Selbjørn is the second largest island in the Austevoll

Austevoll

Austevoll is a municipality and an archipelago in the district of Midthordland in the county of Hordaland in Western Norway, Norway. Austevoll was separated from Sund on 1 January 1886....

 municipality, Hordaland

Hordaland

is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. The commercial centre of Selbjørn is Bekkjarvik

Bekkjarvik

Bekkjarvik is a village in Austevoll municipality, Norway. Its population is 389 ....

.

Name

Selbjørn is based on the old Norwegian Salbjorn meaning the bear in the saddle. The interpretation is that sailor- and fishermen used Selbjørn as replacement for a more ancient "Hund" meaning quarry. However, "Hund" is the same as the Norwegian word for dog and "Hund" in the meaning of dog was according to old tradition something not to be mentioned at sea. The result being Salbjorn or Selbjørn as the new word for "Hund" (quarry).

Kongsafjellet

Kongsafjellet is 185 meters above sea level, with good view in all directions. Kongsafjellet has a strategic position to overview all fairways for ships coming from the north sea and going north/south along the coast. The Viking king's estate at Fitjar was also seen from the hilltop, and due to this and the archaeological findings, it is anticipated that Haakon the Good

Haakon I of Norway

Haakon I , , given the byname the Good, was the third king of Norway and the youngest son of Harald Fairhair and Thora Mosterstang.-Early life:...

 used the hilltop as scouting location as part of his Vikings security system.

Travel to Selbjørn

Selbjørn is connected to Stolmen and Huftarøy with bridges. The ferries to/from Austevoll goes to Hufthamar on Huftarøy (from the north) and to Husavik (from the south). The ferry to Hufthamar comes from Krokeidet in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

and takes 35 minutes, Hufthamar to Selbjørn is a 25-minute drive. The ferry to Husavik comes from Sandvikvåg, Fitjar and takes 25 minutes, Husavik to Selbjørn is a 10-minute drive.

External links

• The North Sea Track at Selbjørn http://nordsjoloypa.ivest.no/selbjorn.htm