Norway Top to Bottom

[psmiffy]

Strange ive been to norway twice, sweden twice and Finland equipped with gallons of repellent and a stupid net thing for my head and I have never been bothered by them

 

[Dayvo]

I was bitten by one last week!

Snow and ice on the wane and only +8, but the buggers are out there!

 

[Danny]

...a lot of Norwegians come across to tour in northern England and Scotland because its warmer and drier!

Jeez!

I had been thinking of touring in Norway but this thread is beginning to put me off, what with the bad weather, killer mosquitoes, and endless expanses of trees.

 

[Dayvo]

Jeez!

I had been thinking of touring in Norway but this thread is beginning to put me off, what with the bad weather, killer mosquitoes, and endless expanses of trees.

And stunning scenery:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=1&q=norway+scenery&btnG=Search+Images&aq=f&oq=

http://images.google.co.uk/images?g...+norwegian+women&aq=0&oq=beautiful+norwegian+

 

[psmiffy]

Do not be put off - its brilliant - the scenery can only be described as grand - well worth the effort

I was talking to a small Norwegian boy in Bergen and I asked "does it always rain here?" - he replied "I don't know I am only 14 years old"

 

[Crankarm]

Norway

The scenery is indeed truly stunning. The midges don't sound too good. When would you think is the best time to go avoiding the midges and having the best weather? The midges aren't year round are they? Years ago I was in Western Isles at Sanna Sands and the midges were the size of blackbirds billions of the sods. We were eaten alive. Are the Nowegian midges only in forest areas so near the coast one would hopefully see fewer or none? The thing that is most putting me off touring Norway is the difficulty getting there with a bike from the UK without resorting to flying now the direct ferry services have been axed.

 

[Dayvo]

There should be ample info here:

http://www.visitnorway.com/en/home/travel-to-norway/

http://www.bike-norway.com/engelsk.asp

http://www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/norway.shtml

http://www.toroddfuglesteg.com/cyclingnorway.html

http://cycling.skedaddle.co.uk/holi..._Lofoten_Islands_Cycling_Holiday/9/view.rails

 

[Danny]

I didn't know Norway had midges as well as mosquitos - sounds worse than Scotland

 

[stewie griffin]

In Aug 06 I travelled up Sweden & down Norway (motorcycle), a Sweedish friend warned me of the "fog of midges", "dark skys" etc, especially in the north.
I took enough anti insect chemicals with me to treat an army, I don't recall seeing anything other than the odd midge, in two weeks I don't think I was bitten once. Must have been the wrong time of year.


Or my chemicals worked REALLY well !!

 

[Dayvo]

Mossies either love you or will leave you alone!

I'm one of the former!

Some hints:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A588189

 

[elduderino]

Here's a sample of what 3 week's in Norway with mosquitoes did to me http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l137/elduderino12/100_0232.jpg

As for getting there, I took a relatively pain free flight from Liverpool to Oslo Torp with Ryanair, bike survived fine and had minimal packaging, just a CTC clear bag.

 

[Crankarm]

OMG that's looks awful. Did you wear just cycling shorts? Was that one mozzie or several? They like me too so I'll have to take the equivalent of DDT to protect myself.
Ryannair you say. Might try them although haven't flown with them since 2002/3 when they offered a luxry service and you genuinely only paid £1 incl. taxes.

Dayvo thanks for the links - very useful. Have checked out Ryanair who fly Stanstead to Oslow Torp for £0 about £44 incl taxes, but what at first seems to be a very cheap return flight will actually cost alot more once you've added all the necessities back in which used to be built into Ryanair's prices such as check-in and baggage allowance. Taking a bike would seem to come under sports equipment £30 each way. No weight appears to be specified as priced per item so could feasibly put a couple of the panniers inside the bike box to keep costs down. So the tour might yet be on.

 

[elduderino]

That was several mozzies over the course of the tour (the further North I got the worse they were) and I've alway's been a sucker for them. I started out in cycling short's but pretty quickly resorted to 3/4 length trousers and football sock's pulled up all the way (Thierry Henry style).

My leg's were covered up for the majority from then on, but they seemed to just bite through the socks. Infact I can still make out some of the scar's from the scratching.

Don't let it put you off though, Norway is by far the most beautiful country I've cycled in and I wouldn't hesitate to go back.