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![Fadnesskaret](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/voss_17.jpg?itok=DJXiHJma)
![From Hamlagrøhornet one sees a division between the fertile phyllite and the naked Precambrian basement rock types in the landscape](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/voss_55.jpg?itok=WKuDCDHt)
Hamlagrø
The type of underlying rock can be decisive for how many different types of plants are found in an area. In the area around Hamlagrø-lake the diversity is especially obvious. The geological conditions change much here within a short distance.
![Typical landscape in Geitaknottane Nature Preserve](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/kvam_38.jpg?itok=nBAhBLqi)
Geitaknottane
Many travellers between Mundheim and Gjermundshamn are captivated by the expansive view toward Øynefjord, Varaldsøy and Folgefonna. The barren pine forest on the slopes on the upper-side of the road is not seen by many. Who would think that this area is home to rare species of plants and animals, creatures who have made their homes here for thousands of years?
![Rockslide at Mundheim in the spring of 1997](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/kvam_3.jpg?itok=M0w_nyFl)
Mundheim
At Mundheim there is a dangerous stretch of the highway. The mountainside has given way several times in this area. Typically, it happens in the spring, when the frost has loosened its grip.
![The waterfall at the top of Tokagjelet](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/kvam_49.jpg?itok=OJAJPjRK)
Tokagjelet
There is a sharp transition between the wide valley at Kvamskogen and the narrow Tokagjelet. The transition is no less dramatic when we come out of the crooked tunnels far down in the canyon, and the open Steinsdalen valley spreads out before us. The canyon both separates and joins together different epochs in western Norway's history.
![From Valldalen](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/odda_7.jpg?itok=G6Rkb1V7)
Valldalen
Valldalen or Valdalen, the name that the locals used in past times, had been a permanent settlement for a long time, and later the biggest mountain-farm valley in western Norway. Since that time there have been many changes: Most of the fields are no longer in use. Bjørkeskogen, a birch forest that had grown in the valley for thousands of years, took more and more over. And in the valley bottom, the Valldals dam now keeps the artificially large Valldalsvatnet Lake in place.
![Ullensvang](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/1/kvh_393-1.jpg?itok=d1meAEuf)
Ullensvang church
Ullensvang church, situated beside the vicarage, in idyllic surroundings on the headland just inside Lofthus municipality, is mentioned for the first time in written sources in 1309. At that time the present Gothic stone church must have been new. Judging by the style in the western portal and the eastern chancel windows, the church must have been built around 1300 or just before, probably by builders from Bergen influenced by the English Gothic style.
![Lyse Monastery, reconstruction](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/1/kvh-239_lysekloster.jpg?itok=bc_kHrFJ)
![The old church at Strandebarm](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/artikkel/admin/kvh_53-1.jpg?itok=IDHxnJx4)
![The monks leave their mark at Lysekloster](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/os_24.jpg?itok=Q5bQc7i9)
Lysekloster- The monks and nature
Lysekloster was the largest agricultural property in the country when it was phased out during the Reformation in 1537. In its prime this cloister encompassed two-thirds of all the farms in Os. The monks introduced and cultivated new plant species and it was probably they who stocked the waters with fish not indigenous to the area. This legacy from the Middle Ages has left a lasting mark.