Heritage Walk

Follow National Cycle Route no. 1 out of town. Ride along the quays, continue past Odden Shopping Centre and follow Bark Silas Vei until you reach Felleskjopet. Continue along Rv. 420 past the Ericsson building. By Statoil, go straight ahead and use the underpass to cross E-18. Follow Route no. 1, past Bo Gront and the exit to Prestegardsskogen, until you reach the crossroads signposted Kryssen. Cross the main road and continue along the narrow gravel road – keep left. After some 600m you will reach the foot and cycle path. Continue straight on for a few metres and then cross the road. Follow the signs for Rosholt. By now you will have reached the old, disused Grimstad/Froland railroad track (closed down in 1961), and are riding along the Rore lake – a fresh water source for Grimstad and Arendal. Continue past the barrier and then straight ahead. When you reach tarmac by the power station, turn right towards Fjaere Church. The church (built around 1150) is well worth a visit. At the crossroads, go straight ahead and follow signs for National Cycle Route no. 1 back to town. Comments: An easy route. If you meet a horse along the Rore lake lane, please stop and let the horse pass.

By the tourist office, cross the road at the traffic lights. Turn left, and continue along Pharos Vei. At the very end of Hoyvardeveien is the first hilltop: Vardeheia, 41 m a.s.l. Stunning views, and within an easy 10 min. walk from town centre. Enter Vestregate and then follow Storgaten until you reach Frivoldveien. The next hilltop is Floyheia, 63.5 m a.s.l., with beautiful views to the sea, town and countryside. This trail has been created based on Knut Hamsun’s work, “On Overgrown Paths”, and you’ll find quotes from the book along the way. Some steep sections, but Hamsun was 88 years old when he did this walk. Mollerheia, 41.9 m a.s.l., is the hilltop prior to the descent down to Kirkegaten. Cross over to Kirkeheia, 27 m a.s.l., with its beautiful park and the wooden Grimstad Church - Norway’s second largest of its kind. Binabben, 58.5 m a.s.l. and the last of the hilltops, offers an excellent “forest walk on wellkept paths to the vantage point. Spectacular 360° view towards countryside, town, harbour, archipelago and sea. At the top is a panorama disc with distances and details on what’s what in every direction. Duration: approx. 1 ½ hours. Terrain: Varied, some hilly areas, exciting countryside. Sturdy shoes and a reasonable level of fitness are required. Level of difficulty: Medium Suitable for: Both Vardeheia and Kirkeheia are suitable for wheelchairs/prams.

What is a smooth rocky shore? Cliffs and sandy beaches are very common, but the polished rocky shores are unique to Norway – almost. They do exist in other places, but not many. Stretches of such rock formations can be found from the Swedish west coast and up to Stockholm’s archipelago, and also in Greenland, Scotland, Alaska and possibly New Zealand. The rest of the world, however, does not have anything resembling these beautiful shores we associate with Southern Norway and the Oslo Fjord. The reason is that not many areas fulfil the two conditions required for such polished, smooth rocks to be formed. High-grade metamorphic rock such as gneiss or granite is required, and this coarse-grained formation must have been scoured and rubbed smooth by a thick layer of ice. As old as time itself! The Norwegian rocky shores originated long before the ice arrived - maybe as much as a billion years. Formation started 1.8 billion years ago and ended 1200 million years later. The time-span is almost incomprehensible! When the ice retreated for the last time, the rocky shores were given a last finish and took their current shape. This is only 10 000 years ago. Since then, the land has risen as much as 200 metres in some areas. Hence, the rocky shorescurrently lining the water’s edge were far below sea level and a thousand metres or more under the ice when they were formed. As the ice moved, masses of sand, gravel and stone were pushed in front and below. These deposits were pressed down and rubbed against the bedrock with immense force. This was how Norway’s rocky shores were formed. Soft elements were scoured away, and the hard rock was left polished, smooth and rounded. In several areas, characteristic scour lines are still evident, and some cracks in the actual bedrock can also be seen.