Rallarvegen: A hike on the rails

A walk through railway history in Norway from Haugastøl to Flåm.
12th of August to 14th of August 2022.
Distance: 85.8km. 3 days.

One of the most famous railway lines in Norway is Bergensbanen which is running between Oslo and Bergen, highlighted by its passage over the mountains in the centre of the southern part of the country. The most famous of the stations is Finse, situated at 1222m, and if one does not plan to travel there on foot, on skis (in wintertime) or on a bike, taking the train is the only way to get there. There are no public roads available to get there.

Nygardsvatnet, at the start of Rallarvegen from Haugastøl.

To build Bergensbanen, the workers needed a way to transport the necessary material and supplies, this became what now is known as Rallarvegen, named after the railway construction workers. ‘Rallar’, a Scandinavian term for a navvy (not to be mistaken for navy).

Nygardnøse.

In present day, this old route is now a passageway over the mountains that is very popular by bikers. At Haugastøl you can rent a bike, which you can return at the end of the trip at either Finse, Myrdal or Flåm. Popular places to spend the night on the way are Finse (where both a hotel and a staffed DNT cabin are available), the DNT cabin at Hallingskeid and the hotel at Vatnahalsen, unless a tent is the preferred way.

Nysetlægret.

Though, one can also walk it of course, and that is what I had in mind when I was looking for a short three-day hike in the vein of a long-distance trail. An early morning departure from the central train station in Oslo and some four hours later I found myself at Haugastøl, a deep breath of fresh air greeted me as I stepped out of the train.

Grytåni bridge over the Ustekveikja river.

The twisted suspension bridge before Oksebotn.

From Haugastøl it is about 27km to Finse, from there 19km to Hallingskeid, then 17km to Vatnahalsen. And from Vatnahalsen down to Flåm there is 20km, which also will include walking on paved roads. A total of 83km. I will have to be at Flåm in two days, before my train departs back home, although where I spend the nights between are still unknown.

Oksebotn, an old guard house next to the old railway line, now a café for the bikers and other passers-by during the season.

As Rallarvegen was built for transporting goods and supplies, and is now mainly used by bikers, the path is wide and easy to walk on. From the start it is slowly winding its way up into the mountains, following close to the Bergensbanen railway line. Expect to see the train hurrying by while you walk or bike next to it, which always is an excitement.

Rallarvegen meandering ahead next to where the Bergensbanen railway appears out of a tunnel.

Mountain cabins with Hardangerjøkulen in the background.

The hike starts off gently next to the Nygardsvatnet lake, with the sky in the horizon having a gloomy tint to it in the beginning. Soon passing by Nygard, once a vacated mountain farm and the last settlement of the Hallingdal valley. During the construction of the railway this farm was used as a place where the construction workers or other involved people could get food or accommodation, and use as a resource for knowledge about the mountains.

Hardangerjøkulen seen from across the Finsevatnet.

At the beginning there are several cabins visible from the path, but as the route ventures deeper into the mountains they become more and more scarce. Some of them are old pastures houses, others are cabins that was used as guard houses.

Finse, at 1222m, the highest point of the Bergensbanen railway line.

Many of these old guard houses are interesting places to visit while either hiking or biking on the trail. Some of them even functions as cafés during the season, where one can buy drinks both hot and cold, as well as food like waffles (a Norwegian tour favourite, not to be mistaken with the Belgian kind). The first one these that I arrive at is Oksabotn, where one also can find an old barracks for the construction workers and a house used by the engineers of the railway. Old tools and signboards adorn the wall, which is otherwise worn by the weather. Whilst drinking a hot coffee you can wave to the passengers on the trains passing by.

Hardangerjøkulen as seen when leaving Finse.

Winter can be hard in the mountains and makings its toll on both the people and buildings up here. Close to the trail, I pass by a suspension bridge over the Ustekveikji river. It is all twisted around, as if a giant has played ‘hoppetau’ with it. It might be possible to cross over it, but it looks kind of precarious.

Moon over Rallarvegen from Sandåvatnet.

After several hours of walking through this beautiful mountain scenery, I reach Finse, the final approach going through Finsefetene. These are wetlands created by the sediments from the rivers coming down from the glaciers, where there is a rich birdlife during spring. On the other side of Finsevatnet the majestic glacier of Hardangerjøkulen is rising up and being reflected in the calm lake.

Morning mist over Sandåvatnet on the second day.

Finse is the highest point on the Bergensbanen railway line at 1222m and a nexus for hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter. The place greets me as it always has, by its strange houses making me wonder who lives there for the place or who lives there for the work. The answer is probably both. Of the ice rink used by the famous Norwegian athlete Sonja Henie there are only faint remains left of. I take a longer break at the Finse 1222 hotel, having some beers and get a nice conversation with a father and daughter biking the Rallarvegen. They are living in the very place that I grew up in, Nærsnes.

Fagernut Vaktarbustad, also an old guard house now serving as a café during the season.

About an hour away from Finse I find a suitable place to camp on a promontory in the Sandåvatnet lake. Across the lake, warm lights are emanating from the windows of the old guard house Sandå.

Rallarvegen after Fagernut. The railway line seen to the left is the old Bergensbanen and is not in use today.

Next morning, a light mist is covering the lake, soon leaving a clear blue sky above. Another guard house, Slirå, is passed by after Sandå. This was also a metrological station, abandoned in 1964. The trail undulates its way towards the highest point, at 1343m, a spot where the bikers stop to catch the moment for the digital memories. Big patches of snow are still decorating the mountains. The waters and lakes are beckoning, but they do not offer any high temperatures despite being in the summer.

Inside an old railway tunnel, snow still in place and water dripping from the ceiling.

Fagernut is another old guard house, built in 1905. Outside bikers are basking in the sun, inside there is a small museum dedicated to Rallarvegen and another possibility for something to drink and eat.

On the way down towards Lågheller. The building is another old guardhouse, Grjotrust.

Walking on Rallarvegen next to the Låghellervatnet lake.

In modern times, the railway line does not go next to Rallarvegen after Finse as it did it in the old times, instead it is now going through a tunnel for about 10.3km. The old railway line is still clearly visible from where I walk now. Sometimes it is passing through tunnels, with snow blocking the entrances. At one of those, I venture inside the tunnel, having to climb over the snow to get in. The ground inside is icy and treacherous, and I do keep a little watch on the ceiling in case loose stones will fall down.

Approaching Kleivavatnet, a beautiful view with the top of Klevanosi at the back

At Lågheller the trail will be going next to the railway line again, but before that it descends steeply down from Grjotrust, care is needed when going down here as bikers may pass by at high speeds. Grjotrust is also one of the old guard buildings, now beautifully restored overlooking the Moldådalen valley below. Here the trail goes close to both the railway and Låghellervatnet lake.

Kleivavatnet.

From Hallingskeid, with its self-served DNT cabin, railway station with just a few train departures, old powerplant from the war and numerous cabins and small mountain farms, Rallarvegen is entering a wonderful section of the route. The walk next to Grøndalsvatnet and Kleivavatnet lakes is simply put beautiful, but it is what awaits at the end of the last lake that is the most awe-inspiring.

Kleivabrua bridge with Moldåfossane below.

First it is the impressive engineered Kleivabrua bridge, with the Moldåfossane waterfalls ‘buldrende’ underneath it. Then the steep and narrow Kleivagjelet leading you down towards the Seltuftvatnet lake, another section where care is needed. When the river is finally relaxing again there are several ponds inviting a dip in the water.

Steep descent for bikers on Kleivagjelet.

Walking next to the Seltuftvatnet and Reinungavatnet lakes the railway is going higher up in the mountains above. After a pleasant walk I arrive at Vatnahalsen Hotel. The first hotel was built here in 1896, but unfortunately that old and beautiful building burned down in a fire in 1940. As at Finse I take a longer break, enjoying the nice weather and a couple of beers.

Looking back while walking next to the Reinungavatnet lake.

Myrdal lies at the start of a valley without an exit. Here Bergensbanen is again disappearing into a tunnel on its way to Bergen and where the famous Flåmsbanen railway begins its popular journey down towards Flåm. I find a nice spot for my tent just down from the station with its old construction worker buildings.

Looking down at Flåmsdalen, with the tracks of the Flåmsbanen railway to the right.

Myrdal.

A chilly morning greets me on the third and final day, but it soon changes to a beautiful and warm day. From Myrdal and Vatnahalsen, the bikers and hikers will have to get down to the valley below if they are to reach the end of the journey at Flåm. Flåmsdalen lies 350m below and the path follows the 4 km long gravel road known as Myrdalssvingene, consisting of nothing less than 17 curves on its way down. If going down in curves does not attract you, one has the option of taking the Flåm Zipline, it goes in a straight but steep line down instead.

The waterfalls of the Myrdøla.

Nestled between the steep mountains, the Flåmsdalen valley is the home of several old mountain farms, the Flåmselvi river and at times the sound of the historical Flåmsbanen train passing by. There is little of traffic in the valley, but expect bikers to come hurrying by in the season.

Kårdal, an old farm at the end of the Flåmsdalen valley.

Kårdalsfossen waterfall.

Instead of following the gravel road, I opt for trying to follow where the old Rallarvegen was going. This leads me past the waterfall and old mountain farm of the same name, Kårdal. The path is faint, overgrown and uneven, sometimes hard to follow. Tall grass makes my legs wet, but the walk is beautiful. Even more when walking through a grove of birch when the sun reaches the valley floor. On the other side of the river, the sounds of the bikers are as prominent as the silence when they are not there.

The old Rallarvegen.

The trail now follows the road all the way down to Flåm. Walking down I am surrounded by the mountain sides, verdant at the bottom, granite grey at the top. Here and there old farms and mountain homesteads visible, as well as newer additions. At Tveiti the river is pummelling down a constructed hole in the mountain, angrily emerging below again, allowing both the railway and road to continue unhindered further. In the west side of the valley, the Rjoandefossen waterfall is making its free fall down the mountain side, creating rainbows where the water meets the sunlight.

Berekvam, the station below is where the trains going up and down can pass each other on the way.

Flåmsbanen is never far away on the walk down. The only section of the railway where there are double tracks are at Berekvam station, halfway down and where the trains going up and down are able to pass by each other.

Looking back at Flåmsdalsvegen.

It is hot when I arrive at Flåm, next to the old and fashionable Fretheim Hotel built in the late 18th century. Although I have not been alone on my hike from Haugastøl, it is nothing compared to the hustle and bustle that awaits me here. Flåm is a popular tourist destination. I have some time available before my train departs, so among the throng of people I enjoy a dinner and a couple of well-earned beers at Flåmbryggja while the sun is warming.

Rjoandefossen.

What better way to end my hike by taking the very same trains that Rallarvegen was built for. Taking the Flåmsbanen back up towards Myrdal is an enjoyable encore, looking back at where I walked down earlier, as well as seeing parts I did not see from my perspective on foot. The same goes for the journey back to Oslo on Bergensbanen, with familiar scenes from the last days keeping my memories fresh.

Detail from Flåm church.

Thoroughly satisfied with my hike of Rallarvegen, and so lucky with the weather. In terms of hiking through untouched wilderness, this might not be the hike for you, but it more than makes up for it with the historical buildings that one will be seeing along the way. It is a part of Norwegian railway history and while walking past the old buildings from the time of construction one cannot help but wonder how life must have been here during those times. And although adorned by the infrastructure of man, the scenery it still beautiful.

Huldra at Kjosfossen.

The Coast To Coast Walk: The weight of a stone across a country

A walk on The Coast To Coast Walk from St. Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay and then to Ravenscar in England.
15th of June to 28th of June 2022.
Distance: 433.1km. 14 days.

Below me the waves are breaking against the cliffs. Ahead of me a green meadow meanders towards the horizon, only interrupted by the steep edge of the cliffs. In the horizon I glimpse the top of a lighthouse. Above me the sky is dominated by a solitary blue sky. And somewhere across the ocean lies Ireland.

At the beach at St. Bees, the start of The Coast To Coast Walk.

It is the first day of another long-distance hike and I feel kind of exalted. Not just because of the excitement that I know lies ahead of me, but it also because it is the first walk abroad after the outbreak of the pandemic. A moment long awaited.

Gorgeous walking atop the cliffs of St. Bees Head.

According to tradition, I have dipped my shoes in the water, and I have picked up a stone. The stone will follow me on the walk to the other side of England. There I will again dip my shoes in the water and leave the stone that I have carried with me. Many a stone has in this way found their way from St. Bees at the Irish Sea to Robin Hood’s Bay at the North Sea. The reason for this is The Coast To Coast Walk, a 303 kilometres long trail designed by Alfred Wainwright in 1973. Since then, the trail has grown in popularity and is now one of the most famous routes in the world.

Great views of the Lake District from Green Gable, Ennerdale below.

On the first day on the trail, most hikers are content to end their walk at Ennerdale Bridge, just at the doorstep of the Lake District. By then The Coast To Coast Walk has impressed the hikers with the cliffs of St. Bees Head and given them a foretaste of what to come with the climb up Dent Fell, rewarding them with a 360 degrees panoramic view. I chose to cross over the doorstep and walk to Ennerdale YHA on my first day, walking next to Ennerdale Water and over Anglers Crag with rewarding views of the Lake District. I had heard a lot about the Lake District, but little I had seen of it. Only in the light of the rays of the sun breaking through the clouds from Cross Fell when I hiked The Pennine Way back in 2019.

One of the rare occassions when rain appeared during my hike across England, here from Helm's Crag.

It is in Lake District you find the highest mountain in England, Scafell Pike with its 978m, but The Coast To Coast Walk does not take you to the summit of that mountain, or too close to it. However, if you wonder if there is a lack of inclines while making your way through the National Park, there is no need to worry. I walk over one pass to another as I moves from the one scenic valley to the other. Of these, Borrowdale may be particularly mentioned. Part of the hike feels just like being in the mountains back home in Norway, only that I am at a lower altitude. The landscape is bare, in an altitude where I would have been walking under the cover of trees back home. Those trees that existed here, sailed away a long time ago.

Grisedale Tarn appearing from underneath the clouds.

On the second day, I chose to cut the distance short. Not the total distance, but the part of the trail that I do. I walk only to Rosthwaite, where the descent to the small village is particularly scenic. On the way, I detour off the trail to climb up to the summit of Great Gable, to great views. When first having time in the Lake District, I wanted to make sure that I got to the top of one of the iconic Wainwrights in the National Park. I make similar detours on my hike through the Lakes, but when I later ventured near Helvellyn, the fog lay heavy over the mountains.

On the climb up from Patterdale.

In the valleys there are small pleasant towns and villages, and for many a wanderer, a long awaited watering hole after a day out on the trail. It is also in these small villages that I spends the nights in. However, in the last night in the Lake District I stayed at the luxurious Haweswater Hotel. Of the sole reason that it was the only place available for countless miles around. The evening cost me a lot and a subsequently longer walk than planned the following day, but the stay was nothing to complain about.

The ruins of Shap Abbey.

Haweswater Reservoir in itself is an interesting place. Formerly two small lakes that were dammed up in order to provide water for Manchester, which led to the two villages of Measand and Mardale Green ended up underneath the water. When the water level is very low, this is a very popular destination, where the houses of Mardale village can appear up from the lake.

The cairns at Nine Standards Rigg.

I gaze up at the ruins of Shap Abbey beneath a gloomy sky. In Shap, the Coast To Coast walkers has left the Lake District and entered a part of the trail that could be filed under the transport stage moniker. A walk made extra long for my part, but it is a pleasant walk over heaths, moors, undulating fields, The Pennines in the horizon and past the well-known stone barns announcing that the route is moving into the Yorkshire Dales.

Walking down towards Ravenseat from the Nine Standards Rigg.

The Yorkshire Dales is characterized by its undulating ridges with extensive peat bogs and heath, but there is also another distinct change after the rocky confines of the Lake District. Where that National Park is characterized by hard granite, the Dales are known for its limestone.

Sunset at Tan Hill.

From Kirkby Stephen awaits Nine Standards Rigg, which houses nine cairns in a long row on its summit. No one knows exactly who built the cairns and why they were built, but there are plenty of theories out and about.

A patchwork of colours at Gunnerside Gill.

The path after Nine Standards Rigg holds an infamous reputation for being especially boggy as they say over there, ‘put your gaiters on’ was a piece of advice I got the day before.This is one of the few sections on the trail I where I walk together with other hikers on the Coast To Coast Walk, Mike from Canada and Steve from the United States, and it is a pleasant company.

The remains of old mines at Blakethwaite in Gunnerside Gill.

The Yorkshire Dales is also home to the highest situated pub in England, the Tan Hill Inn. It is not located directly on the trail, but it is on The Pennine Way which, as mentioned, I have hiked before. When I spent the night there at that time, I had arrived at the inn in a thunderstorm and heavy rain, which even got on the national news the following day as the weather had caused a bridge in a nearby village to collapse (in Grinton, which I would pass by later on this hike). The Pennine Way and The Coast To Coast Walk crosses their paths in the small pleasant village of Keld, and the great memories from that time led to me again wandering across the heaths to enjoy a beer, good food and another night up there. For dinner I ate a Yorkshire pudding so big that I was unable to finish it off, ‘Unfinished business’ they should have called the dish. In the evening I could watch small lights in the dark far away as the runners of the Spine Race appeared.

The 'Nunnery Steps' after Marrick Priory.

Back in Keld, the trail continues to Reeth, where the walk goes through a wonderful and peculiar landscape formed by the old mines in the area. It is a patchwork of colours on the hillsides and I pass by the remains of the mine buildings, in valleys both narrow and wide. Over one of the hills the hike goes past a scenery only as bleak and pale as the leftovers of man can make it.

Richmond.

Richmond is the biggest town the Coast To Coast Walk passes through, it is also home to a castle, small narrow streets and the largest horseshoe marked in England (sadly looking mostly like a parking lot). The way there is of an easier character but provides a new variation in the scenery. For the pilgrims out there, the path towards Richmond passes by the familiar waymarks from the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

Walking through an acre in the Vale of Mowbray.

At the top of Whitcliffe Scar, the Coast To Coast walkers will find the spot where Robert Willance made his famous fall. This spot lies not directly on the trail, but I walk up to the top of the cliffs where his horse panicked and bolted over the edge and fell 61m down when thick fog descended. When he came to, he found his horse dead and his legs broken. As the legend goes, Willance survived by cutting open his horse to put his broken legs inside in order to escape gangrene while waiting to be rescued. He later became the first alderman of Richmond.

At Mount Grace Priory, the ruins of the church.

Between Richmond and the North York Moors, the last national park on the route, lies the Vale of Mowbray. Here you are a distant sigh away from the mountains of Lake District and the rolling heaths of the Yorkshire Dales. Instead, a cultural landscape forms the backdrop of the walk. A part of the trail that provides an opportunity to calm down a bit before the final undulating hills on the trail.

Verdant passage through the Clain Wood.

Strangely enough, in a way, this is also the section of the trail that contains the greatest danger of the hike. Before the Vale of Mowbray one may have lost his way on the moors when the fog has mercilessly wrapped itself around one or one can have sunk deep into a peat bog, but here before Ingleby Arncliffe the hikers has to cross a four-lane busy highway. An old American couple who came just after me made it across safely too, but had to watch one of the sunhats get taken by a lorry hurrying by.

On the heaths of the North York Moors.

The North York Moors is the last national park the hikers pass through before they can get rid of the small weight they have been carrying with them. Here, the heather is coloured purple in late summer. Out in the open moorland one finds old crosses, walks on where the old Rosedale Ironstone Railway line went, and it is here while walking on the top of the undulating ridge of the Cleveland Hills that one gets the first glimpse of the North Sea.

Inside The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge.

At the foot of the Cleveland Hills lies Mount Grace Priory. I made my way down from the trail to the ruins of the old monastery that belonged to the order of the Carthusians. Here the monks lived as hermits and only met the other monks for prayer in the church, and the food they got was served to them through hatches so that they would not meet the person who came with the food. It is a world far away from the one that we live in now.

Robin Hood's Bay, The Bay Hotel and the end of The Coast To Coast Walk.

History repeats itself, also in shorter timespans. There are fewer available accommodations directly on the route through the North York Moors National Park. And like Shap earlier on the trail, there were almost no places to sleep to be found for miles around. I finally manages to get a bed in a remote bed and breakfast at Beak Hills. In quiet and peaceful surroundings, where I got the best sleep of my walk, but had to pay for it with another long hike the following day.

The ruins of Whitby Abbey.

I have used thirteen days on the walk and it has hardly been any rain during those days. In England, that feels like a stroke of luck. Not that it has not been raining, I do remember the walk up from Grasmere underneath heavy clouds filled with water, but it never lasted for a long time. On the last day, the worst of the weather was to come, but it made no more of it than two short and heavy showers, the last just before I arrived at the cliffs next to the North Sea.

With the North Sea on my left, the last part of The Coast To Coast Walk runs atop the cliffs towards and down to Robin Hood’s Bay. Over the North Sea, I can see the rain that passed over me continue its journey across the sea, it is a lovely sight. Eventually I look down upon the old fishing village.

Walking on the cliffs next to the North Sea.

At the bottom of the narrow streets of Robin Hood’s Bay, the trail ends at The Bay Hotel. And it is here the coast to coast walkers again dip their shoes in the water and throw the stone they have carried from St. Bees into the sea. One may have to go a little way out in the shoreline to be able to do it, the tide can be far out here. Or one can get it done before you reach the endpoint, at extra high tide the North Sea can flow into the lowest streets of the village.

Outside The Bay Hotel in the warming sun, I share the last stories from my journey with the other Coast To Coast Walk hikers present before we go our separate ways again.

Standing above Robin Hood's Bay, the end of a wonderful hike across England on The Coast To Coast Walk.

This is perhaps one of the most beautiful and varied hiking trails in England. From the cliffs of St. Bees it passes through the beautiful Lake District, before the heaths of the Yorkshire Dales with its moors and mines send you further through the Vale of Mowbray to the heather of the North York Moors. At last ending at the North Sea in Robin Hood’s Bay.