Hello kind reader,.
Sorry for the slow answers to emails, the lack of comments on flickr, and the lack photos on flickr, blogger, and SPAMletters. I have had only minutes on the computer. I mean to do all these things sooner or later - later is more likely.
attached photos
1 This shows Storevatnet at 374m near Bergen, looking NW
2 A rainy day in the hills to the east of Bergen, near Rundemanen and Blåmanen
3 This is as far as I got up Ulriken. At the top - 643 metres - is the telecom mast.
4 Stendalsfossen is a big tourist waterfall a couple of km West of Norheimsund.
5 This bronze of a mother nursing her baby, was found in Norheimsund, beside the Sparebank Vest
6 This shot looks towards Hardanger fjord from Norheimsund. Those snowy mountains are over 1000 m high.
7 Wood carving with troll. Found on RV13, N of Odda
8 12th July. Looking N along Sørfjord near Kinsarvik. I will buy a more level tripod next time.
9 Su20Jul The ski lift at Folgefonna Sommer Ski Senter
10 Su20Jul The Senter itself, with a caff, where I had 5 hours rest over two small cups of hot chocolate.
Tu17Jun08-09.00met,Bergen lby,cmpr6,TCi,acer,hp,Fujitsu,?
Yesterday I bought the "7-fjellsturen" map, 125NOK, and today early, I used it to make a tour from my skipper up to the hills and back - a round trip of about 4 hours. First the walk was along the Trondhjems postvei zig-zagging up a steep valley. It starts doing a loop round a small lake in a round valley, which I think must have been the source of a galcier in the ice age.
At another small lake, Munkebotsvatnet, the road becomes a gravel way, going SE, and climbing to a bigger dammed lake, Storevatnet, which is at 374 m, the highest I have been around Bergen. A bit farther there is a path to the right, which follows a small steep stream. For me this was a true mountain path over rocks, and now and then, quite steep.
It had to fall 400 metres and it showed!
Th19Jun08-08.40met,Bergen lby,PC1,TCi,hp,hp,Logitech,?
The last two days I have been doing walks from my wonderful new map, Yersterday I walked along the top, from Sandviks fjellet to Flø(oe)yen, at about 300 metres. There was a good metalled/asfalted road for the first climb, followed by a dirt track that would have been easy for a 4WD, and OK for a wheelchair. There was no-one else there and the road went through Norway spruce and Scots pine/birch forests, by mountain lakes. This is, I hope, an easy way for me to learn about mountain walks.
Today,this morning 4 till 5.15 met, I did a steep one, Stoltze kleive, which climbs from 80 metres to 340 metres in about 700 metres on the flat - a steep and stony path. It was well marked and well built. About half way up was a red cross stretcher! There need be no warning signs with that. Most of the way it zig-zagged straight up a glacier-carved cliff. But at the top they have made a wooden staircase up the valley of a small stream. Carvings in this staircase went back to the 80's. There was one by "Nina and Arilde" dated 8/5/94, and then another date for 8/5/04, ten years later.
F20Jun08-09.10met,Bergen lby,TCi,hp,hp,Logitech,?
Today is a day of rain. The hills are all shrouded in cloud. I was going for a walk this morning but changed my mind.
M23Jun08-09.00met,Bergen lby,PC6,TCi,acer,hp,Fujitsu,?
I did some walking on Saturday. At 12,midday, I was outside Bergen library at sea level, and four hours later I was on the top of Rundemanen, at about 550 moh (metres over hav), and quite tired too. It was also a rainy day (see phot0 2) so I had all my waterproof gear on. It was not a hard walk. There is a good dirt track all the way - a 4 wheel drive would have no bother, and a wheel chair could do most of it. The worst stretch was the last kilometre, which was stony and went through a shallow ford. There are quite a few good road round here, built I think, around the 1880's before the internal combustion engine became so big. In their day, they must have been good roads.
Tu24Jun08-09.10met,Bergen lby,PC6,TCi,acer,hp,Fujitsu,?
Yesterday was another day of walking with a bit of rain. Between the Blåmanen and Ulriken mountains lies Svartediket lake. Along the lake is a good road, great for walking in the mountains. The road is for the tree felling business, and for looking after the dams around here. It was a lovely stroll round the lake, and I found a path which may take me to Arna, and the road to Hardanger fjord. Beyond this lake, at 76 metres, is another road to another lake, Tarlebø vatnet, at 379 metres. The road is only 2 km long, so it is pretty steep. A fast running stream runs between the two lakes, along Våkendal. In this valley there were until about 1940, farms on the bunnmorenen ground. At least one old farm house is still there - locked or I would have slept there! After walking up to Tarlebø vatnet, I walked back and found a flat skipper between two big Norway spuces which also kept the rain off.
W25Jun08-09.10met,PC5,TCi,acer,Logitech,Logitech,?
The highest mountain near Bergen, is Ulriken at 643 moh. This morning I was up before dawn and walked up to about 300 metres. The path was mostly broad, not too steep, but stony. There were some narrow steep stretches along stream beds, and one bit was so steep that they had built us a steel stairway. I took a couple of photos and the better is number 3.
Today there is a ridge of high pressure between two highs, or rather a saddle, between to highs and two lows. This means a dry day in the middle of a wet spell. Back in the centre of Bergen, I took the chance to do a bit of water-colour painting. This has to be in the open as I think it would be unwelcome in the library, Møtestedet, or the Korskirke. I did a small sketch of the demonstration watercolour that came with my new Cotman set of 24 water colours, which was OK if not great.
There are many foxglove flowers along the roads now. I found one that had gone to seed but most are still flowers. They are the county flower of fylke (county) Hordaland, of which Bergen is the head city. I have spotted some rats which I think must be brown rats as they seem to be smaller than our London rats. A few days ago, i was sitting beside a kiosk up in the hills (closed I'm afraid). A chaffinch flew down and strolled around a few metres away from me. I think it was hoping for some food. There are many chaffinches around, but I don't see many as it's a woodland bird. It then - o happiness! - sang the chaffinch song 3 or 4 times, before wandering out of sight.
F27Jun08-08.50met,PC3,TCi,acer,hp,Logitech,?
I have slept the last four nights under two big Norway spruces at the NE end of Svartediket, under the 400m cliffs of Ulriken. They let no light through so nothing grows. I sleep on a warm bed of spruce needles, with some old cones. There are also some young shoots that have been blown down, and some small broad leaves - rowan, aspen? A few of the midges with striped wings have called and I have been checked out every day by a robin. I think robins always check out anything new.
This morning I walked up to Tarlebøvatnet. The dam up there holds back a lake for drinking water for Bergen, I believe. Right now the lake is at the level it was before the dam, and the fast stream flowing out must be at its normal speed. Skanska are working on the dam and there has been some work on the middle of the dam. It looks as though they found a water leak, or perhaps a weakness in the middle.
Yesterday I climbed up the side of a mountain, zig-zagging through spruce woods, over stony paths and stream beds, beside waterfalls and rapids of white water. I walked for abouit an hour, 1 km., towards Hardbakkedalen, for me, some true hill walking where I need some parctice before I get too amibitous. At the top it flattened out, the path became hard to follow among the bare rocks and I had a great outlook towards the 643m of Ulriken. Discretion is the better part of valour, and he who turns and runs away, lives to fight another day, so I went back down the hill.
Sa28Jun08-10.30met,PC3,Bergen lby,TCi,acer,hp,Logitech,?
I was back in the same skipper last night. When I got up this morning behind my back, the robin was picking up crumbs that I left on the ground. It flew away when I looked but was soon back. There were blackbirds and wrens in the dawn chorus, with many more. Today is sunny but the forecast for tomorrow is rain, lots of it, 15 - 25 mm. - that's Bergen!
Th3Jul08-12.40met,Norheimsund lby,Fujitsu-Siemens,Flatron,?,?,?
I am in Norheimsund today, having walked from Bergen since last Saturday. At the end of this sound, is Hardanger fjord, which is what I have come here to look at. I think Hardanger fjord and Sognfjord are the two biggest fjjords in Norway, so I can truly claim to have had a look at the fjords of Norway. I took a photo of a big waterfall beside the road as I walked in from the West -see photo 4.
I have seen no bears! There are some in the North. Eivind, a young guy on a bike, who I met in the foot tunnel in Bergen, said that his friends who are walking in the North, said that 99 in 100 bears will not attack. They have not been hunted for 50 (?) years and are going back to their old haunts. I was walking in Sunnfjord in May and I read in the paper that some fresh bear tracks have been seen there. Bears are back in the border area between Norway and Sweden. Again, I read in the paper that a sheep farmer there, had been losing a sheep to bears, every three days - if I got it right.
Also, I have seen no wolves. I believe they are still hunted so there are few wolves. I have seen it a few times, that there is no record of a wolf killing a human -can this be true? In Sweden in 2002, I walked through Tiveden, the southernmost wild area in Sweden and they said there were some wolves, but I saw none.
F4Jul08-10.50met,Norheimsund lby,Fujitsu-Siemens,LG Flatron,?,?,?
The small mammal I see most of, is the cat. The rules about keeping a dog on a lead are strict, but I think the cat may do more hunting than a dog. I have seen a dead shrew on the road, but not squashed. There are no rabbits. But I have also seen no hares, which do live in Scandinavia. Frogs I have seen, some hopping on the road, some dead. Bees are doing their job of collecting nectar and pollen, and some are dead on the ground. I believe they last about 6 weeks. Stag beetles are in Norway, and they sometimes die by the road - but not squashed. Do they die of fright? Perhaps the sudden rush of air? Rats I think, are a much-liked prey of the cat and I have seen some half-eaten ones on the ground.
Th10Jul08-11.30met,TIC Eidfjord,Fuj-S,BenQ,Fuj-S,Fuj-S,? - L10 an hour!
I walking round Hardanger fjord, and I am at the farthest East. From here I go west along RV7 towards Odda which is the biggest town in Hardanger. This morning I have been on a short walk to Hareid, where there is a Viking and iron age graveyard, with 350 graves. But there are only a few bumps in the ground to see.
Kent is the garden of England and Hardanger is the garden of Norway. About 40% of Norway's fruit is grown in Hardanger. It is said that Cistercian monks in the 1300s brought fruit growing here. Orchards are happy on the many steep slopes around here. I have looked down on many an apple or pear tree. Now is the season and I have eaten quite a few wild strawberries/jordbær but they are so small that it takes me five minutes to pick a mouthful. Cherries are ripe so that puts them about a month behind Britain.
M14Jul08-11.30met,Odda lby,PC3,?,Nokia,Compaq,Compaq,?
The nights are drawing in! This morning at midnight I saw all the stars of the summer triangle, and some of the smaller stars around Deneb and Altair. In the NW was Arcturus, and I could just make out the Plough. The North Star was a little above a huge cliff. The other morning at dawn I saw some bats for the first time this summer. They seemed small so I would guess they were pipistrelle(?) bats. On the ferry crossing from Bruravik to Brimnes across Eidfjord, the ferry was followed by a small flock of swallows, who could clearly see more insects than me! A hedgehog sat in the middle of the road till I almost had to step over it. It did not roll up into a ball as I though it would. I wish I knew more about flowers, birds and trees!
The roads of Norway are built by Statens Vegvesen/The State's Waybeing or Norwegian Public Roads Organisation as they call themselves. When they build new bridges,steel girders and concrete, they often leave the old stone arch bridge.These stone arches were first built at the end of the 1700s, and the last in the 1940s. They are strong and long-lasting. There are no soft rocks in Norway - they have all been swept away long ago by the ice. I read somewhere that 3 of these rocks are mostly Gneiss, but also Quartzite and Granite.
These stone arch bridges are still good and put to new uses. Some let the farmer keep his tractors off the roads. In Norheimsund, the two arch bridge - called Straum Bru/Stream Bridge, as it crosses the tidal flow out of the sund/sound, which is an inlet to Hardanger fjord - now carries bikes and walkers. At Steindals fossen/waterfall, there is a small tourist resort in the loop of the old road, with TIC, caff and souvenir shops. Others have become rasteplasser/restplaces by the road. Motor caravans have to cross the stone arch to get to the old road, and a billet for the night.
There is no great tradition of stone carving in Norway - the stone is too hard - but more of wood carving - trolls and their wives! But in the entrance hall of the Domkirke in Bergen is some fine stone carving, most of all the windows. These are said to have been carved by stone masons who had worked on Westminster Abbey in the 1300s.
Tu15Jul08-11.30met,Odda lby,Compaq,Nokia,Compaq,Compaq,?
It is fun feeding the sparrows - sporv - as I once did in London. Where did they go? I have heard no answers. Sparrows seem to be everywhere in Norway. They are so tame they will take bread from your hand, but I think that is mainly the tough competition between the sparrows. A chirrup says "It's mine!" The pigeons are too slow as the sparrows flit between them.
Today is a rainy day in Odda. This morning, I walked up Buardal in the hope of seeing the glacier of Buar isbree. This glacier is a small side branch of Folgefonna, which is the 3rd biggest glacier in Norway. Halfway up the rain started, all the mountains and glaciers were lost in the cloud. No hope of taking a photo, so I turned round and walked back to Odda.
Sa26Jul08-11.10met,Bergen lby,music section,Dell,hp,logitech,Logitech,?
On Saturday,20th July, the hottest day of the year, I walked up to new, clean snow at the Folgefonna Sommer Ski Senter, near Jondal. There is a T-bar lift and a slope good for tourists, though not as steep as "Ski Sunday", if that's still on. The Folgefonna glacier is nearby, a few hundred metres off, I believe.
At 19 km and 1200 metres height, it took me over 6 hours to walk up there. The slopes seemed to get steeper as I got towards the top. Overhead three unknown birds with a double croak, were flying round - eagles? vultures? There were two lakes - the smaller at about 500 metres, and the bigger, Dravladals vatnet, at about 900 metres. Nothing much was growing at the top - moss and meadow grass. From about 600 metres, there were the tundra trees, dwarf willow and mountain birch. Below were the usual silver birch, Norway spruce, Scots pine.
Today, I have walked from Arna, round some big mountains to Bergen. It took me about 7 hours, so I'm a little tired right now!
Best wishes to all, Robert
