NORWAY Touring Center NTC2402
We start our day with a ferry ride to Sulesund and continue on lovely roads to our highlight of the day: bird island Runde! The weather forecast looked not very promising, but not only was it dry in the morning, later in the day even the sun comes out! What an amazing start in our week of riding. Runde offers plenty of opportunities. You can join a boar ride around the island and watch out for the cute but very fast little puffins playing in the water. Also very recommendable: A hike up on the bird mountain. Up there you won´t find any puffins during the day as they are out on the sea searching for adventures (unless one slept in). But the view is still wonderful and if you are lucky you'll see one of the three eagle families flying majestically over the island. After our little excursions we enjoy a delicious lunch in the information center of Runde, which also offers an exhibition and a cute little shop. Five colorful handmade wool hats found a new owner and will join us on our trip! Best investment of the whole day :) You could easily spend a whole day at Runde, but we have to get back to Alesund at some point. Our reservation at the happy Elefant Restaurant and Music bar is waiting for us! What a wonderful successful first riding day! Looking forward to tomorrow. Joy
Our route leads us to the south of Alesund today. It's a wonderful riding area with scenic panorama along the countless fjords! Our first stop, as most days is the ferry. Somehow each ferry is a little highlight itself. Staying at the railing, watching the green mountains pass bye. You can spot waterfalls and many other boats. The engine is incredibly quiet, while we glide over the water with a good pace. As we have arrived on the other side we enjoy some wonderful narrow roads, master some nice hairpin turns and pass through many tiny villages. Not so tiny, compared to its peers, was the cool toad we met on our way. In Austerfjorden live 15000-20000 toads. In spring you can hear them sind in the evenings. In Nordfjordeid we enjoy a light lunch in a wonderful bakery, where they still bake themselves. The lemon cardamom crunch was something special. And then, finally... on our way back home, as we get to the ferry it starts raining! We take it easy as we know that back in the hotel a hot shower is waiting for us :)
Today we start our way in a light and refreshing drizzle. Dense fog covers the mountain peaks. The mood is mystical, especially on the little curvy road through the forest. We are heading north-east to Vastnes and as we did not bring our swimsuits we take the ferry to Molde. Molde is a wonderful town, knows for it´s roses and Jazz festival! We make our way up to the viewpoint of Molde following a tricky little alley. As we arrive at the top it´s raining and we see... nothing but a big white foggy wall. Leaves a lot of space for interpretation. It takes no more than three minutes and the curtain opens. It presents us with a unique view down to the valley, the city, the fjord and some cute little islands. Even the sun is coming out! We warm our cold fingers on a cup of hot chocolate and try one of the traditional Norwegian waffles with whipped creme and strawberry jam, then we head on. The stunning ATLANTIC ROAD is waiting for us! The construction is very impressive and the ride to the other side over way too soon. Luckily we get to ride the same way back. But first we enjoy a lovely fish soup. Of course we take our time to take some great pictures before we head back to the hotel. In the evening it clears up completely. We have blue sky and the sun is shining! Till late at night. It´s still light after a delitious pasta as we get out of the Italien Restaurant and we get to watch a wonderful sunset at half past eleven. What a successful day! Looking forward to tomorrow. We hope to see some trolls! Joy
As we wake up this morning the sun is shining through our window. Blue sky and barely no clouds to be seen. But we will award soon how quickly the weather can change in Norway. After a relaxed breakfast we start our day on a gorgeous winding little road and make our way to the historic rose church. The church was build in 1789. Whereas the building itself is very minimalistic on the inside of the church you'll find impressive drawings. They used water based colors and some of the holy figures got washed away by water damage. In the middle of the church you will find a ship hanging from the sealing. It goes back to a time where Norway still belonged to Denmark as you can tell by the flags. After an interesting conversation about Norwegian language and history we walk outside of the church and feel a little drizzle. The clouds get bigger and the drizzle turns into rain. It doesn't stop us from our mission though: Trollstiegen is waiting for us. Or at least the viewing platform. Due to resent stone falls they have closed Trollstiegen for safety reasons. We want to see it anyways and the ride up there is a lot of fun, too. The landscape reminds a little of the moon. Before we head back to the hotel in the afternoon we have to try the famous strawberry cake in Valldal!
Last but absolutely not least or shall we say the best comes last? Either way today we start our trip to the famous Geiranger fjord! Geiranger is famous for its clear water, the massive mountains and stunning waterfalls. If you look closer you will find farm yards high up on the mountains and start wondering how people could live up there? And much more, how did those bricks find their way up there? After our wonderful boat trip we ride up to a viewing spot. Well... today it leaves a lot of room for interpretation. The dense fog covers the view. You can barely see 20 meters ahead. After a little while the weather clears up and latest at the highlight old road of today the sun is shining for us. WOW! What a ride. The surrounding is breathtaking! And the ride a lot of fun! Can you believe our touring center is over already? We could easily spend another 5 days rolling around the wonderful city Ålesund! There´s so much to discover! During our farewell dinner we exchange our favorite moments. There were so many! And what a wonderful group we were! Thanks to everyone who made this trip very special. Joy