The Coastal Route

Because this route is so near to the coast, many fjords must be crossed by ferry. Which we found a nice addition to the attractiveness of the RV17, but naturally it takes a lot of time. By car, this must really slow you down, but by bike it doesn't matter too much. In most cases the ferries go every 1-2 hours and also nice for us were the "free miles south" that you make by drinking a coffee instead of tiring your leg muscles.

recognise that T-shirt? ferry arriving with open bow

What we found very amusing on these ferries, was that many of them have the cafeteria below the car-deck. More or less in the cellar. No windows, no views, but in a strange way very pleasant. Maybe it is because we had already enough views along our way. Who knows? For bikers these ferries are not too expensive, because the bikes go along for free. So, it's only the passenger fees and the coffee with waffles of course :-).

The attractiveness of the RV17 is that you are constantly near to the sea. Always water. Most of the roads just follow the curves of the coastline. Which sometimes really makes you wish that there was a boat crossing the water in 2 km, where instead you have to bike a full 30 km to get around the whole fjord. But OK, that's part of the deal.

biking around the fjord not too many tunnels

Surprisingly, there were not too many tunnels here. And all were relatively short. Only one near Ørnes is 7 km long and forbidden for bicycles. But this presented no problem, because an alternative route with some more ferry based island-hopping exists.

The type of countryside we came through was here much different from Finnmark or the Lofoten. Suddenly, it was all farming instead of fishing. The time of year being July, all farmers were busy getting the grass from their fields. Which is then very neatly packed in plastic. Lots of plastic. It looks a bit expensive way for just stocking hay. But who knows?

farming instead of fishing neat rolls lying in the fields

The towns and villages in this part of Norway were a bit disappointing. The atmosphere is very pleasant, but all buildings are rather new, because at the end of WWII most towns were destroyed. Which must have been rather easy with all these wooden houses. But the result are towns with large supermarkets and malls, but that are lacking an historic heart made up by characteristic market places and such. It's a real pity. But hopefully, time will heal these wounds. It will be a lot of time.

Just north of Steinkjer, the coastal route was for us ending back on the E6. From there we took an alternative route to Trondheim. A very nice city. Also important for us because finally (after trying all book-shops for 1000km) we managed to buy the necessary maps of southern Norway. So we are now all equipped to leave the coastal type of Norway and to go for the innerlands with all their mountains and national parks.