Back after 15 years…
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 01.05.26 | Kvitenjuk | 751m | 120m | Vik i Sogn, Norway | – | MAP |
Friday: On this International Worker’s Day, we decided to travel to Vangsnes and go for a bike trip to either Kvitenjuk or Kongshaug. It would all depend on the amount of snow and the quality of the tractor road.
One thing is for certain. The best place to wait for a ferry, is Hella. The view towards Balestrand is awesome.
Eventually, the ferry arrived and we were on our way to Vangsnes.
We had many vertical meters ahead of us. Anne wasn’t so worried about it, bringing her E-bike and all…
The first thing on the agenda was to re-visit the Fridtjof den frøkne statue.
Fridtjof the Bold (Fridtjof den frøkne) is the legendary hero of an Old Norse saga connected to the Sognefjord region of western Norway. He was known for his courage, strength, and independence, and he fell in love with Ingebjørg, the daughter of a local king. Their relationship was opposed by her brothers, leading to conflict, exile, and dramatic adventures across the Nordic world. Despite hardship and battles, Fridtjof eventually returned and was reunited with Ingebjørg.
The story became especially famous in the 19th century through the poem Frithjof’s Saga by Swedish author Esaias Tegnér, which helped spread the legend internationally. Today, the giant statue in Fridtjovsparken overlooking the Sognefjord commemorates this romantic and heroic figure from Norse tradition (Source: ChatGPT)
Then we got started on the 5,3km bike trip to lake Høgretjørni (517m)
We had 450 vertical meters to the lake. From time to time, we got some nice views.
I was never envious of Anne’s E-power. I find old-school biking hard, honest and good work.
Eventually, we reached the lake, and I had absolutely no recollection of this hike back in 2011. Or was it a bike trip? I would have to check when we got back home.
We biked 0,7km farther and reached the Kvitenjuk trailhead. As we had a feeling that Kongshaug would include snow and a soft tractor road, we decided to let Kvitenjuk be our target for the day.
We followed the path for a while, thinking we were on the right track.
After a while, I checked my GPS and we were on our way to lake Kråkevatnet, not Kvitenjuk. We took a shortcut through the forest and got back on the path.
Kvitenjuk is a wonderful viewpoint. We could see a whole lot of the Sognefjord from here.
How could I not remember *anything* from the trip 15 years ago? Do I have some kind of Alzheimer’s or have I just been on too many trips? I would really like to know. Maybe I didn’t find the trip impressive enough? Or maybe I was too much in love? Anne and I had had only been together 2 years when we visited this top.
Kongshaug – I had absolutely no recollection of that top either, and it was the same year as we visited Kvitenjuk.
I have never forgotten the mountains though. I know what I am looking at…
After returning to the bikes, we continued biking for one more kilometre. The plan was to follow a path that eventually would take us back to Vangsnes. The path was impossible to bike, and after 0,4km, we were back on the tractor road we came from. It was also not the right path. We had completely missed the path and direction.
The plan was now to return to lake Høgretjørni and see if we could find a bikeable forest path.
At the lake, we found an awesome path that we followed. I let Anne use my bike so that she could enjoy the ride to the fullest.
And she did…
Eventually, we got back onto the road we came up and followed it down until we reached a fork. Then, we took a different road back to Vangsnes.
The ferry was already on its way into the harbour, so the timing was excellent.
What a nice day! It felt a bit wrong not to go skiing today, but I didn’t bring my skis (because of my hamstring injury) and the truth of the matter is that I really like the combination of biking and hiking. So, I should just lose the feeling about not skiing. There will be more opportunities for skiing before the summer.
When I got back home, I checked out the 2011 Kvitenjuk track. It turned out that we had followed the same route from the ferry. We also lost the path to Kvitenjuk in the exact same place. The only difference was biking the forest path from lake Høgretjørni. But we had also taken the same turn at the fork and returned to Vangsnes along the very same route. Looking at the two tracks on top of each other, they were almost identical.
It only goes to show that time goes by, but people don’t change…
Back at Anne’s place, I made Anne aware that someone had dumped a significant amount of chopped wood near her house. Maybe someone moving, from a place with a fireplace to a place without a fireplace? Who knows. In any case, this was wood was abandoned and now it belonged to us. I carried it to Anne’s garden and stacked it.
And this was the day when we started the 2026 grilling season. I enjoy these evenings in Anne’s backyard.
Some pics from our 2011 trip…
Trip statistics: 16,4km on bike, 2km on foot, 850 vertical meters, 3h:47m
