Sande Camping to Bødalsæter
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Sande Camping
Welcome to this guided tour to Bødalsæter. The tour runs alongside Lovatnet with a fantastic view of the mountains, glacier arms and waterfalls. In the height of summer there can be a lot of traffic on the road to Lodalen, so please drive carefully. Along the way, you will find out a little information about some of the places along the way that we hope will be of interest. Have a nice trip!
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Points of interest
#1
Lovatnet
For large parts of the trip over the valley, we will drive alongside Lovatnet Lake. The lake is around 11km long, and at its deepest is 138 metres deep. If you fancy some fresh trout for dinner, then you should put aside some time for a short fishing trip, there are a lot of trout in this lake. And best of all, it is completely free to fish here! During the summer, the lake increases in volume due to the snow melting in the mountains, and the lake takes on a special bluegreen colour. The colour comes from the sludge and sediment that the glacial rivers bring with them. Despite this being a glacial lake it can have quite pleasant bathing temperatures, once the sun has warmed it up. And then then you can feel like you are bathing in southern latitudes along the whole of the lake. For many ,Lovatnet is a magical instagrammable image both in summer and winter. The lake can be a fascinating sight both on a glorious summer day and when the winter storms are at their worst.
#2
Breng sæter
Here you can see the idyllig sæter, or summer farm Breng. The sæter belongs to the Sæten farm that is located further down in the village. In earlier times this was a busy working farm with a lot of grazing animals. After several years without animals, there are now beef cattle grazing here once again in the summer. The well kept farm houses or ‘sela’ at Breng have been extensively photographed and the image is often used for advertising purposes, and it is also an extremely popular photo stop for tourists. In recent times it has become one of the most popular instagram images of Lodalen. The area around the sæter is regulated as an outdoor and recreation area, but not for overnight accommodation.
#3
The Legend of Brengsbokkjen:
Once upon a time here at Breng there was a «Bokkje». A bokkje is a child that the parents didn’t want and who was abandoned in the woods to die (a myling). It could also be a child that was born out of wedlock and was killed by the mother at birth. The Breng Bokkje was renowned for scaring the fam girls. His scream was so horrible that it would send a cold chill down the spines of the people living on the farm and was considered forewarning of an accident. The Bokkje could take the form of a human or an animal. It was a common occurance that the cow disappeared in front of the farm girl when she was about to milk it, it was actually the Bokkje who had turned itself into a cow. Other times he would make himself so big that he would sit on the roof and his legs would dangle down on both sides of the walls. Sometimes, he would hold on to the boats so that they could not embark from their mooring when they were due to row home. After a while, the people decided they wanted to baptize the Bokkje so that they could be left in peace, so they got hold of a priest. He called out: What do you want to be called? What do you want to be called? But he received no answer. So he tried again, this time calling out: I’m immersing you in hope, either Guri or Jon «Jon» came the scream back from the forest, and since that day the Bokkje has left them in peace.
#4
Bødal crossroads
Here the road starts up to Bødalsæter. It is a 5km uphill drive taking us to nearly 600 metres above sea level. On the way up you will pass many beautiful waterfalls fed from the Bødal river, so make time for a couple of photo stops.
#5
Tverrelva
We are now about halfway to Bødalsætra, there is a deck laid here that often has water running over it and further down into the river. If you had a bridge here it would probably be destroyed by an avalanche every winter. The avalanches that occur here can be enourmous, and can happen many times over the course of a winter. It is these avalanches that to a large extent determine when it is possible to open the road to traffic again in the spring.
#6
Parking Area Bødalsæter
You have now come to the end of the road for the car journey, we have arrived at one of the gateways to the Jostedalsbreen National Park. From here up to the sætra is about a 10 minute walk on a good path. Right next to the carpark you might get a light shower from Huldrefossen waterfall which boulders down the rocks. Where you are now there is a powerful flow of water and it is a great photo opportunity. But please be aware that it can be wet and slippery on the grass, so don’t go too near the edge.
#7
Huldrehaugen
As mentioned, at Bødalsætra there is a mound known as Huldrehaugen. It lies around 150 metres away from the sela, and that was where the Huldre lived. There was a boy in Bødal who herded the animals, but one evening it was only the animals that came home. They searched for the boy, but he was nowhere to be found, and they were sure that it was the Huldre who had taken him. The only thing to be done was to ring the church bells, but Lodalen was so far away from the church that the bells couldn’t be heard. Instead they did the next best thing, they called out his baptized name: «Gabriel come out!». They found him next to a rock, and he recounted his story; he had fallen asleep next to Huldrehaugen, and had awoken when they called for him, at the same time, he saw two blue clad figures, who were laying him down. They had drilled him out of the huldrehaugen and laid him down where he was found. Some in Bødal believed his story, whilst others thought he had made it up to get out of herding. Nevertheless, his parents refused to let him go back to herding in the woods again and his brother had to take over. Gabriel was the brother of Sigurd Nesdal’s Great-Grandmother Ågot Bødal. She once found a beautifully patterned knitted sock that noone on the farm had seen before. She only found one and the other one never appeared. It was a bit strange, that one sock that noone had ever seen before, and many beleived that it was a Huldre sock!
#8
Bødalsæter
When we come into the sæter the valley will open itself up in front of you and you will see farm houses and sela lying in rows on the meadow. Behind the sela you can see outhouses with outdoor toilets. The sela belong to the main owner in Bødal, and in times gone by cows would have grazed here, and milk maids would have spent the whole summer up here to take care of the animals. There are still some farmers who have sheep and cattle grazing on the summer pastures here. In some areas there is a simple campsite for tents and hammocks. There is also a toilet which can be used by campers and day trippers. It is nice to take a rest or have a picnic at the campsite. Behind the sela there is a mound called ‘Huldrehaugen’, maybe that is where the underground huldra people lived?
#9
Huldra
At Bødalsætra there is a place called Huldrehaugen, and the waterfall next to the carpark is called Huldrefossen. And for that reason, it is likely that Huldra could be found in the area. There is a story set in Huldrehagen, retold in the book by Sigurd Nesdal «Lodalen beautiful and dangerous».
#10
Bødals Glacier
If you would like to spend more time in this beautiful valley then we would recommend a walk into the Bødals Glacier. The walk takes around an hour each way. On the way into the glacier you can clearly see from the landscape how the glacier previously stretched further down into the valley. A decade ago there were guided glacier walks and lots of glacier activity here, but today the glacier is too small for such types of activities. The summit hike to Lodalskåpa, which is also known as the «Queen of Vestlandet» has its starting point in this area, the hike requires a local guide.