16-Jul-2023 -- This is the 1st out of 5 reports visiting confluence points during a one-week bicycle trip in Southern Norway starting and ending in Stavanger.
On Saturday morning I arrived by airplane at the airport of Stavanger. Since my boxed bicycle had been damaged during the transport, I had to repair it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t repair it of my own. The read derailleur had been bent badly. In town however, a bicycle shop could make a spontaneous repair before closing for the weekend. So, on Saturday afternoon my bicycle trip could commence.
The first night I spent in Vikedal. In the afternoon of the second day, I reached the village of Rosendal which is just 1.5 km straight line from this confluence point. It was raining cats and dogs – altogether 32 mm of rain this day! Nevertheless, I continued my bicycle trip. I had my Chinese raincoat that goes over the handlebars, my waterproof rain trousers and after I had bought rubber boots, even my feet could stay dry.
This confluence is located quite high on a hill 350m above the main road. I went through a gate and began to zig-zag the track upwards. But due to the steepness and roughness of the track, I surrendered my bicycle at a distance of 1 km from the confluence point. After a second gate, I followed the official hiking path towards Skalafjell. I hiked through a forest and then found the confluence just 4 m besides the hiking path on an open clearing of the forest. All previous visits had located the confluence in a dense forest. As it looks, a storm must have damaged the forest around the confluence totally (since 2018). Now there is a great view over the bay. When I documented the confluence, the weather got was so nice to give the rain a short break.
Afterwards, I continued my bicycle trip (in pouring rain) to the town Odda, where I spent the night in a hotel.
CP Visit Details:
- Distance to a road: 1500 m
- Distance to a track: 4 m
- Distance of bicycle parking: 1000 m
- Time to reach the CP from the road: 45 min
- Time at the CP: 5:44 PM
- Measured height: 343 m
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
- Position accuracy: 4 m
- Topography: mountainous
- Vegetation: high grass, nearby spruce forest.
- Weather: rainy, 12° C (felt temperature)
- Given Name: The Damaged Forest Confluence
The story continues at 60°N 7°E.