Lilletoppen
The visit to Lilletopp was the priority of my trip to Tyssedal. Before I started go up the hill, I went to the Tysso I museum where I got instructions how to get to the small parking lot. I also got a piece of paper entitling me to leave the car for free in the parking lot. The road is the same road which goes to the parking lot in front of the dam in Sjeggedal, from where you can reach the famous Troll Tongue. However, the parking lot on the trail to Lilletoppen is much lower. A small place can accommodate up to three cars, which one belongs to the guide at the top. As it was quite early and I was the first visitor, I had two other parking spaces at my disposal. An alternative is to leave the car lower in the parking lot in front of the Tyssedal sport hall and take a slightly longer walk.
For this short trip, I put on my feet Vibram FiveFingers shoes to test them in mountainous terrain. I have to admit that they worked perfectly and I could consider about much longer routes in this type of footwear. The trail itself is neither long nor demanding. The distance of about 3 kilometers can be done in about 30-40 minutes, walking along a well-maintained forest path, which sometimes runs in an open area on the rock. Thanks to this, you cannot complain about the lack of views along the way. At the top of the route, you reach the impressive transmission pipes that used to feed the water to the Tysso I Power Station years ago.
I finally got there. The final part of the trail runs parallel to the five pipelines that are come in a concrete dam beneath one of the technical buildings on Lilletopp. I went down to the cottage where the guard lived once. There I met a museum guide, who, after paying the ticket (60 kr), showed me the area around.
First I looked at the distribution basin from above, from where the water flowed through enormous gate valves into the pipelines on the slope and flowed to the power plant 400 meters below. The pool is a large hole, carved in the rock (probably with a little help of a lot of dynamite). At the bottom of the pool I could see the tunnel inlet leading directly from Lake Ringedal. We walked through the gallery by the pool and my guide handed me a helmet to protect my head while walking through the tunnel. At this point, we stopped for a moment, watching the panorama of the town below. Buildings, erected over one century earlier, during the works on power plant, still stood there, restored and now used by other residents. Even now, it was possible to distinguish the sumptuous residences of the directorate and administration from workers’ houses.
We walked past the cable car that used to be used to transport building materials. The guide informed me that the museum is trying to bring it back to life but they are struggling with insufficient financial resources.
We finally got to the tunnels. It was dark inside, but a string of lights hanging on one side allowed for safe movement. The route led along the distribution basin, which could be viewed from below this time. My guide told the story of the workers working in the tunnel. Their work was not the easy, but those who ended up here considered themselves as lucky ones. During the summer the tunnel was pleasantly cool inside, while in winter it was warmer than outside.
The last stage of the tour was to enter one of the transport pipes and reach the building with enormous gate valves. Before they became fully automatic, one man, a guard, had to operate them manually. The guard lived permanently in the next house with his family. You can guess that the kids weren’t very happy with the daily route from home to school in Tyssedal and back again. However, according to information on one of the boards at the power plant, they did not miss a single day of lessons.
We went out on the next gallery, this time just above the pipelines going one meter below, and that was the end of our tour. I admit that I liked it very much. I gave the helmet back and a nice guide recommended me some great views from the Oksla hill, a dozen or so meters above Lilletopp.
There was a steep staircase next to the guard’s house and a path leading out onto a bare rock. Here, from the trees, you can see not only Tyssedal and Odda, but also Sørfjorden stretching to the north. I had to admit the guide was right, the views were amazing. Even despite the cloudy sky.
A trip to Lilletopp is a great time investment for two hours or more. For those who are interested in history and / or technology, an ideal place and worth paying for a ticket, because the entrance to the tunnels and technical buildings is closed for free visitors. An additional attraction are of course the views from both Lilletoppen and the Oksla peak located above. On Oksla, be careful not to get too close to the edge. On rainy days, wet rock can be slippery.
