Myllargutvegen

The road E134 is effective, but can be a bit boring if you are going all the way between east and west in Norway. A nice detour along E134 is the 97 km long Myllargutvegen. The road has it’s name from a famous fiddler, Torgeir Augundsson (1801-1872) also called Myllarguten (the millers boy).

Myllarguten lived most of his life in this area. He was a remarkable musician and started playing in weddings at the age of 9! He soon became legendary, and had to travel and play in an increasingly larger area of the country. By accident, he met Ole Bull in 1831. They found much pleasure in each other’s different styles of music, and Bull later invited Myllarguten to a concert in Christiania (Oslo) in 1849. This made Myllarguten famous, and he got to participate in several of Bull’s concerts later. He even played once in Copehagen, but the Danes didn’t understand the Hardanger fiddle…
Eventually, the interest in ‘national romance’ were declining, and Myllarguten lost the public’s interest…
Myllarguten died in huge poverty, in a small cabin in Kósi near Rauland along this route.

What else to see?

Beside beautiful nature and far less traffic than on E134, you can make a stop at Myllarheimen in Arabygdi – the memorial place for Myllarguten.
Further, in the wild and beautiful valley Dyrlandsdalen, the landowner has build a shelter that can be used by travellers. The place is called Katthyl, and it has a fireplace. Remember to write a few words in his ‘guestbook’. On the opposite side of the road from the shelter, you’ll find some ancient rock carvings.

Another nice place to stop, is in the eastern end of the route, at Nutheim Guest house. It has been operational since 1870, and many famous Norwegian artists have found their inspiration in this environment.

Myllarheimen, Katthyl shelter/rock carvings and Nutheim guest house are included as waypoints in the GPX file.

In the area

Other locations to check out in the area are;

• Svartdal chappel (stave church replica)
• Seljordtårnet – for a nice short break
• Gamle Haukelivegen tourist road
• Eidsborg stave church
• The Telemark canal