The last day of our summer break
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 12.07.26 | Stedjeåsen | 625m | 123m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Sunday: Our stay at Hovdestøylen, Hovden had come to an end. We had a great time and good hikes. But our summer vacation was over, and it was time to head home. Well – I wouldn’t be going home just yet. We would go Sogndal today and I would be heading home to Sunnmøre the next day.
Jåstad
As we were in the vicinity of Sørfjorden and Odda, we wanted to stop at Jøstad and visit our friend Liv Nygaard.
On our way to Odda, we passed the Låtefoss waterfall. We also passed here on the way to Hovden, and the traffic was a bit chaotic. Many cars, caravans, campervans and of course trucks on a narrow road with limited parking near the waterfall. Now, there were people actively organizing the traffic and we could pass without any delays.
In Odda, Anne wanted to see the new “Stave church” that the local celebrity Leif Einar Lothe (Lothepus) had built. There has been a lot of controversy around this building, as in many architectural ways, this is not a traditional Stave church. But the builder has only said he was inspired by them and never claimed he had built a genuine Stave church.
My guess is that he’s very cool about the criticism, because the attraction has become very popular and Anne wanted to check it out. I wasn’t interested to pay entrance fee for having a look inside, nor pay for parking. I waited in the outskirts, and Anne wasn’t gone for long.
Then we headed for Jåstad. I hadn’t been here in many, many years. I couldn’t remember my last hike here, but it was nice to Solnuten and Torsnuten again. I visited these tops in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
I hadn’t seen Liv since 2013, when she visited us in Sogndal and on Sunnmøre. The visit was a present for her 70th birthday. Anne was here a few years later but it was 13 years since I saw Liv the last time. I didn’t feel she had changed a lot, and it was nice seeing her again. I think the feeling was mutual!
Liv has a wonderful garden. I tried to do my best, but I wasn’t sure how the turn the camera into macro mode – without having macro…
There and then, I decided to get myself a Macro lens. And I did. I got it in August, probably too late to catch more bumblebees…
I just couldn’t wait to get hold of it, because these pictures were not what I had hoped for…
Good thing the mountains are not moving…
After a while, we had to say goodbye to Liv to catch a ferry and get back to Sogndal before the day was over. I still hadn’t done any walking…
It was fantastic to see “my old” mountains again. I’ve had so many good hikes in this region. We’ll just have to return soon!
In 2008, Liv, her dog Sheeba and I sat out to reach the top of Storeflåtten (1616m). We didn’t make it all the way up, but we had a good hike!
The plan was to drive through Lærdalstunnelen (24,5km!), but we found out that this route was closed due a traffic accident. Rather than waiting for it to open, we decided to drive via Vik instead.
Stedjeåsen
As soon as we had arrived at Anne’s place in Sogndal – and unloaded the car – I went for a hike to Stedjeåsen.
I couldn’t come to terms that the summer break was over, even if I had to start working again the next day. I’ve had great joy in the mountains for the past three weeks (continuously since 1999, actually) but this was the summer break. How could I extend it, while still working?
The solution was simple. Work the normal hours and then pretend it was morning and all options were on the table. After all, it would be light until very late evening and so I could still hike a lot.
Back to the present, I had a nice walk across Stedjeåsen. The weather was still gorgeous. Maybe we’ve had a few raindrops this summer, but we had been extremely fortunate with the weather.
If the weather stayed the same the next day, I decided to give myself a “special treat” on my way home…
But now, I would enjoy my last evening in Sogndal, until I would return 1,5 weeks later…
Trip statistics: 5,7km, 590 vertical meters, 1h:31m
