Kleiva

Do you have some spare time before your bus leaves? Would you like to go on a short walk to stretch your legs a little or give yourself pause for thought? Or perhaps you would like to see an unusual poet’s home? In that case, a trail to Kleiva up to the hill above Skei in Surnadal would be a great choice. Village poet Hans Hyldbakk, the King of Kleiva, used to live here. The buildings in Kleiva belong to the Surnadal Museum now, and a festival called Vårsøghelga gathers the locals for Kleivakveld, a yearly event up here. Yet too few people have discovered this hidden gem of a tourist destination which is so easily accessible to everyone. A nice one-kilometre long walk along a gravel road is all it takes! The trail ends at the poet’s home in Kleiva.

From Surnadal Cultural Centre, walk over the pedestrian crossing facing Coop Mega, turn to the right and walk across the car park. Go left onto a road that goes past Coop and down towards Leitet. Just after you pass Coop, turn off onto a side road that goes up on the upper side of the road. Just next to the junction, it will go under the national road and then continue parallel to it for some metres before it swings up the hill. After about 1 km, you will come to a sharp left turn. Kleiva is located inside that turn, and the road to the houses goes down from the top edge of the turn.

The trail starts from Surnadal Cultural Centre in Skei, Surnadal. There are two large car parks right outside Coop Mega, a grocery store in Skei. The one that is closest to the grocery store is for customers only. But the one that lies closer to Cultural Centre is open for everyone.