Sælskletten and Sælsfjellet on Tofterøy (28.03.2020)

© Helwig Hauser

© Helwig Hauser

Note that this track has been created from memory, i.e., it was not recorded automatically.

Trip Summary

Another Saturday with a promise of cold but nice weather invited us to plan another hike near the North Atlantic, making this the third in a row, after our nice hike to Brotavarden from Telavåg and our excursion to Ternneset from Kausland. This time, our goal was to hike a little round on Tofterøy, far in the southwest of Sotra. After following road 555 southwards, we turned right (onto road 200 towards Tofterøy) and passed over the narrow bridge (Tofterøybrua), after first havig waited for two horses to finish their (partially stressed) passage over the bridge. :-) On Tofterøy, we then followed the road until we came close to Trælevika. There, just north of Storavatnet, we parked and started our hike. The first goal of our hike was Sælskletten in the southeast of where we had parked. In order to find the needed trailhead, we had to walk back along the road for a few meters. Soon after, we had left the road and started enjoying a nice hike across Tofterøy. While the weather was indeed nice, it also was very windy (with a strong, cold wind from the north). After some minutes of nice walking, we started to see Sælskletten not far from us. Even though this little height is not high at all, it still stands out of its surrounding with a significant cliff on its western side. Within short, we found ourselves on the "top" of Sælskletten, enjoying some nice views from there. Next, we wished to connect to Sælsfjellet, not far from Sælskleppen. Since we had already deviated from the trail, when ascending to Sælskleppen, we continued "through the wild" towards Sælsfjellet (quite straight-forward to cross the terrain). A little while later, we then arrived at Sælsfjellet, enjoying (again) some nice views from up there. Especially the views towards the south are worth enjoying! :-) From Sælsfjellet, we then descended along a nice, proper trail towards the road, south of Sælsfjellet. Instead of directly walking back along the road, however, we first made a short detour to a little height southwest of the road, from which we had a really nice view down to Vestra Sælsvika (and further to Austevoll across Krossfjorden). In order to get to the outermost point, however, we had to cross over a significant gap and to do so we needed to first find a spot, where this was possible (some 100m were enough to find such a spot). Once there, we sat down and enjoyed some bread and cheese while looking down onto Hummelsundet and Vestra Sælsvika. Nice! Once done with our small lunch, we headed back northwards and connected back to the road quickly. After following the road into nearby Hummelsund, we found the trailhead which leads along a historic path northerwards from Hummelsund (towards Storavatnet). After passing by the remains of an old mill (maybe), we soon came close Litlavatnet (the southern part of Storavatnet). From there we connected back to our parked car, hiking along the western side of Storvatnet. All in all, and despite of the cold and strong wind, we really enjoyed this nice day on Tofterøy! :-)

Photos

Selected photos are available as Google photo album.

Useful Resources

See also the related FB-page Hiking around Bergen, Norway.
Web page UT.no from the Norwegian Trekking Association recommends a similar hike, not including Sælsfjellet though.