Wednesday Walk Challenge : Hunting for trolls in the deep forrest... Kristiansand, Norway

This week I am going to take you along, hunting for trolls. In Kristiansand there are a lot of good hiking trails no matter which side of the city you want to go to. Justneshalvøya is no exception. It is located on the east side of the city right by the Toppdalsfjord. There are several trails here, but one in particular stands out and that is "Trollstien". Translatet it means "the Troll path". This is a trail that is not like the others. Along this one you will find trolls. Everything from human-sized trolls, small faces and faces in stone - at least I think they looked like big faces of a troll....I took the walk along the path from one end to the other. It is summer and the forest is green and dense. I found the countryside really beautiful on this day in July.

The path starts at the main road, where I do a turn to come to the starting point. At the start I have lovely countryside to one side, but after 15 minutes the path turns into dense forrest. I was alone most of the time. Occationally I met someone jogging and also a man with a dog.

This guy is suppose to sit in a pool of water, but because of it beeing rather dry for some time now, there is very little water. Life size troll

So, what do we know about trolls? If you ask a Norwegian child, I think you will find out that they know a lot about trolls. Trolls are known through our folk tales. Most often trolls are portrayed in a negaive way. They can sometimes be presented both as cute, but also as ugly. Kind, but also as scary. If you see a drawing or painting of a troll, he will most likely don't look especially attractive!

Another troll as big as a human...

Where do you find trolls? In the deep dark forrest or high up in the mountains where they hide beneath rocks and and tree stumps. It is said that they don't like sunshine. If they don't hide before the sun rises, they will turn into a rock. In Norway we have some mountains and several natural sites with names that has «troll» as part of the name: Trollpikken, Trolltungen and Trollstigen. The first two are formed in rocks. Many street names are also inspired by the trolls.

As you can see in the dense forest, it's not dificult to imagine how these trolls lurking in the trees will scare people. I might have missed some trolls on my walk. I did try to keep looking, but at places there are lot of greenery.

End of trail, pointing to a beach

How come we have all these stories about trolls? Before 1800 the stories were not written down. They were passed on in an oral form. Many of the tales are several hundred of years old, but they have survived thanks to previous generations telling the stories to the next. It was ot until the beginning of the 1800 that they were written down. Two Norwegeans, Asbjørnsen and Moe, started to that in the 1830s- They had to collect these fairy tales, so they travled around the country to hear the tales. In 1841 they published their first book.

The trail is finished, but I have to walk 10 minutes along the coast to get back to the main road that will lead me back towards the city. Because there is a small harbor for private boats here, there is also a parking lot. The whole Justneshalvøya has housing on half of the peninsula, but the other is forest with paths like the one I just walked. I didn't just look for trolls. The beautiful nature made me enjoy this walk.