Sogndal week and a lot of biking
| 27.04.26 | Amlaholten | 508m | 265m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 28.04.26 | Lingesetfjellet | 1002m | 184m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 29.04.26 | Høgehaug | 549m | 68m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 30.04.26 | Orrabruhaugen | 295m | 25m | Sogndal, Norway | – | MAP |
| 01.05.26 | Kvitenjuk | 751m | 120m | Vik i Sogn, Norway | – | MAP |
| 02.05.26 | Flotshaugen | 229m | 9m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 03.05.26 | Smørkletten | 822m | 49m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Amlaholten (508m), Apr 27 2026
Monday: After work, I spent an hour in Anne’s garden – working on an access route to a bed she’s developing. It wasn’t exactly Sherpa quality, but I didn’t have a lot of rock to choose from, and the rocks were heavy to get up the steep hillside.
As Anne was expecting my company for dinner, today’s trip couldn’t be of the long sort and I decided to bike Amlaholten from fjord level, Kaupanger.
Hiking 500 vertical meters doesn’t cost me anything, but biking is hard work.
On my way up the forest, I took a little detour to the best viewpoint this forest has to offer. Very scenic.
In the upper part of the forest, I had to push the bike in sections. But eventually, I reached the top and was looking forward to a nice ride down the mountain.
I chose one of the biking trails for my descent. There are roots and rocks, but nothing I would call “Technical”. Good fun, altogether.
Descending the road down to Amlabukti was a bit scary. The combination of shade and sunglasses made things very dark, and my eyes were watery from the wind. I actually didn’t see much, and kept the speed below 50 km/h. The sunglasses were not practical in the shade, but the other day, a rock bounced from tyre and into my helmet. It might as well have been my eye…
Trip statistics: 12,2km on bike, 540 vertical meters, 1h:32m
Lingsetfjellet (1002m), Apr 28 2026
Tuesday: Anne was going on a two-day work trip, and my plan was to return to Sunnmøre today. But then I changed my mind and decided to stay in Sogndal for the rest of the week.
After work, I decided to go to Lingesetfjellet. The plan was to bike as far as I could and hike the rest. I knew this was probably a bad idea, but still I went ahead and did it.
I parked at the Sogndal airport (Haukåsen) and the first part of the biking went OK.
But after the Lingesete – Storehaugfjellet fork, the road got soft and soggy. Biking was absolutely no fun and after a little while, I gave up.
Passing Lingesete, I got confirmation that there would have not been any point in bringing the bike any further. I could see snow on the road ahead of me.
The snowy road was a bit tedious and then I decided to go off-trail. That was not a great idea. I should have stuck to the road.
The snow was partly rotten through and through and didn’t carry my weight. It’s quite annoying when you don’t know if your next step will hold or not.
Once I got on the ridge, conditions got better and the snow was a bit more solid.
If I had brought my skis, I could probably have skied from the bike and all the way to the top…
This was my first real hike after my hamstring injury. The previous week had been spent on a bike, which was OK. Now, I could feel that it would take a while before my foot is back to normal.
In any case, two negatives (biking and hiking) make a positive…
I took the normal route down to the mountain road. The snow was extremely rotten, but at least I would get back to the road on the shortest route possible.
The rest of the trip back to the airport was OK. I nearly made 50 km/h on the forest road, and I didn’t see a whole lot. My eyes get extremely watery when I bike downhill. But I trusted that the road didn’t have any obstacles I didn’t see while going up.
Back in Sogndal, I spent some more time in Anne’s garden, building an access route for her new bed, in a steep hill with loose soil. I don’t have any experience in doing these things, but I think the end result was OK and hopefully – robust.
Trip statistics: 7,1km on bike, 5,6km on foot, 540 vertical meters, 2h:13m
Høgehaug (549m), Apr 29 2026
Wednesday: I had to think long about where to go this afternoon. The snow line at ~900m was a barrier as I hadn’t brought my skis to Sogndal. And I wasn’t too keen on hiking either. The foot was not top notch yet. So, it had to be biking, but was there a top in the local area that I hadn’t biked to already?
Yes – Høgehaug above Hermansverk/Leikanger. As the top was a little over 500 meters, and I would very much get my daily 500 vertical meters, I had to start down by the fjord. As long as I was on paved roads, the climb was easy enough.
Eventually, I got to the gravel part of the road. Biking was a tad harder now.
When I got to Kleppa, I still had 150 vertical meters to go.
I wasn’t able to bike the final 500 meters (distance) to the top, as the path was steep and wet/muddy. It’s too bad the view from this top isn’t better. It would have been nice with a good Sognefjord panorama.
Now, I made a dumb decision. Instead of getting on with a nice ride all the way back to the fjord, I crossed the gravel road and followed the skiing track up the forest.
That was a bad idea. The ground was really soft, and it was almost impossible to bike. And when I got to Orrasete, I had no idea how to get back down to Kleppa – if I were not to bike down the way I came up.
After some searching, I found a path that I followed down to Kleppa and subsequently – all the way down to the fjord. All in all, good fun!
Later in the evening, Anne returned from her job trip.
Trip statistics: 13,2km on bike, 580 vertical meters, 1h:25m
Orrabruhaugen (295m), Apr 30 2026
Thursday: A short trip this afternoon. I drove to Årøy, to bike up RV55 and descend via Kongevegen.
I could pass the Årøy tunnel on the outside but had to follow FV55 up to lake Hafslovatnet. The cars and trucks were considerate and there was no stress involved in biking along a heavily trafficked road in the rush hour.
But it was nice to get off FV55 and get started on the road through the forest.
In the beginning, I followed a dirt road.
I would typically like to include some sort of a top on my bike trips and Orrahaugen was the perfect candidate.
It was so nice to be in a green forest. Goodbye winter, although the mountains still had snow and we weren’t guaranteed that we wouldn’t get another snowfall (post-note: we did!)
The upside with a snowfall could be that all the ticks that came out of their diapause, just froze to death on the spot. I do recognize that ticks have their place in the food chain, but I still hate them.
Then I got onto the real Kongevegen (Kings road) part and passed Fantahilleren. A place that provided shelter for travelers back in the days.
Of course, I had to scramble a little.
The rest of the route was all about keeping a high pace and don’t f… it up.
The light was extra gorgeous today.
It doesn’t show well on the below picture, but the constant mix of light and shade was difficult for my eyes – and with sunglasses on. I had no chance to spot a large root and so I had to make sure I got down in one piece.
Passing Futaspranget, I had a good view towards FV55 – where I came up. The terrain is quite dramatic and building the roads back then must have been quite something…
I got back down, safe and sound and only stopped once for a picture, before returning to more garden work in Anne’s backyard.
Trip statistics: 10,3km on bike, 360 vertical meters, 1h:14m
Kvitenjuk (821m), May 1 2026
Friday: This trip is featured on a separate post…
Flotshaugen (229m), May 2 2026
Saturday: Most of the day was spent in Anne’s garden. For the past days, I terraced a vegetable bed into a steep, loose hillside and added a lower walkway, making it easier to work in the bed without bending over.
It has been very hard work, but we were quite happy about the outcome. We’ll see for how long mother nature will allow us to have it standing.
My back was stiff after lifting heavy rocks and I needed a different kind of activity. I decided to bike from Anne’s place, across Flotshaugen and back.
Flotshaugen is a low hill above Barsnes. We’ve been across this hill a few times, but it’s not something I thought I would do on a Saturday.
Pushing the bike up the hill was hard work. Easy in the beginning, aggravating after a while. NOT what my back needed.
Finally, I reached the meadow below the high point and could look forward to a long and nice downhill.
The downhill (on the other side) was only nice in the beginning. It was much steeper than I remembered it to be. And after rain, the road was slippery too.
It was good to reach the gravel road down by Barsnesfjorden. My hands were tired after the downhill.
It was not an epic trip by any means, but at least it was good to have a different activity, before returning to Anne’s garden.
Trip statistics: 13,9km on bike, 480 vertical meters, 1h:32m
Smørkletten (822m), May 3 2026
Sunday: This trip is featured on a separate post…
