Haukeli - Hovden

A couple of years ago I read that one of the nicest, but not that common, hikes in Norway was supposed to be from Hovden to Haukeli. I decided to try it, but in the opposite direction - that should have no impact on the niceness!

We parked the car at Haukeliseter and started off from there. The plan was to follow the nice, red Ts, but to stay in a tent instead of the cabins. That lasted the first night only, when it started raining cats and dogs! And it did not stop for the rest of the trip! It is therefore hard to say wheter it actually is one of the nicest hikes, as we hardly saw anything at all. I only have a few pics that we managed to take without drowning the camera...

View from Holmavass

After we had decided to skip the tent and use the cabins after that first, wet night, we stayed at Holmavass (http://ut.no/rute/holmavasshytta-haukeliseter-fjellstue2) . We had to dry everything we owned, and luckily, there was no one else for the first hours we were there (what is not showing in the picture was our tent hanging to dry along the wall, together with backpacks, clothes, shoes, maps and everything else spread out everywhere). 

We then walked from Holmavass to Sloaros in Telemark. We had a really nice hike despite the weather. Sloaros is an anoying cabin to arrive at from this side however, as you see it forever before you reach it. Quite annoying when you are wet and tired and hungry....

Route: http://ut.no/rute/sloaros-holmavasshytta

At the last day we left Sloaros at 5am in order to reach the bus from Hovden. It was a nice hike, and we could actually see a bit of the sourroundings now and then! When we arrived at Hovden our boots were kicked off and we relaxed at a very nice cafe while we waited for the bus to take us back to Haukeliseter. (NB, the bus from Hovden goes to Haukeligrend, where you have to change bus to take you to Haukeliseter - the waitingtime was over two hours!)

I guess we I have to do the same hike again some day, in order to decide whether it is one of the nicest hikes or not. Hopefully I will see something then...

Tips: the same route is quite common to do during the winter. There are also lots of other nice hikes from Holmavass, such as towards Bleskestad and then Mostøl.