Experiences from the car
The excerpt is taken from Sirdal municipality, and written by Gudrun Kristine Ovedal
The first tourists who came to Sirdal caused a stir at Lunde in 1832 when they explained that the goal of the journey was merely to look around. It was entirely alien at that time to travel around without a purpose. Today, things are different, and the people of Sirdal have become well accustomed to tourism.
By: Sirdal municipality/Gudrun Kristine Ovedal
If you are travelling through Sirdal today to «have a look around», we know that the experience will be all the better if you can learn something/get a bit of extra information along the way.
Good to know – about the contact with Setesdal and leather roads
There has been close contact between Sirdal and Setesdal since time immemorial, with both trade and marriages tying the two valleys together. It was particularly the people of Setesdal who were diligent with trading trips across the mountains, something that was partly because they had to go to Stavanger when they were to pay tax. Since the tax was paid with hides and furs, the travel routes across the mountains were often called skin roads. In the middle of the old skin road between Suleskard in Sirdal and Hylestad in Setesdal, about 880 metres above sea level, lies Håhelleren (belonging to Valle municipality). The name comes from the Old Norse word hå, which means high, and refers to the size of the rock shelter. This route is travelled a great deal by people from Setesdal and Sirdal. That the traffic is significant can be inferred from the fact that for a long time there has been talk and writing from the public authorities about a major road construction across this mountain stretch, wrote the executive board of Valle in 1866. To make the travel safer, money was allocated for guides across the mountain plateau as well as for the construction of a mountain lodge at Håhelleren. Due to fog, bad weather and snowstorms, many a person loses their life by plunging into chasms, being snowed under and freezing to death. The first Håhelleren lodge was built in 1867, on the foundations of a dwelling that was by Håhelleren in the early 19th century. The mountain lodge that is here today was built in 1950. This belongs to the Trekking Association, and has 9 beds.
Kvæven Bygdetun / Sirdal Fjellmuseum
Feel free to stop by Kvæven Bygdetun. Here there is a tourist information office, and you can take a stroll around the farmyard. One of the most important aspects of the presentation at the museum is the upland mountain areas that surround us, and the great significance the mountains have had throughout the ages. The travel and trade routes have already been mentioned, but they have also been important areas for sheep farming and for hunting.
Re-sheep (mountain grazings): In the early 19th century, some farmers on Jæren started sending sheep to the mountains with travelling cattle dealers, because the grazing land at home was too small or poor. It was soon discovered that sheep which had been grazing in the mountains were in better condition than sheep that had stayed at home in the farm pastures. Drover traffic with sheep to the high mountain plateaus in northern Sirdal began in earnest around 1820. The droves set off from Jæren in June, and returned sometime in September. (It is this tradition that forms the basis for the annual event here at Kvæven, the «Sirdal Days».) The steadily increasing number of sheep taken to the mountains eventually had consequences for the traditional dairy farming that had taken place in these mountain areas. Several farmers found it more profitable to receive drove sheep than to carry on dairy farming. Many of the dairy farms and outlying hay meadows were therefore designated as droving pastures, and dairy huts could be turned into herder huts.
Heiberg (hunting estate): In 1904, Thorvald Meyer Heiberg began buying up large moorland areas in the Sirdal and Setesdal mountains, eventually becoming the largest private landowner in Norway with over 1 million decares [square kilometres]. He had a business idea of catering to wealthy people, especially foreigners who could and would pay for hunting and fishing in the Norwegian high mountains. Heiberg erected about 30 hunting lodges deep in the mountains, from 1 to 5 lodges on each estate. One of these was moved from Trongen in 2001 and reassembled at Kvæven local history museum. In addition, a ”supply cabin” linked to this was built.
Øystein's shed
Between Tjørhom and Omlid, you can turn off the road towards Tjørhom power station. From the car park, you can look up at Øysteinshedlaren. There is also a hiking trail up to the rock shelter if you want to study it more closely, which lies west of Tjørhom power station. The rock shelter is 22 metres deep, and traces have been found here showing that there has been a great deal of activity here over many years. Fire flint, charcoal, bone collections and bird bones have been found here. An old legend from Sirdal tells that King Øystein came riding from the west, together with his retinue. It was late in the evening when they arrived at Tjørhom, and he therefore chose to spend the night in the large rock shelter. The event must have made a big impression at the time, as the legend has since been passed down through generations to the present day. Both the rock shelter and the bay, Øysteinsevja, still bear the name of the old king.
Dorgefoss
Before Sira was regulated (Sira-Kvina power company), there was a large and impressive waterfall at Dorga. From the year 1900, one finds the following from the historian Yngvar Nielsen, who writes this about the waterfall: «Above all others, Døjefossen must be mentioned—a fall that does not have its equal in many places. Here the water has worked and carved out a deep channel into which the entire volume of water of the River Sira plunges. Everything that any imagination can paint about a waterfall is here—the narrow gorge, the roar of the falls, and the swirling clouds of spray. In the depths, the water plays its wildest game—it rushes forth into a chasm compared to which the Ridderspranget is but a trifle, and when it has finally exhausted its strength, it emerges from the darkness into the light. Dørjefoss is no Rjukan. But it is nonetheless a great natural wonder.» There is also much excitement and drama associated with Dorgefoss. An old legend says that people condemned to death were given the chance to save their lives at Dorgefoss. If a condemned person managed to jump across the waterfall, from west to east at a specific spot, they would be allowed to keep their life. By the rest area also lies «Håvardsteinen», a stone that was lifted by manual strength by Håvard Torjussen Valevatn (1822–1880). Dorgefossen is Sirdal's Millennium site.
The burial ground at Skeie
Below the hamlet of Skeie, the river Sira flows quietly between sheer mountains. Along the western side of the river, inside a pine forest, lies a protected burial ground from the Migration Period (400 – 800 AD). 23 burial mounds have been registered here. The highest are about 1.5 m high, while others are so low in the terrain that it is difficult to distinguish them from the natural forest vegetation. Burial sites were often placed along travel routes in dominant locations in the landscape so that they were clearly visible. The reason for this was probably a desire for closeness between the living and the dead. In pagan times, burial mounds were respected and feared, and were the centre of belief in gods and ancestor worship. The ancestral graves helped to create roots and identity, and tied bonds back to the past. This is a fantastic area with a rest area and a sign with more information about the burial ground. Here you can also take a stroll among the burial mounds.
Sirdalsvatnet
Lake Sirdalsvatnet stretches from Tonstad to Osen for a length of 27 km. Its surface area is 19 km². The maximum depth, just south of Haughom, is 185 m. Between Virak and Haughom, the lake is at its widest: 1.2 km. The narrowest point is found at Mjåsund, measuring 300 m. From olden times, Lake Sirdalsvatnet has been the most important transport route for those living along the lake. If one needed to go anywhere, it was usually the easiest solution to row. Before the steamship came to Lake Sirdalsvatnet, it was common to row to the town of Flekkefjord to buy the summer food supplies. One way to do this was to take a horse and cart along in the boat. These were used on land from Osen. Often, the rowing trip would start at night, shopping in town would take place during the day, and they would travel back home the same evening. The north wind was often troublesome to contend with on the way back, especially when the boat was fully laden with goods, people and livestock. In wintertime, goods and mail were transported across the ice. If the ice was not safe, it happened that one would pull a small boat on a sledge where there was ice, and use the boat where there was open water. This could certainly be dangerous, but the mail had to get through!
Holmen: Holmen in Sirdalsvatnet is about 170 metres long, 60 metres wide and 10-12 metres high. At the beginning of the last century, Holmen belonged to the hamlet of Virak as a shared property. Tradition says that the people of Virak traded Holmen away to a resident in Haughom for a anchor of spirits. The most exciting thing associated with Holmen is the saga of Queen Astrid's flight with her son Olav Tryggvasson. This is a very old legend that has been told in many places around Sirdalsvatnet through several generations.
The German bunker: The road section between Haughom and Tonstad was completed in 1942, and was part of the “inner military road” between Stavanger and Kristiansand. At one point along the road it was very narrow, with a steep mountain on one side and Lake Sirdalsvatnet on the other. The Germans built a bunker here in 1943. The purpose of this shelter was to stop Allied forces should they come from the north-east through Sirdal. The bunker by Lake Sirdalsvatnet is one of the few preserved war memorials in Sirdal, and is rare on a national scale as it is situated along an inland lake. The German bunker is difficult to access today, but is located down by Lake Sirdalsvatnet, north of «Berkjenesodden», or the new tunnel.
Nykkhedlar: This is a cave in the rock, just above the water level on the western side of Sirdalsvatnet. The mountain above is high and steep and continues down into the cold, deep water below. From olden times, it was said that the Nøkken (Water Sprite) lived here, and many feared it when they were rowing on Sirdalsvatnet. There is more information about cultural heritage sites around Sirdalsvatnet on the website: www.naturtriangelet.no