Hamrefjellet trail head at Nøttveit.
The de-tour from Bjørnevatnet path to Hamrefjellet summit.
| Hamrefjellet CCW from
Nøttveit Hamrefjellet |
| Estimated net time | 1 hour | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties; the whole route is done on path. | ||
| Drinking water | No reliable access to running water. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (August 2011). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at trail head car park. | ||
| Start height | 183 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 130 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 3.6 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Bergen centre drive south on road E39 and then 580 to the round about where roads 580 and 582 meet just north of Lagunen shopping centre. From the round about drive road 582 (Fanavegen) north 400 metres. Turn right onto Sætervegen and turn left after 200 metres, onto Hjortevegen. Follow Hjortevegen 650 metres to where it meets Apeltunvegen. Turn right and drive 500 metres. Turn left where signed "Smørås 2" and drive Smøråsvegen 1.0 km to where it widens considerable. Turn right onto Nøttveitvegen and drive 700 metres to road end. Park at the large car park on the right hand side of the road.
Start your hike by following the wide path past the gate just above the car park. Follow this path uphill, and on the right (west) side of lake Bjørnevatnet. After approximately 1.0 km the path turns east and climbs to the highest point of the path after another 500 metres. You can now leave the wide path and head right up to Hamrefjellet summit on a rougher path, which is signed. The distance from the main path to the summit is less than 100 metres. The summit is marked by a concrete cairn.
From the summit head back down to the main path and turn right in order to continue your counter clockwise hike around lake Bjørnevatnet. Approximately 1.1 km along the path you get to two paths forking left from the main path, a few tens of metres apart, of which the second is signed for Nøttveit. Turn left here, cross the small bridge across the stream, and take the second path left just above the bridge. This path takes you back to the west side of lake Bjørnevatnet, where you join the path where you ascended. Turn right here and continue back down to the carpark.
I did this hike last night, and had decided to do a morning run in order to capture the best route to Hamrefjellet by doing the short de-tour from the path around lake Bjørnevatnet. I set out just after 6am, while it was still a little dark, at least for taking photos, and completed the lap and summit visit in approximately 30 minutes. Then drove back to my hotel at Kokstad for shower and breakfast, before driving to work at Hagavik.
I travelled to Bergen for work this Monday, and after working hours I drove to Nøttveit in order to hike Hamrefjellet. I hadn't done this hike in more than 15 years, back when I used to live at Nøttveit. It was a grey evening, but quite mild and little danger of rain, so I was very much looking forward to this hike, or more precisely run.
When I used to live here I either did the run without visiting Hamrefjellet summit, or I passed the summit on a longer hike across the whole plateau. What I didn't know back then, and found out today, was how close the summit is to the main path running around lake Bjørnevatnet. So when I got to the summit via my "normal" route through dense and boggy forest I was very surprised to see the main path less then 100 metres from the summit. I also have a suspicion than 15-20 years ago there was forest between the summit and the path, but I cannot remember. But because of this discovery I decided, when completing my run, to re-visit Hamrefjellet the following morning in order to hike Hamrefjellet without having to battle with the boggy forest path.