Monday, May 27, 2013

Armchair Travel: Norway’s Atlantic Ocean Road

Image courtesy of Peter Kvalvikfjellet [http://www.kvalvik.no]
The Atlantic Ocean Road is an 8.3-kilometer (5.2 mi) long section of County Road 64 which runs through an archipelago in Eide and Averøy in Møre og Romsdal, Norway.

The road traverses an unsheltered part of the Norwegian Sea, connecting the island of Averøy with the mainland and Romsdalshalvøya peninsula. The road is built on several small islands and skerries, which are connected by a number of causeways, viaducts and eight bridges—the most prominent being Storseisundet Bridge.

The route was originally proposed as a railway line in the early 20th century, but this was ultimately abandoned. Serious planning of the road started in the 1970s, and construction started on 1 August 1983. During construction, the area was hit by twelve hurricanes, but despite the hazards involved in completing the project, the road was opened in July 1989.

Today, the Atlantic Ocean Road is preserved as a cultural heritage site and is classified as a National Tourist Route. For reasons that will become clear as you watch the video below, the road is a popular site to film automotive commercials, and it has been declared the world's best road trip. There are four rest areas along the road from which stunning views of the surrounding landscape (or should that be seascape?) can be viewed.

The video below was filmed by Heine Schjølberg, who lives in Kristiansund, Norway, a city and municipality with a direct connection to the Atlantic Ocean Road. Schjølberg states on his YouTube page that the video was shot with a GoProHero 2 and a Sony XDCAM EX1 camera. He goes on to say that the footage was recorded the day after Cyclone Patrick (renamed Dagmar by the Norwegian Weather Service) hit the area on Christmas Day, 2011.


More Information

No comments:

Post a Comment

Your Comments, Thoughts and Feedback is encouraged.