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It is possible to ascend the Preikestolen more or less as people did in 1880, when in began as a tourist destination: by sea. A dock where the trail begins, which we read had been out of use, has been restored and now looks like new. It sits about 0.8 nautical miles W of where "Preikestolen" is marked on the N shore of the Lysefjord on the official Norwegian maritime charts. Alas!, when one approaches this dock, a warning sign says “embarking/disermbarking only,” so apparently it is not possible to leave the boat tied up to it, unless, perhaps, competent and sufficient crew is left aboard to move the boat if needed. Note that a traditional ascent from sea level adds a couple of hundred meters or more of ascent and, according to the sign at the dock, 3.5 kilometers (e.a. way) to the hike. We rather rented a car in Stavanger and did the hike the modern way.
It is also possible to ascend “the longest wooden staircase in the world”, at Flørli, on the S side of the fjord. The mooring buoys are designed for small boats to tie a line to shore and one to a buoy, but a larger boat could tie two buoys amidships, and a line to shore. We saw at least one sailboat doing this. We did not, and are not sure what the Norwegians may have to say about such hogging of resources! A hiking trail communicates Flørli with the Kjeragbolten, and ultimately with Lysebotn.
At the Lysebotn, there is a marina which affords complete quiet and peace; it is free to use. There are pay-toilets (pay with credit card). These appeared to be non-functional in August 2019. There is a very large trash depot immediately next to the toilets. Water and electricity (standard EU 16 amp connector) are provided free of charge. The dock fingers are sized for boats about 30ft long and about 4m wide and we saw cruising sailboats successfully fitting inside.
The sole exceptions for larger boats are the outside of the southernmost finger on the W dock and the hammerhead on the central dock. These two positions however, have a problem for keel boats: dock anchor cables protrude at nearly right angles, at an initial depth of only about 1.4m (estimate). The cables, nonetheless, quickly slope downwards. We used the hammerhead for our 16m long, 4.57m beam, 2.2m draught sailboat, by first, just tying the front of the boat to the S finger of the hammerhead, and then _walking_ the sailboat forward, in case the keel might hit the cables. It never did; it is possible our beam plus the cable slope resulted in our 2.2m clearing. Or maybe we did not move the boat forward enough: we left 1m of the aft protruding from the finger. So beware!
One can also tie up to the town wall immediately outside the marina, including the inside of the ferry dock (ferry goes outside) and the S pier, next to the heliport, is also for visitors. Anyone mooring in any of these need to carefully prepare fenders, as the ferries induce large wakes that make the boat oscillate beam wise against the dock. No water nor electricity provided.
From the Lysebotn there are several mild walks in the valley, published on a brochure available in the information office in front of the town wall. One can also walk up to Kjerag (7.5km, 680m ascent) and from Kjerag take the “difficult” ~3 hr walk (e.a. way) to the Kjeragbolt. If you walk up to Kjerag, carry proper lighting to avoid being hit by a car in the 1.1km tunnel. The nice cafeteria with restaurant prices at Kjerag features spectacular views.
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