Touring Southern Norway

8th June 2004 - Mountains and Fjords

Day 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

The sea had been like a mill pond all the way over, and so after a good breakfast we went on deck to watch as we approached Kristiansand.

Our goal today was to visit Lysebotn Fjord and Eagles Nest Cafe that over looks it before riding on to Stavanger, around 225 miles in total. Below is a map of the first days route.

After rolling off the ferry and clearing customs we headed out of Kristiansand  North on road  R9. According to the Michelin road map this was a scenic road (as indicated by the green line). Scenic it certainly was, but it was 80 miles in Rysstad before we found a cafe that was open!

Tip! Cafes don't seem too common in Norway, if you want refreshments, stop at a filling station as most we found had coffee & pastries available, and some even a table & chairs outside.

John and David refuelling at Rysstad.

We turned left in Rysstad on to the Sirdal road R337. The road immediately started to climb steeply in to the mountains.

After 26 miles of superb scenery, we turned right on to the Lysebotn road. I have to say, this piece of road is amazing as it twists and turns on its way to Lysebotn, well down the road we came across an information point and read how the road had been built purely for the construction of the two hydro electric power stations hidden in the mountains below, note the small cairns of stones, there are thousands of these over about a mile of road, it lends quite a eerie note to the ride.

After a couple more miles we finally came to Oygardstol (Eagles Nest) Cafe (which was closed would you believe) perched high on the cliff overlooking Lysebotn fjord.

The fantastic view from Oygardstol cafe veranda, it's 27 hairpins and a short, dark tunnel to the bottom!

Tip! Most tunnels in Norway seem to be unlit or very dimly lit, enter with caution - you will be unable to see until your eyes become accustomed to the dark, similarly you will be blinded when you come out the other side, take care!

Lysebotn Fjord (Lysefjord) 3280ft below.

We rode down of course, at the bottom were a few houses, an office complex & a small ferry terminal. No cafe!

There was a ferry due in around 30 minutes, so we hung around to see if we could catch a ride to Stavanger where our accommodation was. After 30 minutes there was around a dozen motorcycles, a couple of cars and a coach waiting for the ferry.

The ferry came in, one pre booked car and the coach were hustled on board and off it went! One poor girl was so disappointed she sat on a rock and cried, poor thing!

Oh well, for us there was no harm done, while we'd been waiting all the bikers had had a good chat, Germans, Swedish, Norwegians and English - great fun!

So we retraced our route, back through the tunnel blowing our horns, up the 27 hairpins and on to Stavanger via the 975, 45, and E39 roads, around 90 miles, it took around two hours.

And this is were we stayed, Stavanger Bed & Breakfast. Thanks to a little preplanning and putting the waypoint on to the Streetpilot GPS we drove straight there.

After booking in and washing we went out for a meal at the recommended Mikado Japanese/Chinese restaurant on the harbour front, and very nice it was too. My bill came to £20 with 2 pints of larger - not too bad.

But we made sure we were back at the Bed & Breakfast at 21:00 for the complimentary coffee/tea, waffles, jam & cream, super!

Next day

Day 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

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