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Norway 2007 |
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Cycling the length of Norway, from Nordkapp to Skjernøy |
We started the trip at Nordkapp on the island of Magerøya. This was our northernmost point - latitude 71 degrees, 10 minutes, 21 seconds North.
Our southernmost point was Farestad on the island of Skjernøy, approximate latitude 57 degrees 58 minutes North.
The true northernmost point in Norway (and Europe) is Knivskjelodden, which is 4 km west of Nordkapp. It is at latitude 71 degrees 11 minutes 8 seconds North.
The southernmost point on the mainland of Norway is Lindesnes, west of Mandal. The southernmost inhabited house is on Skjernøy. The true southernmost point in Norway is one of the small uninhabited islands south of Skjernøy - latitude 57 degrees 57 minutes 34 seconds North.
The total distance that we cycled from Nordkapp to Skjernøy was 3019 km.
The trip took 25 days, at an average distance of 120 km per day.
The longest distance in one day was 188 km, from Flateland to Mandal. The longest time cycling in one day was about 15 hours, from Geiranger to Fortun (180 km and about 2200 metres of climbing)
There were 16 ferry crossings, the longest of which took four hours.
We rode through 46 tunnels, nearly all safe, quiet and with some lighting. Fifteen were longer than one kilometre and two were longer than six kilometres. The longest tunnel was the Nordkapp undersea tunnel, 6.8 km long.
Our lowest point was the Nordkapp undersea tunnel, about 212 metres below sea level. Our highest point was Sognefjellet, 1434 metres above sea level.
There was wonderful scenery every day. We saw snow on all but the last day. We saw the sea on all but two days.
Most of the roads were quiet. A short section of the E6 near Steinkjer was unsafe because of busy traffic (next year there may be a bicycle path here). Expect busier roads if you cycle near Olso, Trondheim or Bergen.
We were lucky with the weather. Apart from three rainy days along the coast route the weather was nearly always fine. Based on our previous experience, the weather is not always so good! It is important to have clothing for cold, wet conditions. The lowest daily maximum temperature was 6 degrees when we first arrived in Alta. On some days in the south the maximum temperatures may have reached 20 degrees.
The sun never set for the eleven days that we were north of the Arctic Circle. In the south the sun set at about 11pm and rose at about 3am. It was never particularly dark during the short nights.