Prekestolen

Forgive the wikipedia quote:

"Preikestolen or Prekestolen, also known by the English translations of Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, and by the old local name Hyvlatonnå, is a massive cliff 604 metres above Lysefjorden, opposite the Kjerag plateau, in Forsand, Norway. The top of the cliff is approximately 25 by 25 metres, square and almost flat, and is a famous tourist attraction in Norway.
In 2006 approximately 90,000 people took the 6-km hike to Preikestolen in the four summer months making it one of the most visited natural tourist attractions in Norway."

It's one of my major boxes that i wanted to tick in norway, and the main reason for going to stavanger this weekend.

i was actually getting quite apprehensive as we approached the rock...my fear of heights are pretty well documented...on the blog at least, and even thinking about it made my stomach lurch. anyway, i hadnt flown all the way to stavanger, got a ferry from stavanger, hiked 1.5 hours to chicken out now. it was quite comical to see me, i mean, there were kids just wandering around the small rock, and i was petrified. now, you have to have the famous photo of sitting there with your legs dangling off the side, so i sat down down, about 5 metres away, and shuffled my arse to the edge (through puddles i may add)...this was scary indeed, but i did it. no, i didnt look down! anna went back to the 'mainland' to take photos. she indicated that i should hold my arms up in the air, like some kind of defiance to gravity or something...this also proved to be humouress, as slowly, ever so slowly, i lifted my arms...one at a time...(i have no idea why! as if moving both arms at the same time will throw me off balance!). anyway, it was an amazing sight (the rock...not my incompetance). it litetrally just sticks out. you will also note from the photos, that there is a huge crack right downthe middle of the outcrop, this adds the the spectacle.

another interesting fact is that this year, a circus bloke went to the edge, and with no ropes orm anything, sat on a chair, and leant back over the edge so that only 2 of the chair legs were on the floor...nutter!

i read before we went in the lonely planet guide that 'no one has ever accidentally fallen off'...you have no idea what comfort this gave me!

fear aside...it is a breathaking sight. unfortunately the visibility wasnt so great, but i will definately go back next year when the skies are blue

(as ever, click on the photo to get the full effect)