Hiking up Preikestolen (the Pulpit Rock) in Norway
Preikestolen (or the Pulpit Rock) is one of two famous hiking destinations near Stavanger, just a little over an hour away from the city. It is a rock that was cut out by glaciers some 10,000 years ago, and although it looks extremely freaky - like it's about to fall off - geologists have claimed it safe and free from any danger.
To get to Preikestolen, we opted for a car ferry that leaves from Stavanger to Tau. It's a picturesque 40-minute ride across the deep blue North Sea, lighthouses, islands and sailboats. Once at Tau, we continue by car for about 20 minutes on a well marked road. Alternatively there is a bus that takes hikers from the harbour directly to the Preikestolen.
Parking is 100NOK (or 12€) for the whole day. It does get very crowded in the weekends or the summer, and you will find waves of hikers in the morning. The hike is interesting, taking us across different terrains from easy mountain trails to steep rocks. Although the total distance is only 3.8km, the elevation is over 600m. One doesn't have to be an Edmund Hillary to scale this route but there are some pretty steep climb. We hiked slowly, taking in the vast view along the way; it took us almost 2.5 hours to reach Preikestolen. Coming down was easy and we made it back to the car in just about 1 hour 40 minutes. As this translates to about a 4- to 5-hour trip, most hikers bring along a picnic spread. We had our lunch of smoked salmon sandwiches overlooking the Lysefjorden on top of the Preikestolen.
The scenery was nothing short of breath-taking. I will let the photos do the talking now...
布道台(Preikestolen) 是挪威 Stavanger 其中一個最有名的遠足勝地，它距離市中心只有大概一小時的車程。「布道台」命名於山頂一塊呈平台狀的巨石，它形成於一萬多年前冰河時期。這個懸於半空的巨大平台好像快要塌下來，看似十分危險，但是經過地理學家多番驗證，它是不會倒下來的。
要到布道台，必需從 Stavanger 碼頭乘撘可蛓人及車的船到 Tau，途中如畫的風景、深藍色的北海、無數的燈塔、小島及漂亮的帆船令人想這四十分鐘的船程變得長一點。如果你自己駕車的話，到達後 Tau，你可以一路沿著清晰的路牌指示，大概二十分鐘後便會到達布道台的山腳，泊車費每天一百挪威幣 (大概十二歐羅)。你亦可以選擇在Tau 乘搭巴士前往布道台山腳。
通常很多人會在早上登山走上布道台，特別是在夏季的週末。大部份人到這裏都是要為了看一看布道台，但是，其實登山的路途亦是十分有趣的，當中有平坦的小徑，亦有需要用手輔助攀爬的巨石。沿途你會看見很多石頭寫有「T」字的標誌。由於要停下來拍攝途中目不暇給的風景，我們用了差不多兩個半小時才到達布道台，但是下山的時候就快很多，只用了一小時四十分我們便可以回到車上。
布道台上的景色美得有點讓人透不過氣來，看過下面的相片你大概可以多明白一點兒這種壯觀。
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