Kalhovd, day 2
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Mårsbrotet | 1340m | 130m | Tinn |
| Gloppetjønnhovde | 1340m | 134m | Tinn |
| Kilshovde | 1258m | 155m | Tinn |
MÅRSBROTET & GLOPPETJØNNHOVDE
Day 2 @Kalhovd tourist hut, and I woke up with a splitting headache. If I only could blame it on too many beers, at least I would have a rough ETA on when I would get back to normal shape. But this was because I hadn’t paid too much attention to the ever-present trigger points in my back for the past weeks. The task for the day was clear – massage, massage and massage. And if I were lucky, perhaps ETA would be around 3pm (or so).
I decided to do the massage part on the trail. I took Karma and left Kalhovd at 9am sharp, after breakfast. Anne had a bad knee and would be doing her exercise on bike .
I decided to do a round trip hike across Mårsbrotet and Gloppetjønnhovde. The promise of two new tops would surely make the poor day considerably better.
The marked path was easy to follow, so I could focus on massaging the trigger point that generated the storm of “electrical shocks” into the back of my head. No easy task, as I my fingers barely reached down the sore point. But I found a rhythm and stayed optimistic. The pain would eventually go away, time and effort permitted…
We left the path just south of Mårsbrotet and reached the top 10:20pm, after a 5,2km hike from Kalhovd. The weather forecast for our 3-day stay on Kalhovd had NOT been promising, but the weather was quite nice. Things were definitely looking up!
The 3km hike from Mårsbrotet to Gloppetjønnhovde was entirely off-trail and crossed some boggy sections in the valley between the tops.
We stood on top of Gloppetjønnhovde 11:16pm, and yet another new top found its way into my “peak account“. I had lost count, but knew that I was very close to 1900 tops with a PF (primary factor) of 100 meters or more. If I counted the tops with PF 50 meters or more, I would be closing in on 2500. If someone had told me, 20 years ago, that the rest of my life (outside my professional work) would be all about collecting new mountain tops, I would have gone “yeah, right…” on them.
But here I am, in the middle of it. Loving it…
Kalhovd was a 5,4km hike from Gloppetjønnhovde. A vague path led us down to a cabin by Gluggevasstjønni, and from there, we followed an old tractor road to the main road just east of Kalhovd.
We returned to the cabin 12:30pm, after a nice (if-it-hadn’t-been-for-the-headache) 13,5km round trip hike.
After 3,5 hours, I was in the same bad shape, if not worse. I went into the room and continued the massage, but now rubbing against the wall, with a tennis ball in-between. This is the “hard way” of doing it, very painful and relieving at the same time. This effort was rewarded with a 30-minute nap and when I got back up, I felt life – as I like to know it – gradually come back to me.
With several hours until dinner, this “return to life” experience could only be celebrated one way; yet another new mountain top.
KILSHOVDE
I took Karma and the car and drove to the sound between Kilsfjorden and Gøystadalsvatnet. To save time, I biked from the main road and across the bridge to the other side. The time was 2:30pm when I left the bike.
Kilshovde seemed quite far away, but I assumed I had plenty of time before the 7pm dinner at Kalhovd.
We were now on a path that didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, so we went off-trail after a little while. Later, we got on a new path, but I soon decided to leave it and hike the beach instead. Suddenly, Kilshovde seemed very close.
I was just able to cross the drain from Kilslangetjønni without getting my feet wet and took a direct course towards the summit.
We reached the top of Kilshovde 3:10pm and looked back on Kalhovd – 4,8km to the northeast.
The headache was now completely gone, and I looked forward to dinner – and a cold beer along with it. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so I was definitely building up appetite!
After a short stay on top, we returned (more or less) the same way we came.
Back at Kalhovd, we were told that we could not expect to have the 4-bed room to ourselves this evening. They expected the place to get packed. If it hadn’t been for the dog, then this would have not been an issue at all. But I felt the stress coming over me. Karma makes a bit of noise at night. Dreaming loud, snoring on occasion, moving around, doing a roll-call when she thinks it’s morning, which could be 5am as well as 8am.
So I decided to go for plan B and we put up our tent behind Kalhovd. Anne would stay at the room, Karma and I would stay in the tent if we didn’t get the room to ourselves.
After a nice dinner, and a very nice cold beer (or was it two?), there wasn’t much to do, other than wait to see what would happen. We killed some time by balancing across the dam. A fall would mean band-aid and new dry clothes. After a couple of beers, I could not legally drive a car, but fortunately, this was allowed…
By 11pm, we still had the room to ourselves, but on places like this, people can arrive very late. So I decided to spend the night in the tent. I slept like a baby…
Pictures from the Mårsbrotet / Gloppetjønnhovde hike
Pictures from the Kilshovde hike
