Day 4: Bronnoysund to Glomfjord past the Arctic Circle, 269km
Bike: Honda CRF100L Africa Twin DCT
Mileage so far: 1693.2km
If yesterday was the best ride ever, then you might not believe me when I say that Norway is the gift that just just keeps on giving. It gets even better the further up you ride. This trip was meant to be a once in a lifetime ride, and it lives up to that expectation and more.
We’ve ridden further in the last four days than riding from Land’s End to John O’ Groats, and still haven’t found an ugly town or a terrible road.
It’s all mesmerising countryside, twisting switchbacks, roads with no surprises that just flow from apex to apex and next to no traffic on most of them. Snow-capped mountains, blue sea, Reindeer casually walking along the beach without a care in the world. Like the roads, and the wildlife, the drivers are laid back too.
Part of the great riding is due to the fantastic organisation of the team behind Adventure Roads, but it’s more to do with the fact that the whole of Norway seems to be built for biking.
On a bike like the Africa Twin it’s perfect biking country (if we forget the speed limits for a minute). We’re riding steadily, but in truth have only seen one police car and one speed trap in 1600km. Could we say the same thing about that in dear old Blighty? In Norway, the speeding fines might be high, but there aren’t police waiting around every corner, like you might have read elsewhere. Well, not yet anyway. But we are only half way in.
Today we rode so far north we crossed the Arctic Circle. I might say that again as I may not get another chance. Today we rode so far north we crossed the Arctic Circle.
Okay, let’s move on.
The nature of the thousand of jagged islands that make up Norway mean that today we took five ferries, and rode on mind-bending roads to the half way point of the trip.
Petrol stations up this far are sometimes non-existent, so we managed to stretch the fuel of the Africa Twins out to 269km, or 167.1 miles, in old school speak, which is pretty good considering we were riding in a spirited fashion, and the tank is 18.5 litres, more than enough for sensible distance riding.
We were also joined by Team Monster Energy Dakar rider Kevin Benavides.
I rode with him for a last 20-minute blast on the section of road that twists and turns alongside Norway’s second largest glacier. Well, when I say I joined him, I saw him for about five minutes before he disappeared into the distance with lead rider Erick, himself a former French 250cc champion and a Swedish ex-Dakar rider. It was an epic end to an epic ride so far.
Tomorrow we head west.
