Climbing adventure to the Brufjell Caves

Naturally, on 29.06.22 we are once again the last ones to leave the parking lot... But at least we have the lake all to ourselves for a short morning swim.

In perfect weather around 28°C, we drive directly to the hiking parking lot at Roligheten, where a German guy excitedly tells us that we absolutely need good shoes for the hike and that it is very challenging... We look at the map and decide to take the difficult path, which is rated differently on various hikes. Let's see what the Norwegian categories mean.

Well, what can you say, Norwegians are a hiking people and when it says it is challenging, it is challenging. We start by climbing steeply uphill through the forest. Then it becomes a bit flatter and the path leads us to the "summit" of Brufjell with a fantastic view of the sea. From there, the path becomes increasingly steep and leads us down to the caves, which are actually more like eroded sections of the cliff coast. Slowly but surely, we climb down the rocks equipped with crampons and (very loose) ropes, which in Germany you would probably only be able to tackle with safety harnesses. But the view is worth it and the climbing adventure is really fun (all that bouldering in Berlin must be good for something). With weak knees, we first eat our sandwiches, then we go all the way back up. Once there, the circuit leads down again and our knees are not happy about it... After steep downhill scrambling, a bay with a rocky beach opens up in front of us; a relief for our feet. Now the way back to the parking lot is not far anymore.

We continue through the UNESCO Geopark with many rocky mountains, forests, and lakes - a really beautiful route to Egersund.

For the first time, we are staying at a real campground here in Norway, the Steinsnes Camping, where we are allowed to deposit our ice packs in a cooler next to huge fish caught by hobby anglers. We are happy about the clean and spacious showers. During dinner, we plan our further journey.