The sky gathers clouds into granite clumps like Norse gods readying for an almighty battle. I’m surrounded by sheer rock walls that echo grey and black as though both sky and land are made of the same stuff. Any minute, I’m sure, the heavens will crack open.
Video: The heart of the glorious Hardangervidda National Park is the tiny almost-village of Finse. It sits on the edge of Finse Lake and stares intently across the water at the tip of the Hardangervidda Glacier, where I longed to climb.
It’s one of the most iconic places to visit in Europe. In Norwegian, it’s called Preikestolen – a chip of stark rock jutting out over a stunning fjord that stretches to the horizon and beyond – but in English, we all know it as Pulpit Rock.
It’s the kind of cold that sucks the breath from your mouth like a vacuum cleaner. The Scots call this a lazy wind – because it can’t be bothered going around you. Just about every other part of me is frozen. Welcome to Finse.