Dronningstien Hike - the Queen’s Path - Midtsommer - Mediterranean to the Fjords

July 11, 2023

Dronningstien Hike - the Queen’s Path

Today we took a day off the bicycles, Anderson style; which means we went for a hike. Indeed, I think Rachel and Scott might have been impressed by the Dronningstien, also known as the Queen's hike as it is a favourite of hers. Gotta love a country whose Queen hikes 21km up and across the plateau above the Hardanger Fjord.

Norway is nation of hearty hikers. At 7:30am the dining room was filled with fit people in shorts and boots, most around our age. Steve got into the spirit of a Scandinavian breakfast by trying many of the buffet items including smoked mackerel, pickled herring, beets, blue cheese and various processed meat products, all on those big, rye crackers. Following the recommendation from the guidebook and the staff at the Hostel, we booked the shuttle bus which took us from Lofthus to Kinsarvik and part way up the access road. From there it was about an hour of moderate hiking to get up above the tree line and onto the lower plateau. While we had started in low cloud, by mid-morning the ceiling had lifted and at times the sun even peeked out. Although it seems cliché to say, the scenery really was spectacular. (See Photos). We stopped and took pictures of the views up the path, over onto the plateau and, most impressive of all, down into the Fjord below. We were just able to keep pace with a Norwegian family, including 3 boys under 10 and a white-haired grandfather, and the mom who took the iconic photo of the two of us on a magnificent outcrop. About three hours in, we crossed the pass at 1100m and ate our lunch looking at Lofthus way below in the distance. But the weather had changed and a steady rain had blown in making the steep descent harder than the morning's climb. Any complaints about the weather we kept to ourselves when we met up with three formidable English ladies who had just finished swimming in one of the alpine ponds. "It's really not that cold".

It was 4:30 by the time we limped into the Hostel and we were beat. While the literature says it is a 16 km hike, we figure that must start and end at a trailhead because we hiked at least 20km and we took a shuttle bus. We had not turned on the GPS for the hike, so our actual distance is still up for debate. Ann's step counter showed 22.4km, while Steve's showed 19.7 (which proves the inaccuracy of that method, if nothing else).

Cooking supper in the communal kitchen we met our English friends again who had gone for a dip in the Fjord after the hike. Very impressive!