Falling out, luckily not off, at Pulpit Rock, Preikestolen
Zagan the motorhome is keeping quiet, as is Charlie (apart from the odd snore) because you could cut the atmosphere with a knife at our parking place by the mouth of the Lys fjord (N58.9105,E6.07761). The reason for the tension is just a short way further up the fjord and one of Norway’s top attractions – Pulpit Rock, or Preikestolen in Norwegian.
This morning we were up before the alarm could even think about going off. Today has been one of those days we have talked about for a while now, the day we climb to Pulpit Rock. Getting here feels a bit like we are putting the tail on Norway, to match the top we added by reaching Nordkapp over two months ago. We had originally planned to climb it on my birthday, after what happened today, I am so glad we didn’t.
In case you haven’t heard about Pulpit Rock, it’s a 25m x 25m square formation of rock overlooking the Lysefjord. What is so special about this rock is that it rises vertically 604m above the water with sheer cliffs on three sides. To reach it is an 8 kilometre round trip hike, so while it gets around 200,000 visitors a year, its relative inaccessibility means it isn’t packed.
It didn’t take us long to reach the parking from Jørpeland, and as it was still early the car park was very quiet. Charlie opted not to join us today, preferring to stay in Zagan, so we topped up his water bowl, closed the curtains, opened the skylight and promised him we’d be back for his lunch time.
We set off at 9.30am and were soon on the trail which was upgraded by Sherpas in 2014. It seems Sherpas have been brought in upgrade a lot of hiking paths in Norway (we walked one in Bodø too), and looking at it you have to be in awe of the amount of work that must go into them. The distance in height between the car park and the view is just over 330m, but as the path goes over ridges you’re climbing up or down for a lot of the route.
I can see Zagan from here
Seen loads of stick action today
Before long I was struggling to keep up with Jay. I know I’m nowhere near as fit as him, but today the only way I stood any chance of keeping up with him was concentrate on the path and ignore the views, which was no fun. Things got a bit better as the steep rock steps ended and we reached a plateau of smooth stones. In my mind I was keeping tabs on how many people we had over-taken vs how many had over-taken us, and by the time we reached the last few hundred metres to the top we were up having gone past several groups.
It felt like we were climbing up to the sky as we reached the top of the hike, ahead of us was the most amazing view down Lysefjord on our left and on our right the sheer sides of Pulpit Rock. The last couple of hundred metres was along a path that is about 3m wide; I kept on the outside edge to try to acclimatise myself to the height. I’m not a big fan of heights, I get the heebeegeebees on top of a climbing frame, but I was determined to stand and look over the edge once we were on the rock.
Almost there…
There it is
Walking onto the huge square it became clear that there were three types of folks up there. Those who were sitting at the back, as close as possible to safety, those who were sitting on a ridge in the middle and those who were hanging their feet or peering off the edge (this group also includes those jumping by the edge and standing taking selfies) – four types if you count the bloke flying a drone. I wandered over as close as I dare to the edge with my heart in my throat and peeked down. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, I guess because it was so high up it didn’t look real. Walking over to the other side for a peek I motioned for Jay to join me for a selfie, which he reluctantly did.
Hmm, if I had looked at the pics I was taking I may have had a better idea of Jay’s mood
Now it was time for what I had been building up to. I got as close as I dare to the edge, squatted down, then sat on my bum and twisted my body round so my feet were hanging off the cliff. I could hear Jay behind me saying something like “no, I can’t”, but nothing was going to stop me. Once in place it actually felt really safe. My knees were on the rock, so it was only the bottom of my legs hanging over, so even though there was no one standing close to me, I felt that if anyone did knock me by accident I wasn’t going anywhere.
Don’t look down!
Looking around I spotted Jay and smiled for a photo before he headed off higher up the rocks for a better view. Sitting there I felt on top of the world as the early morning sun reflected in the mirror-like fjord below me. I stayed there for about 10 minutes taking pics and having my photo taken by a chap who didn’t want to stand close to the edge but was happy to snap everyone that was. With still no sign of Jay I crawled backwards away from the edge, got to my feet and headed off to find him.
I did look down and this is what I saw
I spotted him sitting with his back to the rocks, his head in his hands, I could tell something was wrong. As I had played blissfully unaware on the edge of the rock Jay had been going through hell. He was experiencing primal fear. Fear of the height, fear of the sheerness, fear of something happening and fear of something happening to me. He was in a bit of a state. He tried to get across to me how bad it was, and some of it I got, I used to have something similar every time he went out for a ride on his motorbike. But the sheer beauty of the place had me mesmerised and I wanted to capture it all.
Spotting some girls having their photos taken while sitting on the corner edge I stupidly asked Jay if he would take my photo there – he got up, told me to get someone else to take it as he couldn’t watch, and stormed off. Gathering my things I went after him and caught him up – once he had stopped – but tempers were now frayed and more storming off went on. Most of the way back was on my own, concentrating on my footing and once again missing the views, so I could catch up with Jay. What I didn’t realised was he had stopped somewhere and was now trying to catch up with me. So, if you were on the walk to Pulpit Rock today and nearly got bowled over by two frowning Brits I can only apologise.
The pic that was one photo request too far
After our anger subsided a little we tried to talk through what had just happened, but it wasn’t easy. I am so used to Jay being the brave one and me being irrationally afraid of pretty much everything, but today the tables were turned for a short while. With all the stomping and storming we were back at Zagan bang on time for Charlie’s lunch, the hike had taken us just over an hour and a half each way. We were still bristley with each other, which Charlie picked up on and retreated quietly back to his bed after his lunch. This wasn’t helped by my failed attempt to update the satnav using the free WiFi in the car park, which led to having no maps on satnav – luckily we have our CoPilot Navigator app on my phone which we are now using until I can get satnav a decent WiFi connection.
Looking back down Lysefjord from our parking spot, luckily the pesky pulpit rock is out of sight
After everything I just wanted to get far away from Pulpit Rock, so we headed off and found our parking place further along the fjord, fortunately out of view of the rock. To ease tensions in the van the last of the chocolate liquers have been scoffed and we’ll talk it all through over dinner. It’s times like this I wish we had some emergency wine, but sadly Zagan is dry. I want to erase most of today from the old memory banks, and while I will still remember the amazing feeling of sitting on the rock though, it was like nothing in the world, I won’t be doing it again, it’s not worth our marriage.
Ju x
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Stunning photos. You are inspiring us as we strive to sell all our worldly goods so we too can travel
Jay, in the nicest possible way…have a word with yourself mate, you’re not Superman! Hope you guys get it sorted soon. Kindest Wayne.
Ah man, what a day. Terror. Not for me, I was fine once I was away from the area right at the edge, but for Ju. She wasn’t feeling any of this, but as I watched her posing for photos, right on the edge of the cliff, I couldn’t have felt much worse. The uncontrolled nature of the cliff top was freaking me out – too many amateurs, too many selfie sticks, one drone buzzing around too many – since only one tourist has fallen off by accident and 200,000 folks see it annually, none of this was rational. **sigh** I’m hugely impressed Ju could do it, I was wide-eyed, at the edge, but I just couldn’t cope with her being so close to certain death (in my irrational brain) for the price of a photo. Cheers, Jay
Not a time for intruders, but can I just say..Let it go, she was enjoying a beautiful moment for herself and when you look at the photos it was wonderful. The blog wait all! Jxxxx
Says it all!Jxx
Chillax friend… you think things out too deeply mate, over-active brain. Sounds like you two are in recovery mode already and we are glad to hear it. I think it must be a reaction to alcohol withdrawl. Set the controls for Sweden! Kindest Wayne.
Jay I fully understand your fears and while I wouldn’t want to minimise them I’ll let you know what my wife is having to go through right now. 4 weeks ago I was admitted to hospital with chest pains, I have since had a triple by pass operation. Over a week a go I was released and told I could go home but a few days later I was readmitted with fast and irregular heartbeat caused by an infection in the graft. Tonight I am waiting for a blood transfusion. Now I am pretty confident that things will get sorted but I know my wife has been and still is beside herself with worry. It does not take away the primal fear you had for Ju but in one way I hope it helps to put things in perspective. It won’t be long before you can sit down with that glass of wine and put this episode behind you. For my part I am confident that I will be up and running soon and still plan to get on the road in a couple of years. Your blogs are an inspiration to us.
Take care, and all the best
Shaun & Susan
Hi Shaun, good gods, it certainly does. All the best from us mate, take care of yourself, Jay
A fear of soft furnishings is irrational.
A fear of Soup Spoons is irrational.
The fear of being stood on close to a precipice (or a loved one being stood close to one) is a rational fear.
Lee at Go Humberto!
Jay & Ju
We told you our experience, slightly different but still the same. I too have a fear of heights and seeing Craig right near to the edge combined with all the people acting daft just freaked me out too. Then Craig encouraged me to move towards the edge and Mac walked near the huge crack in the rock, I broke. Everything seemed all too much all of a sudden.
Guess I know how Jay feels and Craig would know how Ju feels.
Weird…we too lost all our map data a day or two before arriving at Pulpits rock!
Take care guys x
It’s love for the woman ofyour life that did this to you! So it is only human, and normal and … Beautiful! Al. The best, you two rock!!!
All the best, nothing to do with Al. Stupid: not taking the time to reread…
We’ve had several of these moments. Sarah and our youngest son are supremely confident balancing on the edge of Indian castle walls, cliffs etc. The eldest boy and I are always terrified for their safety, but they don’t get it. I’m totally understanding Jason.
Thanks Tim. I can only liken the sensation to watching your loved one play Russian Roulette which laughing and joking, being photographed throughout. Hard to watch. Cheers, Jay
Totally rational fear Jason.. but reading the story has made me go into a cold sweat ..Mine fear are caves ..but I did go down Gapeing Gill in the Yorkshire dales on a bosons chair ..Dropped through the hole ..water from the river pouring on my head ..The cliff face so near my face I could have put my tongue out and licked it ..and crumble to a heap at the bottom ..ekkkkkk ..kept my eyes shut on the way back up ..Its a good job i’d been to the loo or it could have got nasty ..So no more caves for me and no more cliff edge for Jules xxxx
P.S. can you alter my web address in your other blogs to follow ..
http://hettyhymer.co.uk there is a link to http://travelswithhetty.wordpress.com on the new web page
Hi Susan – sorry it took me a while – changed the link on our Fellow Traveller’s page to be your new blog. Cheers! Jay
Wow… just reading this and seeing the photos made me feel like shouting out loud “get away from the edge” it really worried me and I only know you guys from the blog. Exploring Europe and psychological exploration fantastic stuff.