S TO R I E S F R O M

AU R L A N D S DA L E N

Emergency phonesAmbulance : 113Fire department : 110Police: 112

Turist information tlf: + 47 992 31 500 www.sognefjord.no

Transport www.en-tur.noTaxi: +47 90 13 08 08

Fishingpermit to be bought at e.g - www.inatur.no- the huts- the tourist info. in Aurland

HIKING TIPS:• Handy to bring with you: plenty of food, rainproof

clothing, walking stick if you have bad knees.

• Follow the marked paths.

• Wear appropriate footwear, the path may be both wet and slippery, and you have to cross a few rivers.

• Don’t leave your waste behind: waste includes bottles, toilet paper and packaging.

• It may be a good idea to rest and stretch your muscles at Sinjarheim before starting the harsh descent.

• Be aware that some of the valley lacks mobile phone coverage, especially between Vetlahelvete and Vassbygdi.

• Minimize campfire impacts.

• Respect wildlife and livestock; dogs always have to be kept on a leash between April 1st and November 1st.

• Close any gates you pass through as livestock escaping creates major issues.

KONTAKTINFORMASJON

HISTORIC WALKS:

Historic Walks is a collaboration between The Norwegian Trekking Association and the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage which raises the profile of old roads and encourages their use for hiking. The chosen paths ensure great recreational experiences combined with exciting cultural heritage. We have unveiled 11 Historical Walks since 2015, each with a different story to tell. Cultural heritage and both known and forgotten stories have been collected on the way and made available on information boards along the paths.

Aurlandsdalen is a cooperation project between: DNT Oslo og omegn, Friends of Aurlandsdalen og Nærøyfjorden wourld heritage park.

The project is supported by the bank DNB and the Norwegian Environment Agency and all the paths have been created in collaboration with local tourist businesses and other organisations.

This wild and beautiful valley surrounded by its tall mountains has been extremely valuable throughout time. The valley of Aurlandsdalen which stretches from Aurland to Hol is one of the old roads connecting Western and Eastern Norway. It was used as a farm road, road to the seasonal farms, to move livestock and later as a walking trail.

SETTLEMENT:As late as 1850 there were a total of 11 farms and crofts in the valley of Aurlandsdalen – Almen, Sinjarheim, Teigen, Berekvam, Skorsgarden, two at Nesbø, Vikaneset, Aurviki and several farms at Østerbø. The families that lived on the mountain farms mainly made their living off livestock, growing some produce and reindeer hunting. They were dependent on the resources available in the mountains. The mountain people were gripped by the promise of a better life in the United States of America and none of the farms are inhabited in the present day.

You will find some information boards along the historic path.

FAUNA:The high mountain area had and still has valuable hunting grounds for Norwegian reindeer, and you can find trout in the watercourses. The number of deer in the wood clad hills have risen sharply in recent times. There are also several other animals such as wolverines, foxes, martens, weasels, mink and otters. There are also livestock such as sheep and goats. The largest bird that nests in the valley is the golden eagle, others are e.g. the common kestrel and the willow warbler.

FLORA: The different types of rock and the locale climate means the valley has a rich flora. Lowest down you find the heat seeking elm and ash trees, the alder wood may stretch as high as 800m.a.s.l. where the birch wood is dominant. The pyramidal saxifrage decorates the mountain walls throughout the valley. Useful plants include oregano, rhodiola rosea and blueberries.

LIFESTOCK TRADE AND TRAVEL:The road was important as it connected the seasonal farms and farms. Eventually livestock were also brought up the valley to the juicy grazing areas in the mountain. In autumn the animals were driven down to Eastern Norway where they were sold. There were several places used as rest stops travelling up the valley of Aurlandsdalen, often called “Frivoll”. It would take approximately 14 days to drive the livestock to Eastern Norway.

Later the road became important for horse packing, transporting resourses back and forth to the summer farms and the accommodations at Østerbø and in the valley of Stemmerdalen. The car road was finished in 1974.

THE HISTORIC WALKAURLANDSDALEN

VASSBYGDI - ØSTERBØLENGTH: 17 kmTIME: ca 7 hoursLEVEL: challenging path (red)SEASON: June, July, August, September

NESBØGALDEN: When Asta and Henning H. Tønsberg visited the valley of Aurlandsdalen in 1910 it was easier to travel via “tregalden” rather than across the mountain via Myrane between Østerbø and Nesbø. SKÅRI: The summer of 1955 was a warm one, and it was a pleasure to be at Skåri both in spring as well as autumn. It was like a holiday for the school age children to travel to the summer farms and leave day to day life in the village behind, even though it was hard work.SINJARHEIM: It wasn’t just the vegetation in the valley that proved fruitful. When the family from Sinjarheim moved to the village there were 15 of them in total. Their love for their farm did not diminish and it was used as a summer farm. The Sogn School of Organic Agriculture and Horitculture (SJH) still use Sinjarheim as a summer farm, and it holds a special place in the hearts of many. BY NESBØ: Johannes Midje was one of the people who travelled the road to and from the tourist cabins several times with his packhorse. He knew every “tivesja” (local name for a body of water that never freezes), marker, rest stop and bridge along the way like the back of his hand.

1

4

2 3

FOTO

: Hen

ning

H. T

ønsb

ergs

sam

ling,

Nas

jona

lbib

liote

ket

FOTO

: ukj

ent f

otog

raf,

gam

alt p

ostk

ort

FOTO

: U

kjen

t tur

ist

FOTO

: fot

ogra

f ukj

ent,

gam

alt p

ostk

ort

Næ

røyfj

orde

n ve

rdsa

rvpa

rk

1

2

3

4

NKa

rtgr

unnl

ag: K

artv

erke

t 201

9, sa

man

satt

av

Næ

røyfj

orde

n Ve

rdsa

rvpa

rk 2

019

1.

Friv

odl:

Or ”

Friv

oll”

wer

e re

st s

tops

for t

he m

en

driv

ing

the

lives

tock

alo

ng th

e ro

ad th

roug

h th

e va

lley.

The

y al

so re

sted

in H

eim

rebø

, Au

rvik

ji, H

åber

gsho

lene

and

the

valle

y of

St

emm

erda

len.

2.

Konn

shed

lere

n: A

t tim

es u

sed

as a

sto

rage

pl

ace

for g

rain

s.

3.

Kjer

ring-

uri (

the

wife

scr

ee):

Loca

l leg

ends

say

th

at o

ne o

f the

ow

ners

at A

lmen

dis

pose

d of

so

me

of h

is w

ives

dow

n th

is s

cree

.

4.

Alm

en: S

mal

ler f

arm

, inh

abite

d un

til 1

890.

Lat

er

used

as

a su

mm

er fa

rm.

5.

Kald

ahol

et: A

kal

daho

l (a

cold

hol

e) is

a h

ole

in a

mou

ntai

n or

scr

ee th

at h

as th

e sa

me

cool

te

mpe

rate

all

year

roun

d.

6.

Sinj

arhe

imsg

alde

n: R

oad

blas

ted

thro

ugh

the

mou

ntai

n in

186

3.

7.

Sinj

arhe

im: T

he fa

rm w

as ru

n up

unt

il 19

21.

From

196

4 on

war

ds it

has

bee

n us

ed a

s a

sum

mer

farm

and

hay

field

. Sog

n Sc

hool

of

Org

anic

Agr

icul

ture

and

Hor

itcul

ture

resu

med

su

mm

er fa

rmin

g th

ere

in 1

992.

8.

Svin

asle

tti:

Tive

sja.

Tiv

esja

is th

e lo

cal n

ame

for

a w

ater

sou

rce

that

nev

er fr

eeze

s. It

was

a re

st

stop

for t

he li

vest

ock

driv

ers

trav

ellin

g th

roug

h th

e va

lley.

9.

Teig

en: I

nhab

ited

until

189

7 w

hen

the

fam

ily

mov

ed to

Sin

jarh

eim

. Lat

er u

sed

as a

sum

mer

fa

rm.

10.

Stor

emur

en: T

he w

all a

nd b

last

ing

of th

e m

ount

ain

abov

e su

pplie

d a

road

alo

ng th

e riv

er.

11.

Skor

sgar

den:

Inha

bite

d un

til 1

789.

12.

Søta

vatn

et: T

ives

ja

13.

Euge

nhel

lere

n: A

ccor

ding

to lo

cal l

egen

ds, o

n es

peci

ally

rain

y au

tum

n ev

enin

gs y

ou w

ould

he

re m

eet a

man

who

car

ried

his

head

und

er

his

arm

.

14.

Vetla

helv

ete

(Litt

le H

ell):

Pot

hol

e («

Jett

egry

te»

In N

orw

egia

n as

the

belie

f was

thes

e ho

les

wer

e m

ade

by je

tter

[tro

lls])

with

a b

ody

of

wat

er to

whi

ch s

ever

al m

yths

are

att

ache

d.

15.

Gru

nnla

ushe

llere

n: “L

ikbj

ørki

”, th

e co

rpse

birc

h,

stoo

d he

re. I

t was

giv

en it

s na

me

at a

tim

e w

hen

you

had

to h

ang

the

dead

from

the

tree

at

nig

ht to

pro

tect

them

aga

inst

pre

dato

rs

durin

g th

e di

fficu

lt jo

urne

y to

the

grav

eyar

d in

Au

rland

.

16.

Bere

kvam

sbre

nnev

inet

: Tiv

esja

.

17.

Bere

kvam

sbru

i: Ro

ad le

adin

g to

the

vehi

cle

road

in th

e va

lley

of B

erda

len.

The

road

was

us

ed a

lot b

y th

e liv

esto

ck d

river

s in

the

valle

y of

Ste

mm

erda

len.

18.

Bere

kvam

: The

farm

whe

re th

e “H

uldr

a”

(myt

holo

gica

l cre

atur

e ak

in to

a n

ymph

) liv

es.

Inha

bite

d un

til 1

854.

19.

Hei

mre

bø: O

lder

set

tlem

ent.

Freq

uent

ly u

sed

as a

rest

sto

p an

d ov

erni

ght a

ccom

mod

atio

n by

the

lives

tock

driv

ers.

20.

Hol

mab

erge

t: Th

e ro

ad w

as b

last

ed in

195

2 in

or

der t

o m

ore

easi

ly tr

ansp

ort h

oove

d an

imal

s.

21.

Sønd

reli:

Gra

zing

are

a fo

r the

live

stoc

k at

the

sum

mer

farm

of H

olm

en. O

ld ro

ads

wen

t ove

r th

e su

mm

er fa

rm o

f Hol

men

and

dow

n to

H

eim

rebø

and

Bjø

nnst

igen

.

22.

Grim

evol

len

or ”G

rimev

odle

n”: W

as a

rest

sto

p fo

r the

live

stoc

k dr

iver

s tr

avel

ing

thro

ugh

the

valle

y w

ith th

eir l

ives

tock

.

23.

Bjøn

nstig

vard

en: M

ade

fam

ous

by th

e pa

inte

r Jo

hann

es F

linto

e w

hen

he p

aint

ed “A

Vie

w fr

om

Bjøn

nstig

vard

en” o

n hi

s w

ay th

roug

h th

e va

lley

in 1

819.

The

pai

ntin

g ha

ngs

in th

e N

atio

nal

Gal

lery

in O

slo.

24.

Dal

arst

eige

n: T

he n

ame

tells

us

that

the

paym

ent f

or w

orki

ng th

is h

ayfie

ld w

as o

ne

«dal

ar»,

an

olde

r Nor

weg

ian

silv

er c

oin.

25.

Bjød

naho

la (T

he B

ear c

ave)

: It’s

told

that

the

last

bea

r hun

ted

in th

e va

lley

was

kill

ed h

ere.

26.

Nes

bø: I

nhab

ited

until

app

roxi

mat

ely

1911

.

27.

Nes

bøga

lden

: Roa

d bl

aste

d th

roug

h th

e m

ount

ain

side

in th

e 19

30s.

Prev

ious

ly p

eopl

e co

uld

trav

el o

n “t

rega

ld” a

nd in

“Nes

bøst

igen

”.

28.

Viki

: Old

farm

nam

ed A

urvi

ki w

ith th

e cr

oft o

f Vi

kane

set.

The

fam

ily le

ft fo

r the

USA

in 1

882.

Th

ere

was

als

o a

rest

sto

p he

re.

29.

Øst

erbø

(val

ley

of A

urda

len)

: The

re w

ere

seve

ral

farm

s he

re. I

nhab

ited

until

app

roxi

mat

ely

1906

. Th

e m

ount

ain

peop

le h

ad th

eir g

rave

yard

, a

test

amen

t to

how

diffi

cult

a jo

urne

y it

was

to

get t

o th

e vi

llage

and

the

chur

ch.

30.

The

valle

y of

Ste

mm

erda

len:

Hom

e to

the

lives

tock

driv

ers

for g

ener

atio

ns. T

he fa

rmer

s ha

d rig

hts

to u

se it

for g

razi

ng. S

ever

al

build

ings

rem

ain

as m

emor

ies

of w

here

the

lives

tock

driv

ers

of S

tem

mer

dale

n sp

ent t

he

sum

mer

mon

ths.

Aba

ndon

ed

farm

Aba

ndon

ed

sum

mer

farm

Att

ract

ion

View

poin

tPa

rkin

gTr

ain

stat

ion

Bus

stop

His

toric

Wal

kO

ther

mar

ked

path

sO

ld p

aths

N

atio

nal P

ark

Serv

iced

tour

ist c

abin

Self-

serv

ice

tour

ist c

abin

Cam

ping

faci

litie

sRe

fres

hmen

tsU

thus