|
Norway 2007: The Coast Route |
|---|---|
Sunday 10th June: Bodø - Furøy (151 km) |
Route 17 is also called The Coast Route. It follows the coast for 650 km from Bodø to Steinkjer, providing an alternative route to the busier E6. It is a scenic, mostly quiet road with many ferry crossings, some long tunnels and a few hills. The northern section, which is designated a National Tourist Route, has dramatic scenery and not many people. At the southern end, near Namsos, the settlements are closer together and the hills are lower. You will find plenty of useful information, including ferry timetables, at www.rv17.no
Looking down from the bridge at Saltstraumen
Looking north from the bridge at Saltstraumen
Near Sundsfjord
Storvikskar tunnel is the second longest of about 16 tunnels on the coast route
Boats for hire at Furøy
Karen's diary:
It's a long way out of the suburbs of Bodø, but it's an easy ride on a good bike-path. We rode inland to get around a fjord, then turned south onto Route 17, 'The Coast Route'. The first stop was at Saltstraumen, where the tide rushes in and out of a narrow inlet to create giant whirlpools. A high bridge passes directly above the current and the view is excellent. We were not there at the correct time and missed the strongest part of the tidal flow.
On the bridge we met up once again with the two Germans, and we leap-frogged each other the whole day. The road was challenging but fun, up and down hills and around fjords and lakes, all looking blue and friendly in the sunshine. There were three significant tunnels this afternoon, 800m, 1000m and 3100m long, all safe and quiet. At Ørnes we had to catch a ferry to Vassdalsvik because the road around the fjord has a long tunnel from which cyclists are banned. We just missed the 3.10pm ferry and had to wait for the next one at 5.00pm. The sky is filling with clouds and we expect bad weather - but after ten days of sunshine north of the arctic circle we can't complain. From the ferry terminal at Vassdalsvik we pedalled hard. It was 32km to the campground at Forøy and it was getting late. We rode east along a long, narrow fjord, round the end and west along the other side. The fields were thick with sweet-smelling flowers.
We arrived at Forøy at 7.30pm, hoping to rent a cabin, but Mrs Camping was nowhere to be found. So we put up the tent and paid later. A friendly Dutch fisherman gave us a big piece of fish for our dinner - delicious! The Germans arrived a bit later and managed to rent a cabin but they didn't get any fish. There are thousands of insects here, but they are not biting (yet).