Much to my disappointment, Anya doesn’t like to hike. However, she asked to go to Pulpit Rock, Preikestolen, in Norsk. She figured that if she lived in Stavanger and never went to Preikestolen, she would be ridiculed. I’ll take any motive to get out hiking with Anya.
The day started at a normal school day time. After breakfast, we caught the bus to the Stavanger Sentrum (central area) and walked less than half a mile to the ferry terminal. The 40 minute ferry ride was beautiful as the sun was shinning and not a cloud in the sky. Then a 20 minute bus ride to the base of the trail, with some of the drive along picturesque water front homes and sheep farms.
The hike was beautiful! The weather was gorgeous!
This is misleading, because most of the hike was uphill, with some very steep parts on a rocky trail. At the steep parts, I had to concentrate on my foot placement and was panting too hard to think about getting the camera out. The trail had many big rock stairs along the 5 km. (3.1) mile route up to 604 meters (1982 feet)–though we started at 270 meters.
And because there were a ton of people on the trail, there was always an effort to either pass or be passed. And this is on a Friday, though it is a holiday weekend. This hike gets over 200,000 visitors each year. I think I read in the Stavanger Aftenblad (newspaper) that last year it got 400,000. It is one of the most visited sites in Norway. Crazy. At the top there were perhaps 200-300 people alone. maybe more.
When Erin and Karen were here in early April, we were considering going the first opening day on April 2. But then we heard it was still icy. We walked over snow fields today, so it would have been very difficult with ice on the rocks.
It was stunning from the top, which is a sheer drop of to the fjord below.
You can get a glimpse of the east fjord view over my shoulder–and a small representation of the people on the top.
I’ll be adding more pictures of our hike tomorrow, as I’ll be studying tomorrow with not much (probably) to say.
I’m tired. Off to bed early I think!
With blessings,
Beth