Posts In The “Norway” Category
The hike up 1,230ft (375m) Randasen was among the easiest we did on our return trip to Norway. The tender ride to shore was only a few hundred yards, the trailhead was an easy half-hour walk away and the roundtrip hike from there was only three hours. But the view was as good as any…
After two days of wind, heavy rain and overcast skies in Erfjord, we were rewarded on our third morning with clear and calm weather for a tender tour of spectacular Josenfjorden. What the 17-mile (27km) fjord lacks in length it makes up for in dramatic scenery, with 2,300 ft (700m) cliffs full of waterfalls. After…
A small weather system was passing through, with gusts to 45 knots, as we were underway for Erjforden. We found a beautiful and peaceful anchorage at Hattavagen, and ended up spending three nights anchored in the sheltered basin. While there, we explored the area by tender, hiked up 510m Bandasen, and completed a few boat…
The village of Sand lies in a beautiful setting where the Saudafjorden and the Hylsfjorden meet to form the Sandsfjorden. From our anchorage at Nevoyvagen, we’d already explored to the head of Saudafjorden, including hiking up 3,054ft (931m) Hovlandsnuten from the town of Sauda at the head, and had made a brief pass by tender…
Saudafjorden extends 10.5 miles (17km) between the towns of Sand and Sauda through several-thousand-foot mountains with many waterfalls. At the head, the popular Saga Trail extends from Sauda to 3,054ft (931m) Hovlandsnuten. Stone steps newly laid by Nepalese Sherpas lead to the summit, with panoramic views to Saudafjorden and the surrounding mountains. After a 22-mile…
After exploring its two branches, Sandeidfjorden and Yrkjefjorden, we completed our five-day tour of cross-shaped Vindafjorden in a beautiful anchorage at Kvaloy. On a warm and sunny day, we toured to the head by tender, then spent a lazy evening enjoying the surroundings from the cockpit. Below are trip highlights from July 24th, 2020. Click…
Nedre Vats in Vatsjforden has a couple of great attractions for us: an excellent view hike up 1742ft (531m) Granuten and the AF Environmental Base decommissioning and recycling facility. The massive semi-submersible crane vessel Sleipnir that we passed en route to Stavanger had removed the 8,929-ton (8,100-metric ton) Jotun-B platform jacket from the North Sea…
Our “move the boat every day” plan faltered when we reached beautiful Ilsvag at the head of Sandeidfjorden. We ended up spending three days in this scenic, sheltered anchorage and made our second Norwegian hike of 2020, to the summit of 1830 ft (557 m) Oktarenuten. From there we could see down into our anchorage…
Himakana is known as “Little Trolltunga” due to its similarities with the famous Norwegian rock formation that juts out horizontally 3,600 ft (1,100 m) above sea level. The hike to Himakana is much more accessible at only about 2 hours roundtrip though, compared to 10-12 hours for Trolltunga. From our initial anchorage at Vestre Bokn,…
It’s an unusual day when you get up in the morning to start a short coastal cruise, and end up making a 2.5-day crossing of the North Sea to an entirely different country. Given the current world situation, Norway was number one on our list of desired destinations, with its excellent hiking and abundance of…
We spent most of our final day in Stavanger at the exceptional Norwegian Oil Museum in Stavanger. The museum details the history and technology behind Norway’s growth as an oil nation through models, interactive displays and actual industry equipment. Below are trip highlights from October 4th and 5th in Stavanger, Norway. Click any image for…
We didn’t require much preparation for our run across the North Sea from Stavanager, Norway to Denmark. All we really wanted was fuel and some good weather. We got the fuel soon after arriving, but not the weather. A major storm system passed through, bringing strong northerly winds and generating large waves in the north-exposed…
The hike to iconic Pulpit Rock is immensely popular. The spectacular formation juts out over Lyseford with a vertical drop of nearly 2,000 ft (600m), creating a dramatic photo opportunity for those willing to perch on the fenceless edge. The trail is fairly tame by Norwegian standards at 2.3-mile (3.8km) long with an altitude gain…
The oil-rich city of Stavanger is the fourth-largest in Norway, and is a wonderful combination of working port, historic districts, modern street art, and excellent restaurants. We were excited to arrive, even if it did mark the end of our five-month Norwegian cruise. As is normally our habit, we spent our first day there on…
Lysefjord, in southwest Norway, is one of the country’s major tourist draws. Waterfalls plunge down cliffs that extend over a thousand feet above and below the water surface. The walls are so sheer in both directions that you can bring a boat within touching distance of shore without getting a depth sounder reading, and in…
We only planned to make a quick pit stop outside Haugesund for gasoline before continuing south through the main channel. But as we left the fuel dock, we made a last-minute decision to take the waterway through town and another last-minute decision to stop for the night. We ended up staying for three. That kind…
Langfossen gushes into the Akrafjorden from 2,008ft (612m) above, with a vertical drop of 400ft (122m). The waterfall was rated the best in Norway in the World Waterfall Database (and the best in the world using an earlier rating system). After a 60-mile run from Bergen to the Romsa Islands, the following day we made…
Hardangerfjord is the second longest fjord in Norway after Sognefjord, and the fourth longest in the world. Besides dramatic scenery, attractions there include the Norwegian Museum of Hydropower and Industry, with the Tyssedal Hydroelectric Power Station fully open to visitors, and the Voringfossen, a group of spectacular waterfalls that include the 600-ft (182m) Voringfoss Waterfall…