Sick Week #3 – slowly rising…
Tops and places visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Rysseholmen | – | – | Herøy, M&R, Norway | |
| Fløstranda | 27m | 21m | Ulstein, Norway | |
| Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Muletua | 253m | 65m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Barmen | 278m | 245m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| Langeneset | – | – | Herøy, M&R, Norway | |
| Amlaholten | 508m | 265m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP |
| Nedre Stedjeåsen | – | – | Sogndal, Norway | |
| Sogndal | – | – | Sogndal, Norway |
Rysseneset, Rysseholmen, May 12 2020
Tuesday: I always have high hopes for a new week, but the hopes crashed already on Monday morning. Both the weather and my general shape was nothing to rejoiced about. It seemed that my “shore project” just had to continue.
After checking the map, I decided to visit Rysseneset, and possibly Rysseholmen if there was low tide. The amount of snow in the mountains was just piling up and the skiing season had definitely come back.
I left home in sunshine, and 10 minutes later I had to wait 5 minutes in the car until a snow shower lost its momentum.
After it had started to clear up, we began our journey along the shore on Rysseneset.
Behind me, the mountains were visible again.
When we got to Rysseholmen, I could see that we could walk over to it. Perhaps it’s no longer an islet. It was difficult to tell.
It was slightly difficult was to get down into the small strait. I had to climb down first and catch Karma “in free flight”.
We walked around the islet and enjoyed our time there.
Meanwhile, another snow shower was “brewing” out in the ocean.
Time to get back, and the ascent up the small cliff was clearly more strenuous than the descent. I had to lift Karma up, then shove her ahead of me, telling her to move LEFT while she tried to climb straight up. Eventually, she understood and turned left…
On my way home, I stopped and took this picture of Rjåhornet. There should hardly be any white spots at this time of the year, but things are clearly different this year…
We also took a short trip down to Jonseholmen, before calling it a day.
Trip statistics: 1,9km, 65 vertical meters, 36mins
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the walk:
Fløstranda, May 13 2020
Wednesday: Anne’s last day her on Sunnmøre, before returning to Sogndal. She has been of great help in walking the dog several times a day. I do hope that my resting has paid off. But today, it’s yet another day by the shore…
The weather was no longer weird. Now, it was just comical.
After work, we drove out to Flø to “catch some waves” and hopefully get some nice weather. Like the days before, snow and hail showers came and went, but with sunshine in between.
The sea by the shore was indeed lively…
The shore is quite rocky here. And when slippery, it’s best to make sure that every step counts…
And then came a hail shower that didn’t last very long – fortunately.
The best part of a hail shower is the first minute after it’s passed. And by the looks of it, the next round wasn’t anywhere near.
We continued our shore walk for a little while, taking on obstacles instead of avoiding them.
Eventually, we decided to call it a day and return home.
Trip statistics: 2,2km, 45 vertical meters, 1 hour
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Rambjøra (132m), May 14 2020
Thursday: It’s fair to say that what I do, is always a function of how I feel. You will never hear me say; “I feel just fine, therefore I will rest”. And today, I felt for a small uphill hike. Which clearly was a good sign, compared to the past week – where uphill was the last thing on my mind.
The “comical” weather just continued…
My local top Rambjøra surely qualifies as a small uphill hike. I decided to bring the Lopper – for trimming some bush along the way.
For the return, I decided to try out a route that I’ve been thinking about for a while – directly from the summit and down to the fjord. It was a “never again” type of route. The bush was a true nightmare. But at least I got my curiosity satisfied.
Trip statistics: 2,6km, 155 vertical meters, 1h:20m
May 15 2020
Had a bad day. And besides, it was snowing. But at least I got to give the dog a long overdue hair-cut!
Muletua (253m), Barmen (278m), May 16 2020
Saturday: At this point in time, I had no idea that next week would be a good week. At least the most of it. But things were clearly moving in the right direction and so today I decided to turn it up a notch, compared to the past week.
I drove to Nerlandsøya island to hike Muletua. If I felt good, I would visit Barmen too.
The big question was how many hail showers we would get. Today, there had already been some particularly nasty ones.
The horizon was difficult to interpret. There was definitely some ugly stuff out there, but was it heading our way?
I just hoped we could get to Muletua before hell broke loose. At least there was a shelter we could hide in, if need be.
But the weather stayed stable and so we headed for Barmen. I had already prepared the “escape plan” from that top, just in case of an evil shower coming along.
The sea below looked pretty intense. Beautiful to look at, though.
I really love being here on the very edge of the coastline. I’ve done some fun stuff out here in the past, but I’ll have to wait until I’ve recovered before I will come back for more.
We reached the top of Barmen and the weather was still holding up. I didn’t want to push my luck by hiking the entire ridge and planned to descend on the first path I came across.
It was just mind-boggling to walk in snow here in mid-May. It has to be many years since the last time there was this much snow at this time of the year.
At Helleskardet, we took an off-trail route down to the water station. Then I didn’t have to lift Karma across yet another fence. I think it’s 5 in total if you also go across Børa and Okla. Back at the main road, we had 1,2km to walk before reaching the car. I felt very happy about not having gotten any hail showers along the way.
Trip statistics: 5,7km, 390 vertical meters, 1h:28m
Langeneset, Nerlandsøya, May 16 2020
Still Saturday: On my way home after the Muletua – Barmen hike, I stopped by Langeneset to see if I could get some nice wave pictures. I let Karma stay in the car as getting OFF the road involved a sheep fence and some scrambling.
At least there was some action out at Golleneset…
And there was action in many other places too. I would have hung around longer if it hadn’t been for a terrible hail shower that came upon me.
I was really close to the waves and I made a mental note of returning some other time.
Pictures from Langeneset:
Amlaholten (508m), May 17 2020
Sunday: Norway’s National Day and I was on my way to Sogndal. 3 weeks had passed since I returned from my 3-week stay there the last time. I looked forward to Anne helping me out with walking the dog. I had a hope that my condition would improve during my stay, but I didn’t know that I would be biking across Amlaholten later in the day. When I left Sunnmøre, I was ready for nothing and everything…
The weather was bad on Sunnmøre when I left. When I got to Nordfjord, it was even worse and when I reached Sunnfjord – it was like … OMG – this is really shitty weather! Passing Skei, it was full winter will snow all over the place.
It wasn’t until I reached Sogndalsdalen valley when the feeling of full winter started to let go. There was clearly less snow here now, compared to April. Everywhere else, there was *more*.
When I got to Sogndal, Anne was still out with friends and I as felt up to it, I drove to Kaupanger and decided to bike the tractor road below Amlaholten. The plan was to do an easy bike-trip to the end of the road, hike the short distance to the top and return the way I came.
But plans often fail, and soon I found myself carrying the bike on my shoulder, up a VERY steep forest section. The desire to bike down on the other side just grew too big.
We stopped by the “newly discovered” viewpoint before moving up to the top, where I was really excited about the upcoming downhill route.
I’m not a terrain biker, I don’t have a good terrain bike and I’m certainly not a dare devil. But I still managed to bike down the entire forest route. For an experienced biker, this was – at best – a warm-up route. But for me, it was pure fun!
Anne, May 17 2020
Still Sunday: Then Anne got home, in her National Costume. As tradition requires, we have to take pictures! First, on the new bridge in Sogndal.
Then, by Sogndalsfjorden.
It was altogether a different National Day in Norway, due to the Covid-19 impact. No traditional parade, just some local ones, like fire truck convoys, etc. But it was easy to see that the country is gradually opening up again, and people coming together – ignoring the current advices about social distancing. Let’s just hope the beast doesn’t return…
Nedre Stedjeåsen, May 17 2020
Still Sunday: Later in the afternoon, we decided to go for a walk in the foothills of the Stedjeåsen forest.
I had some paths to explore and Anne came along.
It was SO NICE to enjoy a sunny spring afternoon after 6 days of consecutive snow- and hail showers.
And so it was time to have some forest fun.
An Evening Drive, May 17 2020
Later, we went for an evening drive, enjoying the last rays of sunshine. OMG, it was SO nice to be back in Sogndal!
Pictures from the drive:
