About Skinnelangs
Follow my trips along open and abandoned railway lines in Norway. Skinnelangs® is a combined blog and a resource for promoting hiking tourism along Norwegian railways. This website is for those who like outdoor activities, trains, wildlife, history and travel stories.
How
To walk along the railways (Norwegian: skinnelangs) is not the same as walking on or along the tracks, which is prohibited. It is about finding great trails nearby the railways. Sometimes over a mountain along unmarked trails, but even along heavily trafficked roads. The goal is to follow a line from its start to its end, but in a such way that most of the stations are visited. This can be challenging, for instance along the Bergen Line where the landscape is very rough and steep. Usually I never walk alone since many of my planned trips have become known throught social media.
Who
I am 46 years old and have an interest in both outdoor activities and abandoned railways. My plan was to become a journalist, but instead I graduated in Political Science and ended up as a web developer at the University of Oslo. The combination of all my interests and experiences have made it possible to realize the Skinnelangs® project.
Why
I got the idea after walking along the Navvy Road from Haugastøl to Finse together with a friend in autumn 2012. The Navvy Road is a popular cycling road originally used for transportation of equipments and materials during the construction of the Bergen Line around 1900. To walk in seven hours and leave behind 30 kilometres in beautiful surroundings impressed me. Was it possible to walk along the whole Bergen Line, I wondered. I started to walk along the line in several trip legs, but later I decided to continue along all the other lines in Norway as well. Another explanation is my eager to explore the world and live the life. I have been through two serious illnesses such as Wegener's Granulomatosis (GPA) and cancer. The life is not static, it has a lot of opportunities. Today I feel that I live my life I did not have before.