Norwegian Summer 2026: Day 10 – A rain date at Haugastøl

A rain date with the Rallarvegen has us locked up at our hostel in Haugastøl for the whole day. A big rainy system has settled in over southern Norway, and while we could ride to our next stop safely and comfortably in the wet, out here the destination isn’t really the point; the journey is. Grinding through the murk means missing all the scenery, which sort of defeats the purpose. Odds are we’ll never get our bikes out this far again, so we’re making it count.

I’ve got a few observations to fill an off day, though…

Autonomous lawn mowers are big here and, Franky, I’m jealous. There’s a little robot working the grass right outside our window, chugging away nonstop. She’s got a tricky patch to cover, but she’s doing a bang-up job.

We’ve even watched her tuck herself into “bed” to charge, and then rain or shine she’s right back out at it. Funny thing: when Liz and I were here ten years ago we ran into earlier generations of these little rascals, and they’ve only gotten better since.

I know you can get them in the US but they don’t seem common. Here we’ve seen more of these than regular lawn mowers.

We’ve fallen into the habit of playing Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite no. 1 while we pack up in the mornings. Corny and predictable, I know! If the name doesn’t ring a bell, you’d probably recognize at least three of the movements: “In the Hall of the Mountain King”, “Morning Mood”, and “Anitra’s Dance”. Loading those into our heads before a ride means they run on a loop all day, off and on. Once, stopped for a break, I quietly started playing “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from my phone and watched Liz slowly clock the sound seeming to come from nowhere, the way it would if you were only imagining it. Good times!

Another musical reference I’ve been reworking in my head is “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” by the Beatles. I’ve never been a lyrics guy, so I never gave the title or the words much thought; I just figured it was about some woods in Norway with a bird in them or something. The actual lyrics don’t really back that up, and whatever you do, don’t Google the theories people have about this song. It’s too pretty to sink into the chaos of the Internet like an anchor. So I’ve decided it’s about Norwegian rosemaling, an idea Liz planted in my head, like this chair at Geir’s ski house from waaaay back at the start of our trip.

Drivers here have been patient and kind beyond belief. Like most of Europe we’ve visited, driving is taken seriously and safety seems to come first. I’d bet the penalties for infractions and accidents, especially when someone gets hurt, are stiff. Ten years back, when we stayed with Geir and Grethe, they were generous enough to lend us their SUV for a long tour of southern Norway. Before turning us loose, Geir took me out for a driving lesson and exam, which was very smart of him. It turns out Americans just don’t get roundabouts. Norway has well-defined rules about turn signals in them (you signal both entering and leaving) that nobody follows back home, which is probably one reason we think of them as agents of chaos.

A cousin to the roundabout thing is passing etiquette, and it ties into how the roads are striped too. A lot of the busier rural roads (equivalent of busier county roads or perhaps state highways?) have no centerline at all, just lines along the edges marking shoulders too skinny to ride on. What that does is force everyone to share the middle carefully. You can’t assume you “own” your lane, because there might be oncoming traffic, or bikes, or sheep, or whatever, coming the other way.

It seems to work great; speeds are slower and drivers are more careful. The part I find genuinely fun is that drivers will signal left to pass us and then signal right to pull back over, even though there are no lanes and nobody else on the road but us on our bikes! Clearly it’s baked into driver’s ed, which, I guess, may as well not exist in the US.

One last dispatch from the field: Norwegian road cyclists can be every bit as elitist as the American variety! Some things are universal. (This coming from a road rider 😂)

The weather looks good for our Rallarvegen romping tomorrow. We’re ready to go!