Etne – Skånevik postvegen
Due to my plans on Christmas in Poland, and fact, that there were only few days left to my flight, I wanted to go out somewhere, probably the last time before new year. I decided to go on old postal road between Etne and Skånevik, two small towns placed just 8 kilometers from each other. Those 8 kilometers was the distance of the postal road (postvegen), which leads across the mountains.
The road was opened in 1785 and until 1866 was important part of communication link between Bergen and Stavanger (called as The Stavanger Highway). Today, the postal road is used only by tourists and local inhabitants for recreation. The route takes approximately 3 hours of walk and its highest point has 620 meters.
I didn’t know exactly where should I park m car, so I stopped it about one kilometer from the beginning of the trail. This way I could warm up before climbing. The route starts just next to housing estate and goes steep up into the woods. The path was covered by snow, but I could see many footprints and I deducted that it is very popular route.
I started quite early in the morning, before sunrise, but it wasn’t dark outside. I saw the first sun rays before I reached the plateau. I thought that the walking will be easier later, when the slope of the hill will be less vertical and more horizontal but I was wrong. I had to walk in deep snow, so it made this trip difficult and exhausted.
At some point I noticed the fox. It was quite far from me and run away, when I reached for the camera. I could only take picture of its traces.
My plan was to reach Skånevik and go back, but under the circumstances, I had to change it. If I get to Skånevik, I probably wouldn’t be able to climb again. And that’s why I decided to go back in halfway. But before I did it, I noticed that there is a nice mountain very close to me with visible stone mount on top.
I get there in couple of minutes. The mountain called Heggellinuten (678 meters high) and view from the top was amazing. I could see Skånevik, laying down in the shadow. And Skånevikfjord with ferry cruised to the town from one of the quays on other side. There was the Island of Stord on the west and I had a view on biggest town there: Leirvik.
After few minutes I was back on the trail. I returned the same way and during my descend, I met some wanderers who were just climbing uphill. I get to my car after 10 km walk and I could back home and rest.
This post was originally published 2017-12-19 on https://kraina-trolli.pl.
