How to get there:
Drive from Bergen follow signs to Sotra. Just before the island of Sotra, make a left turn
following the sign saying Bildøy. Measure from this turn. Turn right pretty immediately and
cross the bridge. Drive uphill, but pay attention and make a left at the first intersection.
Continue along the coast and find the trailhead after driving about 2.5 kilometer. A small road turns right
here, there is (limited) parking on the left side just as you turn off the main road. In weekends the available
slots may easily all be taken. This is the trailhead, location N60:20.015, E005:07.248, elevation about 38 meter.
Route description:
Hike up the road and cross a gate immediately after the last house. Follow this road all the way to the
radar station. Actually, there are two installations and a small road fork in order to serve both of them.
Continue straight (left fork) and arrive at the radar station.
The view towards Bergen is pretty good from here.
In order to get to the highest point, locate a rather small trail that goes right when you have returned about
10 meter down the paved road. This trail runs down
to the small lake, Tårnvatnet,(265m), touches this lake on its left
side, then climbs uphill to the Sotra high point, Liatårnet at 341 meter.
Comments:
I first attempted this climb on Sunday, September 4. 2011 together with my wife. I had always believed that a radar
station was located at the summit and that there was a road leading all the way up. Thus, I had promised my wife
a road hike.
Big surprise when it turned out that the highest point was indeed a nontrivial (compared to a road) hike across rugged terrain.
I therefore had some motivation to actually visit the summit and the opportunity came 2 weeks later.
I left the car at 1610 and arrived at the radar at 1640. The trail was wet and somewhat muddy. I arrived at the
true summit of Sotra at 1700. The view is good, you see the airport from a new viewpoint.
The return trip to the radar took another 20 minutes. I was back down by my car at 1740,
so precisely 1.5 hours, just what I needed on this grey Saturday.
