The headline for this story should probably be: “Much more than the Milky Way”, because the trip to Norway ended up containing so much more than just bikepacking.
After spending a long time trying to rent a van for a long time, we had to admit that it was both easier and cheaper to buy a car and sell it again afterwards. So we did and the choice fell on the ridiculed but spacious Berlingo. A car that is number one among the majority of the population, but number 1 among mountain bikers. It has a huge trunk and is extremely practical to transport bicycles in. We could pack everything we needed for a month's vacation, as well as 4 mountain bikes and 2 packrafts. We were already starting to like the maligned Berlingo a little.
Our plan was to drive to Beitostølen, where Kasper and Marie had moved to. They have a company called Bike Beitostølen and offer courses in technical mountain biking. We signed up for that during our last week of vacation, but decided to stop by anyway.
We ended up staying with Kasper and Marie, who were super hospitable and nice to be with.
With a little input from them, we came up with a fun plan for a week on the bikepacking bikes.
We wanted to cross part of Valdres Nature Park to get into the adjacent valley, and then cycle part of the Milky Way back towards Jotunheimen National Park.
It would quickly turn out to be both a really good and a really bad idea. The landscape was really beautiful in the mountains of Valdres. But the paths were absolutely only for walking and our shins were completely torn up by all the small bushes that stood low and close to the trail. Nevertheless, the views, and the trip itself, outweighed the extra effort of pushing and pulling the bikes over long impassable stretches of mud or bushes.
When we hit the Milky Way itself, it immediately became much more accessible. A nice, smooth gravel road along the water, with scattered cabins along the way, formed the backdrop for nice and fast cycling.
Arriving at Jotunheimen National Park, we had time for a boat trip to hike across Beseggen, which is one of Norway's most famous hiking trails. Of course, primarily because it is short, easily accessible and Instagram-friendly. But as with all popular destinations, it was definitely worth the trip to hike up to the peak, between two of the large lakes, and enjoy the view over Jotunheimen.
Back at Kasper and Marie's we swapped our 29+ bikes for full suspensions and took a trip to Sogndal to cycle some good trails. It was pretty cool and really good challenging trails they have built around the town. There is nothing commercial, and it is all kept a little under the radar, so as not to attract too many people. But we had some super cool days where we shuttled ourselves up to the peaks.
Before we headed back to Beitostølen, we drove around one of the large meltwater lakes from Jostedalsbreen. Here we inflated our packrafts and sailed down to the end of the lake, where the glacier stands like a vertical wall out of the water. It was a wild experience to sit in your little rubber boat so close to a huge natural phenomenon.
And then it was time to go back to Beitostølen, for a week of full-on mountain biking lessons with Kasper and Terry.
Super cool way to spend your summer vacation.
