North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
looserlama
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Joined: 11 Nov 2014, 4:00pm

North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by looserlama »

Hi!

This summer I'm planning a trip up through Europe, and the last leg will be going along the North Sea Route in Norway, from Kristiansand to Bergen. Here's a picture of the planned route:

5 - Norway Lower Quality.jpg


I just had a few questions for people who have done parts of this route:

1 Are there any important/dangerous things I should be careful about in these parts of Norway?
For example, weather: like the Mistral in France, or the heat in central Spain or dangerous wildlife? I really don't know much about Norway, but am super excited to see some of it! Just want to make sure we survive.

2. Are there good bike paths along the route? And is Norway generally considered bike-friendly?
I assume there are decent biking roads, as this is a pretty well known route, but wanted to check. Again, I don't know much about Norway, are drivers usually considerate of bikers there?

3. Are there many campgrounds around? And is wild camping acceptable there?
I have the West Castor North Sea Route 2 maps which show some campgrounds, but not that many. Do you have any particular resources you have used to find campsites before?

4. It sounds like the ferry from Stavanger to Skudeneshavn has stopped operating, is there a good alternative for cyclists?
It looks like there's a road onto one of the islands near Stavanger which then leads to a ferry going towards Bokn, but it looks like a major road that wouldn't be bike-friendly. If anyone has done this part of the route recently, how did you get across?

5. Are there places to get relatively cheap food in Norway?
I've heard that it's a fairly expensive country, so I was wondering what tips you had for eating cheap there?

6. Any advice on the route?
I can't really change the areas we'll be biking, but if there are specific places somewhat along the way that you have found that are particularly spectacular or interesting in some way (unique culture or scenery for ex.), I would love to hear about them!

Thanks for any and all help you can give!
nmnm
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Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by nmnm »

I did part of this a decade ago. Back then, the route was a bit frustrating in that it felt like cycle-to-school routes stuck together and it was a bit hard to follow. That was then though, and probably just my lack of preparedness.

But, reaching Stavanger (by train) we took a ferry from Stavanger harbour up the Lysefjord to Lysebotn (2 or 3 hours if memory is correct). The fjord was magnificent. We set up camp at Lysebotn (campsite) and cycled up the remarkable mountain road, see pic. At the top there's a fine plateau walk with a famous boulder to see (jammed between two cliffs, people stand on it for daring photo op). Ferry back to Stavanger next day. Highly recommended if you have time in your plan.
photo-21.png
photo-21.png (206.2 KiB) Viewed 5806 times


Re your question 5, 10 years ago there was a supermarket in Stavanger and campsite pretty central. Fine campsites in Mendal and Kristiansand too. Can't remember the other places.
Vorpal
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Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by Vorpal »

Norway is a nice place to cycle. Drivers are generally considerate of cyclists. Cycle paths are better than in the UK, but not as good as in Denmark. Most of your route has cycle paths, but there are likely to be some places where you will prefer the road. There also some places along your route where cycling on the road is banned. Local cyclists will usually know a good alternative, and most people speak English well.

Things to watch out for in Norway... on the west coast, it's really just weather. Although the weather can be really nice, the west coast is fairly wet and can get some heavy driving rain and high winds; the kind where drivers have to pull over because they just can't see well enough to continue.

There are large wild animals in Norway, but you are unlikely to encounter them.

Wild camping is legal as long as you are at least 150 metres from a dwelling, and do not camp on cultivated land. However, on your route, you may have to go some ways inland in places. The coast tends to be either built up, or impossible to build on. There are some organised campgrounds along the coast.

There are some previous threads about Norway.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=82513
And food in Norway
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=86142

You can find lots more with a search of the forum.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
MartinBrice
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Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by MartinBrice »

When I did it I used an excellent guide system by Castor, a Norwegian company, that was made of laminated maps of the route and showed all the campsites, roads, shops, etc. It made the whole thing much easier, the maps were laminated and designed to fit into a bar bag map case. I'll see if I still have our and you can have it for a tenner, I was thinking of doing the route again but probably never will do shan't need it. Send me PM.
It's an excellent route by the way, quiet roads and very scenic.
iviehoff
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Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by iviehoff »

Just so you know. These charts show both the long term average weather and what actually happened last year.
http://www.yr.no/sted/Norge/Vest-Agder/ ... stikk.html
http://www.yr.no/place/Norway/Rogaland/ ... stics.html
http://www.yr.no/sted/Norge/Hordaland/B ... stikk.html
So the averages are fairly dismal even by the standards of Scotland, but the extremes are more extreme than Scotland. It can be really rather cold and wet, but also from time to time really very hot, which is mostly likely to happen in July. Summer can sometimes start to slip away quickly in late August.
Vorpal
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Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by Vorpal »

One of the previous threads includes a link to this site https://weatherspark.com/averages/28849 ... der-Norway
which is useful for understanding possible weather conditions.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
hamster
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Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by hamster »

As for food, it is expensive. However, local produce that cannot be exported can be really cheap. I lived on smoked salmon offcuts (left over from filleting) and ripe strawberries! Avoid buying alcohol, bring in a bottle of duty-free scotch for instant Norwegian friends at campsites...
looserlama
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Joined: 11 Nov 2014, 4:00pm

Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by looserlama »

Thanks for all the replies already!

Good to know about the local produce. Also those weather sites were really useful to get a feel for what the weather will be like, thanks a lot! It seems like we'll be getting a bit of rain when we're there... (August/September)

MartinBrice: that's actually the exact map that I have! It seems great! I was just wondering if there were additional camp spots around, but given I now know that wild camping is allowed, I'm not too worried about it. Probably only need campgrounds when we want to shower.

Vorpal: thanks for that food thread link, that's super useful! Lots of great tips on there!

nmnm: thanks for that route tip! I googled the Lysefjord boulder and it looks amazing! I'll definitely try to go there if we have enough time.

Does anyone know anything about the ferry from Stavanger to Skudeneshavn?
F70100
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Joined: 4 Dec 2013, 10:33am

Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by F70100 »

I'm in Stavanger just now. I'll nip in to the Tourist Information Office in the morning and ask about the ferry to Skudeneshavn, and the suitability of the E39 for cycling if you need to reach the Mortavika - Arsvagen ferry.
F70100
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Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by F70100 »

I asked at the Tourist Office in central Stavanger about ferries and was directed to norled.no. It doesn't seem to be the easiest site to navigate but this map appears to indicate that there is still a route from Merjarvik to Skudeneshamn via the island of Kvitsoy. There doesn't appear to be a timetable for it though. Maybe an email to post@norled.no will give a definitive answer.

The road (E39) from Merjarvik to the island of Rennesoy for the Mortavika - Arsvagen ferry is actually a tunnel most of the way so doesn't sound like too much fun.

I have to say that the lady in the tourist office didn't seem to know much; but she did give me a small booklet/cycling map dated 2011 which you're welcome to have if you'd care to PM an address to me.
looserlama
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Joined: 11 Nov 2014, 4:00pm

Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by looserlama »

F70100 wrote:I asked at the Tourist Office in central Stavanger about ferries and was directed to norled.no. It doesn't seem to be the easiest site to navigate but this map appears to indicate that there is still a route from Merjarvik to Skudeneshamn via the island of Kvitsoy. There doesn't appear to be a timetable for it though. Maybe an email to post@norled.no will give a definitive answer.

The road (E39) from Merjarvik to the island of Rennesoy for the Mortavika - Arsvagen ferry is actually a tunnel most of the way so doesn't sound like too much fun.

I have to say that the lady in the tourist office didn't seem to know much; but she did give me a small booklet/cycling map dated 2011 which you're welcome to have if you'd care to PM an address to me.


F70100: Thanks so much for doing that! If a ferry still exists that's great, even if the timetable is a mystery. I will email post@norled.no to check up on it. About the cycling booklet, thanks for the offer, but I'll probably just stop in at the tourist office when I'm there. Thanks so much for your help though! I really appreciate it!
s_b
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Joined: 17 Nov 2012, 11:22am

Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by s_b »

The link North of Stavanger was a headache for us last summer. We found the tourist office in Stavanger to be quite useless for cyclists. The staff were mostly foreign students doing summer jobs. They were well-briefed for the common tourist excursions and accommodation but had little local knowledge for the out of the ordinary.
The tourist office gave us a timetable on Friday afternoon for the Stavanger-Kopervik ferry route which, when we were packing up to go on the Saturday morning we found only ran Mon-Fri.
Better than the tourist office is the local travel planning web site which has all modes of transport and is easy to use:
http://reiseplanlegger.kolumbus.no/scripts/TravelMagic/travelmagicwe.dll/?lang=en

Our solution was a ferry to Nedstrand (some are direct, we had to change at one of the islands) then easy, quiet and pleasant ride across towards Haugesund (we headed North at Aksdal). There are commuter passenger ferries that ply the islands which will take bikes - as well as the Norled car ferries.

The Stavanger-Kopervik ferry is no longer running at all (NB the North Sea cycle route web site confirms this information) so you only have 2 options: ferry to Nedstrand, like we did, or put your bike on the bus that goes through the E39 tunnels (the Kystbus)
https://kystbussen.no/kart.aspx
You can't cycle on this part of the E39.
Timetables for both options are on the Kolumbus site above.

You can still get a ferry to Kvitsoy but the next link North to Skudeneshamn was stopped when the new E39 tunnels opened 2 or 3 years ago. You can see that on the Norled maps here:
https://www.norled.no/en/maps-and-schedules/ferry/rogaland

re. the Kystbus (route Stavanger-Bergen with stops in between). They only take bikes on a standby basis, which means they wait to see if they have space in the hold when the other passengers have loaded. This shouldn't be a problem and buses are frequent. On that route at least bikes cost 60% of the adult fare, which is not cheap.

Camp sites are not so frequent but if you're OK with wild camping you'll be fine. Be careful as not all camp sites accept tents. The camp site at Nedstrand, for example, was a residential one (though one of the residents phoned the owner who was OK about us staying there for a night). There's always at least one camp site within a day's ride, so it's just a question of planning ahead a bit.
Don't go to Brusand camping south of Stavanger though - I must do a post to warn people off that campsite. An alternative is Ogna camping on the cycle route about 5km south of Brusand.

The route was mainly well signposted and easy to follow without detailed maps. We just got our phone out to check the route a couple of times a day when the signing was missing or not clear (using offline maps on Viewranger or OSMand). I'll post some comments and tips on the route another time.
FarOeuf
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Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by FarOeuf »

s_b wrote:The link North of Stavanger was a headache for us last summer. We found the tourist office in Stavanger to be quite useless for cyclists. The staff were mostly foreign students doing summer jobs. They were well-briefed for the common tourist excursions and accommodation but had little local knowledge for the out of the ordinary.


this was exactly my experience, and it turned out the ferry wasn't running (March). I'd suggest getting onto Warm Showers message board, and trying to find someone in Stavanger who many be able to help you out with finding times, etc. I ended up cycling inland via a ferry to Tau, and then round to Bergen.

I was told the E39 tunnel had a cycle ban, and you needed to use a bus.
Vorpal
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Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by Vorpal »

I haven't tried Stavanger, but most tourist information offices have a stock of cycle maps and information, even if the people working there are clueless.

However, I have often gotten better information from the Den Norske Turistforeningen https://www.dnt.no/ which has shops or offices in most cities. They also have camping cabins that members can use in some places. Many Norwegians consider them a good alternative. It may be easiest to contact them by email.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
s_b
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Joined: 17 Nov 2012, 11:22am

Re: North Sea Route - Norway (Kristiansand - Bergen)

Post by s_b »

FarOeuf wrote:find someone in Stavanger who many be able to help you out with finding times, etc. I ended up cycling inland via a ferry to Tau, and then round to Bergen.


No need for that - there are currently 3 direct ferries a day from Stavanger to Nedstrand midweek (fewer at weekends).
From Nedstrand it is only 2 hours pleasant and easy cycling to rejoin the North Sea coastal route.
You can see the ferries here:
http://reiseplanlegger.kolumbus.no/scripts/TravelMagic/travelmagicwe.dll/svar?referrer=forum.ctc.org.uk&lang=en&dep1=&theme=&from=Stavanger+%28B%C3%A5tterminal%29&to=Nedstrand+b%C3%A5tkai+%28Tysv%C3%A6r%29&Time=08%3A22&Date=02.04.2015&direction=1&search=Search&GetTR0=1&GetTR1=1&GetTR2=1&GetTR3=1&GetTR4=1&GetTR5=1&GetTR6=1&through=&throughpause=&changepenalty=1&changepause=0&linjer=&destinations=

Just use the travel planner web site, or go to the tourist office or the ferry terminal for info.
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