Europe India Trip: Day 15-16 - Forde - Volda - Alseund - Fjellstova [ Apr 27-28, 2023 ]

My first time riding amidst snowfall with very low visibility. Alesund view was one of the best views & Volda felt like a very charming small city.

This is part of my Europe India solo motorbike trip . Please read the post for more context.

map link

As mentioned in the previous blog, I had found a place on Airbnb in Volda for cheap (around 300 NOKs) & I was headed to the place. I got up reasonably early, made breakfast for both (me & my Airbnb host) & left by 10 AM.

bread & omlet is my goto cooking for the amount of protein & good fats it had to offer :)

Thats my Airbnb Forde stay. Airbnb link

My usual strategy before I start the ride, is to put the destination & search for ‘coffee’ in ‘Search along the route’ option. I try to pick a place that is like at least one hour away so that I have a coffee pitstop. I picked a place somewhere north & set off.

Soon after I started to ride, I noticed that my right side rear view mirror has some plastic breaking off. I stopped & tried to check it, only to break it off completely. My guess is - the mechanics previous day might have touched it with the same intent as I had, only to make it worse.

The rear view mirror is now hanging. That was bad part. Good part was - it was on the right side so it isnt that important. But I would not want to ride with a hanging mirror. So I decided to fix it with the electrical tape & glue I got. I think I did an ok job.

Aesthetically, it looked good but it did not hold in the exact angle I wanted it to be. In my next stop, I tweaked it a bit. Anyway, you anyway wont get anything right the first time :). That is the rule of engineering anyway.

Somewhere on the way, I could see clouds & rain ahead. I was a bit nervous but decided to click a pic & move on.

Coffee shop stop. The place was pretty elegant. I think it has some name started with Brygg

The fjord view from the place I stopped for coffee.

After the coffee stop, I continued & came across some of the views that reminded me of Himalayas. Tall mountains very close to you. I stopped on the side to take a picture.

I continued & soon was climbing & passing a snow filled area. It looked like it has snowed fresh. The roads were clean though. Back in 2009, when I first saw the bollywood movie Dev D, I remember the scene where the lead character hitches a ride from a motorbiker in Himalayas & they ride with snow on the side. I always wanted to ride like that & I guess this is the time, I felt closest to that :).

The visibility etc was all ok. I then descended down into a Fjord view where I stopped to take pictures. I think the place was Utvik

I wanted to spend more time looking at the view so I looked up a coffee shop right at the Fjord & decided to take a break there.

A more elaborate view without the coffee :)

I remember buying some munching items like peanuts from the grocery store next to it called Joker (Joker & Rema 1000 are two big grocery store chains in Norway). I also remember that when I was about to start, someone passing by stopped to ask where I am heading to next & I said Volda. They wished me luck & carried on :).

I think from here on to Volda, there were no ascent & only ride next to Fjords. At one place, it did start to rain & I stopped to wear my shoe cover. I spotted a diversion & a grocery store. I stopped outside & figured the grocery store had cafe & food options. I asked if they have anything in vegeterian or chicken & they had a chicken panini. The price was pretty affordable at 60 NOKs (around 5 Euros). They served it hot to me & it felt very nice considering I was pretty cold with the riding in rain.

I continued my ride after having the food & had to cross one ascent & it was snowing pretty heavy there. At some point, a lot of snow got deposit on my windshield & I had to stop on the side because I could not see anything.

I resumed after clearing the windscreen & short wait for snow to subside & it did.

I was close to Volda & messaged my Airbnb host Trygve (pronounced Trig Ve). He had suggested me to come to Burger King from where he can drive me home. He was waiting there in his car. We then went to an ATM where I withdrew cash & gave it to him (I did not book it on Airbnb) & then we drove to his home.

Trygve home was pretty nice for the price (it was cheapest private accommodation that I could get in Norway so far for 300 NOKs). I had my own room. Trygve also graciously made space to park my motorbike in shade.

Trygve is an English teacher & is one of the superhost in Airbnb. Trygve Airbnb listing link

Somewhere on the way, I could smell burning rubber from around the engine area on my motorbike & I thought to myself that maybe the Forde Motorspot guy have messed up something. I asked Trygve if he knows any mechanic in the area. He suggested a place after talking to his motorbiking friends & I decided to visit them the next day.

I also had a word with Lucas about it & Lucas suggested me to check for any coolant leaks. I tried looking but could not find anything.

I like to mention here that Lucas has been extremely helpful with his support whenever I asked his help for any motorbike related problems. Thanks Lucas :).

I cooked the soup for myself (the one that Hege had recommended to me) & slept off. I wanted to write the blog but was too tired. Next day, I got up & then left to see the mechanic. The place Trygve suggested turned out to be a car mechanic & they guided me to the motorbike mechanic shop. I found Sunnmore MC Service & luckily had cross Espen, the owner while I was riding to the car garage.

I stopped beside Espen & told him about the burnt rubber smell. I dint bother about the CHEC sign because I had read in the manual by then that it is basically not a big problem. Espen looked for leaks & could not find anything. He then said that maybe, when the coolant was topped up, some of it fell on the engine & it now burns when the bike runs & creates the smell. That sounded like a plausible answer.

He also offered to run diagnostics on the bike to see the CHEC problem. After trying to locate the diagnostic port on the bike (I also googled to help finding it out), we ran diagnostics & it showed problems like gear shift switch & ignition switch. We figured they aint a big deal & that is when we decided to end our effort.

Espen had around 90 motorbikes to work on but he gladly offered to make time for my motorbike.

Thats Espen. Thanks Espen & I wish you great success running the only motorbike repair store in Volda :)

Soon I headed back to my Airbnb stay. I remember having a conversation with Trygve where I told him that I have plans to stay around Andalsens as I found some cheap places listed there & I could take the road to GierangerFjord. That is when Trygve corrected me that the road is through Trollstigen & is actually closed at the moment. So we jointly decided that staying around Molde / Vestnes / Sjoholt would probably be a better idea.

I was planning to take the gray road but it is closed. Somehow Google Map does not seem to recognize that. Maybe, Norwegian govt does not feed the data to Google.

I thanks Trygve for the planning help, loaded my stuff on the bike & left towards Alesund. I have not decided on where to stay but I figured I will decide that on the way.

It was a sunny day & that made Volda look very beautiful. I remember riding by a small harbour but dint stop to take picture. But then riding next to the sea had pretty nice views.

I stopped by the parking bay on the. side to the take this picture. I remember some car guy had just stopped a the shoulder to take the picture :). At least, I waited for the bay on the side to stop :-D

As usual, I had searched for coffee on the way & zeroed on a shop in Ostra. I stopped at the shop for the coffee & it looked tad too expensive. I was like, maybe today is my cheat day & I went in. I remember meeting a Chinese lady at the counter who asked about my ride but well, dint offer anything for free :-D . . I took a coffee & decided to eat something as well. Saw chicken wings listed for 70 NOKs & ordered that. They were pretty yum.

I had bookmarked a few cheap location on Google Map & I started to call them. My 2nd call was to Fjellstova & a lady picked the call. I asked if they have a cheap place & she said their minimum price is 550 NOKs ( I had seen it in booking.com). On mentioning about me being on a ride, she said the best she can offer is 450. I was like ok. So my next stop was decided :). I started to ride towards Alesund.

I actually got curious about the yellow hut in the island & thought of stopping & looking on Airbnb if it is listed :).

My 2nd ferry crossing but this one was fairly busy. I guess it was due to sun being out & people were traveling. Or maybe, Volda to Alesund route is busy.

Customary coffee shot. But buying coffee was a bad decision as before I could finish the coffee, the announcement to disembark happened. I had to leave the coffee cup next to my motorbike in the parking bay :D

Since I had to disembark in hurry, I stopped post disembarking to setup my gears. Ferry quickly loaded the cars for the other side & left. You can see it leaving.

I remember rest of ride to Alesund had heavy traffic on the way. I reached Aksla view point in another hour. Trygve had mentioned about it to me so I had put that on Google Map. The view of entire Alesund city from there was pretty nice.

Apparently Alesund was rebuilt in 1905 after a city fire & it was built in an artistic way. It is also considered the most beautiful city of Norway.

The large apartment with the green central lawn caught my attention.

After loitering around, I decided to go to the cafe next to the parking lot & I was glad I did. The carrot cake for 40 NOKs was pretty yum & filling.

Saw two folks working in the cafe. Reminded me of Bangalore. But this place is surely much more exotic to work from :).

I came back to parking lot to start my ride towards Fjellstova which is after Sjoholt as the lady on the phone had asked me to come before 6 PM.

While picking my bike, I noticed a crow literally harassing a cat

I remember stopping by at a shopping center having the Rema 1000 grocery store & bought some fruits & 2 beers. I guessed Fjellstova is far from city as it is a ski resort so it would be worthwhile to keep some supplies :).

I met Hilda (I took the picture with her the next day), the owner & she gladly reduced the price by another 50 NOKs & I got the place for 400. I told her that I needed the place for 2 days as I need to visit GierangerFjord & it was done. Hilda also mentioned that they are Dutch & been owning the place for past 18 years.

I came out to take my bike to my hut & I saw Harry, Hilda’s husband dash outside to talk to me if I am really planning to ride all the way to India.

Harry, the owner of Fjellstova

Harry also told about a 17 year Japanese guy that came riding cycle in January at their place & they were very surprised. He pretty much had the ride plan but nothing else. He started from Japan towards west on foot. I am guessing that Japanese passport is very powerful & Japanese can pretty much get into any country without any visa. He reached Iran & someone suggested to him why he does not ride a cycle. He thought it to be a good idea & then he started riding cycle & had reached Norway. He had plan to go to North Pole & Harry mentioned that, he followed him on facebook & actually figured that he went pretty close. He also met another Japanese lady cycling somewhere in the world & then they started cycling together & got married.

After listening to the story, I was like - hmm , my story is pretty much nothing infront of that guy :). We had a good laugh & then I rode my bike towards the hut.

Harry also mentioned that it gonna be snow for two days & I was like, well, I already paid so looks like I will be here for 2 days at least :) ..

Thats my hut. No 5.

Pretty decent accommodation for 400. It can take 4 folks (2 bunk beds).

The most impressive thing was the washroom. It was as clean as a 5 star hotel, pretty warm & it starts to play music when you enter. At some point, I was actually thinking not to use it as I will end up dirtying it :-D

I actually slowly walked to the door like thing with my hand stretched thinking there is a mirror but it wasnt. This side of cabins were toilets & the other side was bathroom.

In the night, I decided to cook the soup with bread (the recipe that Hege had made for me & I really liked it). I had picked a few of the soups from Rema in Forde & been carrying them with me.

I had the next day itinerary decided. I was tired & it was cold. I am not sure if I wrote the blog post or not, but I guess I slept off pretty quickly. Next day was Gierangerfjord. I was in 2 minds visiting the place but I am glad I visited because I had seen nothing like that before. More in next blog.