Sunday 25/6/2017 Homlong – Skagefla – Keipen – Geiranger
Geirangerfjord, NORWAY
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report)
For this walk we based ourselves at the small town of Geiranger at the end of the Geiranger Fjord. We reached this destination from the Hurtigruten coastal ferry. Next day we took a short scenic cruise around Geirangerfjord before being dropped off at Skagehola on the way back to Geiranger. This drop-off enables walkers to walk back to Geiranger as a one way trip.
Highlights of the walk include the stunning fjord with plentiful waterfall views, several historic farm buildings and some awesome high level mountain scenery.
Max elevation: 1123 m
Total climbing: 5005 m
Total descent: -5126 m
Average speed: 5.68 km/h
Total time: 10:05:34
We caught the earliest boat out of Geiranger at 8:45am. This had the benefit of beating the crowds. There were only a few people on board and the views and reflections were incredible under blue skies with still water. We had great views of the Seven sisters and the Suitor falls.
Geirangerfjord
We were dropped off from the boat below the farmhouse at Skagehola. The Skagefla farm had an interesting history. At the time it was established there was a lot of poverty in Norway and in order to feed their family many people relied on farming. It is hard to imagine why though they would choose the very steep sides of a fjord to plant their crops. However, the soil was fertile and the yield was high. On this farm the story is told that when the parents went to tend the crops they tethered the children by rope to the farmhouse so they wouldn’t fall off the cliff! We had a look at the preserved farmhouse complete with grass growing from its roof as soil and grass were used for insulation.
Leaving the farm we climbed upwards along a trail with excellent views of the fjord below with wire cables secured to the rock in the more exposed sections.
About half way along the route back (after two hours of walking) to Geiranger we reached the turn off for Keipen and we decided to give this rather large side trip a go.
The trail was good and at a grade where it wasn’t particularly demanding, just a long haul. We got great alpine views with a fair bit of snow still around. We reached the top of Keipen after walking uphill for about five hours.
The weather was starting to change on our descent and we got a little wet. Fatigue set in with the long walk downhill we arrived back in Geiranger at 7:00pm, nine hours after the boat dropped us off. Unfortunately for us we still had to climb up to our accommodation, a walk of more than two kilometres and a vertical climb of 270m (another hour).
We arrived at our accommodation tired but pleased we had completed a fantastic day walk and soaked in the incredible scenery of this stunning part of Norway.
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