Nordkapp 2 (Page 2) | ukbuellgroup.co.uk

Nordkapp 2 - 2024. Page 2/7. All images click to enlarge.

July 10th/11th/12th Wednesday/Thursday/Friday. Lofthus, Norway.

While Tuesday 9th was the best day of the tour so far in terms of the weather, Wednesday 10th was the worst. It rained all day for over 200 miles. Temperatures had dropped considerably with a high of 12 and a low of 8 degrees C.

Our route north to our next stop for 3 nights in Lofthus continued along RV9 through the Setesdal valley to Haukeligrend where we then headed west on E139 and then north on RV13. Despite the cold and wet conditions, the route as far as Odda was brilliant. It was a great mixture of tunnels, smooth flowing bends and changes in elevation. The scenery, when it wasn’t obscured by low cloud, was stunning. Many of the mountains on the Haukelifjell had fresh snow on them. Old grey snow from the previous winter could still be seen on the verges. The Haukelifjell mountain pass was opened in 1886 and is an important transport link between Haugesund and Oslo. The road passes through the Haukeli Tunnel, which was the longest tunnel in Norway between its opening in 1968 and 1982.

RV13 between Odda and Lofthus runs alongside Sørfjorden. This is a 24-mile-long fjord and is one of the innermost branches of the main Hardangerfjorden. It is a scenic twisty narrow road with cider farms and terraced orchards on the hillsides. It reminded us of the Mosel Valley in Germany but with small apple trees instead of grape vines.

We arrived at the Hardanger Hostel late afternoon looking slightly wet and bedraggled. The staff were very welcoming and let us park our motorcycles in a covered area near the reception. Accommodation was basic compared to hotels but all we needed after such a cold and wet ride was a comfy bed and hot shower. There was no evening meal available, so we made do with some of our emergency biscuits and a cup of coffee. Breakfast was included in the booking, so we hungrily raided the breakfast buffet the following morning. Our fellow guests must have thought we hadn’t eaten for a whole week. Hostel website: https://www.hardangerhostel.no/?setlang=en

Thursday 11th was spent drying out our riding kit and exploring the local area on foot. The steep twisty road that runs up to the hostel from the RV13 passes through some cider farms with small dwellings dotted about the hillside. Lofthus has a good selection of cafes and shops including a small supermarket where we bought items to make some evening meals in the hostels shared kitchen. On Friday 12th we walked down to the ferry quay in Lofthus and caught the Norled foot passenger ferry which serves some of the major communities around Sørfjorden. The ferry was a swish modern catamaran and had an impressive turn of speed in open water. The captain slowed down at various points and manoeuvred close to the shoreline so passengers could better see spectacular waterfalls etc. One of the stops on the cruise was part of the Norled companies’ cider trip tour where passengers could visit an orchard for the complete cider tasting experience.

Lofthus is often referred to as the “Orchard of Hardanger “. See this website: https://www.fjordtours.com/en/norway/places-to-visit/western-norway/lofthus for details about Norwegian cider production in the area.

Luckily for us the weather on the 11th and 12th was dry, warm and mostly sunny. A very welcome change after the rather miserable cold and soggy 10th.

July 13th Saturday. Førde, Norway.

Back on the road today with 160 miles to cover before our next overnight stop in Førde. We enjoyed perfect roads and perfect weather. It reached 27 degrees C in the afternoon. It was easily the best day of the tour so far.

The RV13 from Lofthus to Førde via Hermansverk and the ferry to Dragsvik takes you through more beautiful scenery. The Dragsvik ferry is a large ship catering for trucks and coaches in addition to cars and links RV13 to the RV55 and E39 main routes. When you disembark the ferry, you have a choice of two routes to Førde. Turn left onto RV55 or turn right onto RV613. Because conditions were perfect, and we had plenty of time we chose to go across country on the quieter scenic RV613. Thankfully most of the vehicles leaving the ferry turned left and headed west on the RV55 which runs alongside Sognefjorden.

We had RV613 mostly to ourselves and rode through the Gaularfjellet along the spectacular Gaularfjellsvegen pass which was opened in 1938. See this website: https://www.nasjonaleturistveger.no/en/routes/gaularfjellet for details about this route. Just as we were getting ready to ride away from the Utsikten rest area near the summit of the pass a Norwegian V100 Mandello rider pulled in. Up to that point we hadn’t met any other Guzzi riders on the tour. We managed to have brief chat with the rider who lived locally and is lucky enough to ride the Gaularfjellsvegen pass on a regular basis during the summer months.

After the rather basic amenities of Hardanger Hostel in Lofthus we were glad to experience international standards of accommodation at the Thon Hotel in Førde. It was very comfortable, and the food was great. Hotel website: https://www.thonhotels.com/our-hotels/norway/forde/hotel-forde

July 14th/15th Saturday/Sunday. Molde, Norway.

This was a long 220-mile day that involved 3 ferry connections on the route between Førde and Molde. We didn’t arrive at our next stop until after 9.00pm. We used a combination of the RV5/RV60/RV15/RV63/E39 to reach the main Vestnes to Molde ferry crossing. The weather was good so it meant that we could enjoy this beautiful route and take in the magnificent scenery at a leisurely pace with plenty of stops along the way.

Notable highlights on this route included riding on RV60 through the Jostedalsbreen National Park with its mountains and glacier and the RV63 alongside Sunnylvsfjorden and Storfjorden passing through the town of Geiranger.

Our accommodation for the next 2 nights was the Molde Youth Hostel. It provides basic but comfortable amenities and is popular with touring motorcyclists. We met riders from Germany, Sweden and Finland. In our accommodation block was Eija, a school teacher from Finland who was touring Sweden and Norway on her Harley-Davidson. Eija explained that she spends most of her annual summer holidays touring solo around Scandinavia and Germany. Molde Youth Hostel website: https://www.visitnorway.com/places-to-go/fjord-norway/northwest/listings-northwest/molde-youth-hostel/918

We had set aside Sunday 15th for riding the world-famous Atlantic Road (Atlanterhavsvegen) This is a 5.2-mile (8.3km) long section of RV64 that runs through an archipelago in Hustadvika and Averøy municipalities in Møre og Romsdal county. It is built on several small islands and skerries, which are connected by causeways, viaducts and eight bridges—the most prominent being Storseisundet Bridge.

The weather forecast wasn’t brilliant, but we decided to still go. It was only a short 35-mile ride from Molde to the start of the Atlantic Road. We wouldn’t be here again, and this was our only chance to cross this item off our motorcycling bucket list. It was windy and showery with low cloud at the coast, so it somewhat spoilt the experience but despite the less than perfect weather conditions it was still an impressive ride especially the Storseisundet Bridge. We rode it twice and stopped a few times to try and get some decent pictures.