Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
), then choose from one of many routes eastwards through Jotunheimen.
BESSEGGEN
No discussion of hiking in Jotunheimen would be complete without mention of Besseg-
gen ridge, the most popular hike in Norway. Indeed, some travellers find ittoopopular,
with at least 30,000 hikers walking it in the three months a year that it's passable.
However, it's popular for a very good reason and if you don't mind sacrificing solitude for
one of Norway's most spectacular treks, you won't regret it. Henrik Ibsen wrote of
Besseggen: 'It cuts along with an edge like a scythe for miles and miles…And scars and
glaciers sheer down the precipice to the glassy lakes, 1600ft below on either side.' One of
Peer Gynt's mishaps was a plunge down to the lake on the back of a reindeer.
about six hours and climbs to a high point of 1743m. Most people do it in this direction
but there's nothing to stop you doing it in reverse except that if you're planning on return-
ing to the trek start point, and your car, then you need to time your walk well in order to
get the last ferry back (4.30pm). From the carpark (Nkr100) at Gjendesheim hop on the
M/S Gjende
(
www.gjende.no
;
adult/child Nkr120/60; departures Gjendesheim-Memurubu
7.45am, 8am, 9.30am, 10.30am & 2.25pm, departures Memurubu-Gjendesheim 8.45am, 8.55am,
10am, 10.55am & 4.35pm) ferry that plies Gjende lake to Memurubu (adult/child Nkr120/60,
30 minutes,
departures Gjendesheim-Memurubu 7.45am, 8am, 9.30am, 10.30am and 2.25pm, de-
partures Memurubu-Gjendesheim 8.45am, 8.55am, 10am, 10.55am and 4.35pm). Note
that at busy times (which is most of the July to August period) long queues can form for
the ferry and the boats operate a near continuous service.
From Memurubu follow the signs steeply uphill. After much huffing and puffing you
emerge on a flatter plateau. The trail is very obvious and it would be hard to get lost. The
route winds past Bjørnbøltjørn, a small glacial lake, and offers amazing views down to the
much larger, turquoise Gjende lake, which gains its extraordinary colour thanks to the
20,000 tonnes of glacial silt dumped into it each year by the Memuru River. After an un-
dulating couple of hours you reach the steepest part of the climb up onto the Besseggen
ridge proper. From afar this looks very narrow and precarious, and although you do have
to do quite a lot of scrambling and have a head for heights, it's actually not as hard, or
narrow, as it seems from a distance. Once up onto the ridge the route climbs gently
