Norwegian Summer 2026 –  Day 9: Gol, Haugastøl, Competing the Mjølkevegen

We started the day with a nice long chat with our hotelier, who turns out to be the fifth-generation owner. She gave us a brief history after breakfast. Apparently the number of cyclists coming through goes up every year: it’s a 200-person hotel sitting on a gravel road in a valley that’s a good way removed from the main road and the train. Off the beaten track in the best sense for people like us. A very nice place to stay.

We also ran into Camilla and Anna again, the two Swedish women we’d mentioned yesterday (not to be confused with Camille from France, who turned up just a few days back). We stood around and talked about all the things one more time. They’re heading the opposite direction from us, so far as we can tell, and this was the last we saw of them today, but we exchanged numbers and if we’re ever in Stockholm….

On the way out I also managed to grab a picture with these two handsome fellas.

It was a beautiful morning, warm enough that we set off without even arm warmers. Before we got too far we had to pop up over a ridge on a steady but shallow climb, and along the way we stopped to check out a small stave church.

We eventually crested the hill, settled into an easy pedal, and ran across this sign, which we can only assume was warning us about the explosive gravel.

From there we did some lateral moves along the mountainside with a few little kickers to wake the legs up, and then found ourselves poised for a long, multi-phase descent down to Gol, the end of our Mjølkevegen route.

We were in no hurry at all. Our train wouldn’t leave Gol until 3:15 and it was only 11:00, so we took full advantage of the warm sun and lazily flowed down the side of the mountain. Mostly it was that clean Norwegian gravel we’ve been spoiled by — smooth, no potholes, no loose stuff — with the occasional paved stretch mixed in.

I took this picture thinking we’d finally reached the bottom. Turned out we were still a good 20 minutes short. How embarrassing!

Finally we reached Gol, but not before passing through this activity park.

Our first time in a proper town for a few days, so we took care of some business first. I stopped into the sports store and bought some replacement brake pads (just in case!), and then, conveniently right across the street, there was a bakery. We had food in our packs, but we felt like treating ourselves and celebrating the end of the route, so we sat down for some delicious sandwiches and a Fanta.

We wandered on through town, still descending all the way to the train station, and stopped at the SPAR for a few fun food items to keep things varied — no more grocery stores until Flåm, a couple of days off. Then, after much stalling and lollygagging, we rolled up to the station still almost two hours early, since the train was running late out of Oslo. We were headed to Haugastøl, about an hour away, one of the entry points to the Rallarvegen, which is arguably the most famous bike route in all of Norway.

The train came, and this time we had to stash the bikes in a special bike car, with our assigned seats one car up. Different setup from our last ride, which was a regional “R” train; this was an “F” train, the long-distance kind.

The ride was pleasant enough, and there was even a speaker piping in tourist tidbits about the things we rolled past. When we arrived we got the bikes off in record time, apparently impressing the baggage car attendant. Just doing our part to get the train back on schedule!

It took us about 15 minutes to reattach all our bags on a deserted platform after the train pulled away. Hope we didn’t forget anything! Then a quick ten-minute ride to our hotel/hostel, conveniently parked right at the start of the Rallarvegen.

We made new friends the moment we arrived: an Irish trio, a mother and daughter plus a friend, from Galway I think. We had a great time chatting over an N/A beer about their travels, and got the lowdown on what’s coming up down the trail. It was like our own personal “Derry Girls” episode! We had to cut it a bit short to start our end-of-day rituals: laundry, showers, then dinner at 7pm sharp.

Once again dinner blew past all expectations. Alongside a spread of fresh salads, breads and vegetables served family style, they made us special vegetarian entrees in place of the chicken wings everyone else got — a lentil, winter squash and tomato stew, and a big bowl of roasted potato wedges. The dessert was even more impressive with home made pastries, a delicious strawberry, raspberry and fresh currant cocktail, a homemade marshmallow, caramel corn and chocolate mousse as well. All this for eight guests. Clearly someone at this place loves to cook and bake, and they’ve got it down!

Overall, a solid transition day. Only twenty miles of biking but well positioned for a fun (if rainy) day tomorrow.