Hovaneset

Hystad- burial mounds

The biggest collection of prehistoric burial relics in Stord is to be found in Hystadmarka. There are still 16 burial mounds and two stone rings visible here; finds that span from the Bronze Age to the Viking Age in time.

Tjernagel

For almost three thousand years Tjernagelshaugen (the Tjernagel cairn) has lain as a landmark at the Bømlo fjord. The poet Torarin mentions the cairn in his account of Knut the Mighty, who in the year of 1028 sailed from Denmark to Nidaros: “And in front of the old cairn at Tjernagel sailed soldiers sharp with peace”.

Vikse

Fluøyane

The richest seabird localities in Bjørna Fjord are FLUØYANE, a group of small and medium-sized islets just east of the entrance to Våge. Here, we see many different nesting birds, but there is the danger that overgrowth will become an obstacle for nesting here in the future. On one of the islands, the environmental protection authority has promised to step in and help the birds.

Hovdanes

Vernøya

If you smell a foul smell out in nature, you mustn't immediately think that the reason is cloaca from houses or cabins. The reason can be an entirely natural process that occurs when plants are broken down under special conditions. When there is little oxygen available, hydrogen sulphide can be produced. This is a gas that seeps up from the earth and smells like rotten eggs.

Rekvemylna

If you enter the farmyard at Rekve, some kilometres from Bulken, where the road departs to Giljarhus, you no longer meet “the miller”, Knut Hernes, in his old rural mill. But some years ago he would wish you welcome, friendly and hospitable, and show you around his mill, which had been his workplace for a generation. As light-footed as a youth he climbed in steep ladders high up into the waterfall, to let the water down on to the waterwheel.

Aksnesholmane

There are especially many seabirds inwards along the fjords of western Norway. There are not many islets, either, so if the birds want to nest, it is not always easy to find good sites. At Aksnesholmane there is an impressive colony of gulls, and the locality has been protected since 1923.

Vangdal

At Salthamaren in Vangdalsberget it is thought that salt was burned some time in history, and deep layers of coal in the ground show that fire has been made up here several times. But they were hardly salt-burners, the first people who stopped here. Some of them carved figures into the rock. On top of the rocky outcrop, furthest out on the cliff, a group of Stone Age hunters carved animal figures. More than 1,500 years later Bronze Age farmers drew ship figures at the foot of the rock. Both these works of art - some of the oldest in Hordaland – are still visible, carved in the rock at Salthamaren.