Øygardstøl is a small mountain station at the top of the Lysevegen, on a bare plateau about six hundred metres above the sea, and its main purpose is to look at what you have just climbed. A café and a car park stand at the rim, and from the terrace the view drops straight down into the Lysefjord, with the road you rode zigzagging below and the water a long, dark, narrow strip far beneath. On a clear day it is striking. When cloud fills the fjord you look down into milk, with only the sound of falling water to tell you what is below.
For many people this is the start of a different journey. A walking trail leads from here to Kjerag, a cliff edge over the fjord, where a boulder wedged in a crevice has become an icon of the daring and the foolhardy. Hikers cross the plateau, often in mist and wind, and it can take several hours there and back, so unless you have time and decent boots, content yourself with the terrace. The landscape is typical of Norwegian high country: smooth granite, small lakes, heather, and thin soil with moss and lichen. The air is cooler than at sea level by many degrees, even in summer.
The ride up and the ride away across the plateau are pleasant in their own way. The road after the hairpins runs through open, rolling country with long, easy bends, passing through a patchwork of farmland and heath. Sheep wander across the road, and reindeer sometimes appear at dusk. Mist and rain arrive quickly, so keep a waterproof layer handy. Wind on the plateau can be severe, and in autumn there may be ice.
The café is open in the warm season, usually from spring until autumn, and it is the only reliable place for food and a toilet on this stretch, so make the most of it. Jørpeland, about thirty-five kilometres away, is the nearest town of any size, and it is worth knowing before you set out on this road. The view is best in the early morning or evening, when the low light picks out the cliffs and the water below holds a deep blue.