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In early June 25, I flew from Newcastle, England to Bergen from where I took the overnight Hurtigruten ferry to Alesund. My plan was to spend three weeks bikepacking south via various tarmac and gravel routes to Oslo and Gothenburg before jumping on a ferry to Denmark and riding to Copenhagen.
It didn’t go as planned!
I am 62 years old and have ridden thousands and thousands of miles in my time. Never once have I suffered from saddle sores until I was just a few days into my Scandinavian journey. Sadly, they became so bad that I had to curtail my trip and ended up catching trains to Gothenburg from where I flew home.
Despite the truncated route what I learned is that if you get away from the tourist routes and follow the gravel trails, you will discover a side to Norway that your average tourist will never, ever see. Wow!
I’ve posted my ten favourite images which I think best describe my trip and one thing is for sure, I will be back but next time I will have better bib shorts and expensive chamois cream:-)
Day 1: Alesund to Sjoholt (48km/426m)
Day 2: Sjoholt to wild camping near Staurset (102km/1257m)
Day 3: Staurset to Dombas (75km/933m)
Day 4: Dombas to wild camping near Otta (98km/1474m)
Day 5: Near Otta to Lillehammer (110km/874m)
Day 6: Lillehammer rest day
Day 7: Lillehammer to Langset (110km/1111m)
Day 8: Langset to Eidsvoll (17.5km/120m)
Saddle sores stopped play😟
4 Comments-
What a pity! Besides the saddle sores, it looks like you had a great time. Norway at its best 😊
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@michel Thank you.
I did have a good time until it became too painful to turn the cranks😂
I will very definitely be back for more!
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Sorry you could not complete your adventure.
Like you we rode off the main tourist route to discover Norway. We were not disappointed.
Hope you have a quick recovery at riding again soon.
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What saddle did you use? Buy a brooks leather saddle B17, after a while you will never have problems.
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