Six of the islets in the Sjernaroyane group are interconnected with bridges, with a marked cycle path between them, Sjernaroyrunden, that makes for a wonderful day trip.

From the anchorage at Kotavagen, we made a short nine-mile run to Sjernaroyane and anchored for a couple of nights near the community docks at Nodholmen. On our second day there, we ran the bikes ashore in the tender and cycled Sjernaroyrunden from end to end. Blog reader Kaare Svaboe recommended we do the ride and we really enjoyed the trip. And it was great to be out on the bikes again, our first ride for since Den Helder, NL in October of last year.

Below are highlights from August 2nd and 3rd, 2020. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.

8/2/2020

Fleming Position: 59°13.76’N, 5°49.15’E Large Fleming heading to the Ryfylke Outdoor Council’s mooring area on the other side of the islet of Nodholmen from our anchorage. We’re only 15 miles from Stavanger, and are seeing a lot more large, recreational power boats than we saw on our previous trip to Norway where we spent much of our time farther north away from the larger centers.

Goats Position: 59°13.75’N, 5°49.15’E Goat ashore on Nodholmen. The island is rather small but close to larger island of Nord-Talgje, so perhaps they swim across, or can walk at low tide.

Sunset Position: 59°13.76’N, 5°49.14’E Beautiful sunset from our anchorage at Nodholmen.

8/3/2020

Bicycles Position: 59°13.76’N, 5°49.15’E Our bicycles loaded into the tender for a ride along the Sjernaroyrunden, a marked cycle route around the bridge-connected Sjernaroyane islands. Kaare Svaboe had recommended it to us and we were really looking forward to it.

Lubing Chains Position: 59°13.91’N, 5°48.87’E Lubing the bicycle chains before setting off on our ride. The Giant FCR-2s continue to perform incredibly well, with little maintenance, after more than a decade on board. The only other thing we needed to do after not using them since Amsterdam was to put air in the tires. Bikes lasting ten years is excellent longevity. Bikes lasting ten years when stored outside on a boat in a saltwater environment is amazing.

Tender Position: 59°13.95’N, 5°48.87’E The tender moored at one of the Ryfylke Outdoor Council’s docks at Nodholmen.

Sjernaroy Bridge Position: 59°14.08’N, 5°48.91’E Riding over our first bridge of the Sjernaroyrunden, the Sjernaroy Bridge from Talgje to Tjul. Its great to be out on the bikes again after so many months since Amsterdam.

Goats Position: 59°14.24’N, 5°49.09’E An unusual sight of goats sunning on the rocks near the shore.

Bridge To Kyrkjoy Position: 59°14.42’N, 5°49.33’E Looking from Tjul to the bridge to Kyrkjoy.

Bridge to Eriksholmen Position: 59°15.35’N, 5°50.15’E Crossing the low bridge between Kyrkjoy and Eriksholmen. On the right is a popular guest harbour, Eriksholmen.

Aubosund Bridge Position: 59°15.12’N, 5°50.25’E The bridge across the Aubosund, between Eriksholmen and Aubo, has 45ft (14m) clearance, plenty for Dirona‘s 30ft (9.14m) air draft.

Kristian Larsen Position: 59°14.99’N, 5°51.99’E We were surprised that the first people we came across on our bicycle trip through the Sjernaroyane islands greeted us by name. It was Kristian Larsen, former Dana Point (Nordhavn headquarters) resident and long-time blog reader and Nordhavn fan who was visiting the islands by boat with his partner. Kristian is the COO of Biolink Group AS, founded by Sjur Svaboe, whose private island Lauvholmen we’d visited earlier.

Bjergabakken Position: 59°15.05’N, 5°51.89’E We took a detour off the Sjernaroyrunden cycle route to ride up the road Bjergabakken to check out the views from the top of the island of Bjergoy. The road up was really steep with several hairpin turns. We gained about 230 ft (70m) of altitude in a tenth of a mile (0.2km), about a 35% grade. We worked for that one.

Nedstrandsfjorden Position: 59°15.65’N, 5°51.94’E We cycled most of the way on a dirt road, then walked a short distance to reach a great viewpoint. Here we are looking north across Nedstrandsfjorden from the island of Bjergoy.

Himakana Position: 59°15.65’N, 5°51.94’E We’ve not made much progress distance-wise. From the hill on Bjergoy, we could see the trail up to Himakana, our first hike on this trip to Norway nearly two weeks ago. The trail is the white road heading up the hill, and directly above the Himakana rock formations are just barely visible roughly at center (click image for a larger view).

Polar King Position: 59°14.94’N, 5°52.38’E The offshore supply ship Polar King has been holding position off the east side of Bjergoy for the past day or two—we could see it from our anchorage. The vessel is not anchored, and prop wash is visible behind it. It appears to be using a dynamic position system (automatically holds the ship in position), or someone is at the helm. But if the latter, they are very precise as the boat hasn’t moved for more than a day.

Woods Position: 59°15.06’N, 5°52.53’E Cycling through lush woods along the east side of Bjergoy.

Rodne Fjord Cruise Position: 59°15.66’N, 5°51.01’E Two Rodne Fjord Cruise boats, Rygerkatt (left) and Rygerprinsessen, moored at Ramsvik on Sjernaroy. The company, headquartered here, operates one of the largest fleets of express boats in the country, with 15 vessels. It was one of the Rodne boats, Rygerdronningen, we passed while departing Stavanger a few weeks ago.

Break Position: 59°15.34’N, 5°50.52’E Taking a break and enjoying the view from the northern tip of the island of Aubo.

Bridge to Sjernaroy Position: 59°15.08’N, 5°50.41’E Looking from Aubo to the bridge from Eriksholmen to Kyrkjoy that we’d crossed earlier today.

Sjernaroy Church Position: 59°15.22’N, 5°48.90’E The wooden Sjernaroy Church was completed in 1647. They build to last here in Norway.

Dirona Position: 59°14.18’N, 5°48.95’E View to Dirona moored off Nodholmen as we pass by on our way to complete the cycle route Sjernaroyrunden.

Bridge to Helgoy Position: 59°13.56’N, 5°49.98’E Our last bridge of the day, from Talgje to Halgoy, beyond the bay Talgjevagen.

Helgoysund Marina Position: 59°13.48’N, 5°50.35’E Helgoysund Marina, another popular guest harbour, looking north from the bridge between Talgje and Halgoy. The marina was quite full yesterday (Sunday), but has emptied out quite a bit since then.

Sjernaroy Position: 59°13.48’N, 5°50.35’E The view north across the Sjernaroy islands from the bridge between Talgje and Halgoy. The 14m bridge between Aubo and Eriksholmen is prominent on the right, with the low bridge between Eriksholmen and Kyrkjoy on the left. In the distance, the trail to Himakana is just visible below the highest peak at left.

Rygerdoktoren Position: 59°13.69’N, 5°51.12’E The ambulance boat Rygerdoktoren (“the Doctor”), one of Rodne Fjord Cruise’s 15 vessels, moored at Helgoy. The 63ft (19.4m) vessel, launched in 2002, was the world’s first carbon fiber commercial vessel and has a maximum speed of 44 knots.

Helgoy Ferry Dock Position: 59°13.69’N, 5°51.12’E The end of the Sjernaroyrunden marked cycle route at the Helgoy Ferry Dock. Judging by the lanes, the ferries can get pretty busy on a summer weekend. By the time we returned back to Dirona, we’d covered 20 miles. We had a great time and appreciate Kaare Svaboe recommending the trip.

Sunset Position: 59°13.75’N, 5°49.14’E Dramatic sunset through a hole in the cloud, viewed from the anchorage off Nodholmen.

Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise. On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.