Norwegian Summer 2026 – Day 12: Myrdal to Vikersund, the long way around

The descent from Myrdal down to Flåm gave the new shift cable a very light test, with a bit of shifting here and there, but mostly we just coasted. First came 23 steep, tight switchbacks packed into a mile or two (definitely nothing interesting happened there and Liz raced down at top speed), then 10-plus miles of steady downhill all the way to sea level and the Sognefjord. This latter section was a dream — a worthy continuation of some of the truly spectacular stuff from yesterday.

And waterfalls everywhere, with lush green hillsides on all sides, and the best part was knowing we wouldn’t have to climb a foot of it because we already had a train ticket booked back to the top. The whole descent took about an hour and a half, which left us a little time in Flåm to shop and get the bikes ready for the first leg of their multi-stage journey to Vikersund.

Flåm itself was a bit touristy for our tastes,  particularly given our state of mind and what we’ve experienced so far in this trip. There’s a trip in our future where we hop on a fjord sightseeing trip, just not this one. We had to head back today anyway; we couldn’t get tickets tomorrow (sold out, Sunday), and Monday would have put too big of a dent in our plans.

The train ride back up was fun, though. We got to revisit everything we’d seen by bike the day before, this time from a slightly different perspective. The train even stops for a few minutes at one of the big falls near the top so everyone can pile out and take the exact same photo.

At Myrdal station we transferred to the F4 to Oslo after a short 45-minute wait. That train would be home for about four hours, and once again we watched terrain we’d traversed on the bikes roll by, now from the comfort of a train window.

Around 5:45 pm we pulled into Vikersund, a small town that happens to be a good jumping-off point for a short three-day tour through southern Norway. That little loop should wrap up on Tuesday when we finally roll into Son to meet up with Geir and Grethe.

Tomorrow being Sunday, most grocery stores will be closed, so we made one last run to the SPAR for dinner and supplies for tomorrow’s ride. Then a nice 10-minute pedal over to the small hotel in town across the lake.

We watched the Morocco vs Canada match and some Tour de France coverage while we ate, then passed out. A long day of transit, schedules, and stress, but tomorrow should be simpler again: just some riding to do.