CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Bergen it runs 514 km to Bergen; allow about 9 h 34 of riding. On the way it passes Nærøyfjord Area, Urnes Stave Church, back through Urnes Stave Church and back through Nærøyfjord Area. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
The ride follows Nærøyfjord Area → Urnes Stave Church for 62 km.
For 1 km this is Sognefjellet Norwegian Scenic Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Bergen is the kind of city that makes you pack the waterproofs first and the camera second, and then makes you glad you did both. Seven hills stand around a sheltered harbour, the Atlantic sends in rain on most days of the year, and in between the showers the light comes through so cleanly that the painted houses on the slopes seem lit from inside. About two hundred thousand people live here, and it is a lively, slightly stubborn place that thinks of itself as the real capital of western Norway.
Read the complete Bergen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bergen is where the day begins. Next is Nærøyfjord Area.
The Nærøyfjord is narrow in a way that photographs struggle to show. Branching from the Aurlandsfjord, itself an arm of the great Sognefjord, it squeezes to about 250 metres across at its tightest, with mountain walls that climb to nearly 1,800 metres on either side and cast the water in shadow for much of the day. UNESCO listed it together with Geirangerfjord in 2005, and the setting at Gudvangen at its head is dramatic even by Norwegian standards, with waterfalls dropping from hanging valleys and snow patches lingering into summer.
Read the complete Nærøyfjord Area write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nærøyfjord Area comes up 70 km in. Next is Urnes Stave Church.
The oldest stave church in Norway still standing stands on a ledge above a fjord, and you reach it by ferry. Urnes is on the north shore of Lustrafjord, the innermost arm of the great Sognefjord, and a small ferry crosses from Solvorn on the opposite shore in a few minutes, running regularly in the summer season. From the landing you walk up a path through farm fields to the church, which dates from around 1130 and is made of pine timber, black with tar, its shingled roofs layered up like a pagoda. Urnes was listed by UNESCO in 1979, among the first sites to be inscribed.
Read the complete Urnes Stave Church write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least 155 km in you reach Urnes Stave Church. Next is Urnes Stave Church.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Urnes Stave Church write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Urnes Stave Church, about halfway. Next is back through Urnes Stave Church.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Urnes Stave Church write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Urnes Stave Church sits at 278 km, about halfway. Next is back through Nærøyfjord Area.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nærøyfjord Area write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Nærøyfjord Area comes up 348 km in. Next is Bergen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bergen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bergen closes the day.
Bergen → Nærøyfjord Area is 147 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Nærøyfjord Area → Urnes Stave Church is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Urnes Stave Church → back through Nærøyfjord Area is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nærøyfjord Area → Bergen is 147 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.