Roldal and Stave Church – Suldal to PreikestolenOdda i

100_7366
Odda in the Morning
E sixandahalf
R13 (Route Six and a Half)
Headed off South on the Route 13 from Odda about 11am. Or goal was to be somewhere near Pulpit Rock (Preikestolen) by evening. The Route 13 still gets
narrow quite often. Steven said the R13 should really be called the Route six and a half!
The drive takes us by fjords, over fjords, over mountains, through mountains, past ski resorts, lots of waterfalls, rivers and farmland.
100_7408
Roldal Norway

Trish wanted to see the old stave church at Roldal,so we turned East onto the E134 for a side trip to Roldal to see the Røldal stave church (Røldal stavkyrkje).

SANY0015
Roldal Stave Church
This is an old wooden church originally built in 1250 and is well known for the crucifix with healing powers.

The legend has it that the crucifix sweats every midsummer night and that this sweat has a healing power. Therefore held a midnight mass was held every midsummer night for pilgrims to receive this healing sweat and get well. Even though the pilgrim activity was forbidden with the reformation, pilgrims continued to flock to the church as late as 1850.
During the Middle Ages, Roldal was the most important pilgrimage destination in Norway after Nidarosdomen. The church is still in regular use today.
Røldal stave church received generous gifts from many of the pilgrims who visited it, and as a result the little village acquired wealth during the Middle Ages.
Picking RasberresBack on the E13 we came around a bend to see wild raspberries growing so pulled over into a small road layby and enjoyed picking a small container full which we enjoyed as our evening dessert of stewed raspberries and vanilla yoghurt.
100_7483100_7468100_7465100_7463Our stop for lunch by the Route 13 roadside stop 7-8k East of Suldal. We went for a followed by a short walk into the woodland and discovered an unmarked abandoned waterwheel system, with huts at different levels with sluces to guide the water to each huts own small water wheel.

100_7477The waterfall has almost dried up and we suspect most of the water has been dirverted further upstream perhaps100_7481100_7482 for hydro power generation. The huts were interesting and still contained some old furniture, water wheel drives and grinding stones and one what looked to be for baking with an oven fireplace. The sides of the huts were engraved with dates and grafiti from 1815 to around 1890.

100_7625

Our next part of the journey was the ferry crossing the Josenfjorden from Nesvik to Hjelmeland with an extra ferry stop at Skar and back on the E13 South toward Jorpeland to look for a place to stay. Our plan was to stop near the trail head at Preikestolen for the Pulpit Rock hike tomorrow.

Photos along route 13

100_7374100_7403100_7404100_7505100_7529100_7560100_7567100_7648100_7772
We stopped at Jorpeland for some supplies and found the road up to Preikestolen and on to where the hiking trail begins. We then back tracked to the campground at Preikestolen and as it was already 8pm decided to lash out on some comfort, spare no expense and pay the 340 NOK (A$62) for a site with electricity. After being told to just find a place to park and there was power all over the campground. We drove in to find a site (pitch). This turned out to be one of the free for all campgrounds, no marked areas and was very crowded. we drove around 3-4 times and there was simply no space left to fit a motorhome of our size anywhere power or no power. So we got our money back and headed toward the ferry crossing terminal at Oanes.

100_7673

100_7448We spotted some parked motorhomes from the road and ended up staying in the Lysefjord Senteret carpark  with 5 other motorhomes. This was next to the the Lysefjorden and a salmon fish farm which was quite entertaining when the food pellets dropped in and fish were jumping. It was also a place where anglers, adult and children where on a winning streak of catching Mackerel. Unfortunately Steven did not have the correct silver spinner to haul in a catch and even after experimenting with aluminum foil and hooks had to suffer watching everyone else catching fish. A fishermans worst nightmare!
We enjoyed the stop here it was next to the fjord, quiet, only 15k from Preikestolen and free!
Note: Trish took 325 photos today!!! Only a few included here.

Leave a Reply