[RD] Hiking through Norway

Day 21 - Rallarvegen switchbacks

Shortly after my late lunch I reached the steepest part of the route. I am pretty sure I kept both hands on the brakes for the duration of the descent. The most dangerous parts were the turns..



To avoid confusion about what is being discussed here, please refer to this wikipedia article about hairpin turns.



After you descend, you follow the rest of the Flåmsdalen valley downhill.

 
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Day 21 - Rallarvegen (continued)

This part of the route was relatively easy overall, as you were mainly biking on flat land that was gently sloped downhill. Together with the beautiful scenery it made for a very relaxing ride.





Suddenly I came upon two resting beasts. They seemed to be sleeping, so I moved past them quietly..



I looked up ahead.. My path was blocked!

 
warpus said:
Day 21 - Rallarvegen (continued)

This part of the route was relatively easy overall, as you were mainly biking on flat land that was gently sloped downhill. Together with the beautiful scenery it made for a very relaxing ride.





Suddenly I came upon two resting beasts. They seemed to be sleeping, so I moved past them quietly..



I looked up ahead.. My path was blocked!
Click to expand...
:popcorn:

The top photo gives an impression that this might be an area prone to avalanches. There are avalanche warnings throughout the Trans-Canada in BC; is that the case where you were hiking and riding?
 
Valka D'Ur said:
The top photo gives an impression that this might be an area prone to avalanches. There are avalanche warnings throughout the Trans-Canada in BC; is that the case where you were hiking and riding?
Click to expand...

You are probably right, parts of the valley see multiple avalanches every year! It seems like avalanches are more common in the winter months though. I can't find much information and I don't remember many (any?) avalanche warnings when I was renting the bike. For the hikes I did throughout the country the only thing I remember are occasional "avalanches possible" signs at key places, but not that many really
 
Day 21 - The conclusion of Rallarvegen and arrival back in Flåm

The rest of the ride back to Flåm was quite pleasant.. although eventually you reached a point where cars were allowed to share the road with you, and sometimes did.. so if there was a turn coming up, it was wise to not be moving too fast..







I arrived in Flåm about 5 minutes after this picture was taken, it was just around the corner. I dropped off the bike at the train station as instructed and proceeded to devour a decent amount of fish fillets.

I was tired after the 5-6 hour long bike ride, but it wasn't even 5pm yet! I spent the rest of the evening relaxing by the hostel, chatting with other travellers, and I do believe at some point I used the coin operated shower.. which was no fun at all.
 
Ahh that makes sense. I remember wondering how that thing formed exactly as I was biking past. I have better context for size in the goPro footage I believe, I should be able to finish processing that in a couple days (but with Christmas coming up no promises, but I'm doing my best)
 
Well if you don't manage to edit it for Christmas we can have it for a late present:xmascheers:
 
I think I will be able to, but there is just so much footage. I had backup SD cards with me and backup batteries, so I was basically recording my bike ride more often than I wasn't. Will take a bit of time to process it all and figure out a good and accessible way to present it
 
Rallarvegen Video


About 3 hours of footage (from 6 hour bike ride) down to just over 10 minutes. Enjoy!

I included initial bike jitters in this video. Later on when you see the bike moving around a lot, it's probably just me going uphill, it tends to look funny from this pov. I got really comfortable with my bike pretty quickly as you will see
 
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The_J said:
Oh boy, that goes step down on some places on the side. Given that the path seems to be a bit rough... I wonder how many people drop down there every year.
Click to expand...

A lot of it is pretty rough! Very bumpy at times. I was very happy I didn't go with the standard mountain bike and went a level up (but only after I was comfortable with it, I was cursing that decision a bit at first)

I can't find any information on Rallarvegen biking accidents. They must occasionally happen, but I guess big falls must be rare. And don't get me wrong, some of those sections were sketchy, but the goPro does exaggerate that a bit
 
Day 22 - Flåmsbana (again)

It was Saturday August 1st, and I was up early to take the Flåmsbana railway to Myrdal again. There I would transfer to the Oslo-Bergen line (again), but this time heading west. Three stations later I would find myself in Voss, where I would jump on a bus to Odda.



I noticed a familiar sight from the train.



The train was of course taking me to Myrdal through the same valley that I was biking down the previous day. It simply looked more familiar to me this time, since I had already been through it twice. This time I was also sitting by a window on the right-hand side as opposed the left. I figured that way I would see it all



Another familiar sight



The next picture isn't great, but it shows you how extreme this route really is.

 
Day 22 - Bus ride to Odda

The bus ride was scenic, but the conditions weren't great, so I did not try to take too many pictures along the way.

Most of the scenic stuff was along the Sørfjorden, at the end of which lies Odda.





There was only one place to stay in Odda, a hotel. When I arrived it seemed clear why - there isn't much to do or see in the city at all. It ranks as my least favourite of all the towns, cities, and villages I visited on my whole trip. Mind you the standards were somewhat high, as all other destinations I travelled through left great impressions on me.

Another reason I did not like Odda was that the hotel messed up my booking and did several other things wrong as well. Minor things, and they quickly changed my booking from 1 night to 3, but these things add up and make an impression on you in the end.

Eating options were scarce. I ate a bacon pølse (hot dog wrapped in bacon) at the 7-11 for lunch, and for dinner my options seemed to be a decently fancy looking steakhouse or a sketchy pizza buffet that did not look appetizing at all. I ended up splurging on a steak and fish soup at the steak house and spent the rest of the day lounging around and reading my book.
 
Noisy bus.
 
Day 23 - Cancelled Folgefonna Glacier hike

I had booked a glacier hike for today, but unfortunately ended up finding out that it got cancelled :( due to there still being too much snow on top of the glacier, leading to safety concerns.

I was really looking forward to my first ever hike on top of a glacier, so this was very disappointing. I picked out this particular glacier because it's known for the spectacular blue colours you see as you do the "blue ice walk". I have since walked on top of a glacier in Nepal, but this was a completely different experience. In Nepal we walked on basically sand and rocks. No need for crampons or any specialized equipment - you just had to know where it was okay to step, and we had a guide for that. What was missing was all the magical blue, which is what I was really looking forward to.

So this was disappointing, especially considering that I was in Odda. Don't get me wrong, it was just an average place with pretty nice scenery, but there was just nothing to do. It was possible to do a hike to see a glacier face, but I refused to do that and instead spent the day lounging around town.



Some nice views of the Sørfjorden, but the waterfront is kind of drab.





Eventually I got over it and made the best of the situation. Highlights of the day include the Chelsea v Arsenal game (we lost but I made some friends at the bar), a long nap in the afternoon, and more fish soup. I was getting addicted to the stuff and was always now tempted to order it at restaurants. Before this trip my stance on fish soup was "No thanks", so this was a bit of a surprise for me. A welcome one though of course, I'm really happy I went out of my way to try some!

The lazy & relaxing day in Odda ended up serving as a rest and prep. day for the strenuous hike I had planned for the next day. I fell asleep early, as I wanted to start the hike as early as possible, due to the distance, terrain, and the bus schedule limits.

Knowing what I know now, it was maybe a good thing that the glacier hike was cancelled. The next day's hike ended up taking its toll on my body. The last entry for day 24 in my notes is "Destroyed". And that's after this rest day in Odda!

Some foreshadowing for the next couple posts..
 
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Well at least you did not get bombed or have your food stolen by the seagull.
 
Day 24 - Trolltunga

I did not have a very good start to the day. I woke up early enough, but just as I was running up to the bus stop with 4 minutes left until departure, I realized that I would probably need cash. There was another bus departing an hour and a half later, but I really wanted to begin this hike early! I was concerned about the duration of the hike and the timing of the last bus heading back to Odda... concerns which in the end proved to be more than legitimate

I asked a bystander for directions to the nearest ATM. I ran there and withdrew money like a maniac.. then ran back in an equally crazy fashion. The bus was there and people were boarding, and I was.. feeling like I was going to black out. I got to the bus stop and got in line and this weird feeling washed over me. I was breathing heavily.. Things were fading black. I took several deep breaths and whatever was happening to me slowly washed over me and eventually faded.

As I sat on the bus I was concerned. What happened to me? I really had no idea, but the upcoming hike was 8-10 hours long, with several uphill sections. Fortunately this was a fairly popular hike, so I would expect to run into many people throughout the day. In the end I decided to make a final call when I arrived at the parking lot. Maybe I just got really tired and got winded and that's all it was?



There is a map up right right at the trailhead that shows you a bit more detail. Odda is out of view, but you will find Trolltunga marked by a large orange 1. You can also see the trail elevation profile - the trail is the steepest at the beginning, but plateaus out a bit about halfway.



If you look closely at the map you will see that the beginning of the trail is crossed out, and a new trail appears just to the left. There is also another black line just to the right.



Unfortunately out of commission. I would guess that the hiking trail that is crossed out on the map suffered a similar fate.

Surprisingly enough, Sherpas from Nepal were responsible for constructing the new hiking trail.



Feeling better, I decided to forge ahead. As I took my first step, it was just about 8:30am
 
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