Starting to get an itinerary together for the Norway trip.

My word it's complicated!

Saturday: Tunnel to Calais, drive to Hamburg (Germany).
Sunday: Drive to Aalborg (Denmark).
Monday: Ferry Hirtshals-Kristiansand and drive to Oslo (Norway).
Tuesday/Wednesday - Tourist in Oslo.
Thursday - Drive to Alesund.
Friday/Sat/Sun - Fiat meeting at Alesund.

After that it all gets a bit vague until we mysteriously arrive back in Kristiansand on the Friday.

Keep an eye on the tourist routes; Aalesund - Bergen(ish) - Kristiansand and you can't go much wrong. Stunning scenery, especially if the weather is nice.
In Røldal, I'd probably make a left onto the E134 - Valle-Evje-Kristiansand (in fact, I did... Bought my 20VT in Førde and drove it back to Kristiansand). Easier to pass all the camper vans as well.



Stavanger-Kristiansand has some resemblance of UK, twistier roads but also more lorries and traffic. And Suleskarvegen.

Anything I need to know about e.g. toll roads, fuel availability, etc? I note the speed limits are somewhat lower than UK limits and subject to on-the-spot fines.

Edit - those pics are of the sort of road I *like*. Similar to those on Skye...

• Good info on toll roads: http://www.autopass.no/en/visitors-payment - and be aware of the Hardanger bridge - 150 NOK / £12.5 to pass...

• Best times for buying petrol: sunday evenings, monday + thursday mornings.

• Sometimes stations can be far between. Keep above appx. half full to be safe.

• Not to hard to come by 98 octane if you need it, but not everyone offers it.

• Fines will cut heavily into the budget - doing 91 km/h in a 70 zone: £404

• What the speed cameras look like (all stationary):

Thanks - this looks like vital information for UK drivers: http://www.autopass.no/en/visitors-payment

I'll register my credit card, I think.

Just to add on the speed cameras, some of them check your average speed for a given distance.

The signs signalling for average speed measurements can be seen on the left of the main pic on this article.

Also, this one gives you a little information on the automatic speed controls along our roads.

To be honest, I've never been one for speeding - it's a matter of knowing what the limit actually *is*.

Can't remember the last time I was done for speeding - certainly before I got the coupe (though daughter got done in the coupe :D)

Either of you two gents joining the festivities?

I agree with you on the speeding. As a driver you're supposed to know what the speed limits are, and abide by them.
The challenge is to convert from mph to kph or the other way around.

I'm not going to Ålesund as I sold my Coupe many many moons ago.
However, if you decide to take the coastal route back down to Kristiansand and decide to stop in Haugesund (between Bergen and Stavanger), we could surely meet up.

Crikey, I don't go out of my way to speed, far from it but this trip is looking more like a challenge than a Holiday

I just completed a 64 hour week trying to earn money to pay for Hotels and food... at this rate I'll need to keep going to Christmas just to pay the speeding fines and tolls

Very inconvenient that they cancelled the ferry last year.

I think I'm about to cancel the hotel in Oslo; another one just made me an offer at half the price...

Kristian, what's to see in Haugesund? I think we'll be coming down the west coast back to Kristiansand - leaving Alesund on Monday and arriving Kristiansand midday Friday, but we have nothing planned between those two points as yet.

I may make a cheat sheet since my eyes are now so long sighted I can't focus on the tiny kph markings on the coupe speedo...

30kph = 20mph
40kph = 25mph
50kph = 30mph
70kph = 45mph
80kph = 50mph
100kph = 60mph
110kph = 70mph

To the nearest 10mph.

Do what I do Neil.

Set the satnav distance unit to kilometres and look at that display instead of the speedometer.

Still a bit small on the phone, Pete.

It's not been a problem in the past.

What's to see in Haugesund?

Well, we've got vikings. We have the largest sailing viking ship in the world stationed in our town. We also have an authentic viking village just outside the city center.

Also, we have small, quaint villages dating back to the big fisheries in the early 1800s.

I believe this page should cover most of the stuff to do and see around here.

We *like* Vikings - I want to see the Gokstad ship (Oslo?) on the way up. (Family legend says we arrived in Yorkshire in the 900s on a ship, bloody illegal immigrants.)

Some interesting things on that site... will consult with she who must be obeyed.

According to the guys that built "our" ship, the Gokstad ship is just a mishmash of old rotten planks that were assembled according to what the archeologists thought was correct.
"Our" ship on the other hand has been built according to old traditions and through trial and error on smaller vessels.

Last year were supposed to sail it to Liverpool, but the mast broke outside Shetland or thereabouts.

Let's hope she who must be obeyed likes what's going on around Haugesund.

Here's the tentative plan, assuming SWMBO can be pacified. Looks like Haugesund could be a good place to stop for a couple of days.

http://goo.gl/maps/q0pKS

A mere 3300 miles. Hmm... 5000 mile insurance. Might need some adjustment there...

I've devoted some time to putting the final piece in the Puzzle - The route into Norway.

I was thinking of driving from Friends in Northern Germany through Denmark & Sweden to Norway but I've had a change of heart. It is so far and on the hyper speed restricted roads I'm sure it would soon become a chore

I also looked at the toll costs to Oslo and they soon mount up, especially the two bridges in Denmark

This made me think of taking the ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo. This was about £650 return (with outside cabins upgrade). It saves over 700 miles return and 2 x Malmo bridge tolls.

I then noticed a ferry from Kiel to Oslo. It takes two hours longer but is £750 (Again upgraded cabins with breakfasts included). This saves over 1200 miles return and ALL the bridge tolls. This looked the most tempting until I saw northern Denmark to Bergen

We're going from Hirtshals to Kristiansand, about three hours and two hundred and fifty euros as I recall.

That's a good price but I've taken the plunge and booked a ferry with an overnight each way.

My route (Version 1)

I have taken the decision to shred the mileage tally.

My current route (After taking out the ferry journeys) is now just 2200 miles. Far fewer than the 3600 where I started and two nights now spent on a ferry rather than at some charming, but rather pricey, Norwegian Hotel.

Bob; I see you mentioned the ferry from Northern Denmark to Bergen. I don't know the cost of it, but I believe that the scenery while you drive from Bergen to Ålesund and the surrounding area can/will be nicer than the route from Oslo to Ålesund and back.
More fjords, more ferries, more quaint places.

For instance, I see Your route takes you from Oslo to Sogndal. That is 5 hours of potentially boring roads.
Bergen-Sogndal is a 4 hour drive along fjords, over steep mountains, taking in the lovely scenery that we have in the western part of our country.
Oslo-Sogndal is 5 hours "motorway" driving.

I totally agree that Bergen would have been a better route through Norway but I have to be mindful of how many miles I'm doing. We also want to re-visit Lillehammer and that means taking the less interesting route.

Our route takes in the Trollstigen and the Seven sisters though

We're doing a loop that includes Kristiansand-Norway, Norway-Alesund, Alesund-Haugesund, and then back to Kristiansand. But we have a week longer to play with than Bob has.

Which reminds me, I need to book some hotels in Haugesund!

Guys I have a
Norway lonely planet guide book if any of you want to borrow it. I am happy to post it on.

We should be fine Joe, thanks though:)

2432 miles or 3912 km for just 3 days? not for me this time

Okay, the credit card is whimpering slightly and we now have hotels for the entire trip...

We drive down the coast from Alesund to Haugesund in one long day, then have four nights in Haugesund before a short hop back to the ferry in Kristiansand on the Friday and an overnight in Aalborg; Saturday is another short run to just north of Hamburg and a final seven hours back to the channel tunnel on Sunday.

Woohoo. Just need one of these now:

That means you'll be in Haugesund on the evening of the 20th?
If so, you have an early start from Ålesund, and few stops along the way to enjoy the scenery.

If it's still possible, I would try to find a hotel along the road, either in Bergen or in Hardanger, depending on your route.
That way, you have the opportunity to take a look at the scenery, and also be somewhat relaxed when you arrive in Haugesund on the 21st.

That's the plan.

We ummed and ahhed about a stop on the way down, but we decided to make an early start on the Monday from Alesund rather than chopping the trip up into smaller pieces. The plan is to do some walking around Haugesund, per the tourist board!

The interesting thing looks like all the ferries and suchlike down the coast road...

Can you recommend a paper road map of Norway, and possibly a topographical map of the mountains near Haugesund? I'm spoilt in the UK with Ordnance Survey maps, and I don't like trusting my hiking to GPS.

This one http://www.amazon.com/Map-Norway-Central-English-Italian-Norwegian/dp/3707903176 and the accompanying southern half look reasonable for the roads; I've used that make in Europe before.

I can't see hiking maps, though, just lots of internet links.