#2 North Cape Tour - From Kristiansand to Hjelmeland
Now the time has come, we have Norway and you are leaving everyday life with us into a world full of adventure.
Now you are there when Hermann, Ernst and Volker – “three brave friends” who know what life is about – discover great countries in the north of Europe. We are not postponing our dreams and that is exactly why we are in Norway for now.
We started in Denmark at 12:15 p.m. to take the Color Line Superspeed ferry to Kristiansand in Norway in 3:15 hours. The ferry is pretty fast, we had pretty good weather and the sea was very calm. We got off the ferry and filled up the tank first; we didn't have time for that in Denmark.
Breakfast took a little longer than planned, but it was nice.
“The thing about filling up”
We now have to get used to the petrol prices; for €1.70 you can get 95 octane fuel, which is even more expensive in the north. Hermann we tied a 10 liter canister to the Harley. There are areas where there aren't gas stations everywhere. Whenever possible, we refueled before reaching the reserve.
A special factor is that we don't drive at high speeds in Norway, which means that we had low fuel consumption. The new Milwaukee-Eight engine had a possible range of 520 kilometers shown in the on-board computer after refueling, which is very economical.
“The Reinfoss rocks are the first sight”
Now we're heading towards Telemark, which is a province in the south of Norway where you could easily spend a few days to really discover all the natural beauty. But we only want to go to the Reinfoss rocks, because our actual destination, the North Cape , is still about 3000 kilometers ahead of us and that's right at the top of the map.
The Reinfoss rocks are in 10th place in the top ten sights in Norway. Well, we couldn't fully understand that in retrospect, but maybe we were there at the wrong time of year. From Kristiansand it is about 160 kilometers and 2 hours drive to the place in question, which is located in the middle of a forest. The place is called Reinfoss, Nissedal, the route there leads along a beautiful lake until we stood in front of a gate on a bridge that initially blocked our way. A sign indicates that you have to open the gate but also close it again if you want to move on. The background to this is that sheep run around freely there, which is why it is closed.
Suddenly there is a gravel path
After a few meters of driving we found ourselves on a solid gravel road. You don't have to be an experienced cross-country skier, but it's just not asphalt. You cross some rivers over simple bridges, but the level of difficulty is also limited and the nature around you is fantastic. At some point you will come to a parking lot where the Reinfoss rocks are, this is also where we met the first Norwegians who pitched their tent by the river.
There were two older couples there, the other couple sat directly on the stones by the river with a mosquito net and enjoyed nature. And now the moment came when we met other Norwegian residents, the mosquitoes were there too! It's crazy, they were buzzing around everywhere, it was almost unbearable, but they were just a nuisance, they didn't seem to want to eat us.
Our anti mosquito spray is used
Now we have our anti mosquito spray with us for exactly this case. Now we wanted to see what there is to see here. The place we are at is a spectacular stretch of waterfalls where beautiful rocks rise out of the river, it is also a swimming area, but we didn't choose the right weather for it. When we were there there was hardly any water in the river, which was probably unusual at this time of year.
Deep water in the river
The river was pretty calm, so the mosquitoes had fun. It was clear to us that we would not spend the night here like the brave Norwegians and would first make our way back out of the enclosure and into civilization. A few more motorcyclists came towards us on the sandy road, somehow you had the impression that we had destroyed their dreams, that you can only ride off the asphalt with a Crosstourer.
The first night we go to the hotel
We drove a long way back the same route to turn north at some point. We no longer had a real destination for the day, the weather kept dampening us and now it was supposed to be a campsite where we could spend the night.
We arrived in Evie shortly after 9:00 p.m., unfortunately there was no one left at the campsite reception, which now became a problem for us, we were hungry and finally wanted to have a camp.
The hotel saves us first
Luckily there was a hotel around the corner where we paid 900NK for a single room with breakfast.
There was nothing to think about, somehow we were happy that we were able to arrive at the Hotel Dölen first.
There was a pizzeria across the street in town, we went there first, although there was no biker romance, but we were full. The next morning we have another great breakfast, that's always a serious matter for us, we don't do anything without it! Friendly staff, beautiful view of a lake, we like it, this hotel gets our recommendation.
What we have now learned is that most campsites usually close at 9 p.m., you can still go up and then pay the next day, but if you want to rent a cabin you are out of luck if no one is on the phone can be reached, sometimes they leave the keys for those who arrive late.
“We just took a turn and had a great nature experience!”
Now we start, we have 4 hours of driving ahead of us until the next stop, a distance of 200 kilometers that leads from Evje to Lysebotn.
On this route we get to know the varied nature of Norway. As soon as we go a little higher into the mountains, we see a completely different landscape than in the valley.
It's slowly starting, the landscape is already stark and we're only around 200 kilometers into the country.
Originally we wanted to go to the Preikestolen via Lysebotn, but more on what happened later.
On the way to the Lysebotn pier there is a very well-known coffee shop with a view of the fjord. There you can get delicious cakes and waffles with homemade berries decorated with something similar to cream, the whole thing is highly recommended! When you're full, you still have 8 kilometers to go to the ferry pier.
A serpentine stretch challenges us
This serpentine route is tough. Before we started, we met a few guys with their Japanese drivers. One of them lost his front brake pads on his 1200 Yamaha, they were probably no longer quite fit. We approached the prospect of the curved route ahead of us with somewhat mixed feelings, let's see what it really turns out to be like.
Off we went, it was really fun, an incline of 10% and it was challenging, especially when a mobile home suddenly appears in front of you, which is something you have to expect everywhere here.
A great curve, at the bottom of the route there is suddenly a tunnel where only one vehicle can pass at a time, that was also the moment where Hermann almost crashed Road Glide
When we finally arrived in Lyseboten we had to wait for the ferry that was supposed to take us to Preikestolen. It was Ernst who really wanted to go there, it was very important to him to go to this viewing platform that juts out into the fjord.
This legendary mountain above the Lysefjord is 604 meters high, it's just stupid that you can't drive up there. It is estimated that the 4 kilometers would take around 2 hours to walk, he would have had to do it alone and he didn't want to do that, he didn't want to run with us either, so not at all! Of course he didn't know that there was no lift or path to ride.
So the plan was changed without further ado and we took the next ferry to Songesand, which is only half the distance from Preikestolen. After we drove down from the ferry, it went uphill and suddenly the drama with Hermann started, his EVO suddenly jerked in the middle of the mountain, it stopped driving, just stopped and ended.
Hermann his EVO is causing trouble!
This is the worst case scenario, the first cars are pushing from behind and now we had to position Hermann on the side of the road on this narrow path. There we stood, all three of us with wide eyes, should the tour end here or what happens next? Hermann was more than angry and scolded like a pig, after 10 minutes she jumped again, no one knows why.
A brief moment of shock
We could just keep driving, every now and then there would be a strange noise from the primary, but it was running, that didn't matter at the moment. The shock was still in her bones but she was running again, that was the main thing. Moving on, we had no idea where we were headed, it just became more and more beautiful around us.
Our day's stage ends in the garden of the hostel.
Our next destination is Hjelmeland, where the next ferry pier is, from which we want to cross to Nesvik the following day. But now we still have 1 hour of driving ahead of us, on a 60 kilometer long road that was built just for the Tjodan power plant.
This route is definitely worth it, here we took the time to take some great photos before we continued on to Hjelmeland. Still totally fascinated by what we had experienced, we pitched our tent in the garden of the Hjelmeland Hostel.
Cheap, bathroom, shower, campfire, nice people and a beautiful view of the lake, that was enough for us for one night. We still have enough food for the evening, now we enjoy the sunset with a can of beer and look forward to the next day.
The story on the Harleysite Youtube Channel
#2 North Cape Tour – From Kristiansand to Hjelmelan
T he Google Tour Map
External links
Nikwax to additionally waterproof the tent
Seam glue to seal the seams of the tent
iPhone 7/8 cell phone holder
Thank you for the kind support of our tour partners, Visit Norway , Color Line , The Rokker Company and Tallink Silja Line .
Some links in the tour description may be affiliate links without changing the price for you.
#2 North Cape Tour Picture Gallery Part 2