North of Oslo, beyond the airport at Gardermoen, the land opens into a quiet country of farms, forests and lakes. Maura is a small village here, in the municipality of Nannestad, and it gives a sense of rural Norway within an hour of the capital, with red barns, white farmhouses and spruce forests stretching to the horizon.
The area has a long history. A short ride east lies Eidsvoll, where in 1814 the Norwegian constitution was signed in a manor house, an event celebrated every year on 17 May, the national day. The house is now a museum and a place of national pride. To the north, the lake of Hurdalsjøen stretches through a valley of forests, with quiet roads along its shores.
Roads wind through the forests and farmland, with gentle curves and occasional hills. Traffic is light outside the commuter routes, but speed limits are low and enforced, and moose and deer can be a hazard, especially at dawn and dusk. In spring and autumn, the weather can be changeable, and gravel and frost damage make some roads uneven.
Maura has few services, so fuel and food are best found in Jessheim or near the airport, where there are plenty of options. Coffee and a waffle with brown cheese, a Norwegian classic, make a good break. The Telemark Canal lies far to the south-west, past Oslo, so treat this as a calm stretch before the busier roads around the capital.