Norway 2009
Day : 3rd August
Weather: Some sunshine, with intermittent showers
Route: From the RV 508 road to Bynuten and back - 7.7 miles by Satmap Active 10 gps
Map: Red blobs of
paint on rocks and trees
I was working (and I use the term loosely) in the Tananger
office in Norway for a couple of weeks, and took the
opportunity to walk when I could get away with it! I was
lucky to be within reach of a good walk that didn’t take me
away too far and get back too late. I was a bit wary about
going out into the wilds without a proper map, but I was
assured by my Norwegian colleagues that the routes are well
marked with blobs of red paint, the next one along always in
view – apparently. I also had my GPS with me, and although
it didn’t have a map on the screen, it had my track and was
set to UTM co-ordinates.
But I was pleasantly surprised that it was easy enough to
follow the route. There are a couple of fantastic places to
visit within reach of Stavanger, given that you have enough
time to spare. The number one attraction is the Pulpit rock,
a square of rock standing high above the fjord – but that
required a ferry journey and I didn’t have the time. The
next best was Kjerrag, which involved a day’s journey at the
end of my hitch - unfortunately it absolutely threw it down,
but I still had a great day out. I settled on a nice
relaxing walk to Bynutten as recommended in the tourist
blurb, being only a 40 minute drive from Stavanger and a 4
hour walk, and I could fit it into my day. I set off from
the office letting everyone know where I was headed – just
in case.
There were glorious views down the valleys past Oltedal, the
45 road to take to go to Sirdal and onto Kjerrag. I followed
my google map – ‘what’ I hear you shout – but it was OK. I
looked for some information on the web but couldn’t find
anything bar a few pictures, one of those being the sign
that marks the start of the trail. So armed with an internet
map and a mental picture of a wooden sign post I turned up
the road from Oltedal, knowing it was just around the corner
– somewhere – recipe for disaster – but it wasn’t. Soon
enough I found the wooden sign and parked up. The sign had
seen better days, and I was the only car so knew it would be
a quiet walk.
Hmmm...the first thing I spotted was the start of the path
submerged in a couple of feet of cold fast flowing river –
great start. It took a further 20minutes or so to find my
way across further downstream. I hopped across a few
boulders and through some scratchy Juniper scrub, but stayed
dry thank goodness. The initial route took me up a stony
farm track with gentle ascent, with good views out to the
fjords to the north, and also some ominously dark clouds.
But it was lovely and warm in the sunshine, and a good start
– absolutely nobody around or even near once the road was
out of sight.
The track became rougher once I’d passed by the farmers
fields, and it curved around to the east to reach a finger
post directing me to Bynuten – so far so good. I began to
follow the red splashes of paint and soon made my only
mistake in route finding. I assumed wrongly that the path
would wind itself around a small hillock, and I soon found
out it didn’t as I splodged through some wetlands – plenty
of mossy mounds. Once I’d realised the error of my way, I
did a bit of a detour and made my way across to the correct
path. After this I had my eye in for the red paint and I
didn’t stray for the rest of the walk.
Nearly all of the walk was a mixture of very boggy
sandy\peaty soil, interspersed with long sections of boulder
hopping, which made for slow progress overall. I didn’t gain
much height as I skirted around the shores of the lakes, but
there was plenty to enjoy as I worked my way through the
birch forest. I didn’t see much wildlife – a few deer and
wagtails – they probably heard me coming, but it was very
peaceful. I checked my mobile for a signal just in case, and
it was strong, with the path clear ahead, so I didn’t have
any reservations. The level of the lake had risen to cover
the path, so I had to scramble a bit to keep dry feet.
Bynuten was hidden from view until I reached the end of the
first lake, then as I climbed a short rock step it loomed
into view high above a big cliff face. It was impressive as
it sat there in the nude – there’s no vegetation to hide its
curves. The route up to the summit naturally followed the
valleys up to a col, that was marked by a waterfall pouring
over a rock lip. The red markers were clear ahead, and the
route now followed a boulder field for a mile of hopping.
The rocks had plenty of grip and weren’t slippery at all,
but a mile of boulder hopping is slow progress. I could hear
the stream rushing beneath the boulders but couldn’t see it
until I got up to the falls.
As I poked my head above the crest there was a lovely lake
feeding the falls, so I sat a while and just listened – to
nothing. A big red U splodge of paint indicated that the
route turned around and followed the back side of the tarn,
until reaching another valley to walk up. A small rocky
scramble bought me up level with a straightforward path up
towards the summit. The vegetation was pretty sparse up on
top of the hill and it is a different aspect to walking from
the UK.
As I gained height the views opened up all around, with a
stunning view back down the valley to Oltedal, and over
towards the big fjords to the North West. There was a big
feeling of remoteness up here, all the way around – I did
check the mobile though and still had a signal. Up on the
summit the cairn reminded me of some of the larger ones in
the Lake District, such as Hallin Fell. Surprisingly there
was a small post box with a ledger inside to write your name
in – so I did. There was also a wooden sign, just to make
sure I was on the right hill and I was. I sat awhile
drinking in the surrounds, but that unfortunately included a
chuffing big black cloud coming my way.
Not very friendly I thought, but I know when it’s going to
rain, so I donned waterproofs in readiness. I legged it off
the summit as I already knew the route down and back, and
this time there were no mistakes. I made good ground back to
the car, and the trip took about 4 hrs overall, including a
lot of stops to admire the views. What a great bit of
excercise boulder hopping is, and it certainly beats sitting
on my butt watching TV – especially as I can’t understand
Norwegian anyway. The man with the red paint pot sure has a
brilliant job.