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Rowerem przez Norwegię
Rowerem przez Norwegię
Nordkapp 2006
A na dole są zdjęcia!!!
What, where, when?
Since 5.07.2006 to 21.08.2006 we (4 persons from Poland) were riding on bicycles
carrying whole luggage with us, sleeping in tents.
Our trip had two parts: first - through Norway from Olso to Russian border,
and second - from Sankt Peterburg through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.
Here I've written some possibly useful informations, rather that full
description of the trip.
Route
We've started at Gardermoen airport and headed west along the railway
line Oslo - Bergen (skipping the Oslo itself). Western Norway was, in my
opinion, a most
interesting part of the trip (or at least different than the northern part):
beautiful high mountains and fiords with steep, rocky slopes, many
waterfalls and lakes. If you are
going to Norway don't make the mistake to miss the western part.
First few days were rather flat (along river). Then we had some ascents,
which I can recommend. We've taken the bicycle road from Haugastol to Flam
along the railway (through Finse and Myrdal). It was gravelled track (but
with surface good enough for bicycles), on some short fragments covered by
snow (even in July). Most of the altitude we get already on the route 7,
Haugastol is on 1000 m, so the bicycle road goes generally through
rather flat valley, among high mountains and a lot of lakes. The last
fragment goes down very steep.
Then we were riding a small road (alternative for a long 25 km tunnel) from
Aurland to Lerdal, also very nice, again climbing on about 1300 m. As on all
roads between fiords here, there was steep ascent, almost flat rocky top
with many lakes and poor flora, and then steep descent. Excellent views from
the first part in the direction of Aurlandsfjorden.
Next we've ride along Lustafjorden and through highest pass in Norway (1434
m) to Lom. Road goes near highest mountains in Norway and one can see
glaciers, etc. From Lom to Geiranger (where many says that is most beautiful
fiord - in fact it looks good, but many other too), again by over 1000 m.
On the top there is also a junction to a view point Dalsnibba on 1500 m (which we
skipped), from where one can see the Geirangerfjord.
Other, probably also good, possibility is to go from Sogndal along
Sognefjorden do Dragsvig, then north to Stryn and back to Geiranger.
From Geiranger one another ascent, and after Norddalsfjorden the famous
troll road. The ascent unexpectable long and not too steep.
Most famous is the second part, the descent to Andalsnes, which
is concentrated in one valley with a lot of serpentines, and can be very good seen
from the top.
In Andalsnes the end of high mountains for us, from here we never were on
500 m. We went near Molde and then by E39 to Trondheim (in fact small road
with almost no cars, despite threatening number). Trondheim is rather not
too much interesting city (but maybe most interesting of all in Norway).
After that, through the Fosen peninsula (quiet routes 715 and 720). From
Namsos we've chosen route 769 (along the coast), then popular tourist
route 17 up to Bodo. A lot of ferries here. Road goes not too much over the
sea level, but there are also some unexpected ascents. For example near
Handnesoya island on the map the road is very near to the shore - in fact it
goes along the fiord, but on more than 300 m above it. A lot of pleasant
views in this region. On the ferry Kilboghamn - Jektvik we cross the
subpolar circle. In Bodo we were in quite interesting aircraft museum (big,
a lot of real-size exhibits).
From Bodo long ferry to Lofoten islands (Moskenes) and by main road along
the whole archipelago. The islands are most famous for the fisher villages,
traditional houses on piles, etc. Of course they are there, but only some of
the villages are interesting, and not as much as we expected. The nature
here is also specific, but not as wild as in other regions.
We decided not to go by the main road near Narvik, but to north through
Vesteralen to Andenes. The Vesteralen are different that Lofoten - the
mountains are less steep and rather grassy and there are less villages
(which are rather normal). Before Andenes we've taken very nice smaller
road along the west coast.
From Andenes to Senja another long ferry, which swings a lot (waves on the
sea reach above 1 m). At the beginning of Senja small pass with beautiful
views. Then rather monotonous road to north (the places are also "nice" but
very similar one to each other, the road still goes along the water). The
fragment about 200 km before Alta becomes a little different, with some
small ascents and view points. Also there was interesting phenomenon - the
clouds were on very low level, so near the sea the weather was looking quite
bad, but when the road went up (even 100 m), we were over the clouds and the
sun was shining (additionally the clouds were arranging in non-trivial way).
In this region there are popular small Samisk villages, with Indian-like
wigwams. The Sami sell souvenirs and reindeer leathers and horns. Of course
we've also seen a lot of reindeers. There are quite big herds of them. Most
of them are bred by people. They are not too much afraid of people and
cars, so it is possible to see them near the road or on road (but they don't
allow to come closer than about 10 m).
After Alta the landscape drastically changed. The road went up to about 200
m, where there was flat grassy plateau without any trees and bushes. After the
junction, where we came out of E6 in the direction of Nordkapp, the road
goes along the sea, but the surrounding is similar, also no trees.
Additionally here (as never before) the rocks are layered (kind: slates) and
stick out diagonally, it looks unstable (and sometimes like after a
cataclysm).
Before Mageroya (the island with Nordkapp) long and deep underwater tunnel.
The Nordkapp itself is on over 300 m high cliff (unexpectable high). Moreover, on the
road from Honningsvag we've done probably about 700m of ascent, it still
goes up and down. Nordkapp itself is not too much interesting, it's rather
symbolical point.
From Honningsvag we've taken a ship to Kjollefjord, shortening the way by
about 150 km and skipping the already seen road south (E69). It was a
luxury Hurtigruten excursion ship, rather expensive (213 NOK). From here to
Tana bru the road looks generally like that: steep ascent above the fiord,
then flat grassy terrain and then descent to see level and again. Here are
not too much villages / people, we have some problems with buying food
(Tomek had to go hitchhike to buy bread).
Then to Kirkenes and into Russia, to Nikel (some details about crossing
border below). Nikel is typical communistic town - only blocks of flats and
desolated smoking factory. From here we travel by train to Murmansk (one
train per day, very slow). In Murmansk also a lot of blocks, additionally a
port and big monument of soldier on a hill over the city. From here train to
Sankt Peterburg, 27 hours (but it is >1400 km, so it's appropriate time).
In Sankt Peterburg a lot of beautiful old buildings, some churches
(orthodox), the river Newa and channels. Many nice places, but there is not
something like concentrated old town where everything would look good.
Near Peterburg there is a palace in Peterhof, surrounded with wonderful park with
fountains.
From here we get lost a little, maybe not lost, but we've missed a
junction several times. There are not too much direction signs in this
region (on the smaller roads).
This second part of the trip was almost totally flat. The landscape was
rather boring, still forests and fields.
From here to Tallinn, along the Baltic Sea (we've even seen the sea few
times). Tallinn has excellent old town, not too big, but with almost only old
(or old-like) buildings, surrounded with town walls, with some churches
(here are also protestant ones, not only orthodox), etc.
We've shortened the way taking a train Tallinn-Parnu. Some time later it was
Riga. It also has interesting old town, but there are some modern building
in it, ruining the atmosphere. Additionally many buildings were in renovation
(Riga was totally destroyed during world war second), so they may look good
in a future.
Now we've headed home, riding to Siauliai (60 km inside Lithuania), then
by two trains to Marijampole (with night on station in Kaunas), from here 60
km to Suwalki by bike. Here we've really ended the expedition, going into a
train going home.
The weather, etc.
In Norway whole nights was bright, even on the south (it was only a little
darker that in day, like if it would be clouds).
We were lucky and we had exceptionally few rain, only five days and no two
consecutive days of rain. We've met one bicycler that told us, that last 18
days he had rain. Also on one place where we slept a man sad that it is
first sunny day from last month.
The weather changes very fast. It can be rain and half an hour later clear
sky. Also sometimes (often) there is only small cloud and it rains, while
most of the sky is clear and sun is shining (the rainbows happen).
Bicycle specifics
In Norway there is generally small traffic on the roads. Especially on the
south (maybe excluding roads Oslo-Bergen and Andalsnes-Molde), where there
are many roads and drivers can choose. Roads 17, E10 (Lofoten) and E6 are
more busy (but comparing to other countries' roads there are not busy at
all), because they are the only roads going in given direction and they are
very popular for tourists (in fact tourists generates most of the traffic).
Side roads on the north are very quiet. Drivers are rather friendly to
bicyclers, they are careful when overtaking, etc.
We've met only two dedicated bicycle routes. One was from Nesbyen to Geilo.
It uses small forest roads and goes along the valley, but it often goes up
the hillside and then down, so it's not too good. The second one is from
Haugastol to Flam, along the railway. I really advise it, especially in that
direction. The part from Haugastol to Myrdal (crossing of the railways) is
almost flat, then there is very steep descent to Flam, along the waterfall.
The views around are very beautiful.
There is a lot of tunnels in Norway (including underwater tunnels). In most
of them there is allowed to ride bicycle, only in the longest ones (>5 km)
it is forbidden (and dangerous because of possible CO in the air). The
bicycles can not use the underwater tunnel near Molde and the tunnel between
Kilvik and Glomfjord, road 17 (there is a detour along the sea using the
ferry Vassdalsvik - Ornes).
On some roads, tunnels or bridges people have to pay, but for bicycles it is
always free (but on most ferries they have to pay also).
Russia: On the road from border to Nikel there is almost no one. The roads
near Sankt Peterburg are very busy, even the smaller ones (but they less).
Smaller roads can have bad surface. Cars drive very freely, not caring about
the rules or about bicycles too much. In cities the local bicyclers use
pavements. It is similar in Estonia and Latvia, but maybe a little better.
In Estonia there are signed bicycle routes. Route number one goes from Russian
border
to Tallinn and then to Latvian border. It uses smaller roads, most of which
are asphalt, but some fragments are ground. The bicycle route is at least
30% longer than the main road, but on some fragments the distance is almost
the same and the route is worth to be taken. It goes generally nearer the sea
than the normal one, sometimes next to the shore.
In the air plane they've taken our bicycles and bags without any problems (but we
had to pay for the bicycles). We had to turn the pedals to inside, the
handlebar along the bicycle and to release the air from tubes.
In the trains there was possible to take the bicycles, but it was not as
easy as it could be. In Russia officially man can take the bicycle, but the
wheels have to be removed, and the bicycle put on the upper rack. But we
handled without removing wheels. In first train in Russia we just put the
bicycles somewhere, as there were very few passengers. In the second one we
put one bicycle on the rack, and the other three between the seats. After
that we couldn't sit on our places, we could only lie (in that kind of
carriage there are sleeping places, on two levels). We were lucky, that
there were four of us, otherwise such configuration wouldn't possible,
because the bicycle would disturb other passengers. In Estonia and Latvia
there were carriages with sitting places and one big compartment and without
special bicycle places, but we put the bicycles somewhere (so that they were
not disturbing too much) and it was OK. In Poland there was special bicycle
carriage.
Food, shops, money
In northern Norway (starting from Trondheim) the towns are small and rare,
so there are not too many shops. So man had to be careful and plan where to
buy appropriate amount of food. On the very north, the distance between shops
was about 80 km several times. Especially on weekends, when some of the
shops are closed on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. So be careful.
Additionally, in bigger cities, in hipermarkets, the prices can be up to 5
times lower (in case of bread) than in small shops in villages, so it's good
to buy there as much as possible.
In Norway there was difficult to get their money. There are no special money
exchange points. You can do this only in banks, which are in bigger towns
only or on the airport. Banks are open only to 3 pm. There was always quite
high commision of at least 50 NOK. So it is good to change a lot of money at
once. It is also possible to get money from ATMs, but the rate becomes even
worse.
Russian border
People from Poland (and EU) need visa to Russia. Officially some invitations
or vouchers are needed, but they can be bought in many tourist offices. For
example we've bought our visas for 135 PLN (about 30 euro) in
RUSOPOL
company in Warsaw. Tourist visa is for 1 month.
We've heard that there may be some problems in Murmansk region, that there is
military area everywhere and people can not get out of the city etc, so we
were a little afraid if we would get into Russia at all. But we had no
problems in travelling there!
The border station in Storskog is very small and with very little traffic.
We've been there about half hour and we've seen only two cars (one passenger
and one Statoil cistern). They've controlled our passports, we've had to fill
appropriate form. After that they checked our luggage, we had to show almost
everything (they had nothing to do there, so they could make exact control).
The only problem was, that one of us had reindeer horn (found somewhere).
The guards were thinking and disputing a lot and finally decided that it is
illegal to take such thing to Russia, so we had to leave it.
The border is surrounded by high fence and from time to time there are
towers with guards looking that there is everything OK. About 20 km from the
border there is another barrier with guard, but he just opened the barrier
without any control.
Shortly after we came to Murmansk, at the railway station the police took us
to a police station. We had to give them our passports and they have written out
the data to special forms. It was funny a little bit, the policemen
didn't know how to fill the form, how to rewrite English letters in Russian,
a lot of the policemen came to the table, everybody was looking in our
passports, etc. It lasted about 15 minutes and there was no problem (we were
afraid a little at first), they even almost haven't asked about anything.
We leaved Russia on busy border station in Petrozavodsk/Narva. Officially we
had to have accommodation registered in passports, but no one checked it
here (I've heard that sometimes they check it). Also the control of the
luggage was very poor, they just told us to open one bag and looked at the
top.
Maps
We had an road atlas of Norway 1:400000 by "freytag&berndt". The system of
roads is there done very well, the roads shown on the map are identical with
that really existing. But it is difficult to determine the size of town using
that map. Big cities are of course big, but small villages with only few
houses hidden somewhere in the forest are marked with the same font as quite
big towns. Or even more, the bigger ones are sometimes omitted on the map.
This confuses a little and doesn't help in finding shops.
We also had a map 1:750000 of Scandinavia by Falk (polish reprint in
cooperation with Pascal). Here the towns are marked better, but the roads
are sometimes drawn incorrectly and smaller ones can be missing (as the scale is worse).
We had also similar map of Baltic Countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania).
Photos
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kawałek za Honefoss
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219 kB, 08-07-2006 17:58
trasa rowerowa przez Finse
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Aurlandsfjorden
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za Aurland
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za Aurland
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197 kB, 10-07-2006 12:21
za Aurland
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229 kB, 10-07-2006 12:46
za Aurland
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134 kB, 10-07-2006 14:16
Lerdalsfjorden
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225 kB, 11-07-2006 07:26
Urnes
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270 kB, 11-07-2006 07:27
Urnes - zabytkowy kościół
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przed Lom - najwyższy punkt wyprawy
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253 kB, 13-07-2006 13:21
statek na Geirangerfjorden
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274 kB, 14-07-2006 09:40
często spotyka się domki z trawą na dachu
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274 kB, 14-07-2006 10:57
dolina troli
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137 kB, 15-07-2006 14:03
most na wyspę Bergsoya
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131 kB, 15-07-2006 16:12
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261 kB, 16-07-2006 12:02
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156 kB, 17-07-2006 11:41
Trondheim
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180 kB, 18-07-2006 07:31
nocleg nad Verrasundet
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228 kB, 19-07-2006 11:48
Marcin chce wpaść do wody
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320 kB, 20-07-2006 07:58
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165 kB, 20-07-2006 09:22
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188 kB, 20-07-2006 12:25
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333 kB, 20-07-2006 17:17
Marcin wymienia dętkę
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142 kB, 21-07-2006 13:54
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144 kB, 21-07-2006 15:21
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147 kB, 21-07-2006 16:25
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249 kB, 21-07-2006 17:27
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260 kB, 22-07-2006 19:30
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112 kB, 22-07-2006 20:02
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120 kB, 25-07-2006 19:16
plaża (Ramberg na Lofotach)
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209 kB, 25-07-2006 20:20
przygotowania do noclegu
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292 kB, 26-07-2006 09:40
Nusfjord
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198 kB, 27-07-2006 09:36
Kabelvag
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250 kB, 27-07-2006 10:03
Svolvaer
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172 kB, 27-07-2006 11:08
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178 kB, 27-07-2006 11:08
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145 kB, 27-07-2006 12:07
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140 kB, 27-07-2006 13:16
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125 kB, 27-07-2006 15:40
most za Stokmarknes
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135 kB, 27-07-2006 17:10
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233 kB, 28-07-2006 13:54
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227 kB, 28-07-2006 14:33
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168 kB, 28-07-2006 14:39
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201 kB, 28-07-2006 17:27
przed Andenes
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okolice Andenes
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Senja - okolice Gryllefjord
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167 kB, 30-07-2006 08:33
Olsborg
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Balsfjorden
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173 kB, 01-08-2006 10:11
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141 kB, 01-08-2006 10:44
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194 kB, 01-08-2006 13:22
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01-08-2006 17:47
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renifery nad Langfjorden
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przy Porsangerfjorden
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dojeżdżamy do Nordkapp
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253 kB, 05-08-2006 09:52
okolice Nordkapp
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180 kB, 05-08-2006 10:05
okolice Honningsvag
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238 kB, 05-08-2006 14:22
na statku Hurtigruten
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329 kB, 05-08-2006 16:54
nasz statek w Kjollefjord
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229 kB, 05-08-2006 19:06
za Kjollefjord
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220 kB, 06-08-2006 07:31
za Kjollefjord
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221 kB, 08-08-2006 09:31
śniadanie na rondzie w Varangerbotn
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189 kB, 09-08-2006 14:15
widok na Nikiel
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120 kB, 09-08-2006 20:10
kombinat w Nikiel
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90 kB, 10-08-2006 15:42
pomnik w Murmańsku
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194 kB, 10-08-2006 18:03
Murmańsk z portu
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167 kB, 12-08-2006 04:01
St. Petersburg
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206 kB, 12-08-2006 05:32
St. Petersburg - Ernitaż
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198 kB, 12-08-2006 10:24
St. Petersburg
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197 kB, 12-08-2006 10:32
St. Petersburg
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151 kB, 13-08-2006 08:44
Peterhof
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239 kB, 13-08-2006 09:30
Peterhof
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296 kB, 13-08-2006 09:55
Peterhof
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279 kB, 14-08-2006 09:17
posiłek przy drodze (Rosja)
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206 kB, 14-08-2006 10:15
przy sklepie (Rosja)
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pałacyk (Rosja)
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droga przez wieś (Rosja)
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190 kB, 14-08-2006 17:37
Estonia
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224 kB, 15-08-2006 15:23
Estonia
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156 kB, 15-08-2006 16:54
Estonia
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Estonia - nocleg
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201 kB, 17-08-2006 10:31
Tallin
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177 kB, 17-08-2006 10:55
Tallin
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245 kB, 18-08-2006 18:50
Tomek - kucharz
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220 kB, 19-08-2006 11:36
Ryga
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235 kB, 19-08-2006 11:43
Ryga
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174 kB, 19-08-2006 11:52
Ryga
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273 kB, 21-08-2006 11:48
Suwałki
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| Filename | Size | Date | Description |
| ceny.pdf |
90 kB |
28-08-2006 18:14 |
Zestawienie wydatków
|
Licznik: 449
