Diktarstien poetry path in Botnane

They are poems he wrote while living in Botnane from 1978 to 1985. The path opened on 18 August 2018. The 4.3 km path is easy to walk and has six stopping places.

The author Jan-Magnus Bruheim (1914-1988) moved from the mountain village of Skjåk to the coastal village of Botnane on 12 December 1978 and travelled back on 11 November 1985. Bruheim had long wanted to live by the coast, to experience a different way of life and the different natural and weather conditions. His poetry took on new themes and a new dimension, and he published eleven of his forty-five books during the seven years he lived in Botnane.

Bruheim said himself that living in Botnane was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was a popular local and author, whom everyone called Bruheimen. Several of his poems and books are clearly based on Botnane and the coast. In honour of Bruheim and the village, a poetry path was opened in Botnane in 2018.

It is a nature trail with ten poems by Jan-Magnus Bruheim. Six of the poems are inspired by specific themes in Botnane. The path’s six stopping places are marked in purple on the map on the information sign. Round, purple signs point the way to the poetry on the path.

The path is 4.3 km long and most of it can be found along the Frøysjøvegen road (Fv577). It's possible to walk or drive the route. Out of consideration for those unable to walk to poems 3 and 5, these poems are also displayed at the start of the poetry path. The Diktarstien poetry path goes from Jørnjorda to the graveyard.

For anyone arriving by boat from the south, there is also an information sign about the Diktarstien poetry path on the quay building at Villevika in Årebrot.

The author reads his poetry
During the years that Jan-Magnus Bruheim lived in Botnane, he recorded all his new poems on cassettes, to send to a blind friend. That means we can hear him read eight out of the ten poems on the poetry path in Botnane. The room was always silent when Bruheim read.