According to DNT, the approximately 80-kilometre long Rallarvegen is the most popular cycle tour in the Norwegian mountains. The trip goes between Haugastøl in the east to Myrdal in the west. Towards the end of the tour, you cycle down the 21 steep hairpin bends, called Myrdalssvingane. Here, “hang on the brakes”, it says about the bike ride down the hill. It is both steep and winding, and no place for driving. – In some places, the bends are so tight that you have to back up. You must also have four-wheel drive, and a tall car, says emergency manager Arvid Gilje in the Aurland Fire Service. Because it is possible to drive there. If you have a license and know what you are doing. – If you have the wrong car, you must not approach this road, says Gilje, who has driven there many times for work. With a permit. The Flåmsbana, which you can see high up on the mountainside behind, is popular with tourists. Some tourists have also tried the drive up the Myrdalssvingane. Photo: Aurland Fire and Rescue Service Dramatic message On Saturday, he had to go on another trip on the road. They first received information that two tourists were standing with their car on a cliff, and that there was a drop of 50 meters down. But the whole thing turned out to be a little less dramatic. The tourists had, almost luckily, only made it to the third of the 21 bends. They had stopped there, and the car had slid down a small slope. They were scared, according to the incident leader. – We secured the car so that he wouldn’t slide back and turned off the engine. Had he slipped down, the car could have overturned and rolled down, says Gilje. It was Sogn Avis who first interviewed the task leader. The fire service in the Vestlands municipality is no stranger to tourists who get into trouble at the many popular vegan restaurants in the area. They have both had a camper van on the edge of a cliff, and a car that was saved by muscle power. A small tow truck arrived and rescued the tourists’ car. Photo: Aurland fire service Tourists get wrong information A small tow truck was able to lift the car, so that he could be driven down. With a driver from the local fire service. Gilje is now calling for proper signs, in English, explaining that this is not a road to drive on. It is not the first time that tourists set off up the road that ends at Vatnahalsen Høgfjellshotell. In 2014, there was a Chinese traveling party, which with two Volvo XC60, forced the hill. But when they got to the top, the car was heavily dented after the drive. Sofie Dytrtová at Vatnahalsen Høgfjellshotell says tourists get this road as the route via Google Maps to the hotel. – But the only way to get to us is by train. We contact all our guests and tell them that they must take the train, she explains. Published 27/07/2024, at 22.19 Updated 27.07.2024, at 23.16
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Tourists had to be rescued by the fire service after driving up a steep road in Myrdal – news Vestland
