Lack of signboards lead tourists up the garden path

Pulpit Rock- touristsPulpit Rock.Photo: Paul Kleiven / NTB scanpix

Hamlet in Rogaland flooded with tourists astray

A bug in Google Maps sends hundreds of tourists going to the Pulpit Rock on a narrow and winding road. They end up at a small farm in the hamlet Fossmork.

 

The hamlet admittedly has a view of the famous mountain plateau in Lysefjorden, but is 30 kilometers away from the starting point of the hiking trail up there.

– We have sent hundreds of tourists back with the message that they are on the wrong side of the fjord. During the summer season it can easily be 10 to 15 cars every day, says Helge Fossmark to Stavanger Aftenblad.

He runs a small farm in Fossmork and says that minibuses virtually queue to enter the hamlet on busy summer days. The road they drive on is described as ‘horribly bad’ by the newspaper.

Neighbour Gunnar Bøe is also visited by confused tourists.

– When we are in the cabin, there are two, three, four, five or six tourists every day. They say they are going to Pulpit Rock and don’t have a clue. Google Maps guides them across Lysefjord Bridge and into Fossmork.

The road here is fairly narrow and they are quite anxious when we tell that they have to turn around and drive back. They can borrow binoculars and see all that is on top of the Pulpit Rock. It’s quite nice. We are talking to Chinese and Japanese, and it was even an American who wanted to buy the cabin. He thought the place was so amazing, says Bø to the newspaper.

Responsible for signs in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Roy Jarle Johansen, says he will investigate the case.

I think we should get something in place that shows people right way, when there is such a visited place. It is not always signboards that solves the problem. Some rely more on Google, says Johansen.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today