Lysevegen Hairpins

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Lysevegen Hairpins point 1

   Lysebotn lies at the bottom of the Lysefjord, one of the long, dark, steep-sided fjords of southwest Norway, and it is reached only by water or by a road so dramatic that it has become one of the most famous in the country. The village itself is tiny, a handful of houses, a quay and a campsite wedged between water and wall, and the mountain above it rises almost a kilometre straight up.

   Read the complete Lysevegen Hairpins point 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Lysevegen Hairpins point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Lysevegen Hairpins point 2.

2. 2. Lysevegen Hairpins point 2

   There is a moment on the Lysevegen, about halfway up, when the road disappears into the mountain and you realise someone decided that the best way to climb a cliff was to drill a spiral through it. That is the feel of this section, the upper part of the famous hairpins above Lysebotn, where the road swings back and forth up the face of the rock with the fjord opening out below you. The engineers did not so much conquer the mountain as persuade it.

   Read the complete Lysevegen Hairpins point 2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Lysevegen Hairpins point 2 comes up 5 km in. Next is Lysevegen Hairpins point 3.

3. 3. Lysevegen Hairpins point 3

   Come down into Lysebotn in the evening and you notice the silence first. The fjord is so enclosed that sound seems to be absorbed by the walls, and the only moving things are the water, the mist on the cliffs and the occasional boat nosing in to the quay. This is the bottom of the hairpins, the point where the long descent ends and the real shelter begins, and it is a very good place to stay for a night.

   Read the complete Lysevegen Hairpins point 3 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   11 km in you reach Lysevegen Hairpins point 3. Next is Lysevegen Hairpins point 4.

4. 4. Lysevegen Hairpins point 4

   The top of the Lysevegen is not the sort of summit that announces itself with a sign and a car park, at least not to a rider who has just spent a quarter of an hour climbing hairpins. Instead the land levels out, the walls fall away, and you find yourself on an upland of bare granite, small lakes and heather, the Sirdal highlands, with the great fjord hidden somewhere behind you. It feels like arriving on a different continent.

   Read the complete Lysevegen Hairpins point 4 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Lysevegen Hairpins point 4, late in the day.