4 June 2018, Monday

This morning, I woke up with an extra spring in my step, because it was the day I had waited for so long…I would be hiking up to Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) today! After months of planning and dreaming about it, I am finally going to do it. Super excited!

I left my hostel early and took bus number 4 to Fiskepirterminalen to catch the ferry to Tau. Based on my recce yesterday, I planned to buy the ferry/bus ticket from a company called Go Fjords. However, when I arrived, I saw a booth by Boreal, another company offering Pulpit Rock tours.

I enquired with the staff at the booth and they told me that their deal was better than Go Fjords’. Boreal were selling the two-way bus ticket from Tau ferry port to the Preikestolen car park (starting point for the trek) for only 230 Kr (S$39.31), compared to 280 Kr (S$47.85) for Go Fjords. Furthermore, Boreal’s deal included a free hot drink. Tickets for the ferry could be purchased on board so it was a non-factor for either company. It was pretty much a no-brainer so I bought my bus ticket from Boreal. I then redeemed my free cup of hot coffee from the Narvesen convenience store located nearby.

At 7:27am, the gates opened so I joined the line and boarded the catamaran ferry with the rest of the passengers. The ferry was quite big because it could also carry vehicles. We went to the upper deck, where there was a large seating area and a café where you could buy food and drinks. The ferry departed Stavanger promptly at 7:30am. At attendant then came around to sell us tickets. It cost 60 Kr (S$10.25) for a one-way ticket.

(Note: At the time of writing this post on 12 March 2020, the Stavanger-Tau ferry service is no longer in operation and has been replaced by a sub-sea tunnel)

40 minutes later, we arrived at Tau at 8:10am. I followed the crowd to the bus stop and waited for my bus to arrive. Based on the timetable at the bus stop, the Boreal bus should depart Tau ferry port at 8:25am. Many of the ferry passengers who disembarked boarded another bus by Tide, which was the partner of Go Fjords. Their bus departed soon after. I stood at the bus stop with the remaining passengers to wait for our Boreal bus.

Earlier at Stavanger, the salesperson at the booth told me to look out for a blue Boreal bus, decked out in their corporate colours. However, there wasn’t any blue bus in sight. Instead, a green-coloured Kolumbus bus pulled up at the bus stop at 8:14am. All the other remaining people started boarding the bus but I didn’t do so as I was still expecting a blue-coloured Boreal bus to show up.

However, as the crowds thinned, something didn’t feel right so I finally went up to ask the driver and he confirmed that it was the correct bus. Luckily, I asked the driver, or I would have continued to sit at the bus stop and miss the bus! I also found out that you can buy the ticket from the bus driver at the same price, but without the free coffee, of course. We eventually departed Tau ferry port at 8:30am.

The drive to the Preikestolen car park took half an hour and we arrived at 9:00am sharp. There was a toilet here at the starting point, so I used it before embarking on my hike at 9:05am.

The display board at the starting point showed that I was currently at an elevation of 270m, and Preikestolen was 604m above the waters of Lysefjord. Therefore, the elevation gain would be 334m. The horizontal distance from here to Preikestolen was 3,800m but the actual trekking distance was 4,000m. According to the board, the hike would take about two hours each way, so I expected to return here at about 1pm later.

The first 500m was very steep, with stone steps that reminded me of the trails in Nepal. However, the temperature was about 15 degrees Celsius and the sky was overcast so it wasn’t too tough. Wherever there were trees, there were lots of midge flies swarming around, and the most irritating thing was that they bit! It would be good to wear long sleeves and to cover your face, and keep your mouth closed so that you don’t accidentally swallow any flies.

The route was clearly marked and there were signboards and route maps along the way to show you your progress and let you know what to expect in the coming section. There were also distance markers. In the very unlikely event that you lose your way, just look out for the bright red “T” signs painted on the rocks to point you in the right direction. They are marked out by the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT) and they are very obvious so you can’t miss them.

After trekking for about 15 minutes and 850m, I emerged from a clearing with a view of a big lake below. The view was good, but I knew that the bigger prize lay ahead so I pushed on. After that, it was more stone steps uphill.

At approximately the 1.5km mark, about 25 minutes in, I encountered a very flat piece of land with a boardwalk section. It was a welcome respite and also a good break from the midge flies.

After enjoying the flat boardwalk, it was time for the steepest upslope section for the hike. I think my previous experience trekking in Nepal and Tibet prepared me well as I was able to overtake some of the other hikers who were using trekking poles. I didn’t bring any with me because it would have been too much of a hassle to carry them for the entire trip, but trekking poles will definitely come in handy, though not essential.

After conquering that killer section at about 9:50am, the upslope became gentler but the fog rolled in and it got quite cold at this point in time. I was only wearing a thin waterproof jacket over my polo T-shirt, so I tried to keep warm by walking even faster.

At the 2.5km mark, at about 10am, I passed by a lake called Tjødnane. By now, the terrain had evolved into large slabs of bare rock face with sparse vegetation, mostly bushes and not many trees. I began to see some blue skies emerging from the clouds, which was a good sign.

The ascent from here was steady and gradual. With every step I took, I could feel myself getting ever closer to the fabled Preikestolen. As I approached the final ascent, I heard the unmistakable tones of English being spoken by a group of five young adults, and I immediately knew that they were Singaporeans. It is true that when you’re overseas, you can hear a Singaporean before you see him/her. However, I kept my distance and continued scaling the last stretch towards my goal.

After walking around a narrow stretch of rocky outcrop with no railings, the familiar steep cliff of Preikestolen finally came to sight at 10:25am. I managed to trek the 4km in 1 hour 20 minutes, which I felt was pretty good. The weather helped for sure, and I think I was just so excited that I was able to proceed at a relatively quick pace. It also helped that I was alone so I could go at my own tempo. Despite being quite early, there was already a crowd of about 30 people but it didn’t feel overly crowded yet.

The joy of finally being here was indescribable, and the view was simply astounding. The flat surface of Preikestolen measured about 25m by 25m and the cliff dropped 604m to Lysefjord below. It was really, really steep and my legs felt like jelly when I stood close to the edge. I held my handphone extra tightly because I was so afraid that I would drop it with one wobble or one strong gust of wind.

Everyone queued up politely to take photos at the edge. As I was alone, I decided to approach the group of five Singaporeans that I met on the way up. They introduced themselves as third-year NUS students who were in Norway for an elective programme for two weeks. They were working in a farm in return for food and lodging. It was nice to meet fellow Singaporeans and we warmed up to each other pretty quickly.

We took turns to help each other take photos. After having our fill of pictures, we sat down on Preikestolen to have a picnic. I brought out my banana and sandwich that I had prepared but unfortunately, I didn’t have much food to share with them. We spent a good half an hour chatting as I shared with them my adventure so far.

Finally, at about 11:50am, we decided to make our way down. By this time, the sky was mostly clear and the view was even more beautiful compared to earlier when I first arrived. However, people were steadily streaming in now and it was getting much more crowded. The weather was also getting warmer.

We descended briskly and reached the car park at around 1:05pm. We caught the 1:30pm bus and arrived at Tau ferry port at 1:56pm. At 2:16pm, the ferry departed Tau and we arrived back at Stavanger at 2:57pm.

For the rest of the afternoon, I wandered around the city centre again. Compared to yesterday when almost all the shops were closed, it was much more lively and vibrant today. I went to check out Old Stavanger on the west side of Vågen harbour. The preserved old town comprises of 173 wooden buildings from the turn of the 18^th century, all of them painted in white.

At about 5:05pm, I popped in to Bacchus Café for a tea break of carrot cake and chai latte (91 Kr / S$15.55). I was taking it easy because Stavanger was actually quite small and there wasn’t much to do.

After that, I took a leisurely stroll to Byparken once again before deciding that I should head back to the hostel early to have a rest. I had spaghetti bolognese (149 Kr / S$25.46) for dinner at the café in the hostel/hotel/hospital lobby as it was too much of a hassle to go anywhere else.

As I looked back on the day, I felt very accomplished as I had finally visited Preikestolen. I don’t really like to use the term “bucket list” but Preikestolen was definitely qualified as one and it was a place that I had been wanting to visit for the longest time. It more than lived up to my expectations. I totally enjoyed the experience of hiking up and the view from up there was magical. Definitely one of my favourite moments from the entire trip. Looking forward to Trolltunga next, and hoping that it will be just as good!