  We were able to finally get something to eat on the ferry.

               Lofoten, the land where the ferry unloaded, looked like mountain peaks sticking out of the water.  There were many tunnels and a few bridges.  There were fishing villages and I could smell clams.  Lilacs were everywhere; one lilac bush was at least 30 feet tall and almost that wide.  Henning told us that the area is warmed by the Gulf Stream.

 We rode in long lines of traffic following the slowest vehicles.  Rick had been having trouble with his bike and it was getting worse.  The hydraulic clutch was not disengaging making stopping and starting difficult.  He decided that the problem was too bad to continue.  At the small village where we again came to Route E6 Rick was able to phone for assistance with the bike.  We learned that there was a BMW dealer less than 200 km north, at Tromso, where we hoped the problem could be fixed.  Rick had a tow truck on the way so he stayed in the village while the rest of us went on a few miles and found a campsite where the moss made soft beds.

In the morning Henning rode back to check on Rick.  When Rick had learned the price of hauling the bike to Tromso he decided to ride it without a working clutch.  Riding was not a problem – only starting and stopping.  We rode with Rick to Tromso.  Traffic was a pain but still it was a beautiful ride.  There were no double yellow lines on this road – they put a barrier between the lanes.  This system was also used in other areas around Norway.  There were occasional passing lanes but even if we could get by the traffic we had been following we were soon behind another line.  Church bells were ringing as we rode to the BMW dealer.

We left Rick at the shop where he planned to pitch his tent on the grassy strip beside the drive and hope that they could fix the bike the next day (Monday) and that he could catch up with us.  We rode through the town as we left.  The temperature was 78 degrees according to the thermometer on Henning’s bike.  People were walking in the streets enjoying the unusually warm weather.  Leaving town we went through a tunnel in which there were three roundabouts.   As we continued north we saw some small glaciers and many waterfalls.  Two of the waterfalls were so close to the road that mist from them was making the road wet.  If I remember correctly, this was the day that we saw our first of many reindeer.  We stayed in a very nice campground in Alta where J.D. and I shared a cabin and Henning pitched his tent.

Even though we were on a main highway it became narrower and had less traffic as we moved north.  Most of the time the highway had no center line.  The temperature varied significantly as the elevation or nearness to water changed.  Tunnels, especially those under water, were much colder than surface temperatures.  The land gradually became tundra as we approached Nordcapp (North Cape).  Still, there were homes and fishing villages.  Waterfalls received no more attention than we give to streams.

We arrived at Nordcapp in time for lunch.  We were told that the temperature when we were there was the highest ever recorded.  We didn’t get the number but I estimate that it was around 80 degrees.  After many photos and watching a fog bank moving down from further north we were ready to head back south.  It was amazing that this far north I was riding with all of the vents on my aerostitch open.  We saw many reindeer and signs that warned of sheep on the highway.  The insects were smaller, mostly mosquitos, but they were just as numerous.  Mosquito repellant that I had bought seemed to be useless.

Due to the great weather we had made it to Nordcapp sooner than we expected.  We discussed our route back south.  The choices were a ride to the Russian Border with a long backtrack or a more direct route that might give us time to get far enough south in Germany to visit Dachau.  The decision was to make a loop east crossing a narrow area of Finland and then into Sweden and back to the main north-south highway near Trondheim.  We decided to spend the night in a cabin at a campground because the sky looked like we might get rain.

Henning was able to reach Rick by cell phone.  He was unable to get the bike fixed and it was on a truck on its way to Heidelberg.  Rick would fly to Heidelberg and decide what to do from there.  Rick’s flight and some other expenses plus the bike’s transportation would be paid for by trip insurance that was carried on all of the bikes.

Henning didn’t stop for breakfast and probably would have skipped lunch if we hadn’t complained.  I was beginning to understand why Danes don’t get fat from their fabulous dinners and breakfasts.  At least in Henning’s case, if he can’t have a real meal (at least 2 kinds of meat, 2 or three kinds of cheese etc.) he just doesn’t bother to eat.  In spite of the sumptuous meals with Henning’s relatives I lost five pounds on the trip

We rode over a slightly higher area, kind of a low continental divide into Eastern Norway and then south, crossing an area of about 100 km of Finland and into Sweden.  We stopped at the park marking the Arctic Circle.  I was again riding with the vents on my jacket open and a little cooler would have been more comfortable.  We learned that, because the earth wobbles a little bit on its axis, the Arctic Circle moves north and south over an area of about 150 km.  I was still surprised at the number of people and villages north of the circle.  It was not apparent what kind of commerce supports the residents.  I didn’t see any crops growing except occasional potatoes and hay.  The vegetation changed as we went south and some agriculture appeared.  Traffic was very light and gas stations were far apart.  We found a campground just after 8:00 PM.

               As we continued south through northern Sweden there were many lakes, usually with islands.  When we turned west toward Norway we again crossed the divide area but it was never very high.  Population and traffic increased as we went.  Henning had a headache so at about 5:00 PM we made camp at a pretty little roadside park beside a river and across the road from a waterfall.  The area was similar to our national forests.  J.D. and I rode 26 km to a small grocery where we bought food for a picnic.

               When we got back to Route E6 it was still beautiful but traffic was a nightmare.  We were mostly in 4th and 5th gear.  At a gas station a local motorcycle riding instructor started a conversation and gave us advice on local roads to ride.  We rode to Galdhopiqgen, at 8100 feet the area of the highest point in Europe north of the Alps; J.D. said we visited the highest parking lot.  To get to the highest point would have required a hike of about seven hours over rocky trails and a dangerous glacier that requires a guide.  Even without the memory of The Pulpit we probably wouldn’t have tried it.  We talked with a guide who was from Nepal and knew some of the guides killed in the recent tragedy there on Mt. Everest.

               We followed some of the roads recommended by the motorcycle instructor and found a “Rooms for Rent” sign.  Down a gravel lane with grass growing between the wheel tracks we found a group of farm buildings where we stayed in a log building built around 1680 and once used as a stabbur (a place to hang meat).  It was pretty and interesting but the building provided access to mosquitoes which kept us from a sleeping really well.

               On Friday, the end of our second full week, we rode more of the local roads including a gravel road that required coins to open a gate.  The road went above the timber line and ended at a closed gate that we decided not to open.  There were several people in motor homes camping in the area.  We took a pleasant road back to E6 and then went south on Route 4 to the outskirts of Oslo and then back north a short way to visit with Henning’s aunt and two of his cousins.  They treated us to a Denmark style dinner with 3 salads, 2 kinds of meat and desert of strawberries and ice cream.  We pitched our tents on the lawn.

               After a great breakfast on Saturday we visited a Viking ship museum, including a mostly intact Viking ship that had been recovered by archeologists.  Then we went to a ski jump that was constructed for a world championship and gave a great view of the city along with an interesting ski museum.  At the ski jump we were joined by Heidi and Bente, Henning’s cousins, and Heidi’s two children.  We all had lunch at a café overlooking Oslo.  After lunch we visited Frone Parken (park) which featured many statues by the same artist including the famous obelisk, with bodies climbing over each other, of which we have all seen pictures.  Heidi’s daughter, Avelyne, kept us all busy trying to keep track of her.  Her son, Zander, is a charming boy of about ten – going on 25.

               We spent another night with Henning’s relatives including another great dinner and breakfast.  Interesting discussions with Heidi of Norway government and customs added a lot to the trip.

               We headed south on E6 again back into Sweden.  E6 was now a 4 lane highway and traffic was not so frustrating.  Wind was very strong and wind socks on bridges indicated that the wind was not unusual.  Rain started around Goteborg.  It rained very hard and the wind was strong; I had some trouble with my face shield fogging.  Rain had stopped by the time we found a room in the Riverside Hotel in Angelholm.

               After breakfast at the hotel we rode a short way to the ferry to Denmark.  The weather was cloudy with light showers.  J.D. lost his credit card at a gas station a few kilometers before the ferry.  We decided that rather than going back to try to find it he would cancel it and I would loan him the necessary cash to finish our trip.

 Showers had ended by the time we reached Denmark where we toured the castle that was featured in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  From the castle we rode south along the water to Copenhagen where a friend of Henning’s had reserved rooms for us at a hotel by a rail line.  The hotel had no parking and leaving the bikes over night at a public parking lot cost about $21 each.  From our hotel we walked to Ny Havn (New Harbor) which soldiers dug by hand in 1629.  There was a brief shower on the way and we ducked into a nice little restaurant for dinner.  At Ny Havn we took a boat ride through canals where we saw a lot of Copenhagen including The Little Mermaid.  Many boats were moored along the canals.  Some were very expensive yachts; others were no longer seaworthy and were very expensive residences.  On the way back to the hotel we walked around the royal residence area.  There were formal guards walking back and forth outside most of the buildings.  I managed to get shouted at for standing too close to a building.  A young lady, a former guard, who J.D. had met, told me everyone was supposed to stay at least one and a half meters from the buildings.

From Copenhagen we wound through some back roads.  Henning even found a hill.  We visited the small village of Jelling, another Unesco World Heritage site, which was a headquarters in the time of the Vikings.  We had a late lunch or early dinner at a nice inn in Jelling.  We had some trouble finding a place to stay, partly because we didn’t start looking until late, but finally found rooms in a nice inn.

Heading south into Germany Henning planned a route around Hamburg because the construction there had delayed us so long going north.  Roads were packed, possibly by other people also avoiding Hamburg.  We got off the packed roads and spent much of the day lost on very pleasant roads.  Henning finally got his GPS to map a route but it led us to a road closed for construction.  At the stop for the closed road a gentleman gave us directions.  He was a retired colonel in the German Air Force and had been to the U.S.  We spent some time on the autobahn and then got off to find a campground.  We camped in a beautiful, but packed, campground.  The sun set just after 9:00 PM; we weren’t accustomed to sunset so early.  The dew was so heavy our tents were almost as wet as if it had rained.

We spent most of Thursday on the autobahn heading for Dachau.  From the few glances I got at the countryside I think we went through some pretty territory.  The traffic and speeds on the autobahn makes it impossible to see much of anything except the highway.  It’s even worse than our interstates because the traffic is heavier.

Dachau Concentration Camp could hardly be anything but depressing.  Still, it’s something that I felt I should see.  After our tour Henning wanted to head back to Heidelberg where Brenda would have arrived by now.  He suggested that J.D. and I head on south and spend Friday in the Alps.  Henning gave J.D. his old map (he had purchased a new one) and we planned a route.  At the first major intersection we turned the wrong way.  By the time we turned around and headed in the right direction we were in a major traffic jam.  We managed to get out of it by splitting lanes.

 Back on the correct route we rode several miles south and then through a pretty little town.  After the little town we came to a roundabout that was badly marked.  J.D. guessed at the exit and then stopped at the first opportunity to check the map.  He had guessed wrong so we turned to go back and take the correct exit which was toward Hershing.  Back at the roundabout J.D. got into the traffic and then there was a string of at least ten cars which I had to wait on.  When I could go I took the exit to Hershing but of course J.D. was out of sight.  It was eleven kilometers to Hershing and I wondered why J.D. hadn’t found a place to wait, but I wasn’t really concerned.  In Hershing, at an intersection where a look at the map would be required I still hadn’t found J.D.  I decided that he must have again taken the wrong exit from the roundabout so I rode back and all the way through the little town near where we had last been together.

In the meantime, J.D. had gone into the town near the roundabout and then turned around.  He went about 3 kilometers down the road toward Hershing and stopped to wait.  When I didn’t appear he decided to head for Heidelberg.

On my ride I had seen a beautiful place to camp.  It was a forest beside a lake near Hershing.  It had the additional advantage of a parking area right along the road so my bike would be visible if J.D. came that way looking for me.  I bought food at a gas station/deli for a picnic beside the lake.  I sat on a log and ate while watching sail boats on the lake and people swimming at a little beach.  The Alps were in sight in the distance across the lake.  As I was erecting my tent a family was building a fire on the beach.  My only worry was whether J.D. had enough cash (remember the lost credit card) for food and gas to get to Heidelberg.

I was rolling at 6:30 in the morning.  I had decided to head for Heidelberg but to take the small roads.  I had no map but knew that Heidelberg was northwest.  I took whatever road was going either north or west.  When I had to make a choice between the two there was a mixture of methods.  Maybe one way looked more attractive, maybe I had been following a vehicle which went one way so I went the other, with no other reason the choice would be west in the morning and north in the afternoon because of the sun.  I got on Route 2 which was a busy road.  I missed it once by accident and then found it again.  Then I left it on purpose because of the traffic.  I found a couple of dead ends, a closed road, and several turn arounds.  Once I made a circle and came back where I had been.  I rode through many pretty little towns.  Twice I tried to find a map at small town gas stations.  The people were very friendly and tried to be helpful with their broken English and my 6 word German vocabulary.  It was a very pleasant morning.

Just after noon I decided that I needed to get serious about getting to Heidelberg.  I knew from the young woman at the last gas station that I was approaching Augsburg so I went there and got a map.  The autobahn is not as bad alone as when having to stay in contact with other bikes.  Note that I didn’t say better – just not as bad because there is one less thing requiring attention.  It is still, like our interstates, impossible to see anything besides the highway.  There was a long back up where Stockholm traffic was joining the autobahn.  When both lanes were virtually stopped I split lanes.  Many drivers moved over to give me extra room.  As I was clearing the congestion I checked my odometer.  The back up in the other direction was 27 kilometers (about 18 miles).

I was in Heidelberg only a short time when Henning, Brenda, and J.D. came back from a visit to the castle (does anyone remember The Student Prince?)  Rick didn’t show up until Saturday afternoon.  J.D. had a story about sleeping on a picnic table and having breakfast brought by a gypsy woman.  Rick had stories about passes in the Alps.

I think for everyone it was a memorable trip.  The roads were unbelievably good.  In three weeks I didn’t see a single tar snake and almost no pot holes.  Where roads had been patched the patches were even with the other pavement.  I even swerved back and forth across edges of patches and could barely feel them.  Expansion joints on bridges didn’t rattle your teeth.  People everywhere were friendly and seemed genuinely glad that we had come.  Everywhere there were beautiful old buildings that have been modernized instead of torn down and replaced.  There was almost no trash anywhere and there were the neat little old towns.  Oh, did I mention waterfalls?  Norway may have more waterfalls and more highway tunnels than the rest of the world combined and waterfalls are just part of the spectacular scenery.