Tricycling an abandoned railway and climbing up Preikestolen

Tricycling Flekkefjord to Sira station

If one had to choose between all the activities you could do in Flekkefjord, then it would have to be tricycling the old abandoned railwayline from Flekkefjord to Sira’s disused train stations. It is 17km long going through 17 tunnels with vistas on lakes and fjords passing through small villages, hamlets and farm houses. 

Jamie and I at Flikkeid station - half-way point.
Few things though – the prospectus/leaflets depicted it as an easy activity for all the family and for all levels of fitness... Well, Jamie and I both thought that it’d be hard for some as the cycle ride on the way is uphill – you don’t actually realise how much uphill it goes until you turn around! If you meet people who are going the opposite way, you also have to lift the tricycle – I couldn’t even lift it a little – I felt awful as I couldn’t help Jamo, he had to do it all on his own!




Price for two tricycling it up: 250kr



Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock)

Preikestolen is a huge cliff protruding 604 metres above Lysefjorden. The 4km hike up to it is definitely worth it, but quite a challenge at times. Jamie and I went up to it on Tuesday 27 August. Being the tail end of the Summer, we thought that the coaches load of tourists would have disappeared, but it wasn’t the case. It wasn’t too bad though.

It was a melting pot; we crossed and heard so many nationalities whether en route or up on the cliff; Germans, Russians, Koreans, Lithuanians, Swedes, Spanish, French, Americans, Africans and many more. Biting into our well deserved home-made sandwiches or should I say “campervan-made”, you could really notice the different characters coming out posing for a photograph at the very end of the cliff; you had those who did funny poses, those who star jumped (CRAZY!), those who sat with their feet dangling over the edge, those who did yoga poses, those who laid their body with their head dangling over the edge; somehow I did manage the latter and walked near the edges of the cliff which gave Jamie the willies a lot!

Has the background been Photoshoped?!
I say “somehow” as I’ve had vertigo in my youth – back in the days when I was six on a school trip to Paris, I couldn’t follow my friends walking up the stairs to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower – walking up to the first floor had been a challenge trying to avoid the many holes in the old metallic staircase. With age, my vertigo doesn’t seem to be as bad anymore; I did get scared a little up on the rock, but the 180 degree view of the fjord is amazing.

The hike up is not for the faint-hearted, it took us nearly two hours to go up and about an hour back down. Nearly back to the start of the hike on the way down, I felt sorry for an American lady going up whom I overheard asking her friends how long she still had to go! I thought, “Bless her, it’s still a long way up and she hasn’t done the hardest part.” I do hope she did it ok.

Price: 100Kr for the car park.

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