Neither rain nor snow nor sleet will keep us from Kjeragbolten.

Kjeragbolten is a big boulder wedged between two cliffs a thousand metres above Lysefjord. It’s an amazing spot and we wanted to go there. Once again we found that we were too early in the season for the bus so we swallowed hard before coughing up an exorbitant amount to rent a car for a day. The weather looked alright in Stavanger but as we drove out of town the rain started. Further along the 140 km trip we had sleet and eventually even snow. The weather changed every time we rounded a corner or came out of a tunnel. The scenery along the narrow winding road was beautiful. Lots of lakes and rugged cliffs and was sparsely populated. The few towns we passed through looked relatively empty.

At the deserted car park we prepared ourselves for the hike ahead with our improvised gloves (socks) and scarves (travel towels). It started to snow lightly as we started the first steep climb. Thank goodness for the chains that had been put up to hold/haul yourself up the rocky face.

The hike was wonderful. Lightly falling snow in parts, howling wind in others and then all of a sudden lovely sunshine. Lots of steep ups and downs before we got onto the ridge. All in all It took us 2.5 hours to get to the top.

The boulder looks easy to get onto but you need to edge youself along a narrow ledge behind it. The ledge is unprotected and there are no handholds to prevent you tumbling to your death a thousand metres below. The fact that the ledge was also covered in ice meant we had to make do with a picture of ourselves near the boulder instead of on it. We value our lives far more than a cool picture.

This is how it looks on a sunny day

We would have loved to have spent more time hanging out with the boulder and enjoying the spectacular views but the weather started to turn and the howling frigid wind made us decide to head back. 2 hours later and we were back in the still deserted car park.

It was an awesome hike. We were well chuffed with ourselves for not having given up on getting there. We finished up the day with a quick drive down to the town at the bottom before heading back to Stavanger. Some minor confusion with how to use a Norwegian petrol pump and worries about toll roads (no booth u just drive though and it either picks up a transponder in the car or photographs the number plate – guess they will add it onto the car rental bill) and we were done and dusted.

In all it was an incredible day. It is for experiences like this that we are doing this trip.

– Posted from my iPhone