Wow! This was a trip! Amazing, breathtaking, fullfilling, exciting, fascinating and just great - my hiking trip up to the Preikestolen.
Preikestolen or Prekestolen, also known by the English translations of Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, is a massive cliff 604 metres above the Lysefjord, opposite the Kjerag plateau in the Stavanger region. The top of the cliff is approximately 25 by 25 m² and almost flat, and is a famous tourist attraction in Norway.
If you remember well from previous posts, I already went with Marco on a boat tour on the Lysefjord end of April/beginning of May to see the rock from the fjord.
Having been attracted by that place ever since I saw it over and over again on many postcards, I needed to hike up there one day as well. Just seeing from below wasn't enough for me.
Since my current work contract in Norway ends by the end of 2010, I don't know if I'd get another chance soon to get up there and one has to do it in the summer season. Thus I chose a date: the weekend 03-05 of September. I wrote an email to some friends asking who would want to come along with me. In the end it turned out to be Jana, Audrey, Germain and I. Audrey and Germain had actually been already up the Preikestolen, but they couldn't be bothered doing that hike once again. As a big surprise even my friend Sarah from Germany found a relatively convenient flight from Dusseldorf to Stavanger for that weekend and so she joined us as well - which I really loved :-)
Friday, 03 September
So, while Audrey, Jana, Germain and I took a flight after work from Oslo airport to Stavanger, Sarah's flight landed already during the early afternoon. Thus, before we 4 actually arrived, Sarah already had a chance for a little stroll through the town.
In the evening, when we arrived, we met with Sarah at the hotel reception. I was so nice to see her again after all that time we hadn't seen. We checked in at the Clarion Hotel Stavanger (the same as I stayed at with Marco) which Jana and I organised through work and enjoyed sitting together in the hotel bar. After discussing and planning next day's programme we all went to bed.
Saturday, 04 September
A very vast Scandinavian breakfast buffet was our start of our "big" day. After that we prepared and met in the hotel's reception hall to leave already at around 8 a.m.
(Jana, Audrey, Germain)
We walked to the quay where a boat would bring us from Stavanger to Tau.
(me & Sarah)
Arrived in Tau we had to wait a while for the bus taking us to the Preikestolen Fjellstua, the mountain lodge at the lake at the bottom of the trail which leads through a variety of mountain landscapes up to the rock.
(Sarah, Audrey, me, Jana)
(Germain & Sarah)
The hike up
The walk to Preikestolen is very steep in places. The path starts at an elevation of approximately 270 m.a.s.l. and climbs to 604 metres. Even though the elevation differential is only 334 metres and the walk is not particularly long (3.8 km each way), the total elevation gain and loss over the course of the hike is more than one might initially expect, as the path climbs and descends various ridges.
At somewhat before 11 a.m. we start the way up. Let's see how long it takes us up.
"Jana, what do you think? Do we still follow the right track?"
About 1,5 hours later we approach...
... the top:
Lunch time - right on top of Preikestolen, 604 meters above the fjord!
Everyone brought something along which ended up in a really huge and varied lunch.
Yes, that's me sitting on the edge!
We take one group picture...
...before we take the upper hill trail back downwards.
Slightly deviating from the path indicated by the DNT (Den Norske Turistforeningen = The Norwegian Trekking Association)...
... we arrive after nearly 2 hours at the lake back at the Preikestolen Fjellstua.
After some refreshing beer and ice-cream from the kiosk we take the bus and then the boat back to Stavanger town.
We actually thought that after such a hike we'd deserve a really nice dinner at a charming place to round off that amazing day.
Unfortunately we were back in the hotel quite late and basically all cosy (and affordable) restaurants were already closed. Finally we ended up at... McDonald's. How cosy and charming!
And what's that "children's surprise" in the Happy Meal good for? Or how are you supposed to use it?
Sunday, 05 September:
Also this morning started with that huuuuge scandinavian breakfast buffet. After filling us there with so much good morning food which would seemed to last for the next two days, we checked out and made our way to town. First direction was the Old Town of Stavanger. Such a beautiful place.
"Come here, Audrey, there's still one free place!"
Like children!
We leave the Old Town,...
...pass the harbour at Skagenkaien...
...pass by the famous Oil Museum...
...until we stop at "Sjokoladepiken" (engl.: "the chocolate girl")...
...to have one last coffee and some chocolate together. It's quite obvious that Audrey liked her snack quite a lot :-)
(Germain, Jana, me, Audrey & Sarah)
Unfortunately Sarah has to leave us already here. Her flight back to Germany leaves a bit earlier than ours. It was really nice to have had her with us. She perfectly well fit into that very harmonious group.
We said goodbye to Sarah and went ourselves back to the hotel. Germain new about some beach somewhere around Stavanger. At the hotel we got to know that that beach is actually located in walking distance to the airport. So we picked up our luggage from the storage room and took in the end the same shuttle bus as Sarah to Stavanger airport Sola. While Sarah checked in for her flight, we locked our bags in the luggage storage and walked about 20 minutes to the mentioned beach.
Germain even dared to go swimming.
We had little more than two hours to enjoy the still lasting nice weather, relax, read some books and chat.
In the late afternoon we walked back those 20 minutes to the close by airport...
... and said goodbye to Stavanger, taking home some great memories from this fantastic weekend!
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