Norwegian Mountains

Kannikenuten, 378m (Kanniken)
Tuvefjellet, 342m
Bruna, 369m (Brunene)
Kyrkjefjellet, 332m

Fylke/Kommune : Hordaland/Tysnes
Maps : 1215-III Fusa (Statens Kartverk, Norge 1:50 000)
Primary factor : Kannikenuten: 220m
Primary factor : Tuvefjellet: 109m
Hiked : Feb 2005
See also : Etlådnefjellet
See also : Nesbjørhovda
The ridge seen from Hovlandsnuten

The ridge seen from Hovlandsnuten

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Introduction

These four tops are located on a forest ridge, stretching north-south, and being a close neighbour to the higher and more known Etlådnefjellet. Only Tuvefjellet and Kannikenuten have a primary factor >= 100m, thus being on my list of independent Hordaland hills and mountains. Kyrkjefjellet and Bruna, together with Sundesåta (which I haven't been to) are less significant tops on this forest ridge.

While Tuvefjellet and Bruna are typical names in western Norway (shape and form description in dialect), Kannikenuten is an infrequently used name. "Nuten" is Norwegian for a peak, while "Kannik" is Norwegian for Canon, as in Cathedral brotherhood of canons. The land that Kannikenuten resides on, was most likely owned by such a brotherhood. Kyrkjefjellet (Church mountain) also indicates that this was holy land. This mountain is also described in "Tysnessåga"

Access to this forest ridge is easy, thanks to a couple of tractor roads. Although there do exist paths on this forest ridge, these will not be described on this page. All paths were covered in snow when I visited this ridge in February 2005. You get good views towards the higher (and spectacular) Hovlandsnuten, and from Bruna, you get a good view towards the north side of Tysnes and towards Os, Samnanger and Fusa.

Primary factor:

Kannikenuten (M711: 376m, Ø.K: 378m) has a primary factor of 220m towards the higher Etlådnefjellet (737m) The saddle is found along the road to Onarheim, near the Etlådnefjellet/ Tysnessåta trailhead. Ref. Økonomisk Kartverk (5m contours), you cross the 160m contours on the high route, but not 155m. The saddle height has been interpolated to 158m.

Tuvefjellet (M711: 342m, Ø.K.: 341,64m) has primary factor of 109m towards the higher Kannikenuten (378m). The saddle is found approx. 950m north/northwest of Tuvefjellet. Ref. Økonomisk Kartverk (5m contours), you cross the 235m contours on the high route, but not 230m. The saddle height has been interpolated to 233m.

Kyrkjefjellet (M711: 332m, Ø.K.: 333m) has a primary factor of 40m towards the higher Tuvefjellet, while Bruna (M711: 369m, Ø.K.: 369,14m) has a primary factor of 21m towards the higher Kannikenuten.

Trail descriptions:

Notes: Class ratings are in reference to YDS. Click here for more information.

The trails described below are not necessarily the *easiest* trails to this mountain.

Hovlandselva - Tuvefjellet - Kannikenuten round-trip (winter)

Difficulty : Class 1
Exposure : No
Comments : Off-trail forest ridge walk
Distance : Approx. 10Km round-trip
Time : Approx. 4 hours round-trip (w/o pause)
Starting Elev.: Approx. 150m
Vertical Gain : Approx. 550m (total)

Map of the area
Map of the area
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Detailed map
Detailed map
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Access

There are two alternatives from Bergen:

a) The shortest:
Follow highway E39 southbound towards Halhjem (by Osøyro). Take the Halhjem - Våge ferry (fee for passenger cars per Feb 2005 is NOK 100,-) The ferry takes approx. 40 minutes. From Våge on Tysnes, drive 300m from the ferry and turn left towards Gjermundshamn Follow this road to Lundegrend, approx. 9,6Km. Turn right towards Onarheim. See further description below.

b) A long drive:
From Bergen, follow highway E16 towards Oslo. At the E16/RV7 junction at Trengereid, turn right onto RV7. Drive approx. 13,9Km and turn right onto highway RV48 (Tysse/Mundheim) Follow this road for approx. 34,7Km to Kilen. Turn right onto highway 549 and follow this road all the way to the bridge across Lokksundet (follow signs towards Våge) Continue towards Lundegrend (6-7Km from the bridge) and turn left towards Onarheim.

Follow the Onarheim road for 5,3Km and turn right onto a large parking area at approx. 150m elevation. This is one of the trailheads for Etlådnefjellet/Tysnessåta, and it is also the best starting point for Tuvefjellet.

The route

Kyrkjefjellet/Tuvefjellet

Walk 50m northbound on the main road and turn right onto a tractor road. Follow this road to approx. 250m elevation, where the road ends. I'm sure a forest path continues from here on, but with snow covering the ground on my hike, I can only make that assumption. The rest of the forest ridge walk is based on off-trail hiking. Kyrkjefjellet is only approx. 500m away towards the north. From this top, you have a clear view towards Tuvefjellet, and you will also see that it is difficult to descend towards Tuvefjellet. For those who are comfortable with steep terrain, there is a possibility for descent on the northeast side of the top. A better route is to descend to the east, and turn northwest at the northern foothills of Kyrkjefjellet. Cross a meadow and walk up to the top of Tuvefjellet. You will find a broken trig. point on this top.

Kannikenuten and Bruna

From Tuvefjellet, proceed northbound towards Skardet the pass between Tuvefjellet and Kannikenuten. Follow meadows whenever possible, in order to avoid bush and extra vertical gain. When you see the pass, you will notice that it is a steep descent. Follow the ridge you're on, northbound, and look for a place that is practical for descent. There are no airy parts if you look for the right route. In Skardet, you will cross the tractor road from Vevatne. You will be heading down this road after you've visited Kannikenuten and Bruna.

From the pass, head up the pass in the northwest direction. This route will lead you to Kannikenuten, where you will have a good view down to the farms at Vevatne, lake Vevatnet and Bruna further north. There is no particular reason for visiting Bruna, besides the views. 250m northeast of Bruna is a point called Varden (the cairn) If my eyes did not fail me, I saw a cairn through the camera lens. I do not know if Varden offer better views than Bruna. Bruna is a 20-30min hike from Kannikenuten. The walking distance is approx. 750m.

Descent

Head back to Skardet pass, follow the tractor road to Vevatne and continue up to the main road between Lundegrend and Onarheim. Once on the main road, you have approx. 2Km of walking back to the trailhead.

Trip report Feb 12 2005

When I visited Etlådnefjellet and Hovlandsnuten last week-end, I planned to come back for this forest ridge the next week-end, unless the weather became gorgeous. It didn't, and just as planned, I sat the course for Tysnes this Saturday morning. I was in no rush, as the weather was supposed to get better during the day. I took the 10:55AM ferry from Halhjem, and arrived the trailhead where I was one week earlier, 11:55AM.

While this forest ridge was absolutely free of snow last week, this was no longer the situation. The snowfall during the last days of week wasn't substantial, but nevertheless, the hike would at least get more strenuous. The road towards Onarheim was nearly free of snow, but the parking area wasn't. No signs of other cars or people. I wondered if anyone had been here since I left one week ago. Troll wasn't interested in walking at all, and hit the backpack before we had gained 50 horizontal meters.

I was thankful for the initial tractor road, leading up the higher part of the forest ridge. When the road ended, I didn't see any path, and didn't bother looking. I sought the high ridge and reached Kyrkjefjellet 12:40PM. It was raining, and due to fog, I could only imagine Tuvefjellet 500m further northwest. I did however notice that there was no way down Kyrkjefjellet on the west side. I headed north and considered a steep descent, but changed my mind and took a small detour towards the east. By 13:00PM, I was standing on Tuvefjellet.

The fog had lifted some, and I saw the contours on my further route. Kannikenuten looked further away than I had mentally prepared for. At this point, I was quite unaware of Kannikenuten being the high point on the ridge. I thought the highest point was Bruna, and this was my destination. Finding a good route towards the Skardet pass was easy enough, and by 13:30PM, I was heading upwards from Skardet. There were deer tracks all around, and even if I didn't get a clear view of any, I could tell by sounds that they were watching me.

I followed the terrain where I found it practical, and by 13:55PM I was standing on top of Kannikenuten. I had a good view towards Bruna, and found it odd that it looked lower than the point I was on. I was however in a hurry, as I had started to think about the 16:05PM ferry. If I missed this one, I would have to wait until 17:45PM for the next one. I reached Bruna 14:10PM, and could only conclude that Kannikenuten seemed to be higher. After a short break for lunch, I headed back up to Kannikenuten and took a GPS waypoint. Sure enough, the elevation was considerable higher than on Bruna.

Interestingly enough, my GPS showed too low height on all hills I visited. Perhaps this was due to the fact that Etlådnefjellet was blocking a large section of my signal range. I'm not sure. But here are the numbers;

TopØkonomisk KartverkMy GPS elevation
   
Kyrkjefjellet333m327m
Tuvefjellet342m340m
Kannikenuten378m372m
Bruna369m364m

We were back in Skardet pass 14:40PM, and Troll was finally able to walk by himself. We were back on the main road just before 15:00PM and reached the car 15:15PM. I walked quite fast. 2Km in 15 minutes. The dog had to run to keep my pace. Back at the car, I had more than sufficient time for reaching the 16:05PM ferry, and screamed out in pure joy when I had changed into dry clothes. A wet and strenuous hike, but fun to have been to Kannikenuten - the forest hill with the awkward name.

Pictures from the Feb 12 2005 hike

Move cursor to read notes, and click on the images to see full version.
Some of the thumbnails may have been cropped to fit the format.

1. Passing lake Vevatnet by car (208KB) 2. This will be my descent route (154KB) 3. The Kyrkjefjellet/Tuvefjellet trailhead (108KB) 4. Parking by the Etlaadnefjellet trailhead (93KB) 5. On the way to Kyrkjefjellet, looking back (144KB) 6. Kyrkjefjellet seen on the way to Tuvefjellet (135KB) 7. Broken trig. point on Tuvefjellet (180KB) 8. View towards Kannikenuten, from Tuvefjellet (325KB) 9. Staying below the high ridge for practical reasons (184KB) 10. Kannikenuten in clear view (132KB) 11. Bruna seen from Kannikenuten (299KB) 12. Kannikenuten seen from Bruna (315KB) 13. Broken trig. point on Bruna (165KB) 14. North view from Bruna (373KB) 15. A cairn east on Bruna (119KB) 16. On top of Kannikenuten (188KB) 17. Lake Vevatnet seen from Kannikenuten (178KB) 18. On the way down to Vevatne (222KB) 19. Swans on lake Vevatnet (121KB) 20. Swans on lake Vevatnet (80KB) 21. Strono island seen from the ferry (311KB) 22. Tysnessaata seen from the ferry (77KB) 23. Troll has found a good position (121KB)

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Pictures from other hikes:

1. Fusa and Tysnes mountains (216KB)

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