Norway · Atlantic Road and Troll Church Coast
A 121 km loop from Atlantic Road bridges
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Why this ride
Sea bridges, weather theater and a northern edge. 121 km round from Eide - plan on about 2 h 05 of riding. It goes by way of Kristiansund and Trollkirka caves area. Back roads rather than main roads, where the map allows.
Roadbook
- Atlantic Road bridges
photo
The Atlantic Road is only about eight kilometres long, and it is famous worldwide. It hops from island to island across a skerry landscape on the Romsdal coast, using eight bridges, the best known of which, Storseisundet, curves upward in a way that makes cars look as if they are driving off into the sky. From the right angle the bridge seems to end in empty air, and the photographs of it go round every list of great roads. It opened in 1989 after about six years of construction, during which engineers fought storms that regularly interrupted work, and it carried a toll until the cost was paid off.
The setting matters as much as the engineering. The road crosses a low, bare archipelago of rock, grass and seaweed, with the open Norwegian Sea on one side and sheltered water on the other. In a calm, bright spell the colours are almost Mediterranean, with pale rock and turquoise water, but when a gale comes in, spray hits the bridges and waves break across the road. People sometimes come here deliberately in a storm to watch, which is a fair way to spend an afternoon but a poor one to ride in. Check the forecast, because wind and wet are the main hazards, and the surface can be slick with salt and spray.
Fishing is part of the picture. Anglers stand along the railings and rocks, and a few small platforms and rest areas let you stop without blocking the road. The Eldhusøya rest area is the main stop, with a walkway and a café, and it is the place to leave the bike and walk out to feel the wind. In summer light lasts almost all night, and a late evening here, with the sun low over the sea, is hard to beat.
Eide, Elnesvågen and Batnfjordsøra are smaller. Fill up before you go, because the coast between settlements is long, and many Norwegian pumps are unmanned.
Ride the bridges slowly. The crest of Storseisundet hides the road beyond, and the sight of the sea on both sides is better enjoyed at a gentle speed. Go early in the morning if you want the light and the place nearly to yourself.
- Kristiansund lunch
food
Kristiansund is a town built on four islands, which means that getting anywhere in it involves a bridge, a tunnel or, if you are lucky, one of the little open Sundbåt ferries that have been shuttling people across the harbour for well over a century. It faces the open Atlantic on the Nordmøre coast, and for a long time it made its living from fish, specifically klippfisk, the salted and dried cod that was shipped out to Spain, Portugal and Brazil. The tradition has not died: bacalao, the dish the rest of the world cooks from that fish, is still something the town takes seriously, and a plate of it is a more honest welcome than any brochure.
The harbour is the heart of it, a natural horseshoe with painted wooden warehouses on the quays and the bigger, more modern town climbing the hills behind. There is a well-regarded opera tradition here too, which surprises everybody, with a house that claims a very long history as Norway's first. With sixteen thousand people, Kristiansund has everything a rider needs: several fuel stations, supermarkets, bakeries and lunch spots, and the sort of unhurried waterfront where it feels natural to sit for an hour with a coffee and watch the boats.
The reason most riders turn up here is what lies to the west. A tunnel under the sound carries you out to Averøy, and from there the road leads to the Atlantic Road, that short, famous run of bridges and causeways hopping from skerry to skerry. The best of it comes in a westerly gale, when waves climb the rocks beside the tarmac, but check the forecast first, since the road does get closed when the sea gets truly serious. Wind is the constant companion on this coast, so expect crosswinds on the bridges and dress for a cold sea breeze even in July.
Start the day here with a proper breakfast and a full tank. Light is best in the early morning and in the long evenings of summer, when the sun skims low across the water and turns the skerries gold. The road itself is smooth, and the fun is not in the twisties but in how close the open ocean feels.
- Trollkirka caves area sight
- Back to Atlantic
finish
Back to Atlantic closes the day.