July 5, 2023 to July 6, 2023
The Rallarvegen
Geillo to Flam
The Rallarvegen is said to be Norway’s most beautiful bicycle route and it was our “Holy Grail”, the thing that had drawn us to Norway and the nexus around which this trip was planned. After 3000km through six countries, we were here and ready to ride this 83km trail.
The Rallarvegen was built in the 1890s by the railway company as an access road for the construction of the high mountain section of the rail line connecting Bergen to the interior and Oslo. It is still owned and maintained by the railway, which being state owned, was convinced to also make it a recreational route. Both ends are very popular as day trips and riders can take the train up part way, rent a bike and drop it off at the bottom. People wanting to ride the full length are advised that it can be done in one day with a well equipped mountain bike, but is more comfortable to be spread over two days. We chose to make it a three day adventure.
The first day got off to a bad start. We had began in Geillo because it was a bigger town with campgrounds and grocery stores, and we imagined a nice ride up to the trail head. Instead, we were loaded for three days in the wilderness, white knuckling the first 23 km to Haugastol on a highway with a 6inch shoulder and way more traffic than we like.
Once off the pavement, we kept a reasonably good pace on the fairly smooth gravel road, with a slight but steady incline. 500m climbing on the 25km of dirt. One surprise was the lack of signage, even right at the start there was nothing to indicate that this was the famous Rallarvegen nor were there any signs at some uncertain intersections, though these were few and far between.
The initial scrubland and cottages by the lakes gave way to alpine and then to full tundra with small, kettle pond lakes and patches of snow. We passed a dozen day trippers heading back down on rented mountain bikes but met only one, solitary, not very chatty, German with a massively loaded bike also going our way to Flam.
We planned to stop a bit before Finse to avoid the snow and spotted a good spot just off the road about 4km out of town. A stream flowed nearby and a fire ring near the flattest spot showed we were not the first campers. The solitude and being in a truly natural space more than made up for the lack of indoor toilets and warm showers. The only real problem was the temperature at 1200m altitude so Steven had to wear his toque, neck warmer, wool socks and down coat to compensate for his inadequate sleeping bag.
We slept well, ate a huge bowl of granola (no worries about the milk going off) with strong coffee for breakfast and set off. The forecast predicted rain for much of the day so we started quickly hoping to get a good distance covered before it started. Lucky for us, there were only a few sprinkles the whole day, but the clouds were ominous.
Soon we met a young German with sleek, high-end equipment who was impressively riding up from Flam. He had good news: there is a place to get food and water in Finse; and bad news: the road is snow covered in a number of places including one that will require removing the panniers.
The hostel in Finse was delightful. A warm, spacious dining area with Scandinavian furniture, electrical plug ins, hot coffee and warm waffles.
Fortified, we headed out ready to tackle the snow. Although we had long passed the gate preventing cars from accessing the road, and it had seemed bumpy, it was only when we noticed the very fresh gravel patches and then passed the backhoe filling in washouts that we realized the road, thus far, had benefited from its spring cleaning. It took us over 2 hours to ride, walk, push the next 10km, but by going slowly we had more time to appreciate the scene. This may have been one of the most difficult bits of cycle touring we have yet attempted, but it was certainly one of the most spectacular. Wide open valleys looking up to snowy peaks, some with glaciers and down to lakes with varying hues of water and ice, and the occasional house or sighting of the railway line to remind us that we were not actually that isolated. The snowy sections were as he described and we pushed across the first couple, then took off the panniers for the one with a gradual climb across a frighteningly steep slope and then a sharp 4m drop at the end.
At the pass (1350m) we made coffee to rest, warm up and celebrate. There we were passed by a rather anxious young couple from Tennessee who had taken the train to Finse that morning, rented e-mountain bikes with the plan to zip along the 40km to Flam, except the E part of her bike wasn’t working so the going was tough. We never saw them again so I guess they made it!
Then it was all downhill, but still very rough until Hallingskied where the road crews from the other side had been working to smooth the surface. Still a full suspension mountain bike would have been the appropriate ride. Wanting to get down to warmer temperatures, we pressed on and finally arrived at Mydral where we looked down at the infamous 23 hairpin bends that would drop us from 1150m to 800m in just 4km. What a thrilling end to the day! Soon we spied a suitable camp spot, ate and crawled into our tent, exhausted from one of the toughest and most memorable 45km rides ever.
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Today's ride: 105 km (65 miles)
Total: 3,141 km (1,951 miles)
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