Pulpit Rock cruise and hike

Pulpit Rock Cruise

We had made some sandwiches to take along on our excursion to Pulpit Rock (Preikestolen). It was a 1000 departure.  The man on the pier didn’t check carefully that we were booked on the cruise-and-hike and I had to ask the next person regarding the ticket for the bus rides.  These were given to us immediately but it could have been a bit troublesome otherwise.

It was an hour cruise from town across the water to the entrance of Lyssefjord but we did slow down as we passed various points of interest.  A bridge marked the entrance to the fjord where we cruised into it for half hour before turning around.

The fjord itself was disappointing compared to Milford Sound even though we had great weather.  Nothing looked that spectacular, although Pulpit Rock was very high up.   The waterfall at which we turned around was OK.  We saw some wildlife along the way in the form of some seals and goats (which the crew fed).

The boat was very manouverable as demonstrated when we pulled into very narrow inlets and then backed out.

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Pulpit Rock Hike

It was a 20 minute bus ride from the boat drop-off to the start of the hiking trail and tickets weren’t checked. Every man and his dog was doing the hike (very literally as there were many people with their dogs on leashes … and also people with their babies on their front/back).  The walk took about 1h40 to get to the sheer drop off.

It was crowded and hard to get a picture without other people in the shot (without resorting to cropping afterwards).  The view was truly stunning.  It was a pity we spent only about 40 minutes there, enough for a few photos and lunch.  Not quite enough to absorb the view to our hearts’ content.

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We wanted to be back in time for the 1635 bus as we had laundry, cooking and packing to do before a very early morning departure tomorrow.  The hike down took about 1h15 only (as opposed to the 2h either way as signposted).  We had a short wait for the bus before the ride to Tau where there was another wait for the ferry back to Stavanger (schedules were meant to be coordinated by it wasn’t seamless).

The ferry was a vehicle ferry which meant we were upstairs on the large overhead deck overlooking the car deck.  The journey was still pretty quick and we were in Stavanger about 1800 giving enough time for our chores.

The excursion had been a success, in particular with regard to the beautiful weather.  That wasn’t an accident.  We had checked the weather forecast in the preceding week while monitoring the availability of the trip (in case it sold out).  We only booked upon arrival in Stavange when the weather was more or less certain.

While doing the laundry at night … European washing machines and tumble dryers are complicated to use with too many buttons and options.  We managed to get everything done before retiring late.