Recovery week…
Peaks visited: (Click on the Peak name link to go directly to the chapter):
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Åsefjellet | 141m | 83m | Hareid, Norway | WCP |
| Eikenakken | 123m | 123m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| Signalen | 231m | 231m | Giske, Norway | WCP |
| Nuken | 919m | 126m | Sogndal, Norway | |
| Andhovden | 512m | 9m | Sogndal, Norway |
Åsefjellet (141m), May 6 2019
Monday: Not feeling well! I had hoped that the cold would have let go by now, but no. It’s strange to feel weak! But OK, it is what it is. Better make the most of it.
Today, I decided to visit Åsefjellet on Hareidlandet and do a round trip hike via Gamleåsen. New terrain always gives me energy, even when there doesn’t seem to be any.
There were still snow showers(!) in the region and I hoped I would avoid them.
I parked in Engjaskaret and we followed the ridge path to Åsefjellet.
On top, I had a good view of the NICE ridge across Ulsettua, Kongsvollen and Blåtind.
The view across wasn’t bad either…
Down by Åsen, we followed a road down, in the direction of the fjord, and found the path that ran parallel to the ridge route. We passed the old farm building that is marked as Gamleåsen on the map, but I met a couple of locals who said the name was “Høge…” something. Just can’t remember…
I really enjoyed the walking along the fjord with the nice view towards the peaks on the other side…
Trip statistics: 3,7km, 150 vertical meters, 1h:15m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:
Eikenakken (123m), May 7 2019
Tuesday: Still weak, and once more settling for a low top and an easy hike. If it hadn’t been for the dog, I’m not sure I would have gone out the front door. And what the HECK was wrong with the weather? It’s still snowing! But ok, better make the most of it. I decided to go to Eika island, and what could I do there that I hadn’t done before?
Perhaps checking out the shore? So, we followed the road all the way to the last house at Eika, and then headed down to the shore. It was really nice to be there, but I had a feeling that we wouldn’t be following the shore for too long, before we had to retreat.
There was indeed weather around. Just not right here….
I looked at Laupsnipa and hoped that this frickin’ cold could pass and I could resume my NORMAL afternoon walks.
We did cover some pretty nice meters along the shore before we had to get back on the road. On the way back, we stopped by Eikenakken – the island high point.
The off-trail descent back to the road was NOT nice!
Trip statistics: 5,4km, 200 vertical meters, 1h:20m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:
Signalen (231m), May 8 2019
Wednesday: Ålesund day, and I felt a little bit better. I didn’t feel good, but better. Which meant that I could safely add a little bit of distance and vertical meters to yesterday’s hike on Eika island.
So, today I was heading to Valderøya island and Signalen after work. I did not feel inventive at all, and decided to take the same round trip as I did the last time I was here (2018): From Valdervoll – up north along the gravel path, up to Signalen along the north ridge and down to Ytterland.
But the original idea was to do it in the opposite direction. I found a nice place to park, not disturbing anyone. Then a guy came driving up and I asked if him if it was OK to park here. Just to be polite, you know. To show that you are a considerate person and all. But he treated me like trash, laughing and shaking his head over all those idiots (he didn’t say that, but meant it) that came to park here and hike on the mountain. My upbringing prevents me from going down the rude vocabulary route, so I just left and counted to 100 before forgetting all about that jerk. So, we would be heading out from Valdervoll after all…
Even if this is a really low coastal top, it’s always nice to walk along the steep walls. I decided not to visit the Skjonghellaren cave today.
I did a slight variation to my 2018 route by getting on the north ridge earlier.
At the top, I remembered my near-catastrophic fall last year, when I slipped on the rock by the summit cairn. I was vertical and could only think about the camera. Which, was honky-dory fine afterwards, while I wasn’t.
I don’t want snowfall in May, but I admit that the snow adds a certain dimension to the already beautiful scenery.
Trip statistics: 5,9km, 250 vertical meters, 1h:25m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:
May 9 + 10: Setback!
When you get a bad cold, perhaps working full time and hiking every day isn’t so clever. It might come back and bite you in the butt. The general shape dropped like a barometer, but I still went to work, getting up at 5am!
Nuken (919m), May 11 2019
Saturday: Back in Sogndal, quite BORED from not having done any walks in the past two days. But, given the recent setback, I would NOT overdo things today. Anne could not join me for a walk today, but could pick me up. So, I decided to hike Nuken from Åsen and hike down to Åberge, where she could pick me up. The route wouldn’t have too many vertical meters, but it would be nice to just be on the path again.
But the road to Åsen was closed, and Karma and I had to hike from Hovslundengi. Which meant 2,1km and 270 additional vertical meters along the road.
And when we got to the parking, there were cars there. Apparently, the road wasn’t closed to the locals…
Fine, I decided not to be bothered and concentrated all my energy in cursing the engineer behind the below masterpiece. What the heck is wrong with a GATE?
But eventually, we were on the path, and found that there was still a bit of fresh snow left on the mountain.
It was nice to reach the top and know that I had all options for my descent – given the fact that Anne would pick us up. Should we go to Fretland, Åberge or England (not the country)? I eventually decided to descend to Åberge, via Nuken’s northeast ridge.
That ridge offered a whole lot of (rotten) snow! But eventually, we got below the snow and had a nice hike down the mountain.
And at Åberge, we were met by Anne.
In the afternoon, we went down to the fjord to have some fun!
It was altogether a really nice day!
Trip statistics: 10,9km, 550 vertical meters, 2,5 hours
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip (and the evening):
Andhovden (512m), May 12 2019
Sunday: Feeling better than the day before and I proposed to Anne that we should drive to Hermansverk and hike Andhovden and Hangsete (old mountain summer farm). I had hiked the route to Andhovden a few years ago, but didn’t visit Hangsete. And perhaps we could find some nice variations to my previous route?
The first variation was to start at Grauthaug instead of Njøs. We followed a nice path up the forest and had some fun along the way.
I just can’t pass a huge rock without trying to climb it. Yes, I’m still 12 years old, mentally…
Eventually, we joined the Njøs path and reached the Bjørgahaug viewpoint.
From here, we headed up to Andhovden.
And then we continued up to Hangsete. It would have been really nice to just keep on walking but ending up in Øvstedalen without a car around, would just not be … practical.
On the way down from Hangsete, we decided to hike to the Kyrafossen waterfall. On our way up, we passed two signposts pointing in that direction, and we therefore assumed we could get a round trip hike.
At Hangsete, we saw a signpost pointing to Våkeldahaug, but as we had absolutely no idea where that was, we decided to trace our steps down to the uppermost “Kyrafossen” signpost. When we got there, we had to head back up the mountain (120 vertical meters) until we reached a point where there was a “Våkeldahaug” signpost. Sigh, we could just have followed that path from Hangsete.
Anyway, we kept on going, and when we thought the waterfall was “just around the corner”, the path took us DOWN the mountain.
It was soon clear that this path would take us down to the tractor road coming up from Njøs. And it did. But when we got there, we could just cross it and continue on a path that took us back to Bjørgahaug.
From the ridge, we followed the path down to Njøs. Well, we tried to find a way from the Hjellane climbing field and down to Grauthaug (where the car was), but gave up and continued down to Njøs.
At Njøs, I said to Anne that she and Karma could wait there while I header to Grauthaug (1,4km) to pick up the car. I always hope these things will give me “bonus points”, but they never seem to do 😉
Trip statistics: 9,2km, 760 vertical meters, 3h:40m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the trip:
