Fjord Cycling Route in Norway - Day 1 (Matre to Stordalen)

Hilsen fra Norge!!  (Greetings from Norway!!)  Did I have to use Google Translate for that?  Of course.  You may be asking what I'm doing in Norway but if you know me at all you have a pretty good idea why I'm here.  I've embarked on a five-day cycling trip along the coast and fjords of western Norway.  Specifically, I'm riding a loop called the Fjord Cycling Route.  I saw the route on a bicycle touring blog I follow and he did this exact tour a few years ago and the timing worked out well in my schedule and Norway has always been on the top of my list of places I want to go.  

I went through a company called Berg Fritid (Berg Leisure) and it's owned and operated by Arne Berg.  Arne runs self-guided and guided bicycle tours as well as guided hiking expeditions here.  He also owns and runs the Bjorn West Museum which shows Norway's history (this region's, specifically) of World War II.  Arne gave me a quick tour of the museum before I took off.

All I really had to do is show up and ride.  As part of the tour, Arne provides a bike, panniers, tools, etc. for the ride.  All my lodging is set up and breakfast, dinner and a packed lunch are also provided along with maps and everything else I need.  I did bring my own helmet and one of my Brooks saddles.  He said I was the first person to ever bring their own bike saddle so I guess I have that going for me.  The mileage isn't much (only about 125 miles for the entire route) but the views are spectacular and I'll have plenty of time to wander.

I flew into Bergen, Norway yesterday.  Bergen is the second largest city in Norway and has about 265,000 people so approximately the size of Lincoln.  Really neat place.  I flew to Minneapolis, had a red eye to Amsterdam and then my last flight was into Bergen.  It was a long day of travel but fortunately everything went well and no delays.  

This is how my day started off.  After breakfast at my hotel (one of the better breakfast buffets I've had) I had to board a bus as instructed by Arne to take me to Matre.  The transit station was right by my hotel so it was easy to get to and you buy your ticket on the bus.  It took about 90 minutes to get to Matre and once I was there we got the bike ready and I was off.  It rains here a lot and it rained all last night but magically it didn't rain on me at all today until I was about half a kilometer from the lodge where I'm staying.  And it's been raining since.  I had planned on doing a route up one of the mountain passes this afternoon but the rain changed my plans which is ok.  Here are pictures from the day:

From Arne's museum.

No joke, that's the road I was on all day.  It's basically a one lane road but obviously not a main road.  I would equate it to one of our county roads back in the US.  The great thing about them is there's VERY little traffic.  I probably only had 10-15 cars come up on me all day and everyone drives pretty slow on them.

There were so many waterfalls along the way.  Most of them were over 100 feet high and absolutely spectacular.

Uh oh...

That ended up being 1,200 feet of climb in two miles.  Switchback after switchback climbing up the pass.

Finally at the top of the pass.  Still had some more climbing to do but that was the worst of it.  Made for an incredible view though!

There are sheep everywhere here.  And not fenced in but they are all branded/marked and the adults have bells around their necks.  Weird deal.

Starting to hit the fjords...

I'm staying at a mountain lodge called the Stordalen Fjellstove.  Neat place and while my room is pretty small there are several lounge areas overlooking the water on the main floor which is where I'm typing all this.  They were also nice enough to let me use their washer and dryer!

That's all for today!  Longer day of riding tomorrow which will be good.  After a long day of travel and sitting on a plane for a combined 10+ hours and losing seven hours due to a time change a shorter day today was a good thing.  I'll be putting together a video as well but will post that on the last day.  Until tomorrow...