Rough plan was to trundle along highway 7 to Geilo and go up any interesting looking side roads
along the way.First interesting one was signposted in Ovre Eidfjord to Hjelmo, and on the map had a few squiggles!!!! This is what turned up a few km along
And this is what followed when the tarmac run out and the gravel began
Then the hairpins started in earnest
Until about 6 miles later it's the end of the road and I'm on top of the Hardangervidda plateau
I reckon it's an access road to a parking area for the hikers. So, that was a good start, and nows the fun on the way down back to rejoin highway 7.
Not more than 6 mile or so further on from Ovre Eidfjord there's a set of tunnels that corkscrew their way up - one of them I'm sure did 3x360 whilst in there as I was forever turning left!!!! Exiting these was a waterfall - the Voringsfossen, apparently the best known waterfall in Norway, plunging 182m
And by the look of this, it wasn't the only thing plunging over the edge
As I'm lingering having a drink & snack I'm leafing through a tourist guide and it seems one of europe's biggest hydroelectric power station is just down the road. Daily guided tours and sad bastard that I am, it's a busmans holiday as I get there for the afternoon tour. Sima Kraftverk is the place.
The turbine hall is 700m inside the mountain, and you get there by bus. Quick look around the turbine hall and then out
Just above the power plant is Kjaesen mountain farm, previously inaccesible by car but now accessed from a road built during the power station construction in the 1970's. There's also a 1mile long unlit tunnel at the end of the road
The purpose of going all the way up is the views over Simafjorden from the farm
No fences up here and it's 600m straight down when the grass stops!
Not been much more than 40 miles from base today, but been enjoyable and interesting, and I'm back at Lofthus by 16:00.
Location:R13(old),,Norway
View Larger Map
No comments:
Post a Comment