Norway Cycling - Part 1
I arrived in Norway by flying from Canada via Amsterdam to Stavanger, one of the larger cities in the south-west corner of Norway. Since most of the group was arriving by ferry the following day, I had the afternoon and evening to myself to explore Stavanger.
Haugesund to Stavanger
The next morning, I took an express bus north for a couple of hours to the town of Haugesund where the ferry landed. On the way I met some others who had also arrived the day before in Stavanger. At the ferry terminal, the group met for the first time and got outfitted with our bicycles provided by KeyMove, the tour company. The German members of the group had taken a train from Germany to Denmark where they had caught the overnight ferry to Norway.
From Haugesund, we had a relatively short cycling route south to a ferry. Marcel, the guide provided a late lunch and we all managed to catch the 6:20 ferry. After the ferry, it was a short ride into Stavanger.
Lysefjord
From Stavanger, we caught a ferry which took us (and our bikes) for three hours up the Lysefjord. It was a first real fjord with spectacular cliffs dropping into the water.
From where we got off, it was a 20km climb to a 600m pass and picnic. From the top it was a big downhill and then a series of headlands and passes to Hjelmeland for the night.
Hjelmeland to Haugesund
We left Hjelmeland early the next morning by ferry to the start of a 50km dash to the next ferry which left roughly 3 hours later. The cycle started a long the bottom of a fjord, then over a series of passes to the second ferry. Some of us, didn't make it and required a lift part of the way from the support vehicle. From the the ferry was very wet ride along bike paths and highways into Haugesund.
Haugesund to Leirvik
From Haugesund we cycled north to another ferry for the short ride to the island of Bømlo. In sunshine and rolling hills we cycled up the island to the picnic and then to a series of sea bridges to the island of Stord, and our stop for the night in Leirvik.
Leirvik to Os
We began with a short ride in light rain to a ferry which took us to another island. We cycled along the Hardangerfjord before cutting overland into sunshine and Bjørnafjord. We crossed over another sea bridge to the mainland and stopped for lunch. After lunch, we it was a series of passes then along another fjord to a short ferry ride into Os. Fortunately, this ferry was frequent so there was less pressure to cycle quickly.
