Hike and Bike week
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Haddalshornet | 611m | 103m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Myklebusthornet | 329m | 329m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Rørene | 295m | 72m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Gyrinakken | 365m | 157m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Aksla | 188m | 188m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
| Skarphornet | 698m | 195m | Volda, Norway | WCP |
| Vardehornet | 600m | 60m | Ørsta/Volda, Norway | WCP |
| Melshornet | 807m | 564m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
Haddalshornet (611m), Nov 12 2018
Monday: Started the hiking week with an afternoon hike to Haddalshornet, along my favorite path from Havåg. Even after significant rain, this path is still fairly dry.
I always enjoy rising above the forest and get Haddalshornet and Blåtind in view, giving me opportunities for many hours of hiking.
But not today. Now, I just planned to get to Haddalshornet and back down before it got pitch dark. I don’t mind walking in the dark. On the contrary (just wait for upcoming trip reports…), but it takes me a couple of weeks to … acclimate.
And, 1h:15m after leaving the car, we were back again. Without having to use the headlamp…
Trip statistics: 6,1km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:15m
Pictures (Iphone) from the hike:
Myklebusthornet (329m), Rørene (295m), Nov 13 2018
Tuesday: Ålesund day, and since I hadn’t visited Rørene on Ellingsøya island since 2007, I decided to go for a round trip hike across Myklebusthornet (the island high point) and Rørene. With my (really) bad knee, I had to go for easy hikes these days.
We started out by the soccer field at Legene and hiked up the tractor road to the pass between Myklebusthornet and Rørane. I figured that I had time to hike both tops before it got dark. Not that it mattered, but then I had something to push for.
We went to Myklebusthornet first. I like the ridge walk over there.
A quick stop on top before we headed back.
Next stop: Rørene.
It didn’t take many minutes up to the high point, and then we jogged back down. Well, Karma didn’t *jog*, but you know what I mean…
Trip statistics: 6,3km, 440 vertical meters, 1h:15m
Pictures (Iphone) from the hike:
Gyrinakken (365m) , Nov 14 2018
Wednesday: I realized that I would not get the inflammation to leave the knee, by hiking every single day. So instead of resting, I took out the bike. But biking along roads only is boring, so I decided to combine biking and walking (carrying the bike).
Today’s trip turned out to be quite odd. At first, I biked up the forest path from Vonheim, to the start of the Gyrinakken forest path (1,7km).
Then I carried the bike up to the top of Gyrinakken (1,0km).
Next up was to carry the bike down to the kart race track on Leikongeidet. From here, I was leading and carrying the bike across a horrible meadow to Lysløypa by Leikongsætra (1,9km).
From here, I could bike back to the trailhead (3,5km – and with the headlamp on). Good for the bad knee, and Karma got good exercise too!
Trip statistics: 8,3km, 400 vertical meters, 1h:25m
Pictures (Iphone) from the bike trip/hike:
Aksla, Ålesund (188m), Nov 15 2018
Thursday: Ålesund day, and another day on the bike trip. We started out in Gangstøvika, heading for Fjellstua above Ålesund.
The view from Fjellstua is always nice, but wait for the after-dark trip reports coming up…
Then we biked up to the high point (Rundskue), and I managed to pull off the below picture.
The challenge was to get the dog NOT to follow me when I walked down the stairs, and stretch just enough so that I could see her from below.
I imagined I could sit on the bike most of the time, down to Borgarnes Veg. That was quite wrong. I was hardly on the seat at all. Then we followed the fjord trail back to Gangstøvika. Nice trip, and I definitely felt that biking was very positive for the knee.
Trip statistics: 8km, 300 vertical meters, 1h:05m
Pictures (Iphone) from the bike trip/hike:
Skarphornet (698m), Nov 17 2018
Saturday: Anne’s birthday, but she was celebrating it in Cape Town. So, me and Karma and to find fun on our own. “Fun” got materialized through a very create bike-and-hike-trip.
I drove to Rotevatnet in Volda and parked where the road to Rotevassætra was closed by a gate. From here we biked in the direction of Rotevassætra.
4,3km later, we reached the Vadsteindalen/Rotevassætra fork and I was able to stay on the bike on the boggy path for 400m.
When I had to get off the bike, I went off-trail westbound – heading for the pass between Skarphornet and Kråkenakken. I was able to push the bike all the way up to the pass, and then some. But eventually, I had to carry the bike.
Instead of going to Skarphornet along the north ridge, we went down to Botnasætra where I left the bike. Upon return, I could just get on the bike and head down the tractor road, instead of keep on carrying it.
From Botnasætra, I took a direct (off-trail) course for Skarphornet and passed lake Vardevatnet on the east side. I had never been in these parts of the mountain and I really enjoyed it.
It was mid-November, but it felt like a summer’s day…
I met a deer hunter at the top. We hadn’t much in common…
On the way back to Botnasætra, we followed a route parallel to our ascent route, but passing Vardevatnet on the west side. We took our time. It was a gorgeous day and lots of nice things to see…
Back at Botnasætra, I picked up the bike and we headed down the tractor road. It would have been nice if there was a short-cut to my trailhead, but I had no other option than to follow the road back down and follow the roads back to the car.
But after a little while, I met a group of three. Two of them were heading upwards (on foot) while the third was about to head down a path that I hadn’t noticed before – ON BIKE. I asked him if he knew a short-cut, and he replied “follow me”.
The path was rough and he had a fat bike. But, I was able to follow him without any big problems. He took me through a route I will never be able to repeat, but eventually we reached the road to Rotevassætra, and I was only 1,1km east of my car.
This was a most enjoyable round trip!
Trip statistics: 13,5km, 770 vertical meters, 2h:45m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip/hike:
Vardehornet (600m), Melshornet (807m), Nov 18 2018
Sunday: Knee getting better, all the more reason to continue with my hybrid bike and hike trips. Today, the trip went to Volda (again), but this time, the goal was Vardehornet and Melshornet.
We started out from Klepp and instead of follow the natural roads and paths to the east, we went northwest, passing through Norddalen. I was totally unfamiliar with this part of the mountain, and picked a random forest trail that seem to head UP the forest.
After a while, I soon realized that this was not the “highway” to the mountain, and after I while I had to get off the bike and carry it instead. For a while, it was altogether *cumbersome*.
But after a while, the conditions improved. Not that I could resume with nice biking, but at least I could push/lead the bike upwards.
Eventually, we reached the Niven ridge and I could start biking again.
Biking down from Niven went for the most part good, but one (controlled) head dive was unavoidable.
It was not a sunny day below 800m, but I hoped that we would rise above the fog by the time we reached Melshornet. But first we had to cross Vardehornet, and I had to carry the bike all the way up.
From Vardehornet, I could bike all the way to lake Dinglavatnet, where I left the bike. Then we headed towards Melshornet along the normal route from the lake.
As we got higher and higher on Melshornet, the hope of rising above the fog grew stronger and stronger, but when we reached the top it was clear that we would have to stay for a good while if we hoped to get a better view than this:
We were just 10-20 meters too low!
I didn’t plan to spend the rest of the Sunday up there and we headed back down to Dinglavatnet, where I picked up the bike. We followed the mountain service road down before getting onto the trail taking us back to Klepp.
It was disappointing to not get those amazing views above the fog, and despite some cumbersome moments in the forest, it was still a really nice trip!
Trip statistics: 13,9km, 870m vertical meters, 3h:20m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip/hike:
