Rallarvegen! Bicycling across the top of the world.

I've wanted to bicycle Rallarvegen since one of the operators described it to me way back in 2008. This is the road beside the train tracks from Bergen to Oslo and from Myrdal downhill to Flåm. They used it to build the railroads, and now it is a fabulous bike/hike trail. Here's the map, from the NSB (railway company).

See the two glaciers? Omnsbreen and Hardangerjøkulen? Finse, our start point, is between them. Finse is the highest point on the railway across Norway between Bergen and Oslo. I have never considered getting off the train there. It is above the tree line and all you see is flat, with snow. There's a first time for everything! I joined Luca on the 7:57 am train from Bergen (off the left side of the map).

He's from Italy. We met online on the Vibrant Hiking Club FaceBook group. He works weekends, and I'm now retired, so we could go on Thursday and Friday. I'm liking being retired. Work doesn't get in the way of having fun!

We rented bikes at Finse1222 (great bike!), and I bought a helmet. (Guess what the altitude is at Finse, in meters? Then we were off, toward the glaciers at first. It was cool, but such a beautiful day. The bad news was that we started out going uphill.

The highest point! 

Spectacular views

Always along the railroad tracks

We stopped for a snack on this cabin's steps, listening to the rushing water

Water, water, everywhere! We took thousands of waterfall pictures.

Our first day over, we stayed at Hallinskeid DNT hytte. Luca is a member, and I will join soon. DNT has "huts" all over Norway, with beds and food. You pay for usage.

Not worn out, we went for a hike

That is the Hallingskeid train station, and the hytte is on the far side

Fall colors were like parties under foot.

Do you see the clouds coming in? They presaged fog. The morning was totally fogged in. We did our assigned clean-up duties (I got to clean the bathrooms, ick), and then we left. Fog was not going to block our view of the road. Fog just made everything look magical!

Getting low enough to see trees, now

 At one bend, suddenly (organ peal) birch trees formed a golden cathedral over the road! No picture, sorry.

Stopped at Vatnehalsen Hotel for a sandwich at 10:30. Local pork and cheese!

While at the hotel, the fog finally broke.

Fireweed, or Geitrams in Norwegian

The hairpin turns were tricky, but the waterfall views were spectacular

Looking down toward the valley

A goat farm!

We stopped for goat cheese and goat milk. The milk is quite light.

Pretty soon, we are getting down to the more populated part of the trail

A good toilet stop

Luca taking another waterfall picture

There goes the Flåm train!

A waterfall through a tunnel. Cool!

Green! This is the Flåm valley

Destination reward! Flåm brewery, Ægir, makes a lovely dark beer.

There's only the one pub in town, and they serve only Ægir beer. I tried Gævle, which is a sort of beer with whiskey merge. Smooth and delicious.

We got back in Bergen about 7:30 after 3 hours on the bus. There was a chance of Northern lights being visible this far south! So I got my tripod and fancy camera out, and rode up to the top of Fløien, joining a bunch of other hopeful folks. No luck on the Northern lights, but I got a couple of nice shots. Here you go.

The Big Dipper, unretouched. Sharp stars! Thanks for the tip to turn off the stabilizer, Inge.

Bergen - we could hear the music from the square - a magical evening