Myrdal, Norway to Vossvangen, Norway (August 4, 2023)

August 4, 2023

The Start of the Hardangerfjord Ride

From Upsete to Vossvagen. The dotted line coming into point A is the short train ride we had to take from Myrdal to Upsete.

Today we begin a new stage of our journey. After the Rallarvegen I planned a route roughly south through the the various arms of the massive Hardangerfjord. This is not a formal bike route but I pinched the idea of it from a private bike company route I found online. It requires a bunch of short ferries. The more logical direct route to Bergen (which is our ultimate destination) didn’t have enough accommodations for our pace and style of travel. It seems most cyclists who ride from Myrdal to Bergen camp along the way.

The start of this stage was unexpectedly complicated. We had to make our way to the Myrdal train station from Lucie and Paul’s cabin. It’s only 2.6 km- how complicated can it be? Well, as it runs out, kind of complicated. The route required us to scramble the 400 meters back to the Rallarvegen bike trail and then ride the rest of the way to Myrdal. However, the pitch of the trail up to the Myrdal train station was over 30 percent, and we would be fully loaded, not to mention it’s a busy corridor near the station resulting in a high likelihood of hikers and bikes crowding onto the trail. The day before we had investigated the possibility of taking the train from Reinunga Station to Mydal (two stops and 5 minutes away) to avoid the steep climbs. However the train people would not pick us and our bikes up in Reuninga Station because there is no bike loading ramp there. (And indeed, when we saw the dropoff from the train to the ground at Reinunga station, we got the issue.) So, we were back to Plan A, ride to Myrdal Station.

Lucie and Paul couldn’t have been nicer. After another delicious breakfast we packed up and Paul was kind enough to carry my panniers down to the bikes (parked at the Reinunga Train Station) and then pushed my loaded bike over the rocks and rocky path out to the Rallarvegen trail. That was a huge help to me. The last thing he said was that the pitch up to Myrdal wasn’t that bad! (Yeah, yeah, as if I’m going to take that kind of advice from a young, hardy, outsdoorsy, athletic Frenchman! We had already seen that pitch the day before when going to Flam.)

We made our way up the trail and stopped at the turnoff to Myrdal and had a big, stressful conversation about what to do. The visual impact of that obvious 30% pitch was daunting. I was determined to walk and push my bike, which would involve carrying my panniers up first and then going back down to get my bike and push that up too. This sounded super unappealing and Dave was encouraging me to give the ride a shot, so I did. I made it with no problems, primarily because (1) the trail was in great condition, with very even gravel, and no ruts or potholes; and (2) I only ran into one family on the trail I had to avoid. I started calling to them as I approached knowing if I stopped, I would never get started again on a 30 percent grade. Afterwards, the family started applauding me as a I made it past! Two minutes past the steepest part of the trail (but still uphill) we ran into the crowds of people being disgorged from the local train which had just arrived. If I had started two minutes later I would have been in the crowds and there was no way I could have made it.

Don't tell us the pitch up to Myrdal is "pretty easy"!

So, am I a big baby? When I read this I kind of feel that way, but then I think, how many 63 year old women are out even attempting this whole crazy trip, and that helps me feel a little better. (Editor's note: Most emphatically, no, Jill is not a baby!) I must say, the night prior I read a cycleblaze journal by a Canadian couple who did the Rallarvegen a few weeks ago on regular bikes, camped to boot, and had no trouble with any of these pitches. I feel quite put in my place! But, that is not a new feeling.

So, getting to Myrdal was just the first step. We then had to take a 10 minute train ride to Upsete, the train travel being necessary because the only way to get through the mountain was an extended train tunnel (as there is no road or bike access) and no bikes are allowed in the tunnel. At the train station we wound up having two very nice conversations with various Norwegians. They initiated the discussions which was great. One older gentleman lived in Oslo and had a cabin in Myrdal which he and his wife used in the summer. They had not owned a car since 1985. He was quite well-travelled and had driven through Oregon on a trip years ago. The other conversation was with a Norwegian couple getting ready to cycle to a family event on very cool mountain e-bikes.

The ten minute train ride went off without a hitch. We were the only cyclists loading up, the conductor was nice, and unloading was easy-a piece of cake. We unloaded ten minutes later in Upsete, which you can see from the photos, is hardly more than a spot in the road. As we departed on a gravel trail we met two lovely women walking a dog, Mia. We stopped and had a nice chat and they suggested an outing for us when we reached Vossvangen (which we ended up doing).

These are the women we met just outside the station who were walking Mia.

We saw this type of structure all along the route and are unsure of their purpose. They're locked up, so we don't think they're outhouses.

After 8 km on the gravel trail we moved onto a fantastic paved road. On the map it looked like a major road but there was virtually no traffic on it the entire afternoon. We stopped at a picnic stop and had our half sandwich and leftover chips and then proceeded into Vossvangen. Vossvangen was bigger than we expected and, after the quiet ride we had been on, it was a bit of a shock. I messed up the Komoot directions (not sure what happened) and we wound up riding all the way into the town which is situated on a lake. The town is charming but that's not where our hotel was located. Unfortunately its location was about 2.5km from and 400 ft above the lake on a ridge above the town. After consulting Google maps we managed to clamber our way up to our hotel, Store Ringheim. The steepness of the pitch caught us a bit off guard and we found ourselves madly downshifting as the gradient increased. Dave had been experiencing derailleur issues throughout the journey and in his attempt to reach the biggest rear cog, managed to have his chain jump off the cog set and get lodged between it and the rear disc brake. He had to remove the panniers, flip the bike over and leverage the chain back onto the cog set.

Our hotel, originally a family farm, is now a charming hotel and restaurant. It still has a lovely vegetable garden and a focus on farm to table produce. (That seems pretty typical everywhere we have been on his trip; menus with very limited selections but excellent produce, simply-prepared meals well-presented). Because the hotel was so far from town (and any other restaurant) we ate dinner there two nights. On the second night we walked into dinner with a British woman, got talking and wound up inviting her to sit with us. Becky has had a very interesting life, we had a fun conversation and it was great to have an additional dining companion. She was on her way to a five-day paddle board camping trip and as I write this we are worried about her; the weather is terrible right now!

As a sidenote to our stay at Store Ringheim, we experienced the least impressive breakfasts of any our stays to that point. Here's a hotel which correctly touts its restaurant and they serves a decidedly subpar breakfast buffet. Not only were the offerings meager, the staff constantly failed to refill missing items. You want a bit of lox with your breakfast? You'd better eat early because once it's gone, it ain't coming back. More than once we had to ask for coffee and hot water. All in all an unfortunate occurrence at such a nice place otherwise.

On our free day we rode into town, and visited the Bordalsgjelet Gorge, which is a deep gorge just on the outside of Vossvangen. It involved a short bike ride and short hike, which was just right. We got the idea from the two women we ran into outside the Upsete train station. It was a good outing and a good way to see a little bit more of Vossvangen.

Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 1,263 km (784 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	3
Comment on this entry	Comment	0