Norway Atlantic Road By Motorcycle - We Ride Over Storseisundet Bridge!

We're on the ferry to Solnes to start the next chapter of our journey. We're heading towards the coast and we're going to be going over that famous bridge that goes all the way over the water. We're really looking forward to riding that. Yeah, it's something that we've been planning on since the start of the trip. It's iconic here in Norway and after we finish riding that we're going to be heading up to Trondheim which is going to be a beautiful village or little town that we're going to have to explore this afternoon. Yeah, so hopefully we get to experience a Nordic town because at the moment we've been pretty much on the road all the time. Yeah, non-stop. Yeah, it's going to be nice to experience that. All right, well the boat's about to dock so we better get ready to disembark. Here we go. The adventure continues. Let's go to Bud. I'm heading to Bud. What an inspirational place name. At least it's a name we can pronounce. Is that the bridge? No, I don't think it's the bridge. But still. I mean still it's pretty cool, isn't it? What a feat of engineering this is. It is. I think there's going to be quite a few of these in the next couple of hours. A good fishing spot apparently too. Beautiful surroundings as well. Great views. Have you seen the sat-nav, Sean? Can you zoom out? We're on like a little island and we're going to head underneath it now. Oh yeah, it's an underwater tunnel. For some reason I prefer to be under rock than underwater. What makes me laugh about these tunnels in Norway is you can overtake in them with the broken line in the middle. That's madness, isn't it? It's on a curve as well. That's deemed safe. The infrastructure in Norway is quite amazing really because this isn't really used by that many people. To justify a gigantic building project of this scale. And you don't have to pay for them. Is it like £2.50 to go through the Mersey Tunnel these days? Yeah, you never know what weather you're about to come out of the tunnel to. No, are you about to get rained on? That's good. The LEDs at the end help your eyes to adjust. That's clever. Okay. We're taking the E39 towards Trondheim, I think. Okay, yeah. So it's first exit. We are fast approaching Bud now. We're about two minutes away from it where we'll take the turn off onto the National Tourist Road and up and get to that famous bridge. And for the first time in this trip, I've taken the bike out of rain mode and it's back on road mode because it's dry. We are in the town centre of Bud. It's really pretty, isn't it? All these wooden clad buildings. It is. Not much going on. Quite a sleepy little place. And you're going to turn right up here. Heading up here, am I? Okay. Yeah. Look at these houses. They're stunning, aren't they? Really well kept as well. Oh, wow. Look at all the little islands. Here they are. Oh, can you smell the sea? I can. Oh, I do love that sea air. Should we turn off down this one for the viewpoint? Yeah, absolutely. Wow. We've just pulled over just outside of Bud and there's a sign here and I want to show you the route in which we're taking. So we are, like I said, just outside of Bud in this little red dot. We're going to follow this route all the way up until we get to this region. Now, here is where all the famous bridges are that hop onto the islands. And from there, we'll head all the way up to Christensen at the top. From Christensen, we'll just jump on the fastest route to Trondheim, which is where we'll be spending the evening. And then we're going to spend the evening in Trondheim, probably have a look around the city. But look at these views here just outside of Bud. You can see all of the little rock mounds and all of the little islands. There's a boat just on the horizon there, as well as a little lighthouse. It's so fresh, the air here. I've never seen anything like that before. No, it's beautiful, isn't it? All the little houses on the tiny islands. It looks like a magical place. It looks like fairytale land that you'd see in a film. It doesn't look real. Yeah, it looks like a leftover film set. This is the start. Yeah, the start of the island hop in the bridges. It looks like the ascent of a roller coaster before it plummets you down. Doesn't it just? I've seen pictures, but you don't think it's actually going to look like that to your eye, do you? No, not at all. That is so zoom. I'm guessing it's going to be quite windy up there. Yeah, it's the speed limit's 80 on it as well. Up, up and away. 60. Great views either side of the rock island that lit to the sea here. We're here at the famous bridge in Norway, probably the most famous bridge, and it's been spectacular to ride across it. The landscape around here is amazing, isn't it? It really is. It feels like you're hopping from island to island as you ride over them, and it lives up to it. It's one of those things that is as amazing when you come and see it with your own two eyes. Yeah, there's literally hundreds of these little islands dotted around in the sea, and the villages around it are also really pretty. But we're going to continue now up and make our way to Kristiansund, which is the next destination on our list. And then after that, what's Trondheim? Trondheim, yeah, but we'll see what happens along the way. We've got quite a few hours to go and it's already four o'clock in the afternoon, so we better be going. This ride is not one to be missed. It's spectacular. Either side of you, you have the sea, got the purple colours of the heather growing through there. It's a really special place, Norway. And what, we're on day five of the Heading North tour? I can't even imagine what it's going to be like as we go on. I don't think I've had a better day on the motorcycle than today, even with the rain. And that just goes to show the scenery and how incredible Norway is. Yeah, exactly. I wonder if a lot of people are put off visiting Norway by the weather. But even with its weather, it's so worth it. So pack your bags and head north. There's Kristiansund. Such a lovely little place. It did, didn't it? You never know when you're approaching a body of water in Norway if you're going to be on a tunnel, a bridge or a ferry. This time we're on a bridge. Yeah, bridge, ferry or a tunnel. You just don't know. But she's got a big fish, hasn't she? Goodness me. Oh my goodness. Oh, poor fishy. That's dinner for tonight and tomorrow. Wow, it must be quite easy to pull out your dinner from here. Yeah, there's loads of people down there fishing. And we're heading on another ferry. Hi, what's this, ferry number three for today? Ferry number three and we're heading to Halsa. And I think it's our last ferry of the day and it's just docking. So again, every 20 minutes, I think every 20 minutes on these, it is quite frequent. Or beer, all right. Give us a bit of hold. Well, I'm not like going to wait on the angle, am I? Oh, hold. Oh, let me go down there. Oh yeah, I'll have that. Perfect. Can I get off? You sure can, my love. Look at the power coupling there. It's almost, I don't know as I've recharged the boat. Surely it's not an electric boat. It's 690 volts or according to our time. Oh yeah, that's true. All right, disembarkment time. Okay, take side stand off. Now we've had the finishing shunt. It's like wacky races, this bit. Yeah, on your mark, get set, go. We're still heading to Trondheim. It's been raining for the past hour. Road conditions have been quite slippy. Some quite deteriorated roads as well. Now that we're heading a little bit more north, it's become clear that there's no really quick way of getting from one place to another. I think we had 200 kilometers to cover and it's going to take us around about three, well, just over three hours because you just have to pass through all the small little villages on the way. But they're really pretty, aren't they? Yeah, it is nice to see all the country. I just didn't expect it to take quite so long as we thought it was going to take. I mean, we still have, what, an hour left, Sean? We've got an hour and 14 left, so it's not too bad now. But we are getting quite hungry and quite tired. We actually haven't had lunch today either. So we've just had a few snacks on the road, which isn't anything substantial. It's been a big day, hasn't it? It's been a big and amazing day. It has, yeah. There's so much to take in, but we're still really enthusiastic. Even though we're tired, there's so much to see and keep you awake. But yeah, as soon as we get into Trondheim, I think we'll try and grab maybe some food from the supermarket and we'll head back into the hostel and eat that and dry off our gear again, ready for doing it again tomorrow. All right, Em, we're about 30 minutes from Trondheim now. What do you want to do when we get there? Do you want to head straight to the hostel? Yeah, I think it's best if we get the suits off and get a bit more dry before we head out anywhere. Yeah, I don't really know what's the best plan in regard to dinner because everything here seems to be closed by like 8. I don't really want to be spending an hour searching around the city for food. I think we have two options. We either see if there's a little place that's like, you know, grab falafel or I have no idea what to expect even of Trondheim. No, I don't know. Is it going to be a big town or a small town? I think it's a fairly decent sized town, isn't it? Yeah, but still, maybe we grab something that we could eat in the room and get that early night because we still have a few things that we need to do, don't we? We need to do some backups of all our photos, etc. Yeah, I want to go through some of that stuff, make sure it's safe, copy the drone footage over and things. But yeah, I'm sure maybe we'll find at least a supermarket when we rock up. Yeah, we should do. Some nice roads coming up, actually, a good section. I hate them when they come back so fast. Nice new road again, though. Is there any road in Norway that's not beautiful? I don't think so. We've yet to find it. Even those industrial bits where they were storing their stuff next to the water, they were storing it on little rock islands that were beautiful. Everything is so aesthetic. Apart from those cheesy supermarkets signs. Yeah, they're really lame. They are really lame. They're not Nordic at all. Yeah, their supermarkets are called Extra. And Kiwi. Kiwi in these big balloon fonts that we had about 15 or 20 years ago in school when we first discovered, I don't know, Clarice Works or something. Don't worry, I bet you around this corner it's going to be blue skies and everything's going to be good again. There you go, I've delivered as promised. That is the first blue sky we have seen. I actually forgotten what blue sky looked like. It's a very welcome sight. I've never been so happy to see blue sky. Oh, it's lovely. Is it going to stay till tomorrow? We are arriving in Trondheim. Yeah, we are just on the outskirts at the moment, and we're headed into the city centre. What's your first impressions of this A7? It's very tidy. It is very, it is very tidy. Like normally the outskirts of a city are quite rough with like, you know, the usual. But it's really neat and tidy. Even like the factory, there's like a factory, I don't know what it was producing, I don't know if it was a power station. But it looks great. It had like, like tinted glass and stained glass windows on it. All of the buildings, they look very well kept, all brand new. It is, isn't it? It's like a very modern, very modern city. We are only like five minutes out now from the place where we're staying. I think where we're staying is right by the train station, I think, Shaun. Oh, okay. Or like a port, maybe not a train station, but like the port docking area. Okay, so it's near the water. Which is normally the roughest area in a city. I will feel at home then. It won't be too much of a culture shock. Some old architecture here on the, on the right. Yeah, too. It's a bigger city than I thought it was. Yeah, me too. I mean my, what I was thinking it was, was not based on any sort of factory. I was just thinking like small coastal town. Look at that one, that's really cool, the climbing one. Right, which lane am I supposed to be in now? More like the old town at the end. Oh, they've got like a cathedral as well. The sky looks beautiful right now. Oh, wow. I'm gonna like it here. Yeah, the road is so wide. It's a, yeah, four lane into the road. Oh, I can start to see the flag of our hostel on the, on the GPS. Looks like we're getting right into the heart of the city now. Yeah, I can see the water already at the end. These are sweet on the left, aren't they? Oh, they are, yeah. Is there any, um, any year of construction on them? I'm not really sure how old this, this town is. Oh, 1908 on that one. 1908, oh wow, it is quite an old place then. Oh, it's really nice, isn't it? Yeah. And it's quite busy for a Wednesday night. Oh, I bet there's some shops you like here, um, unfortunate, unfortunate for you. There's no space in the panniers. That's why we have a rack pack. Or you'd be taking, like, rugs and couch throws or something for the sobering. I do have an affinity with Nordic design, but I will control myself. Oh, lovely. Oh, it's got a square. It's got a Spec Savers! You're like, we're back in the UK. We've got everything here, they had a boot and the Spec Savers. Come relocate to Trondheim. Oh, we're turning it. Oh, I need to go there. This looks like the main street, as you said, we're right in the heart of it. There's not many buildings that are, like, you know, real high-rise. It's quite, it's quite nice, isn't it, to be able to see the sky? Yeah, they seem to have kept all the skylights as high-rises, just on the outskirts of the city. And the sky is blue. We're very fortunate with that. I can be optimistic again. I think this is a one-way, I'm not entirely sure. I'll just go in the middle in case it's not. That place looks nice for the morning. Pop shop there on the corner. Scout them out. Oh, am I in a bus taxi lane again? Oh, there's a karaoke bar, let's go there tonight. Oh, yeah, it's not one of our favourite places, is it? In the world, Shaun would hate more than a karaoke bar. What's that place? Is that a bar called Work and Work? Yeah, yeah it is. I admire the work ethics, but it should be Work and Playful. What do you see down there? Did you miss them? Yes. Oh, it looks like we're at the dock area now. The street just over that one looked, well, maybe it's their old town. I think that's our hotel just through there, that grey building. No way. With the rooftop. Had you done any research on this town before? I had pinned it in my Google Maps as a place to go. But I also put where we were, Christiansund, in a must place to go. But I felt like it was going to be so touristy because of the location. And I know that not many people come here. So I opted for this one. It kind of looks like a film set. It does. Oh, look at this. Looks so cool. It is really cool. It's like perfectly imperfect as well. It looks real. Oh, look at that shop there. Doesn't that look-a-me shop? Oh, yeah. Oh, it's all going on down here. Yeah, that's it. Hotel down there. The grey one. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Look at that. Look behind. Oh, wow. So sweet. I think we might be checking out as late as possible tomorrow from this place. At least we'll have a morning here, won't we? Yeah. Oh, it's got a little port as well, all the boats. My dad would love that. Your dad would absolutely adore that, yeah. Oh, it smells of fish as well. Just to make it even more authentic. Yeah, this is the one. Is this the entrance or have I just missed the entrance? No, it's here. That's the last of the panniers to be brought to the hotel room. This is our room here. Em's already there with the door. Thanks, Em. Everything is so filthy after the ride today. Oh, everything's caked in mud, isn't it? The other ones had some, like, hoses that we could at least rinse, but this one's a city one, so not so much luck. But what a great little hotel this is. It's fantastic. It was €60 for a private room with a private bathroom. That's really good. Even in any part, €60 for a room in a city like this is awesome. But look at this view out there. It's a train station now. There seem to be too many trains. But is that a fjord? Or it's a giant fjord if it is, or is that just the inlet to the sea? No, it's a fjord. And there's a little island out there too. So I just pulled the table over here and we stopped on the way from, like, on our journey to Trondheim to get some supermarket stuff. And so we're going to have a little picnic here, I think, with that view. Sounds good. Sounds like a perfect evening. I think I'm going to get cleaned up first because I'm not looking the best. Yeah. I've freshened up a little bit now, I feel a bit better. In the meantime, Em has got tonight's dinner prepared. So what have we got for tonight, Em? Well, I went into the, was it the Megacube? It was, it was a Megacube. It was a Megacube. I picked up some rice, which we've microwaved downstairs. I have added some corn to that. And then they had loads of vegan dips. So the first one I got was vegan aioli, which tastes really good. I've already had a little try of that one. Then we have, if you want to try it, this, I don't know, I think it's like a vegan cream cheese. Okay. Again, this one. We've got one of them. We've got hummus. And I got for Sean a, the Bayer and the Beast, which is a local beer, apparently from this region. I'll try that one out in a second. Got an avocado. We got some wraps and some vegan meat salami and a ham version. And we also got some smoked tofu and tomatoes. And I'm going to mix them into like a wrap style thing. How's that? It's nice. I think it's a dark beer. Yeah. I just went with local and which one it had the coolest label. There's quite a hearty beer. That's quite nice, actually. That's been, it's been such a long day. Oh, it has, hasn't it? We started quite late. Seven o'clock. Seven, we were up this morning. And it's what, nine o'clock? 9.30 nearly. So yeah, it's been a heck of a day, but a fantastic day. But I'm looking forward to eating this. And maybe we go for a little walk over there. But anyway, I think, I think that's it for us, isn't it? Yeah, for today, that's it. It's been amazing. The Charles Dyke Road, even though it was misty and we couldn't see much of the top, we got up close to the waterfall. That was really impressive to see. I think it'd be even more impressive when it's clear. So that's one people should check out. But my highlight of the day was that the James Bond Road. He chose the bridge, the bridge. I can't remember the name of that bridge. The weather cleared up for that one. That was nice, that was dry. And then the ride here was also fantastic. We didn't film much of it because it was raining a bit and it was getting dark and we were just relaxing. But it was a fantastic ride through the fjords all the way to Trondheim. Yeah, it was really good. Met some nice people on the way. There was a trucker on the ferry and then another Norwegian guy came up to us all while you were in the supermarket and confirmed that our route is good for the next 10 days. Yeah, he checked our route. He said it's a good one. So tomorrow, I don't know the details exactly, but I believe we're going to Sweden. Are we tomorrow? That's the plan. We have no real route for Sweden. We've reached almost that midpoint in Norway where we're pretty much just heading north. I don't think there's too much coastline to see that's any different to what we've already seen. So as we won't have much of a chance to go to Sweden later because we're dropping down in Finland, it's the plan to route home. We're just going to take a day or two to do a little loop through Sweden and then back into Norway to catch the best of the coast roads before we head up to the Loften Islands. So yeah, that's it from us. So catch us tomorrow as we head into Sweden.