After a restful night we woke up to just a tiny drizzle. Today we will finally make it to Lom, but then we will continue on to Molde. This route takes in two famous switchback routes (Geiranger and Trollsteigen).The first part of the route today is to get back to the Ferry at Kaupaner.
Since we have a long day planned we backtracked but we took the 25 km tunnel thru the mountain. There are actually 3 lay by rest stops along the way inside the tunnel! By the time we got to the ferry we had done about 30 of the first 40 km in tunnels.
Dorothy this lady lives near you on Moss street!
The ferry dock is only accessed by a tunnel.
Getting off the ferry we took the 7 km tunnel to the village of Kaupaner . There is a nice Stave church here.
Continuing north on the 5 we turned onto the 55 at Sogndalsfjora towards Lom. The first part of the route was along the fjord and there are lots of tunnels and waterfalls. The road is narrow and single lane in many sections. There is a high pass into Lom with lots of switchbacks on the way up and down. On the down side we finally saw the sun after 3 days. We stopped for lunch at the Stave church here.
The route out of Lom on the 15 is on a wider and now dry road so we could finally get over 70 km/hr and make some time. When you hit the 63 and head north again you rise steeply on the switchback on the road to Geiranger. We ran into Gene and Neda at the top of the pass.
We continued down to the village, which was packed with tourists from the many cruise ships here. The road rises up again out of the valley on the other side towards Eidsdalen. Here you catch the ferry to Valdal. From here you are now headed to the famed Trollstigen highway.
We had sun and clear skies as we approached, but as we neared the brink of the 6 km Trolls ladder the fog got very deep. We had no view of the famous road until the bottom. It must be pretty spectacular on a clear day with the crazy road and the huge waterfalls.
It was nearly 1830 now and we still had 100 km to go. We headed to the ferry at Afarnes to Salsnes and from there to the tunnel to Molde. We arrived at the tunnel at 7 pm to find it closed from 1800-0600 for repairs and this made the last 7 km into an almost 60 km detour via the end of the fjord and back down the other side. Long day!
Today we had no fixed destination except to get to “The Atlantic Road”. This is an 8.3 km section of County road 64 that runs through an archipelago. It is built on several small islands, which are connected by causeways, viaducts, and 8 bridges. It is located 67 km northwest of Molde.
Leaving Molde you ride 40 km to join the scenic route from Bud. We were lucky to have no rain and ran the road back and forth a few times.
From here you get on the 70 and then the E39 and stay on it until Trondheim in 189 km. There are 2 sea tunnels. The first 7 km one is at the exit to the Atlantic road has the only manned tollbooth in the country and the only one that has a fee for motorcycles (61Kr = 10$). They know how to get the tourists! The second is like elsewhere there is no toll. Trondheim is a huge city on the E6 and we got thru with not too much traffic. The E6 becomes a 2-lane highway north of the city and the cars start to thin out.
We stopped for the night just south of Verdalsora at the “KOA” campsite. We splurged as the price for a small cabin with power, heat and a small kitchen was 16 $ more than tent camping for 2 people with 2 motorbikes. Ahhh luxury!
As always great photos and I am jealous 🙂