Sorfjorden to Odda
Apple orchards line Sørfjorden, the longest arm of Norway’s Hardangerfjord, and riders here pass through the country’s best-known fruit district. Tradition credits Hardanger’s first orchards to the Cistercian monks of Lyse Abbey, who farmed Opedal, at Lofthus on the eastern shore. Today fruit farms surround the villages along the fjord, growing apples and cherries below the Folgefonna glacier. Their apples also make cider, and in 2009 Sider frå Hardanger became the first Norwegian alcoholic drink with a legally protected name. Only members of the Hardanger cider makers’ association may put it on a bottle. Their farms lie in the fjord districts where this road runs, Ullensvang among them.
This ride follows county road 550 along the western shore of the fjord, from Utne south to Odda. Utne, at the start, is home to the Hardanger Folk Museum, founded in 1911. Further south the road passes Aga, where Agatunet is one of the few cluster farms left in Norway, with about 30 old houses gathered round one farmyard. The ride finishes in Odda, where Alexander Kristoff won a stage of the Tour des Fjords in 2016 on his way to the overall title.
Region: Hordaland
City: Utne
Distance: 39.91 km
Elevation Gain: 208 m
Elevation Loss: 229 m
Difficulty: 164 (Easy)
FIETS Index: 0 FIETS
Avg Grade: 0.2 %
Max cat climb: 5
Min elevation: 5 m
Max elevation: 41 m
Ride Category: Flat