The name Øygarden combines two words: ‘øy’ meaning island and ‘gjerde’ meaning fence. It refers to the string of islands west of Bergen that forms a barrier between the sea and fjords. It’s a beautiful area with rocky coastline and uplands covered in pine and heather, dotted with cheerful summer homes flying Norwegian flags, colorful boat houses and small farms.

It feels great to be riding our bikes through this beautiful area. It’s a clear summer day and we catch glimpses of the North Sea through the narrow channels formed by the archipelago’s many islands. Out there in the open ocean, beyond where we can see, are the Shetland Islands, far to the north of Scotland. We are in southern Norway but it’s a reminder of how far north we are (the same latitude as Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. The roads wind down and around small coves and up again, over and over, a pattern our legs know well from cycling the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands.

This is a shakedown ride of sorts, a way to warm up our legs and test our bikes before we ride east back to Oslo over the next ten days. Just getting here was an adventure of sorts. After a lovely sunny day in Oslo, where we enjoyed a well appointed hotel and a wood fired floating sauna (complete with repeated plunges in the harbor and a dock shared with a Swedish bachelorette party), we took a six hour train trip from Oslo to Bergen, up and over the glacier capped mountains of central Norway. It was a preview of our bike route and from the train we caught glimpses of the Rallarvagen gravel road we will ride back towards Oslo. It’s great to be out on another adventure.