CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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.
212 km from Forsand to the finish, about 3 h 52 of riding. On the way it passes Hjelmeland, Lovrafjorden and Sauda. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
42 km on Norwegian Scenic Route Ryfylke.
Oanes is a ferry quay on the Lysefjord, and for the Ryfylke route it is the traditional doorway. A short ferry crossing from Lauvvik brings you here, to the north shore of the fjord's mouth, and the road then heads east and north into the Ryfylke district, a landscape of fjords, waterfalls and steep mountain farms. There is not much at Oanes itself: a few houses, a bridge that carries the road over the water to Forsand, and a view back toward the cliffs. Hommersåk and Jørpeland, each over five thousand people, are the nearest places with real services, about thirteen kilometres away.
Read the complete Oanes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Oanes is where the day begins. Next is Hjelmeland.
Hjelmeland is a small town on the Ryfylke coast, on the north side of Boknafjorden, and it is a place where the roads and the ferries meet. Ryfylke is a region of long, narrow fjords, steep slopes and farms, and the landscape is a mix of green hillsides, grey rock and dark water. The town sits at the head of a sheltered bay, with a harbour full of small boats, a church, and a main street of low buildings. It is a working place more than a tourist one, and its life depends on farming, fish farming and the ferries that connect it to its neighbours.
Read the complete Hjelmeland write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hjelmeland comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is Lovrafjorden.
Lovrafjorden is a quiet arm of water in the Ryfylke region, on the road through the country north-east of Stavanger, and it has the character of many Norwegian fjords: steep walls of rock, a narrow channel of dark water, and farms perched on small ledges above the shore. The surface of the water is often so still that the mountains double themselves in it, and early in the morning, with a thread of mist on the water, the effect is quiet and complete. The fjord is not one of the famous ones, and that is part of its charm. You may have it almost to yourself.
Read the complete Lovrafjorden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 113 km into the recorded legs you reach Lovrafjorden. Next is Sauda.
Sauda sits at the head of the Saudafjord, in a deep valley surrounded by high mountains, and it is a town built on industry rather than tourism. Hydropower was the foundation: the rivers that fall from the mountains drove turbines, and the power in turn fed smelters, which gave work to thousands in the twentieth century. The town's history is also one of mining. At Allmannajuvet, a gorge a short way outside the town, zinc was mined in the early twentieth century, and today the remains of the mine have been turned into a museum, with a striking modern building designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, part of the Norwegian scenic route programme. It is a rare place where the story of work is told with such care.
Read the complete Sauda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sauda, late in the day. Next is Roldal.
Røldal is a village high in the mountains of Vestland, near the border with Rogaland, and it sits in a bowl of peaks beside a lake. The landscape is the high fell, with snowfields on the surrounding mountains even in summer, and the road that leads in from either side climbs through tunnels, hairpins and open plateau. The village is small, with a population of a few hundred, and its main attraction is a stave church built in the thirteenth century, one of the oldest in Norway, which housed a miraculous crucifix that was said to sweat on Midsummer Eve. People came on pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, and the tradition continues. Odda and Sauda, about thirty kilometres away, are the nearest towns.
Read the complete Roldal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Roldal. That is the ride.
Oanes → Hjelmeland is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hjelmeland → Lovrafjorden is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lovrafjorden → Sauda is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sauda → Roldal is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.