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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
443 km from Åndalsnes to Åndalsnes, about 8 h 30 of riding. The stops in between: Valldal strawberry stop, Eagle Road and Geiranger fjord. The climb of the day is Trollstigen. It tops out at about 1,150 m. Trollstigen is subject to seasonal closure - check it is open before you set off. The passes are the reason to go.
For 18 km this is Trollstigen, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
The ground tilts up and stays tilted for 17 km. 848 m of it, taken steadily rather than in one wall. A steady rhythm suits this better than bursts. The height arrives whether you hurry or not.
This is where a day makes up time without anyone trying. Third and fourth, and very little else. 39 km that neither climbs nor drops much. The road settles into the ground rather than fighting it.
3 km on Geiranger-Trollstigen Norwegian Scenic Route.
848 m come off over 17 km at around 5.5%. The road gives back what the climb took, faster than it took it. Brakes early, eyes far ahead. A descent this long asks more of concentration than of pace.
Trollstigen, the Troll's Ladder, climbs out of the Isterdalen valley in eleven hairpin bends, with a gradient of about one in ten, and the road is as steep and tight as it looks in photographs. It was opened in 1936, after years of work, by King Haakon VII, and it still has the narrow width and stone-walled edges of its era, with passing places on the bends. The Stigfossen waterfall plunges beside the road, and a bridge crosses it at one of the hairpins, so that you ride through the spray.
Read the complete Trollstigen hairpins write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Trollstigen hairpins is where the day begins. Next is Valldal strawberry stop.
Valldal is a village at the head of the Norddalsfjord, and each July it becomes the strawberry capital of Norway. The south-facing slopes above the water, sheltered by mountains, catch long summer light, and the berries that ripen on them are small, deep red and very sweet, with a flavour more intense than the larger kinds. Growers sell them from roadside stands, in cardboard boxes or as soft ice cream, jam and cake, and the season is short, starting in early July and ending in a few weeks. A bowl of fresh strawberries with cream, eaten on a bench with the fjord below, is a very good reason to stop.
Read the complete Valldal strawberry stop write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Valldal strawberry stop is where this day stops to eat. Next is Eagle Road viewpoint.
Ornesvingen, the Eagle Bend, is a hairpin on the road above the Geirangerfjord, and the viewpoint beside it gives the classic picture of the fjord: a long, narrow slot of green water, hemmed by cliffs and waterfalls, with the village of Geiranger at the far end and the white wakes of ships crossing. The road that leads to it, the Eagle Road, climbs from the fjord in eleven hairpins, and takes its name from the birds that sometimes soar here. The name suits the bend, which seems to hang in the air.
Read the complete Eagle Road viewpoint write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
58 km in you reach Eagle Road viewpoint. Next is Geiranger fjord.
Geirangerfjord is one of those places where the photographs do not exaggerate. A narrow arm of the Storfjord, about fifteen kilometres long, it is squeezed between mountain walls that rise to well over a thousand metres, with waterfalls pouring down the cliffs. UNESCO listed it in 2005 along with the Nærøyfjord, and the tour ships that fill it in summer are a sign of how famous it has become.
Read the complete Geiranger fjord write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Geiranger fjord, early in the day. Next is Back to Trollstigen.
The Trollstigen is best understood from below. Coming up from Åndalsnes, the road leaves the broad floor of the Isterdalen and rises through birch woods into a narrow valley, where a wall of rock closes in, and then begins to climb in earnest. Eleven hairpins, each with a name or a number painted on the stone, carry it up the slope, and the Stigfossen waterfall, which falls over three hundred metres, crashes beside the road and under a stone bridge, spraying anyone who stops. It is one of the great Alpine-style roads of Scandinavia, and it was a wild feat of engineering for its time.
Read the complete Trollstigen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Back to Trollstigen. That is the ride. Next is Åndalsnes.
Åndalsnes is a small town at the head of the Romsdalsfjord, hemmed in by some of the most vertical mountains in Norway. The Romsdalshorn, a sharp pyramid of rock, rises above the valley to the south, and the Trollveggen, Europe's tallest vertical rock face at around a thousand metres, stands a short way up the valley. The town itself is modest, with a few thousand people, a railway terminus, a harbour and a handful of cafes, and its main business is welcoming people who come for the mountains.
Read the complete Åndalsnes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The day opens at Åndalsnes. Next is Trollstigen viewpoint, climbing 848 m.
The Trollstigen Plateau is a bare, glacier-scoured saddle at 858 metres, ringed by peaks with names like Bispen, the Bishop, and Kongen, the King, and the viewing platform here, a sculptural structure of steel and concrete that hangs over the drop, is the best place to understand what the road does. Below, the Trollstigen, the Troll's Ladder, zigzags down the side of the valley in eleven hairpins, with the long white thread of the Stigfossen waterfall falling beside it, and beyond lies the broad green Isterdalen and the far peaks of Romsdalen.
Read the complete Trollstigen viewpoint write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
You top out at 858 m here. The road climbs 848 m on the way up to it, steadily. Reckon on about 6 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Valldal, mostly downhill.
Valldal is a small town at the head of the Norddalsfjord, in the green and orderly farmland that lies at the foot of the great Sunnmøre mountains, and it is the first proper settlement you reach after the long descent from the Trollstigen. Valldal is famous in Norway for its strawberries, which ripen in July in the long summer light and are sold in roadside stands, and the local people take a great deal of pride in them.
Read the complete Near Valldal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A pump at 203 km in. You lose 838 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is Geiranger.
The Geirangerfjord is a narrow cut, around fifteen kilometres long, between cliffs that rise over a thousand metres from the water, and it is among the best-known sights in Norway. The village at its head, Geiranger, is tiny, with only a few hundred residents, but in summer, cruise ships anchor in the fjord one after another and the pier fills with people. UNESCO listed the fjord in 2005, along with Naeroyfjord, and a short walk along the shore brings you to the base of the Seven Sisters waterfall, which pours straight into the fjord from a high ledge.
Read the complete Geiranger write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Geiranger sits at 231 km, about halfway. Next is Ørnesvingen Eagle Road, climbing 610 m.
There is a bend in the road above the Geirangerfjord where the whole country seems to drop away in front of you. Ørnesvingen, the Eagle Bend, is a hairpin on the road from Eidsdal, and the viewpoint at its edge, at about six hundred and twenty metres, looks straight down onto the fjord, a long, narrow slot of green water between cliffs with waterfalls pouring from the rim. Ships look like toys at the village of Geiranger below, and the air smells of cold stone and wet moss.
Read the complete Ørnesvingen Eagle Road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ørnesvingen Eagle Road comes up 260 km in. The road climbs 610 m on the way up to it, steadily. Reckon on about 4 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Grotli, climbing 280 m.
289 km in you reach Grotli. The road climbs 280 m over at least 35 km before it, steadily. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is back through Ørnesvingen Eagle Road, mostly downhill.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ørnesvingen Eagle Road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ørnesvingen Eagle Road, late in the day at 620 m. You lose 280 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is back through Geiranger, mostly downhill.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Geiranger write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Geiranger sits at 347 km, late in the day. You lose 610 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is back through Valldal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Near Valldal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Valldal comes up 376 km in. Next is back through Trollstigen viewpoint, climbing 838 m.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Trollstigen viewpoint write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
405 km in you reach back through Trollstigen viewpoint. The road climbs 838 m on the way up to it, steadily. Next is Åndalsnes, mostly downhill.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Åndalsnes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Åndalsnes closes the day. You lose 848 m on the way down to it, steadily.
Trollstigen hairpins → Valldal strawberry stop is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Valldal strawberry stop → Eagle Road viewpoint is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Geiranger fjord → Back to Trollstigen is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Back to Trollstigen → Åndalsnes is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Åndalsnes → Trollstigen viewpoint climbs about 848 m in 17 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Trollstigen viewpoint → Valldal drops about 838 m over 37 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
Valldal → Geiranger is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ørnesvingen Eagle Road → Grotli is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grotli → back through Ørnesvingen Eagle Road is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Geiranger → back through Valldal is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Valldal → back through Trollstigen viewpoint climbs about 838 m in 37 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
back through Trollstigen viewpoint → Åndalsnes drops about 848 m over 17 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.