The Viking Experience - CVE1702
Finally the Viking weather gods were in a better mood today, and that is awesome for the final day of this tour. The group took off this morning to ride to the first highlight of this day: the shiplocks of the famous Telemarken canals. This shiplocks were considered the Eight Worldwonder in the late 19 th century. Still today two ships are going up and down these canals for touristic purposes. A nice coffee stop with a view at the locks and even better: one of the ships came in! We followed our way to the Heddal stave church, an13th century church which is beautiful preserved up until today ....and then, after 9'days of riding in this beutiful country, we reached our final destination at the top of a mountain above Oslo with a superb view! Thanks John and Diane, Frank, Rick, Doug, Will, Jay, Jr and Lee for an unforgettable tour. Hope to see you all on another Edelweiss tour soon!! Ted and Claudia
The long day we had ahead, became even longer due to a bug detour and several road constructions. But finally after the nice and challenging road yp to the Lysefjord we had our first reeard: a fantastic view in the valley of the fjord. After this we went down again and it soon became more wet and colder. Luckily after some miles there was out gastronomic chef Claudia who prepared us some nice watm grilled food. After arriving in the hotel everybody was pretty tired and right after dinner most went directly to bed
After a nice relaxing day in Bergen and soaking in the nice atmosphere of this lively city, we took off more or less in southeastern direction to make a wide 400 km loop down to Sola/Stavanger. The weather was more or less ok and at times nice. A fantatic view on the famous Hardanger bridge, a visit at the Tvindefossen waterfalls made this day super. Arriving at the relaxed beach hotel in Sola, we enjoyed the nie buffet dinner and with the sound of the seashore we could relax at the nice warmed terrace of our hotel
After the first intensive riding days it was really nice for everyone to have a good night rest and a nice sleep in. But at 10 o clock the group was up and ready to go for a relaxed city walk through Bergen. We visited some nice highlights such as the St John's church, the famous fish market, and of course the Brygge area and the Bergnhus fortress. Just a couple of raindrops but overall a very ni e morning/early afternoon for a city walk. After the walk everybody enjoys the lively atmosphere of this second largest ity of Noway.
Are you ready for tunnels? In this part of Norway, the country seems to be like a swiss cheese and we can admire the Norwegian art of tunnel construction all day long. The weather was fine so we passed by the 16 mile-long tunnel between Lærdal and Aurlandsvangen and took the old road instead, also know as Auerlandsveggen. a 30 mile ride across the mountains, among barren rocks and through tundra Vegetation. We visited Stalheim and arrived nearly dry in our destination for two days - BERGEN, a beautiful view from our rooms :-)!!!!!
Glaciers, fjords and views are our topic for the day. The weather was not on our side today.... a lot of heavy rain and cold wind. But we had a lot of fun because of .... J.R.'s animal stories.... birds, cows.... ha ha :-) When we came out of Fjaerland's tunnel the sky opened a little bit, so that we could admire Boyabreen glacier in his full glory. The Glacier Museum in Fjaerland was our final stop before entering our hotel for this night - Hotel Mudal which was founded in 1891.
On today’s ride we are going to see Trollveggen (“Troll’s Wall”), at 6,000 ft. Europe’s highest vertical rock wall, and Trollstigen (“Troll’s Staircase”), Norway’s most famous mountain road. On the way we had a look at Gudbrandsjuvet, Norway’s narrowest gorge, and sample Norway’s best strawberry cake ...yummy. At the uppermost hairpin turn of the famous Eagle's Road an incredible view opens up, to the King of Fjords: Geirangerfjord. It's like a postcard. But real.
A very warm "Welcome" to everybody to our tour "Viking Experience" from Alesund to Oslo. We start with our welcome breifing and the hand-over of the motorcycles. Some impressions from Alesund and our preparation of the bikes.