| Hestehaudet from
Fjellbu via Synn.horn, return Fremste Synn.heia Synnalandshornet Heimste Synnalandsheia Hestehaudet Fremste Synnalandsheia |
| Estimated net time | 3-4 hours |
| Difficulty | No difficulties, but descending from Hildrehesten to Ryssdalen is fairly steep. |
| Drinking water | Plenty of access to drinking water; from lake Hestevatnet (this is a reservoir for parts of Haram and the water here is safe to drink), and from the stream that runs between lake Lisje Hestevatnet and Hestevatnet. There is also drinking water a few metres behind the big stone by the registration book in Ryssdalen. |
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route. |
| Parking | Room for many cars at the north end of lake Synnalandsvatnet. |
| Start height | 90 metres |
| Vertical metres | 930 metres for the roundtrip |
| Trip distance | 12.0 km |
| GPS-file | X |
| Map |
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| Route photo |
If arriving Brattvåg from south on road 659 continue for 2.5 km after having entered the 50km/h zone. Here you will pass the Coop and the "Ingebrikt Davik-huset" (on your right hand side). Turn left, continuing on the Storgata road for another 250 metres. Just before a small bridge, after having passed the Brattvåg primary school, turn left. Continue upwards for 1.1 km, and turn right after having passed the first speed bump. Drive another 200 metres until you reach the parking place by lake Synnalandsvatnet. Here you will find ample parking space. In the unlikely event that this parking place is full then more parking space can be found by the Brattvåg kindergarten; go back 200 metres to the last junction and turn right. After 250 metres the kindergarten can be found on the left hand side. Parking here during day-time Monday-Friday will require permission from the kindergarten.
From the parking place cross the Synnalandsvatnet dam and head up to the floodlit road running along the west side of Synnalandsvatnet. Where you meet this road turn right and 15 meters later turn left (west). After having passed the offices for Brattvåg Vassverk (water supplies) the road forks, with one leg heading uphill towards west and the other leg going northbound. Follow the northbound leg, and continue upwards for approximately 550 metres. Here the road makes a small drop in altitude before making a final small climb. On top of this small climb there is a path going off to the left, into the forest. Find this path and follow it upwards in a northern direction. The path is easy to follow, but can be wet in some (most) places, although Knut Gunnar Korsnes and others have done a tremendous job in digging ditches and putting in place stones. It will take you all the way to Synnalandshornet.
Synnalandshornet consists of three small "tops", with the lower and upper having a cairn, and the one in the middle has a trigonometric point (this is the point usually referred to as "Synnalandshornet" by the locals).
At the first top you will have a very good view down to Brattvåg and Synnalandsneset. From here the path makes a left turn up to the trigonometric point. This is where the book for registration can be found (worth 3 points in the Brattvåg IL point collecting competition). The actual high point of Synnalandshornet is another 100 metres further west, marked by another cairn.
From Synnalandshornet continue on the path towards south-west. About 850 metres from the trigonometric point you get to a small lake (~20m diameter). You can then see Heimste Synnalandsheia 150 metres to the south. If loosing the path here it doesn't really matter; just make sure you enter the small top from north, and then continue along its ridge in a western direction. Here the path is for most parts clearly visible. Continue on the path towards west. If you loose the path it is better to be on the south side as opposed to the north side of the hill. There are several paths going down to Hestevatnet, and any of them will do (and all of them are fairly wet).
By Hestevatnet you will meet the path that goes from Synnalandsvatnet towards Hestehaudet via Grønebakken, and you will see the registration point by Hestevatnet (worth 2 points in the Brattvåg IL point collecting competition). Walk along lake Hestevatnet in a western direction. When you get to the small dam you might have to search to find the best place to cross, either on the dam itself or further north along the small river. Continue along the lake shores until you reach the extreme west of lake Hestevatnet. After having crossed a small stream by stepping on some stones you gradually move west, following the path towards a "junction" of power lines. From here follow the path directly west, and then south towards lake Lisje Hestevatnet. A little before Lisje Hestevatnet the path forks, and you should follow the left leg towards the foot of Grønebakken.
Follow the fairly well defined path (there are several but it doesn't matter which one you end up on) up the steep slopes of Grønebakken ("green hill"). When the slope gets flatter you turn left (east/south-east) and follow the vague path and wooden sticks, having to walk more and more in boulder. After a while you will see the summit and can aim directly for the summit across boulder which is easy to walk on. There is a registration book at the summit, worth 6 points in the annual competition.
From Hestehaudet summit head south down to the saddle. You will first see one cairn, and then a large cairn (~3 metres high, made by Stig Gribbestad in 2007/2008 to signal where to head down to Ryssdalen). From the cairn head down to a small rock sticking out, then traverse right before starting the descent. There is a clear path all the way. About 2/3 way down you move a little to the right again, before continuing down a narrow gravel section. Turn right before you get to the small lake, and follow the path on the west side of the lake. At the south end of the lake there is another registration book (worth 4 points), and from here you head north up to Fremste Synnalandsheia. Note that this path doesn't actually cross Fremste Synnalandsheia summit bit further east, so in order to get to the summit you need to turn left at some stage near the summit.
From Fremste Synnalandsheia summit you walk east to re-join the path, which will take you all the way down to the top of Timbredalen. You then meet the path that goes east from Hestevatnet, and you follow this path back down to lake Synnalandsvatnet.
The 12 year old boys in Brattvåg have Sundays as one of their training days. This Sunday we decided to hike Hestehaudet instead of the traditional exercises. Only three of the boys (Andreas, Ole-Jørgen and Sigurd) were up to the challenge, in addition to their fathers and one from the boys-13 team (Thomas).
It was another fine day, and the boys really enjoyed the relatively long hike, but of course that is not a problem when you're fit.
One incident is worth mentioning. As we stopped by the big cairn marking the place for where you should start your descent from Hildrehesten down to Ryssdalen, one of the boys spotted a brass plate attached to the cairn, with the inscription "Stig's varde, 08.08.08" (meaning "Stig's cairn"). I therefore sent a text message to Stig, but he didn't understand what I was going on about. I therefore called him, and it turned out that he wasn't aware of this plaque. The question now is, of course, "who has put this plaque on the cairn?".
I hadn't been to Hestehaudet all year so I was in many ways looking forwards to this hike. Elisabeth and I decided to do this hike straight from work this Friday, but I would start a little before her in order to include Synnalandshornet before meeting her by lake Hestevatnet. When I passed the kindergarten at Fjellbu I saw that my friend Stig was on his way for his daily hike (as usual to Hestehaudet), so we agreed to keep each other company.
We did an average pace up to Synnalandshornet and across to Hestevatnet, having lots to talk about since we hadn't met for several weeks. By Hestevatnet Elisabeth was waiting for us, and all three of us continued up to Hestehaudet.
From Hestehaudet we walked across to the big cairn Stig has built, marking the point were you should descend down towards Ryssdalen, then down to Ryssdalen, and eventually up to Fremste Synnalandsheia. Elisabeth skipped the de-tour to Fremste Synnalandsheia summit, so we didn't see her again before we were down at lake Synnalandsvatnet.
A very enjoyable hike, with a lot of talking, and in very dry and fine conditions.