One of my favorite ways of clearing my head and getting my creative juices flowing, is simply walking my dog. It can do me a world of good if I’m stuck on a particular scene, tired of staring at the screen and willing my brain to work, or simply feeling uninspired. On even just a short walk around the neighborhood, I can feel my batteries recharge. Sometimes though, I need more.
So a few weeks ago, along with a friend and fellow chihuahua owner, I decided to go hiking on some of the many mountains surrounding my home town of Bergen. We set our sights on ‘Vidden’, which is a 14-15 km walk from the top of Mount Ulriken, to the top of Mount Fløyen. Now, you can, of course, start at Mout Fløyen, but it requires a bit more going uphill than the other way around. If you’re fit and want a challenge, you can hike up Mount Ulriken as well, but we took the cable car instead.
Our initial plan was to walk down from Mount Fløyen, but after relaxing with something cold to drink at the restaurant on top of the mountain, we decided to just get the Funicular (Fløybanen) down. The whole hike took about 7 hours, breaks included, and the views were stunning. I sometimes forget just how much amazingly inspirational nature I have but a thirty minute drive from my own front door.
Aside from the inspiration I find in being out in nature alone, this hike also gave me a good insight into how transportation over vast mountain ranges could be done. How trails wound through the landscape, and how in some places you may not even be able to travel the shortest route by horse. As I’m still buried deep under a proverbial mountain of reasearch and worldbuilding for my fantasy world, it’s the little things like this that keeps me going.
If you’re planning a trip to Bergen, and want to have a look at the city from above, I can highly recommend this hike. Anyone in decent shape can do it, just make a day of it, and enjoy. For more information, click here to check out VisitBergen’s page about the hike (not a promotional link).