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Trollstigen
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Trollstigen (English: The Troll
Ladder) is a road in Rauma, Norway. It is a popular tourist attraction due
to its steep incline of nine per cent and eleven hairpin bends up a mountain
side. It was opened on the 31st of July in 1936 by King Haakon VII after 8
years of construction time. The road up is very narrow and there are only
few posibilities where two cars can pass (improved some in the latest
years). |
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On the top there is big parking
place where you can walk for about ten minutes to get onto a viewing
balcony. There you will enjoy a great view over the road with its bends and
the waterfall. Stigfossen is a beautiful waterfall which falls 320 metres
down the mountain side. Trollstigen is closed during the fall and winter
months. A normal opening season stretches from the mid of May to October,
but may sometimes be shorter or longer due to changes in the weather
conditions. In the summer of 2005 the road was repaired and about 16 million
NOK was spent on protection against rockfall, making the road a lot safer to
drive on. |
Klovstien
The old "Klovstien" (packhorse
road) over Trollstigen has for several hundred years been an important means
of travel between Sunnmore and Romsdal. No one knows for certain how old
this track is, but Klovstien is named as a main road for the first time in
1766. |
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It is said that horse dealers
from Valldal and other places in Sunmore always took lads with them to help
out on this difficult and hazardous journey. The day that a boy could manage
to lead a horse by himself down the dangerous Klovstien, he was no longer a
boy - he had become a man. |
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One of the main reasons that
people carrie over the mountain was the annual "martna'n" (fair) at
Veblungsnes - though some risked their horses being injured and their
trading spoil t on account of the hazardous journey. Many people were
pleased when it was decided in 1891 to improve the road. Highways Director
Sievers states at that time that the road would be of great benefit to the
gentry of Sunnmore and Romsdal - as well as to the tourist trade!
Klovstien breathes history, hardship anddrama. Cows and horses have ended up
in
the waterfall Stigfossen and people have perished on the journey over the
mountain. A cattle dealer tells how he once went this way over Trollstigen,
on
his way to the Romsdal. Fair, with 47 cows all bound to each other!
The old Klovstien track is now restored and signposted, and offers a
wonderful experience of the landscape. From its starting point at Bosetra in
Isterdalen the Klovstien track proceeds through damp and thickly-grown
woodland. Towards the edge of the woods the path passes the old cable bridge
and now deserted "setrer" huts once used by those looking after animals on
the high summer pastures. Once out of the woods, a new and impressive
landscape opens out. The steep mountain side towers above, while the Istra
River hurls itself over the precipice before settling down for its gentler
process through the valley to the fjord. The climb up to the Stigfoss
(Waterfall) Bridge is somewhat steep and exposed, but is well secured with
chains. The walk up to Stigrora (at the head of the waterfall) normally
takes about 1.5 hours. From Stigrora the Klovstien path climbs steadily into
a barren high-mountain landscape. The Klovstien path is restored as far as
the Slettvikane "seter", which is usually about an hour's walk beyond
Stigrora.
We can promise a special experience - and many photo opportunities. |
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