Ja vi elsker dette landet: Borgafjellet

It is the national day of Norway! What is more appropriate than writing about the beautiful mountains of this wonderful country?

Many of us who live in Bergen go to seminars, meetings or family gatherings at Solstrand Hotel in Os every now and then. If you are at a meeting for work and spending the night there, there is the danger that you will be sitting still and and eating a lot all the time. The hotel has a swimming pool which is very popular, but the outdoors are actually much more interesting and fascinating. If your schedule has a couple of hours' break after the day's program before dinner, here is a spectacular run/hike that you can try. Borgafjellet is very similar to Stoltzekleiven in length and altitude, especially if you take the correct path up. I did it for the first time myself a few weeks ago, and enjoyed it immensely:

Start from Solstrand hotel and take to right from the main entrance door. You will be on the coastal path. Take to left at the first opportunity to reach the main road. Cross the road and continue on the road to Samnanger on the other side. Continue until you reach Borgaveien on the left. Take to left on Borgaveien and continue until you reach a sign that says "Borgafjellet". At this point there are actually two signs. One says "Borgafjellet" and points to right, and the other says "Borgafjellet 100m". Do NOT take to right at this point; continue 100 more meters on the road, and then take to right at the first road that you see. Unfortunately there is no sign at this point. This small road without a name looks like it is only going to the few houses 50 meters up, but the path starts right after those houses. In a very short while the road ends and you are in the wilderness.

The path is quite steep all the way up. It continues on soft grass for a while, and then there is a sharp turn left. From there on you climb on rock steps all the way up, very similar to Stoltzekleiven. Really really pleasant and very beautiful path. Once you reach the top (where the tower is), you are a bit disappointed that the view is blocked by trees.

However, do not despair. Just continue just a few meters further, and you arrive at the real top, with an amazing 360 degrees view which really takes your breath away.

To make a round trip, continue further on the same path, but look all the time to the right so that you will be able to find your way down to where you want to end up (otherwise you will be continuing on the plateau). If you are paying attention to possible ways to go right, you will not miss the junction where there is a steep path down on the right side (and the main path continues straight ahead). Take to right and go down. This part is as steep as the way up, but it is on much softer ground so it is quite pleasant to go fast down with small steps. Once the wilderness ends you will reach some streets; just continue straight ahead and you will be back at Borgaveien (at the first sign showing the way up to the mountain). From there, you take left and either take the same way back to Solstrand, or take another road for variety. I ran on some soft ground which turned quite muddy at the end. You can find the gps details in this map. (You will see that I ran a bit back and forth before I found the correct way up.)

Gratulerer med dagen!