STAVANGER VISIT                              13th - 15th July 2010

We left at 9:00 am for our long awaited and long drive to Stavanger. We had downloaded a small library of podcasts and stand up comedy routines to listen to, but a ten hour drive is still a ten hour drive. Everyone of us was saddle sore by the end of it. Per drove the entire way, and I do not know how he does it. The journey must have been much worse for him him, especially when we arrived just outside the ferry terminal in Songesand and saw the last boat pulling away.

We had planned to have been there in enough time to catch the ferry. but we had not noticed the sign that said that we had to call in order for the ferry to stop. This error on our part resulted in us driving for 3 hours extra. We had to drive around the entire fjord to get to our camping site in Lysebotn on the other side and there is only one road into it.

We were far from a happy group when we realized how much further we had to drive and the added time we were forced to endure sitting in the car. It took a long while, but we eventually pulled into the camp site, and supper wasn’t even that late 9:30pm. It was latish, but the delay allowed us to eat while watching the base jumpers diving off the cliffs on the far side of the fjord who then floated to the campsite. These base jumpers were all staying in the campsite as well. In fact, there was a traditon that if they managed to land on the trampoline in the middle of the site, then they received a free beer.

I was I was a little stunned by all this. Surely they should have been given a free beer just for having survived the jump!

We all slept well that night and felt quite recharged and energetic for our hike up to Kjeragbolten. Basically this involves climbing up to a boulder which is lodged between two cliffs. It is a popular hike, so we made a good decision to leave fairly early. We had no intention of dealing with foor traffic as we climbed. It was meant to be a three hour hike up, and this , we decided, was much too long an estimate. Instead we made the hike into a major workout and hauled butt; we were at the peak in an hour and twenty minutes- DOMINATION!

We were very pleased about how quickly we had gotten to the top, mostly because we found ourselves almost alone at the boulder. This was actually a close call as we almost completely missed seeing it. We were walking at such blinding speed and with such concentration that we walked right past it for a while. Fortunately, D took a moment to look around her. “Uh guys, I think that’s it… she said, it looks a lot like the postcards,” I don’t know where we would have ended up had she not seen the boulder behind us.

We took a bunch of pictures and were able to do so at leisure as we didn’t feel like we were holding anyone up. When finally, other people did start showing up, we started walking again.

Not far past the boulder we found ourselves at a plateau where there was a gang of Russians. The Russians proved to be an interesting group, but mostly for what they were doing. It turned out that they were rope jumping. Have you never heard of it? Me either. Rope jumping it turns out, is is an insane sport where people launch themselves off of a massive cliff. They fall almost to the ground before a horizontal cord across the chasm kicks in and saves their lives just before they slam into the ground. I do not have much more to say about this, other than they are **** crazy nutters!

We had an amazing day out on the mountain and it was made even better by the fantastic weather, the good company, and the crazy Russians. What more could one ask for?

We were up very early on the morning of the 15^th,July as we had decided to take the speedy ferry down the fjord instead of the regular one. This meant a 6:00 am wake-up call. And, needless to say there were some very quiet people heading down to the car. We had breakfast on the boat as the rain lashed the windows. We lamented that we would have to hike through the downpour in the very near future. But, thankfully, as we drove to the bottom of Preikestolen, the pulpit rock, the rain started to clear.

Pulpit Rock is a hugely popular hike, we discovered, and our jaws hit the ground and our spirits sank as we saw bus after bus of tourists disembarking at the base. However, we still set out, in the rain, at 9:17am at a blistering pace. We figured that the buses of the elderly had probably only shown up at 8:00am at the earliest, so it would not take us long to overtake them

Overtake them we did. We pretty much ran up the mountain and reached the summit of the two hour hike in just under an hour. It would have been even less time had we not become stuck in hiker traffic jams. These seemed to consist of rather elderly women wearing lifts, insane parents dragging their two year old kids uphill and awful people who seemed more intent on racing us and blocking our path than in politely hitting the wall and letting us by. So rude. I am sure that more than one Spanish tourist will recount the story of the crazy jerks who ran by them through mud, river and forest forcing them off the track.

The view from the summit was well worth the aggravation, especially as we were one of the first ones up there. We had some free time before the hordes arrived. We were all three much sweatier than I care to explain, but we were pleased with our effort and pleased with the fact that we had again, raced up the mountain and overtaken the tourists on our ascent. When there are no soccer games you have to get your competitive fill somehow

We were up and down the mountain before lunch and so had time to find ourselves a shower as well. This was good news for all of us and for all those around us. I again have to explain that it had been raining when we set out on our sprint hike, and as Per and Diana had gone with the genius decision of wearing rain pants, they were soaking with sweat. If anyone has worn a plastic bag and gone for a run, this is basically what they looked like. I was seriously concerned for Diana at one point. She had never displayed a look like this before and she was obviously really dehydrated from all the sweat loss. She has chugging water non stop since we arrived back and is still thirsty. Should be a fun night for her having to get up from bed.

We were soon back in the car and heading for Haukliseter, which is about 3.5 hours from the base of Preikestolen. It is right off the highway and about halfway home. We should be back in Lillestrøm tomorrow. It has been a long drive for Per, but, I hope he thinks it was worth it. The climb is in a beautiful area. There are also some scenic nice hikes here and if we feel like more activity tomorrow we can try them. Per and Diana are already talking about them. I have not decided yet whether to tell them tonight or tomorrow, that they can go ahead and hike, but I intend to stay in bed and read while they walk. I am definitely my mother’s daughter. Enough is enough… and I like my book.