NTC230A: Norway Touring Center for Edelweiss Argentina

Our Welcome and Safety Briefing on Saturday, the first of July, marked the official start of a week long Adventure around Alesund: The Norway Touring Center. Ten excited Riders (and one Passenger) from Argentina met their Tourguide Nico for the first time in a nice Conference Room of the Tourhotel right next to the Hurtigruten Terminal. After clearing the language situation (English for the Safetybriefing was fine, otherwise the group encouraged the Guide to speak spanish, even if its not perfect) we continued with the Briefing and took a short walk to the public Parking Garage nearby, where the Bikes were waiting for us.  After the Handover of the Bikes we had a nice first Dinner at an Italian Restaurant near the Harbour. Well, the group had the first Course on their own, while Nico was outside on the phone and back to the garage once again to fix a small Issue with one of the Italian Divas. But with a great Edelweiss-Team in the Background, everything was ready for a late night testride after Dinner.

Sunday means Funday.  When we woke up and met for breakfast the Sun was already shining for several hours. As it is the beginning of July and shortly after "Sankthans", the traditional norwegian Midsummer, the night is very short with a sunset around 23:30 and sunrise as early as 3:30 - and even then it's not getting completly dark.  After Nicos first short daily briefing in spanish it was time to start the bikes and get to know them. Therefore the first riding day of our schedule is perfect to get comfortable. The route takes as to our first ferry 30 minutes outside of Alesund and over bigger and smaller Islands, all connected by bridges, to the Bird Island Runde. But Instead of a Hike to the Cliffs and Rocks the group preferred to have Coffee in the Visitor Center and an extra photo stop between here and our lunchstop in Fosnavag. After a long lunchbreak in the sun we continued our loop around the Island Gurskoya on very small roads with two more photo stops on the way back to the ferry. And a quick ride up to Aksla, the viewpoint over Alesund, was a nice touch to end the day. In total we had a very relaxed first riding day with only 200 Kilometers and nice weather. But unfortunately both will look different tomorrow.

Today is on of the longest days of the whole touring center. After a bit later start then expected we were on the road. And not long after the rain caught up and followed us for most of the day. Nonetheless the group dynamic was great and nobody had problems even on the wet mountain roads we conquered later that day.  We made good progress before noon and soon arrived in Stryn, where we had Coffee and Gas at a Gas Station (better safe than sorry with our sporty fleet) before we continued to our lunchstop at the edge of Jostedalsbreen Nasjonalpark. From there we powered on into the mountains and towards Geiranger. Even tho the weather made us skip the way up to Dalsnibba Viewpoint (and safe the toll), the way down to the Geirangerfjord was crazy packed with other tourists and a lot of busses. Unfortunately we missed the planned ferry through the Fjord, which gave us about an hour to walk around the probably most touristy place of our whole trip. The one hour ferry ride and the late arrival in Alesund resulted in a late Dinner, but luckily the restaurant for today and the friendly, spanish speaking staff were very welcoming and provided one of the best meals this week to fuel up our reserves for the next day.

Todays plan was to visit the Trolls, Norways crude looking creatures, and ride less. What a luck, that we don't have to use any time consuming ferrys today and enjoy the pure riding pleasure. This days route takes us from Alesund to Andalsness to the Trollveggen Visitor Center at the bottom of Trollveggen Mountain, the highest rock face of norway. Although the mist and slight drizzle of rain already gave a taste of the weather awaiting us on top, we needed to push on. After this stop it is only a short ride to the start of Trollstigen, the so called Trolls Ladder. This famous road climbs from the valley up to a viewpoint on the Mountain with the same name. The eleven switchbacks are also crowded by traffic, but that gives us more time to look at the waterfall and enjoy the mystic atmosphere while climbing into the clouds. The viewpoint itself must be spectacular - in case you can see anything. And because the Restaurant was destroyed by an avalanche last year and is still closed, we went directly on our way. After we followed the winding roads down on the other side into the area of Valldal, it was time to stop for lunch. This time we grabbed some simple food at the supermarket and improvised a little picknick including the tasty strawberrys from Valldal. The rest of the ride was rather unspectacular (now, that we all are familiar with the roads along the fjords) and we arrived in Alesund pretty early - which was very much appreciated after yesterdays long day. And even the weather was getting better hour by hour and promised a great following day.

Another great day was lying ahead of us. Our second longest day of the week took us from Alesund along the Atlantic Ocean nealy up to Kristiansund an back. Theme of the Day is the Atlantic Wall and the famous Atlantic Ocean Road. Today we took a different route than usual to leave the morning traffic behind us. After riding along Ellingsoya, the long, narrow Island north of Alesund, towards Tennford. And before we reached todays ferry crossing from Vestnes to Molde, we already rode over a small mountain road and alongside a small fjord.  From Molde it was only a short ride to the first highlight in Bud: The Ergan Fort is one of the still existing fortifications along the norwegian part of the Atlantik Wall (the Nazi's effort to protect the european atlantic Coast in WW2). From there we are only 40 Minutes of windy coastal roads away from the Atlantic Ocean Road. Even tho way there is already part of the Tourist Road, everyone wants to see the 8,3 Kilometer long stretch with 8 bridges from one small Island to the next. Before stopping for photos on our way back, we had a nice lunch at a traditional roadside Restaurant at the northern end of the road - that way we got to experience the road in both directions. The Rest of the Afternoon provided alot of riding fun on a different loop than the way up north and on the last stretch to Alesund Ignacio pushed the V-Strom to the limit to get some distance between him and the group. Why? To take some cool pictures of us riding by.

The last Riding Day really deserved the name. It was pure fun along the Fjords and over little Mountain Roads to reach the next one. It was also the favorite Day of most of the group. But let's go step by step.  After leafing the "metropolis" of Alesund and taking the first ferry of the Day to Festoya, we followed the E39 towards Orsta. This is the main connection to the south from Alesund to Bergen, but even if their is a bit of traffic on the road, it's a very relaxed riding. In Orsta we had a short break at a Gas Stop because we didn't fuel up yesterday evening. Unfortunately one of the guest was not feeling well and decided to ride back to Alesund. What a pity as the fun beginns right here. We continued on a small backroad, passed some farms and a little lake. And out of nowhere this single lane road turned into a mountain pass with some switchback and a great view while riding down on the other side. After a short stretch of E39 again we turned right to follow the southern coastal road of the Austefjorden before climbing another mountain to reach Nordfjordeid. Here we opted for a last lunch at the waterfront and got some food at the local supermarkets. After playing with the seagulls (and a love letter from the sky for one of our group) we started the bikes again, as we still had half a day in front of us and had to catch a ferry, that only is crossing the Fjord to Volda once per hour. Like the first half of the day, the afternoon offered more coastal and mountain views and gread riding roads before we came back to Alesund exhausted but very happy. What a great Day with lovely weather to end this trip.