Biking the Rallarvegen

A highlight of our journey through Norway was our day biking trip from Finse to Flam. We biked the Rallarvegen, an unpaved road that was used for the construction of the Oslo-Bergen railroad. The road is now closed to traffic and, for the most part, well maintained. Best of all, most of the ride is downhill.

We had camped in Flam the night before. In the morning, we took the scenic Flamsbana train from Flam to Myrdal, and changed to the Oslo-Bergen train to Finse, where we picked up our bikes. The bikes ended up costing 1100 NOK (roughly $175) for a one-day rental!!! (Sometimes it’s really difficult to find information in Norway.)

On the Flamsbana at Myrdal station

Finse, at 1,222m, felt like a different world. There were a few houses scattered around the desolate landscape, which was still partially covered in snow in mid-July. The first ten kilometers of the ride were fairly challenging - there was some snow crossings and uphill sections, but the views made it completely worthwhile. 

Near the Finse train station

Our bikes

Crossing a snow field

A couple of hours later, we reached a more forested area with waterfalls everywhere. It took us much longer than expected to reach Myrdal (about five hours), which was about halfway, distance-wise, to our destination. I was pretty exhausted - it was my first time mountain biking, and I did not like the rocky stretches of the road.

About half-way down

Luckily, the rest of the ride was all downhill. And after about a dozen very sharp turns (where we had to walk our bikes), it was easy and smooth riding all the way down to Flam. What a great way to end the day! We dropped off our bikes at the train station, where they would be transported back up to Finse, and went for celebratory beers! Surprising, Flam had a great brewery and restaurant.

One of the sharp turns where we had to walk our bikes

We're in Flam valley! You can see part of the village behind us. This last stretch was easy and fun.