Mountain Biking in Sjusjoen

Mountain Biking in Sjusjoen...................................Sjusjoen is not just a place to visit in the winter months.    Summer is beautiful too and into the autumn the bilberry, juniper, alder, birch, cloudberry and the sedges create a rampage of colour.    Set among all this stunning heathland are the blue lakes, glistening like jewels set in a carpet of forest, fjells and moorland.   Cabins dot the landscape in their variety or colours and gaily fluttering Norwegain flags adorn the flag poles along the way.      

Cabins of all colours often with grass roofs

                                                                                                                                It really is a colourful landscape and if you have only ever seen it frozen you will be surprised at the beauty.

Late August in Sjusjoen....The wild Fjells are a riot of colour

Towards the end of August 2009 I somehow ended up in Sjusjoen with my Mountain Bike so took off into the Fjells.

The first thing to remember is if you have experienced the winter here and think you know the routes, it's time to relearn.      Many of the ski routes are routes only when the marsh and moorland is frozen and snowed over.    In the summer the ski trails are often a riot of deep bilberry bushes, juniper shrubs and dwarf birch.   There are marshy sections too full of sedges and cloudberry.

So.......New routes have to be learned.    There are endless tracks, often moorland roadways linking hyyte settlements.     You can ride for miles and usually end up in familiar ski destinations often by a somewhat different route.       Nordester Cafe,  Hornsjo....which is a delight in summer.   Over to Pellestova and down to Lillehammer.

To Pellestova, Gaistova or Lillehammer?......Familiar Ski destinations

From Sjusjoen you can also ride the Birkebeiner to Rena, but once again dont take the ski tracks.          Get hold of a biking map at any of the retail outlets.

Mountain Biking is the saviour of the summer economy of Sjusjoen.   Just about every car is decked out with bike racks.  Families pedal their way to and from their Hytte just as they do with Pulken during the winter.

I thought I was reasonably fit........I never seemed to overtake anyone but dozens or was it hundreds of Norwegian Mountain Bikers overtook me!          The strong outdoor tradition of the Scandinavians is well and truly alive.

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Tracks through the Fjells link Hytte settlements

Wild Geese and Mallard dabble gently in the blue lakes.

Beavers cruise among the reeds and sedges of the shallows......Its hard to imagine all this frozen over.....Yes I did see a Beaver in Sjusjoen Lake!