Prekestolen (The Pulpit rock)

With the boat tied up in Egersund, we decided to do a bit of hiking in the area around Stavanger. One of the most visited places in the vicinity is called the Pulpit rock or Prekestolen in Norwegian. I had to show Lauren what proper Norwegian nature looks like and Prekestolen never fails to impress. Frode was supposed to come along, but he hit the town the night before with Iselin (my half-sister) and was severely hung-over and in no mood or condition to go hiking.
We grabbed a pair of bikes and rolled down to the ferry terminal. When I say we grabbed a pair of bikes, we really did. Lauren borrowed my mom’s and I, well, I “borrowed” a bike from one of my mom’s neighbors … but the neighbor never knew that I borrowed it. Hey, if you don’t lock your bike … Anyways, it was returned in a better shape than when I found it, because I filled the tires with air, so no foul.
We were lucky with the ferry we caught, because it corresponded with a bus that drove us straight up to the Prekestolen hytta or a hostel that lies at the beginning of the trail. While Lauren waited for the bus I biked like a madman to the nearest store to buy some supplies for the hike. Had I taken a minute longer we would have missed the bus, but I didn’t, so we had both water and a bunch of pastries and rolls to snack on. We grabbed a coffee at the hostel and started on the 2 hour hike to the Pulpit. We were lucky with the weather, because it didn’t rain and with no fog either we could really enjoy the views the trail offered.
The Pulpit is breathtaking and even though I’ve been there a number of times it never fails to impress. The crazy 600 meter drop straight down looks amazing when you lie on your stomach and pop your head over the edge. There was a cold draft at the top, so we didn’t stay long, but we did get all the obligatory shots.
We managed to dodge the crowds as we made our way up and down and had a great hike. When we returned to Stavanger we headed to my mom’s apartment and made an excellent dinner. My mom was out of town and kindly let us borrow her apartment. We were able to chill out and get back on top of our game again. The forecast was looking promising for setting sail on the 22nd, so we returned to Egersund to spend the weekend there.