Bikepacking Through Norway
Oof. Where do I begin? 43 Days. 1,645 miles. 99,807 feet of elevation gain. My first true experience bikepacking through an entire country and my first real taste of what the next few years of my life are going to look like.
When we made it to Kristiansand, I had the biggest wave of pride and admiration wash over me. I’m not great at celebrating my own accomplishments, but this one felt undeniable in a strange way. Partly because it was so real and tangible, like we really did what we said we were going to do. But in another way, it felt strange because it’s one of those things that unless you have a frame of reference or are interested in understanding what biking that much is really like, you might not realize how big of an accomplishment it truly is. I think that might have been what made me appreciate the moment even more, and really allow myself to soak in the feeling of what we had just done – because if I didn’t celebrate it and make it feel monumental, the moment could have just come and gone without much fanfare.
I think that’s going to be a really important part of this journey. Making sure to appreciate and document and recognize the little milestones and big moments throughout.
We cycled from Tromsø, north of the Arctic Circle, all the way to Kristiansand in the very south. We took ferries in between some of the fjords and weaved through mountain roads, hopping on and off the EV1 as we made our way down the coast. Taking full advantage of Norway’s allemannsretten – or everyman’s right, which is a law that allows everyone to roam free on uncultivated land throughout the country – we spent many nights wild camping in some of the most beautiful nature you could ask for. It was summer, so midnight sun was still in almost full effect, and many nights we’d find ourselves cycling till 9,10, sometimes even 11:00 at night when the roads were empty and the light was beautiful. We’d cycle till we got tired and found an inviting spot to pitch our tent and start to whip up some dinner.
Even though you’re allowed to tent up nearly anywhere, it wasn’t always as easy as pulling off the road and finding a spot. You wanted the land to be as flat as possible, dry, away from the road for some privacy and quiet, and a few other factors that varied in importance depending on how tired we were. Sometimes we’d have to cycle further than we wanted to find a proper spot.
Camping out also meant that we’d actually get up early and get moving. Alex and I can really sleep in, especially after a tiring day of biking and so left to our own devices, we’d rarely get cycling before noon. But when we camp, the sun doesn’t let you sleep in too much so it helped us get some earlier starts.
The hills in Norway were next level. I mentioned earlier that we climbed just shy of 100,000 feet of elevation. That’s 3.34 Mount Everests. I can’t really fathom what that means in scale, but just know that it was tough and I felt it every day. One of our biggest days in Norway was just under 60 miles and 4,300 ft of elevation. Who knows if that will seem like a lot to me in a year, but at the time it was big. I could barely get myself to shower that night I was so exhausted, and I felt it well into the next day. The following day we had a relatively easy ride to Bergen. I don’t remember the specifics but probably no more than 40ish miles and 2,000 feet of elevation and I was knackered. I had to push my bike up nearly every hill no matter the grade or length. When we finally made it to Bergen, I was so grateful for a few days of rest.
Even though both of our audiences were small, we managed to connect with some of the kindest people ever in Norway. I was constantly getting comments from Norwegians who were stoked to find our accounts and follow along for the journey, always commenting when they saw some scenery they recognized or to share a bit of local knowledge about road conditions, national holidays, and other things they thought would be relevant to us. One lovely person named Karin who followed Alex reached out and offered us her spare room in her house. She had dinner waiting for us upon our 9 pm arrival (I was slowing us down big time with how tired I was) and was so welcoming and generous and let us stay with her family for 4 days. We made sure to bring the wine to our nightly dinners and cooked one big taco night for our final night together!
It’s honestly moments and connections like that that make me feel really inspired and motivated to keep sharing our journey. Connecting with people we otherwise would never know is so special and makes our time in a particular place so much more memorable. It reminds me why it’s so important to share and put yourself out there. This trip could so easily be just about me and Alex and the road in front of us, but I think there should be more to it than that.
And so on that note, I’m going to try and write and share more about my experiences while I cycle. I don’t want to forget anything. I want to be able to relive and re-experience so much of what I encounter on this journey, and I hope that if you’re reading this, it makes you feel like you were there for a piece of it too.
Big Love and happy pedaling!
