Birthday and on the brink

Date:
30.08.2020

Day: 028

Country:
Norway

Location:
Birthday camp

Daily kilometers:
90 km

Total kilometers:
2915 km

Soil condition:
Asphalt

Bridge crossings:
2

Tunnel passages:
09

Sunrise:
06:24

Sunset:
8:49 pm

Temperature day max:
17°

Night temperature min:
11°

Departure:
11:00 a.m.

Arrival time:
7:00 p.m.

(Photos of the diary entry can be found at the end of the text).

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“Good morning my dear birthday girl. My undisputed number one, my priceless jewel, more valuable than the biggest diamond in the universe. I wish you a wonderful, interesting, varied and happy life at my side. I wish you the openness, generosity, serenity and everlasting confidence that you carry within you. I thank the all-encompassing energy for sending you into my life and wish you that your light, your joy, your love of life and your happiness will continue to shine like the rising sun over a lush green valley for another 50 years. I will always protect you with my body and soul, I will spread my wings and wrap them around you like an energetic protection. I will always give you the freedom you want and need so that your great love can spread even more until it radiates out into the whole world. I thank you anew every year that I am allowed to live in your light, that you tirelessly fill each of my cells with your love and immeasurably enrich my life with your being. I hand you the stars and give them to you as a thank you and gift for your birthday.” “These are wonderful wishes. Thank you very much.” “Then let’s get up and get ready for your birthday hike up the Preikestolen (the pulpit or literally the sermon chair),” I say, swinging out of bed.

Because today is Sunday and the weather is perfect for the hike to one of the top tourist highlights, there are lots of people out and about despite corona. In contrast to Kjeragbolten, many older inhabitants of the earth hike up here and some mothers and fathers carry their children on their backs. It is not a particularly difficult hike. Due to its fame, around 300,000 people climbed up to the rock pulpit in 2018, at the edge of which it drops 604 meters vertically into the depths. In July 2019, a record number of 5,342 visitors were recorded. In 2020, Corona reduced the ever-increasing number of visitors, which one or two conservationists are sure to view with approval.


“Shouldn’t we have walked up there on Monday? Then we would almost certainly have been alone,” I huff, overtaking a few hikers. “Today is my birthday. I will certainly remember this wonderful landscape for a long time, I will always think about what I did on my 50th. I’ll just tune out the people and enjoy nature.” Indeed, the mountain world is unique. With a little imagination, I can see how huge glaciers pressed through here 10,000 years ago, how they shaped the gorges and valleys, blasted the ice, rocks and rough boulders, pushed themselves over them and sanded the hard granite rock smooth and rounded the mountain peaks like an oversized piece of sandpaper. An Eldorado for climbers from all over the world. Today, small lakes with crystal-clear water nestle between the gray, up to 843-meter-high rocks. The banks are lined with lush greenery. We cross a considerably steep ridge, then walk over planks through a boggy swamp, over a scree field and steps. Ajaci lives up to his new reputation as a mountain goat and climbing monkey and jumps with great joy from stone to stone, from rock to rock. After an hour and a half, we reach the famous plateau. While there are around 70 to 80 people in the 25 by 25 meter area, there are at least that many more on the mountain slopes around it. Every one of them wants one of the coveted selfies. The hikers stand in a row and wait patiently until a Mongolian has had his photo taken by his buddy on the cliff edge that drops steeply into the almost 40-kilometer-long Lysefjord. Nobody pushes, nobody scolds. Everyone gets a turn. Even though, according to a local, it’s not full today, it takes a good ½ hour before it’s our turn. Then we sit down on a boulder in the mountain face, enjoy our snack and watch the hustle and bustle. Africans, Chinese, Americans, Europeans. The world is represented on the plateau. Even the wild chase in the action film Mission Impossible: Fallout reached its climax on the plateau. One of the visitors has a national flag with him, which he waves wildly to be immortalized at the exclusive location, others appear in traditional costume, while an Instagram blogger poses with her boyfriend to kiss wildly in the final of the shoot. “It’s a crazy world,” I say, amused. “Yes, and an unforgettable birthday,” laughs Tanja.

Back at the parking lot, we pay the €25 that each vehicle has to pay. “Let’s find a quieter place for the evening,” says Tanja. Only 70 kilometers further on we reach a small, cosy place where we had already spent the night last year. “What a coincidence,” I say happily, as I have fond memories of this particular corner of the world. “My birthday camp,” says Tanja in a great mood. I unfold the underride plates, which I use again as a cooking platform to fry salmon to celebrate the day. Tanja has decorated the cabin wall of the Terra with small lanterns. The cool evening wind blows across the lake on whose shore we are standing. “Uuaahh! It’s really cool,” I say, carrying the fried fish into the terra. We close the door, leave the wind outside and enjoy a delicious birthday dinner…