Ørneberget

Date:

26.09.2019

Characteristic:

Hillwalk

Duration:

1:16h

Distance:

5.6km

© Harald Barsnes Short local hike after work.

Across Hellen festning

Date:

25.09.2019

Characteristic:

Hike

Duration:

0:39h

Distance:

3.8km

© Harald Barsnes Short local hike after work.

Sandviksbatteriet

Date:

24.09.2019

Characteristic:

Hillwalk

Duration:

1:06h

Distance:

5.7km

© Harald Barsnes Local hike after work testing the new Sherpa-build stone steps up from Fjellveien.

Hikletten

Date:

22.09.2019

Characteristic:

Hillwalk

Duration:

1:36h

Distance:

4.1km

© Harald Barsnes After cycling the close to 60 km to Botnen and the marked trailhead for Hikletten (see separate trip report: Cycling: Hikletten ), I was finally ready for the main goal of the day. After leaving the bike behind, it was actually quite a relief to start hiking and get a break from cycling. The trail quality however left a lot to be desired, because while the trail was overall easy to follow, it was very wet, most notably the first half until making a U-turn towards the summit. The first half also had rather limited views. But this all changed as soon as the trail turned southwest for the final climb to the summit, providing excellent views towards Veafjorden and Stanghelle, and later also south along the fjord in the direction of Vaksdal. The views from the summit itself were also excellent, and a great place for my lunch >>>

Cycling: Hikletten

Date:

22.09.2019

Characteristic:

Bike trip - road

Duration:

11:50h

Distance:

115.1km

© Harald Barsnes When summer made a surprise return in late September, I decided to have a go at my ambitious plan of using the bike as my transportation for a visit to Hikletten on Osterøy. I therefore got up early Sunday morning and began the long bike ride towards Botnen just as the sun was starting to rise. Thankfully a relatively cold morning soon turned significantly warmer, and even though my legs were still tired from yesterday's hike, progress was initially good. Bruvik was reached without any difficulties and it was now time for the main challenge of the day, i.e. the long climb up to Båtaleitet . By now my legs had started to complain slightly, I therefore mixed in short stretches of walking next to the bike for a bit of variation. But the first lunch break halfway up the climb was still very welcome and also provided >>>

Slåttenovi and Hatlekinni from Bolstadøyri

Date:

21.09.2019

Characteristic:

Hillwalk

Duration:

6:02h

Distance:

22.0km

© Harald Barsnes Slåttenovi Started by taking the train to Bolstadøyri and, after crossing the river at the bridge, I walked northeast along the road, before following the gravel road towards Øvstedalen. When the winding road reached its highest point (before descending into Øvstedalen), I followed an unmarked trail southwest in the direction of Slåttenovi . The trail was pretty wet and at times rather weak, especially when crossing the wettest areas. I therefore ended up losing it a couple of times, but given that the summit was visible for most of the hike anyway, this was not really an issue. The summit provided nice views and also included a visitor register indicating more than 100 visits so far for 2019. After a couple of pictures, I made a quick stop at the remains of the trig marker to the east, before returning >>>

Geilo stasjon

Date:

15.09.2019

Characteristic:

Walk

Hakkesetstølen

Date:

15.09.2019

Characteristic:

Hillwalk

Duration:

2:02h

Distance:

5.2km

© Harald Barsnes We parked at the large parking lot at the start of Hakkesetvegen and followed the gravel road all the way to Hakkesetstølen , with the rain from above (or rather from the side due to the strong winds) turning to wet snow along the way. After enjoying hot chocolates at Hakkesetstølen we followed the marked, but sometimes pretty wet, trail back towards Geilo. Upon reaching the gravel road we ditched the trail and instead followed the gravel road down to Vestlia Resort.

Ustedalsfjorden

Date:

14.09.2019

Characteristic:

Hike

Duration:

2:23h

Distance:

11.7km

© Harald Barsnes Walk around Ustedalsfjorden (and Veslefjorden) while spending the weekend at Geilo to celebrate my mother's birthday. I followed the very nice gravel road for close to the entire hike, except for an attempted shortcut across the islands in between Ustedalsfjorden and Veslefjorden, which I ended up abandoning due to the second bridge being halfway under water.

Kvitafjellet, Bakkaheii, Stølshorgi and Jonshorgi

Date:

08.09.2019

Characteristic:

Hillwalk

Duration:

7:50h

Distance:

19.3km

© Harald Barsnes Warning: This hike includes a short steep off-trail descent into Tuftedalen that is most likely not to everyone's liking. Consider the track with care! I started by taking the train to Bolstadøyri where I was picked up by a colleague coming by car. This had the benefit that the surprisingly steep and narrow gravel road up to Rasdalen was more quickly covered compared to my initial plan of walking up from the train station. At Rasdalsvatnet, we were asked by a local farmer to pass through a gate and park at a second parking lot 100 meters up the road, as a helicopter pick-up was planned later that same day. The first parking lot is probably the one generally recommended for visitors though. We followed the marked trail along the river, crossing at Røyrbakken, and soon arrived at Vibotnen. The >>>