2026 NSCR Norway - Sweden
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The North Sea cycle route, or the Eurovelo 12, is between 6.500 and 7.000 km long and seems to be the longest signposted cycle route in the world. The NSCR goes all around the North Sea via Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom and France.
We started this route in 2017 and randomly did several parts of it over the years (You can find all of them via the Trip Menu on this page under Related)
For this trip, we originally had the intention to take a train upto Hirtshals in Denmark and the ferry from Hirtshals to Bergen. Checking out schedules and prices, we finally settled for just taking the plane from Brussels to Bergen for a fraction of the price and time involved.
Sometime in February, our youngest daughter asked us to block a date in June for an event. Looking at the calendar, I (Dirk) suddenly got this uneasy feeling that our agenda was already filling up up to September without having reserved a few weeks for our next cycling vacation.
We immediately blocked the only free period of 5 consecutive weeks and decided within 2 days that this was the perfect timing to finalise our last part of the North Sea Cycle route in Norway and Sweden.
Weather statistics were showing May as the dryest month in this part of Norway with minimum average temperature of 7 degrees.
Video on DILISTUFF YouTube channel
The daily "Morning" shoot.
Every day, before we jump on the bike or go out for a walk, Linda takes a "Morning photo".
At the bottom of this page (menu item: Where, when and how), you'll find for each of these photo's where we stayed that night, where we cycled to, how much km's, in which location we had something to eat or snack and where we did our grocery shopping.
Bergen
Bergen
Bergen
When we arrived in Bergen airport, only Linda's bike arrived on the luggage belt. Mine (Dirk) missed the transfer in Amsterdam and would be delivered to the hotel next day. Bad luck, not because 1 bike was missing but because both bikes were not missing. That would have made life so much easier.
Taking a taxi from Bergen airport to Bergen city is a challenge as you can only order taxis on a machine. No option for large luggage items.
Fortunately, there was a friendly bus driver who was prepared to accept our oversized bikebox and drop us off at an imagined bus stop just 100 meters from our hotel.
Bryggen (Norwegian for "the wharf") is the historic harbor district of Bergen.
At over 1.000 years old, it was originally founded as a trade center for stockfish.
A great fire in 1702 left the entire area in ashes and when the buildings were rebuild, their original architecture was carefully restored.
The 2nd bike arrived same day with the next flight and was delivered to the hotel same day. Time to unpack and check if everything still works when the bikes are reassembled. While we always clearly mark the boxes with an UP sign, it's still possible that during the transport, the boxes were upside down or on their side. This can result in air bubbles trapped in the sealed fluid lines causing malfunction of the braking system. (Not the case this time)
When this happens at home, no problem as bleeding or burping the brakes solves the problem. (I also always carry some brakefluid on our travels)
When on the road, what also has been solving the problem is tying the brake lever to a closed (pulled) position overnight, allowing the bubbles to slowly move upwards and escape from the hydraulic lines.
In the evening, we checked the weather forecast for the upcoming week and it did not look very good. The next 4 to 5 days were all showing rain and low temperatures between 0 and 5 degrees celcius. While we do not mind cycling in cold weather, the night temperatures for the upcoming week were also all below 0 degrees celcius.
Checking out possible
Day 2 in Bergen, we checked with the tourist office
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