CVE230B A custom-tailored Viking Experience tour
The beauty of Norway can already be guessed from the view from the tour hotel. Not far from the famous ski jump at Holmenkollen is the beautiful accommodation and here we start our Edelweisstour through the land of the Vikings. After fabulous views of the city of Oslo and the Oslofjord, we set course for the town of Kongsberg (Norwegian for Königsberg), with its impressive waterfall. The next destination was Heddal Stavkirke (Heddal Stave Church), the largest of its kind in Norway. The church was built around 1240 and consecrated in 1242. Through beautiful Norwegian postcard villages, the road led us to the locks of the Telemark Canal, which are still operated by hand and water power. From there, the last kilometers led us along the Flavatn lake to our destination, the Straand Hotel in Vradal.
Riders in the storm Today's driving day brought us through lonely areas to Lyseford, one of the most beautiful fjords in Norway. A little above Angela awaited us with a great picnic. And although it rained almost the whole day and partly stormed, we did not let the good mood and the fun of motorcycling spoil. After the tour, the beautiful spa and beach hotel in Sola, near Stavanger, awaited us.
Although this group of riders are all friends, they had various ideas of how to spend and what to do on their rest day today here in Sola. While Denis and Jose went with Angela on the ride along the coastline and the tiniest country roads, Gaston, Gustavo, and Christian mastered the hike up to the famous rock plateau of the Preikestolen. Auch wenn wir hier mit einer Gruppe von Freunden unterwegs sind, so hatten heute an unserem Rasttag hier in Sola doch ganz unterschiedliche Interessen. Während Denis und Jose mit Angela mit ihren Motorrädern entlang der Küste und über die kleinsten Landstraßen fuhren, meisterten Gaston, Gustavo und Christian zusammen mit Michael die Wanderung hinauf zum berühmten Felsplateau Preikestolen.
Fjords - Fjords - Fjords No less than 10 fjords awaited us on today's tour, plus sensational waterfalls, the bridge over the Hardangerfjord and as an absolute highlight, the beautiful city of Bergen.
A well deserved rest we had in Bergen. But up we are for to continue our ride and see more of Norway's beauty along our route to Fjaerland today. Not that we hadn't seen many water falls already so far, but each one of them are amazing and fascinating to look at - again, and again, and again, and again... After the heavy rainfalls 2 weeks ago the waterfalls still carry an impressive amount of water gushing down the mountains, sometimes from hundreds of meters far up over the top. It was not quite clear if we were able to ride over the Aurlandsvegen pass road, as it was closed due to the heavy rainfall during the previous weeks. But we were lucky and were able to cross over and experience spectacular vistas and a almost surreal scenery. A warm welcome at our hotel in Fjaerland and a delicious dinner rounded up a great riding day.
Today, the sun promised to guide us almost all day long on our way to Geiranger. We took the opportunity to shoot more pictures at the Glacier Museum near Fjaerland before our mouth fell open in amazement looking at the Bøyabreen glacier shortly after the museum. Also today we could enjoy another picnic half way through the day. At probably one of the most amazing places befitting the purpose, Michael served us delicious food for lunch. The highlight of the day, we unanimously agreed, was the view from atop the Dalsnibba Road even further higher up from the Geirangervegen. A overnight stop at the village of Geiranger with mindboggling vistas made our day complete once more.
Tremendo - Tremendous - Unglaublich Tremendo was the word we heard again and again. And it was an apt way to describe the last day of the trip. Whether it was the view from the Eagle's Path, the ferry ride across the Geirangerfjord, the onward journey to Alesund or the view over this beautiful city - "tremendo - incredible". A truly crowning conclusion to this sensational Edelweiss tour.