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PROLOGUE: After two years delay due to the Covid Pandemic, we finally set out for a 3 weeklong bicycle holiday which included 10 days in the Dordogne region of southern France and an eleven day cycling cruise of the fiords in Norway. We had heard about the excellent cycling routes in the Dordogne region so we coupled two trips together to economize the trans-Atlantic crossings. We flew from Austin, Texas to Bordeaux via Amsterdam. We planned two days in Bordeaux in order to have time to assemble our bicycle and give it a good check out before we started out on our independent tour. Our route took from Bordeaux to Saint Emilion, to Bergerac, les Ezies and finally ending in Sarlat. The routes went through miles of vineyards and along the Dordogne River. We stayed in hotels and country chateaus with all of the accommodations and routes prearranged by Nichols Expeditions. We only rode up to 35 miles a day which afforded us plenty of time to take in the numerous points of interest along the way. The highlight of the trip was the cave paintings dating back 17,000 years ago to the cro magnum era. After this wonderful independent tour, we repacked the bike and flew to Bergen Norway on Wednesday September 07, 2022.

Thursday September 08, 2022 – Bergen Norway

Our flight the night before landed at 11:00 pm. By the time we took a taxi to the hotel, it was nearly midnight. One advantage to such a late arrival was the only room left was a large suite which we were happy to accept as a substitute. In the morning we had to get a covid test which was required to board the ship. Fortunately the testing center was next door to the hotel and we both had negative results. We then had less than two hours to do a walking tour of Bergen before we had to check out of the hotel at noon. Bergen is one of the larger cities in Norway and was principally a fishing port which was a trade center to Germany in exchange for grains. It has suffered from many fires due to wooden construction, so the city decided the best way to control fires was to spread out and add lot of open spaces so that fire could not jump from building to building. After checking out of the hotel we took a taxi to the cruise ship terminal where we started to reassemble our bicycle. We’ve had enough practice at this exercise so that we could finish in a reasonable time with less frustration. After assembling the bike, we had about an hour before we could board the ship so we found some friends and walked to the nearest bar for an Aperol Spritz. Back at cruise terminal we were allowed to board the Ponant ship La Champlain. Our cabin (aka stateroom) was on the top floor with a small balcony. Much of the rest of the afternoon was for getting reacquainted with friends we had made on previous Santana Tandem Tours. We found the lounge and started our happy hour. This is an all inclusive tour so the bar is always available. The afternoon schedule had the mandatory safety / lifeboat drill and followed by introductory talks in the theater from both Bill McCready and the cruise director Clair. This ship is French and all of the front end crew speaks French while all of the hotel staff is Filipino. Dinner began at 7:00pm; the evening meal has a menu selection typical of a cruise ship. Following dinner, we discovered the forward lounge for and night cap and then to bed.

Friday September 09, 2022 – Olden Norway

The ship sailed most of the night and when we woke up, we were docked in Olden Norway. The morning began with a breakfast buffet in the main dining room (although there is also a continental option in the grill). If you don’t see what you want on the buffet, you could always order from the menu or just tell the waiter what you want and they will accommodate. Following breakfast and the morning route talk, we were ready to start our first ride. We had planned to take the recommended 14 mile ride up to a glacier and the end of the fiord, but we managed to miss a left turn and ended up 4 miles off course. We back tracked and found the correct road to begin a spectacular ride up to the end of the road at the base of the glacier. The temperature was in the low fifties, but the sky was clear. When we were in the sun, we managed the cold okay, but in the shade and shadows of the mountains we were really cold, especially our hands. There was a shop at the end of the road which had Norwegian woolens and Becky found a pair of woolen gloves which saved her on the return ride. The scenery is amazing with flowing streams off the glaciers and snow fields as well as emerald green fields. The normal rainfall is 200 days every year; this year is no exception. Fortunately, our first two days have been wonderfully clear. We returned to the ship about 1:00 with 36 miles on the odometer. We stopped for the noon buffet using the time to recharge our battery which was down to the last 20 percent. After lunch we reconnected the battery and rode 4 more miles up to a funicular that had great views of the fiord and glaciers. There were several paragliders who were enjoying the thrill off jumping off the precipice and gliding down to the bottom. We barely had a half hour to return to the ship which had requested that all passengers be back on board by 4:30. We only had 4 miles to go so with a charged battery we managed the trip in less than 15 minutes. We had a quick shower and a change out of the cycling kits and into street clothes; we were ready to relax for the remainder of the day. We had just enough time to stop at the bar for a refreshment before we went to the evening program in the theatre which included a vocalist entertaining for a while and then the induction of the captain and his staff officers. There was a champagne toast to salute the captain and his staff and then it time for the gala captain’s dinner. The menu included lobster appetizer followed by salad and a beef filet. Of course, one could have unlimited wine with the dinner and a dessert and cheese option to conclude the gala. We had some time to explore the Blue Eye Lounge which opened at 9:30. This lounge is on the lower deck under the water level. There are two large eye shaped porthole which afford a view of the water; however we didn’t see any fish swim in front of the windows. One last night cap and it was time for bed. We had ridden 44 miles for the day.

Saturday September 10, 2022 – Molde, Norway:

The ship repositioned during the night and docked at Molde. We had a tight schedule to be off the ship by 8:30 to start the days cycling adventure. The first seven miles was a gentle climb up to a summit house where bill had arranged for everyone to have waffles and coffee. The climb was not very difficult but we were glad we had the electric assist to make the climb even more enjoyable. We took a 30 minute break for the coffee and then started the downhill coast. The temperature was in the 50’s but with the wind chill at 30 mph we were chilly. The scenery was spectacular with picturesque farm lands surrounded by mountains and flowing streams. The next section of the route was 23 miles long with one section over the Atlantic highway which is a collection of bridges and small islands which connected two land masses. We were riding with Art and Linda Saxby when they had a rear tire blowout. We stopped to help change the tube and the continued on. But less than a mile farther, they had another blowout but this time the tire was ruined. They had no choice but to call for the rescue van to pick them up. We met up with everyone at a truck stop where we had to make one final decision which was to take the shorter route of 10 miles to the ship or the longer 23 mile option. By this time we already had 40 miles on the odometer and not knowing how much battery power we would need we chose the shorter route. This route cut across the peninsula and was a constant up and down challenge. The route map did not reflect the final road closure due to construction, but we managed to find a way to bivouac around the barricade and ride final 2 miles to the ship dock. This dock was not a passenger terminal but and industrial dock, but that wasn’t a problem for us. We watched the ship dock and then boarded at 2 in the afternoon. Our first agenda item was to eat lunch and the shower, do laundry and relax before the evening activities. We had ridden 51 miles and we were ready to enjoy some time off the bike. We went to the forward lounge for happy hour and then went to the grill for a late dinner. We were both not hungry due to the late lunch but that didn’t stop us from trying a piece of fresh Norwegian salmon form the grill.

Sunday September 11, 2022 – Nordfjordeid, Norway

The ship dropped anchor about 6:00 this morning. There isn’t a dock which can accommodate our ship so we have to take tenders into shore. We grabbed a quick continental breakfast in the main lounge and then went to the pool deck on the stern where we loaded us and our bikes onto the tender. The crew helped to handle the bikes while we found places to sit. There was room for about 32 passengers with their bikes. The tender ride to the harbor was only 5 minutes; with the help of the crew, we unloaded and climbed onto a waiting bus for the 45 minute ride to the starting point of our 26-mile ride. Our bikes followed in a van which met us at the starting point. We had driven over a range that separated two fjords; on one side of the range the streams flowed East and on the other side the streams flowed to the West. We started the ride a few minutes before 10; the weather was cool especially in the shade, but in the sunshine, we could enjoy the radiant heat. The first half of the ride was a gradual 3-mile climb of 900 feet; from the top we could start to descend and enjoy the magnificent scenery. We stopped several times to take photos of the lakes and farms along the road. We arrived back at Nordfjordeid and stopped at the Mykleust museum. The museum features a replica of a 100-foot-long Viking ship that had been burned with it dead king and buried in a mound in the town. The mound was opened in 1874 and the ashes of the ship and the king were uncovered. Archeologist pieced together the history of the ship and the king and now all of that is represented in this small but very interesting museum. After our museum visit, we went to a nearby restaurant for a lunch of the local cuisine. Everything is very expensive in Norway; our lunch consisted of a bowl of soup, a burger, one latte and a beer which cost $61.00. We then proceeded to the tender for the quick ride back to the ship. On Board we had the rest of the afternoon to relax before we started happy hour at 5:30. We chose to have dinner at the outside grill, it was a little chilly, but we managed with the help of blankes and heavy jackets. We stopped in the main lounge for a nightcap and to listen to the entertainer before going back to our room and retiring for the evening. We had ridden 25 miles with 1200 feet of climbing.

Monday September 12, 2022 – Skjolden, Norway:

Our good luck with the beautiful weather just ran out. Instead of waking up to clear blue skies, we were greeted with cool, grey, drizzly skies. The roads were wet and not at all inviting. After breakfast and the route talk, we had a clearer idea of the weather conditions, we could have some mist or drizzle but the chance of a heavy rainfall held off until later in the afternoon. We decided to take the 37 mile ride up to the oldest Stave church in Norway along the “Romantic Road”. Actually, as we started out, the road was wet but the drizzle had stopped for the moment. The damp air seemed a lot cooler so we added and extra layer plus shoe covers to protect against the conditions. The route to the church followed right along the shoreline of the fjord, but it was hilly and twisty with 3 tunnels to add to the interest of the ride. The final turn up to the church was the steepest we had encountered the entire trip. At points the gradientswas 15%, but using the boost power setting on the Hawthorne bike we managed the climb with straining. The church dated back to the 11th century, but it was rebuilt over four times due to the decaying of the pine wood. Stave refers to the type of construction using wooden columns and lentils for the supporting structure. We had a guided tour of the church where we learned more of the history of the Stave churches. This one is still in use for special occasions only including weddings, confirmations, and baptisms. After the tour we headed back to the ship being extremely cautious on the steep downhill. On the trip back we maintained a 14.5mph average with 1200 feet of climbing. Back on the ship we had a snack lunch and then a nice hot shower and then relaxed until it was time for happy hour and dinner. We finished the day with 37 miles on the odometer and 2000 feet of climbing..

Tuesday September 13, 2022 – Bergen, Norway:

There wasn’t any riding scheduled for today. We had the entire day to visit Bergen to see all the attractions, to go shopping and to try the local restaurants. Santana had arranged for admission tickets to the Bergen castle and round trip passage on the funicular. We arrived at the castle at 10:00 thinking that was the opening time only to learn that it didn’t open until 11:00. At this time the only option left was to visit the UNESCO historical waterfront which is well preserved by the merchants who occupy the buildings. These building date back to the trading days between the Hanseatic Germans and the local Norwegian fishermen. The Germans traded grains for the stock fish. Now the buildings which were former warehouses and living accommodations are occupied by shops catering to the cruise ship passengers. We did stumble across a good fishing tackle shop, and I had to buy of couple of balsa Rapala lures which were made in Norway. There were plenty of souvenir shops and stores filled with Norwegian woolen goods. The sweater, socks and gloves are all very nice but not very practical for someone living in Texas. One shop did have a section of cottage industry hand knitted sweaters. This industry has ceased and when the current stock of the hand knitted goods is depleted, there will be no more. The sweaters were lovely, but expensive and would be tempting if we lived in a cooler climate. We had time to walk along the waterfront and see the fish market and visit a museum of the wooden buildings. We had lunch reservations at a restaurant featuring local specialties. I order a portion of mussels while Becky ordered the special fish soup. I enjoyed the mussels although they were messy, Becky liked the soup. From the restaurant we walked back to the castle for the tour; there really wasn’t much to see, but at least we can say we saw it. From there we walked over to the bottom station of the funicular only to discover that the person who had the tickets had left 15 minutes earlier at 2:00pm. We decided to buy our own one way ticket up and then we would walk the 3 kilometer path downhill and back to the ship. The view of the city and the harbor from the top was well worth the ride and the downhill hill walk was a good way to get our exercise goals for the day. We returned to the ship knowing that we had seen the major sights of Bergen. The rest of the evening included some time in the forward lounge for happy hour and then dinner at the grill. No riding today, but we did walk 16,000 steps.

Wednesday September 14, 2022 – Leivikk / Haugesund Norway:

There was some minor confusion as we were starting to dock in the morning after repositioning the ship through the night; There was a barge docked in our slot, so we had to anchor just a little out in the harbor. The crew had time to move all the bike onto the quay while we ate breakfast. By the time we finished breakfast, all the bikes were on shore waiting for us as we stepped off the ship’s tender. We snapped on the fully charged battery and started our ride. The route started an immediate steep climb up and over a huge bridge, but the benefit was the view of a magnificent double rainbow. The route took us over some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. We were riding along fiords which were surrounded by quaint homes with boats docked right outside their door. I can’t think of a better place to live. Even though the scenery was beautiful the ride had its challenges with plenty of uphill and downhill terrain. The first half of the ride had the spectacular scenery, but the second half was marred with a little rain fall. Fortunately, the rain was light, but our feet and shoes were soaked. We arrived at the ferry landing just at the ferry was pulling away from the dock. The upside of missing the boat was that we had almost an hour to recharge our battery for the remainder of the ride. While we had enough reserve power for the last 17 miles, with the extra charge we could enjoy the higher power settings on the remaining climbs. We boarded the ferry for the 25-minute ride across the fjord. We had only 17 miles to go until we reached the ship. Fortunately, the rain had stopped; Our clothes were mostly dry by the time we arrived back at the ship, but our shoes and socks were still wet. The final 2 miles the ride were urban on a busy street but there was a good bike path alongside which protected us from the traffic. Once we arrived at the port, we had to follow a pilot car to lead us the ship. Back on board, we showered and prepared for the evening activities. The program included detailed instructions to disembarking plus a little information about the next day’s activities. We still had plenty of time for visiting the forward lounge on the 6th floor before dinner at 7:00 in the main dining room. We sat with friends we had met on previous ride and exchanged memories of our many rides together. We had ridden 45 miles today with 3100 feet of climbing.

Thursday September 15, 2022 – Sandvikoeden / Aredal, Norway:

Today would be our last day of riding. The route and location had to be changed at the last moment because the captain had decided we couldn’t get in and out of the planned port due to high winds. He was able to arrange an alternate port at Sandvikoeden. As we prepared to leave the ship, Randy and Faith had wanted to test ride our electric Hawthorne. We were happy to accommodate while they took a half mile spin; there was a climb immediately outside the port which provided them to full benefit of electric assist on a steep incline. We started to follow the route, but the GPS maps were a little confusing. After a false start we found the correct route and started to enjoy the 16 mile ride to an old ship works museum. The route went through the urban section of Aredal which was a little challenge because of the multiple turns and pedestrian traffic to negotiate. Once out of the city, we managed to follow the route a little easier and finally found the museum. This had been an active shipyard building wooden ships from 1880 until 1924 when one day they decided they were finished and just walked away. The museum exists today just as they left it almost 100 years ago. The wood sawing and planning machines were originally steam driven but were eventually converted to electricity. The evolution of ship building from wood to steel was the major reason for closing the shipyard. After our visit to the museum, we had another 16 miles to ride before arriving back at our cruise ship. The route was a combination of rural and urban route with a bit of gravel and hard packed dirt included just because they could. Once we were back on city streets, the route became more involved requiring careful attention to the directions. We arrived back at the dock before the ship which allowed us plenty of time to find a pub on the waterfront where we enjoyed some local beer to celebrate our successful bike tour of the Norwegian Fjords. Soon it was time to return to ship and repack our bike for the trip back home. There was a special farewell program in the forward lounge complete with champagne toast. The Farewell dinner was a fixed menu with a choice of beef or seafood. We arranged our final meal on board to share exclusively with other Hawthorne owners which meant the dinner conversation was filled with tales of biking experiences as well as dreams for future trips. We made one final visit to the forward lounge and then to bed. We had ridden only 32 miles for the day. Fortunately, the weather was clear for our last bike ride in Norway.

Friday September 16, 2022 – Oslo, Norway:

The Ponant ship, La Champlain, had repositioned during the night and docked at our final port of call at Oslo just at daybreak. This was disembarking day, and everyone had to be off the ship by 9:00 in the morning. We did not have a departing flight that day, so we elected to take the last shuttle bus to the airport. We had booked overnight reservations at the Radisson Blu at the airport, but we arrived several hours before the check-in time. They allowed us to store our luggage for the day while we returned to the downtown by local rail. The central train station is very conveniently located in the heart of the city; our first point of interest was the Opera House. This is an architectural masterpiece which is designed to resemble an iceberg. One can walk around the building on a ramp which affords a full view of the city and harbor. From there we walked along the main pedestrian street through the historical buildings and houses of parliament. We stopped at a highly recommended bakery for a pastry and hot chocolate before grabbing an Uber to the Sculpture Garden. The sculptures were all by one artist, Gustav Vingeland; they all had a common them of the naked human form is all sorts of poses and activities. The garden was huge and beautifully landscaped. Then we found another Uber to the Nobel Peace Prize center and toured the exhibitions for an hour. By coincidence their annual Military Tattoo parade of bands was passing by the museum which provided some diversion. After visiting the museum, Art and Linda went shopping and we searched for the Norway Resistance Museum, but before we found the museum, we stopped to watch two of the military bands preform. By this time the museum had closed at 4:00. We had dinner reservations at the Lorry restaurant at 5:00 so we decided to walk there because the route took us right by the Presidential Palace. The Lorry is an iconic venue which is packed with eclectic art and curiosities. After dinner we were done for the day having walked 20,000 steps. We walked to the National Theater train terminal 10 minutes away for the 25-minute ride to the airport and our hotel. We knew we had to be up at 4:00 the next morning in order to catch our 6:30 flight to Amsterdam. We have thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Norway and can recommend visiting there to everyone.