Last Saturday we took a little hike (it was more like a walk, though, since it was so easy) to the lower valley area between the two mountains Ulriken and Fløyen.
We were going in search of the Bogstifossen waterfall and some old farm ruins that are now part of a cultural trail. The ruins are numbered with names and placards with info and pictures at some spots, and the trail to get from ruin to ruin was marked well and easy to follow.
The Hardbakka farm area in Våkendalen originally had 4 farms on it. Settlement began around 1609 and they were occupied up until around 1908, with ownership changing often. The farms were purchased by the municipality of Bergen in 1898 to prevent contamination of the drinking water from the newly dammed lake below them. All woodwork from the farm’s buildings were demolished and the fields were planted with trees.
Here’s a picture from arstadposten.no that shows what the area looked like around the 1860s. This area is now very wooded and it was hard while standing among all the massive trees to wrap our minds around the fact that just a couple of hundred years ago, those trees weren’t there.
Photo credit for last 3 photos: Matt
Notes from Norway 