Map

Complete map of the journey, courtesy of UMAP.

Daily distances and elevation gain

Week 1

• 2022-07-02 d01: Tromsø → Lyngseidet; 96 km, 916 m
• 2022-07-03 d02: Lyngseidet → Langfjordbotn; 157 km, 2169 m
• 2022-07-04 d03: Langfjordbotn → Skaidi; 175 km, 1977 m
• 2022-07-05 d04: Skaidi → Honningsvåg; 185 km, 2216 m
• 2022-07-06 d05: Static: Honningsvåg → Honningsvåg; 17 km, 98 m
• 2022-07-07 d06: Boat: Honningsvåg → Finnsnes – rest day
• 2022-07-08 d07: Finnsnes → Sortland; 180 km, 1680 m

Week 2

• 2022-07-09 d08: Sortland → Hov; 158 km, 1091 m
• 2022-07-10 d09: Hov → Bodø; 214 km, 1118 m
• 2022-07-11 d10: Bodø → Åmnes; 152 km, 1903 m
• 2022-07-12 d11: Åmnes → Nesna; 176 km, 2127 m
• 2022-07-13 d12: Nesna → Brønnøysund; 131 km, 1089 m
• 2022-07-14 d13: Brønnøysund → Kolvereid; 135 km, 1365 m
• 2022-07-15 d14: Kolvereid → Osen; 142 km, 1727 m

Week 3

• 2022-07-16 d15: Osen → Trondheim; 147 km, 2131 m
• 2022-07-17 d16: Trondheim → Skei; 132 km, 1216 m
• 2022-07-18 d17: Skei → Åndalsnes; 175 km, 2120 m
• 2022-07-19 d18: Åndalsnes → Heggebottvatnet; 163 km, 3436 m
• 2022-07-20 d19: Heggebottvatnet → Skjolden; 117 km, 1693 m
• 2022-07-21 d20: Skjolden → Dragsvik; 118 km, 1238 m
• 2022-07-22 d21: Dragsvik → Rutledal; 155 km, 1515 m

Week 4

• 2022-07-23 d22: Rutledal → Fusa; 152 km, 2324 m
• 2022-07-24 d23: Fusa → Odda; 149 km, 1760 m
• 2022-07-25 d24: Odda → Hovden; 127 km, 2618 m
• 2022-07-26 d25: Hovden → Eidstod; 137 km, 1266 m
• 2022-07-27 d26: Eidstod → Langesund; 127 km, 1893 m

Summary

I completed the trip in 26 days, of which 24 were spent riding, one day waiting for the Hurtigrute boat, and another on that boat relaxing.

• All in all the total distance traveled, ferries mostly excluded adds up to 3500 km, that is 140 km/d – almost 145 km if we exclude the outlier day when I was mostly relaxing in Honningsvåg. That is significantly longer than my daily target of 130 km because the endless sun of the the Arctic allowed for much longer daily segments.

• Daily distances varied from 116 km the day after the hellish Trollstigen / Geiranger / Dalsnibba trifecta (-1.22 σ), to 185 km on Nordkapp day (+1.37 σ).

• As for elevation gain, I accumulated a sizeable total of 42588 m, which is almost as much as the 44478 m of last year’s Italy trip. That is 1774 m per day (excluding the Honningsvåg rest day again) and thus over 100 m more than I did in Italy. That Norwegian coastline looks treacherously flat on the map but you’re constantly going up or down regardless.

• As already mentioned, the unplanned ultra-hard day involving Trollstigen, Ørnesvingen and Dalsnibba amounted to a climbing orgy with 3436 m of climbing in a single day over 163 km. Elevation wise this set a new personal record, beating the Stelvio / Ofenpass combo by just under a hundred meters.

• Lofoten had two of the flattest days, 1091 m and 1118 m at 158 km and 126 km, respectively (average gradient: 0.69 %, 0.88 %), with the ferry-heavy day from Nesna to the middle of Norway at Brønnøysund coming between them at 1089 m over 131 km (0.86 %).

So much for the raw facts. Considering the unrelenting weather conditions, I can say with some confidence that this trip ranks first on the toughness scale so far.