Please watch the Relive video here:https://www.relive.cc/view/vDqgrZyZPG6

On the Road: 18 miles/ 29km I Elevation 1,570 ft/479 metres

The ride from Geiranger to Åndalsnes as mentioned in yesterday’s blog had been changed due to frequent rockfalls hitting cars lately while driving the Trollstigen switchbacks. This is a reminder that this country is still under construction, in a geological sense. The ice, snow, wind, rain, and movements in the ground itself affect the stability. When the mountain moves, you’d better not be in the way!

This was a scheduled Rest day but fellow rider George and I wanted to ride up into the Trollstigen as far as possible.

After a nice fairly flat roll out in the countryside and past a couple of campgrounds, we started the Trollstigen climb and were quickly met by some large all wooden trolls. The legend has it that trolls were giant monsters who when subjected to sunlight turned to stone, which are the surrounding mountains of the ‘Troll’stigen.

Upward to the point we were forced to stop, with only 6 more kilometres to the summit. This is where the iconic switchbacks crossing the giant waterfall twice starts.

Just above the light on George’s helmet you can make out the bridge and the right photo is the wall of the final switchback before the summit.

As the avid cyclist Isaac Newton once said, “What goes up must come down” and we had a nice cruise back down to Andalsnes.

To truly appreciate the beauty and magnitude of the Trollstigen, watch this professional and humour out video: https://youtu.be/hsJMHMre81Q?si=GIWaSCQECBYcSGTk

However I must say that I’m not terribly disappointed that I didn’t get the whole Trollstigen experience. The entire time in Norway has been equal to and beyond what the Trollstigen offers in terms of sheer natural beauty, and cycling challenge both in length and elevation!

A ride up the gondola to the top of Mt Romsdalen gave bird’s eye views of the region

Life is good in Andalsnes!