The National Tourist Routes in Norway are overrated (unless your sense of fun is overtaking coaches and campers). We did several of them, and our favourite was the Helgelandskysten with its frequent ferries, varied scenery, and not a single tourist coach. No information on ferry schedules is available on the spot, but sitting on one ferry is a good time for checking the next one’s departures online. Sometimes they are back to back, with the whole ferryful driving together like a school trip. On occasion, though, reaching the next one gets fairly sporty, and once it happened that five bikers were the only ones who made it, and we had the ferry almost to ourselves. For me this was flat out racing, and I learned a thing or two about my curve technique from the three crazy Germans we were following (left on the pic).
On the other hand, there is an abundance of unbelievable paved singletracks with passing places. Some of them tens of kilometers long and going through wonderful scenery. A case in point is from Mogrenda towards Bjørke, especially until the E39 crossing. What made the ride even more fun was that we were in a hurry again, trying to reach the Hjørundfjord Hostel before reception was reportedly closing at 22. It didn’t close, by the way, and the whole hostel was very recommendable, especially at its price.
