Local walks and one really, really bad day…
| Date | Peak/Place | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| 24.08.2020 | Heida | 239m | 126m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 25.08.2020 | Ramnefjellet | 444m | 76m | Hareid, Norway | WCP |
| 25.08.2020 | Hovdenakken | 474m | 176m | Hareid, Norway | WCP |
| 26.08.2020 | Rundebranden | 294m | 141m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 29.08.2020 | Veten | 521m | 13m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP |
| 29.08.2020 | Sneldelida | 633m | 104m | Ulstein/ Hareid, Norway | WCP |
| 30.08.2020 | Selsteinen | 598m | 90m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 30.08.2020 | Storehanen | 493m | 67m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
Heida (239m), Aug 24 2020
Monday: The week started out by truly miserable weather. It was raining cats and dogs and it was a pure miracle that I was able to drag myself across the doorstep. I had originally planned to hike Gyrinakken, but once on the trail I settled for the shorter route to Heida.
It was indeed a less memorable walk.
Trip statistics: 2,8km, 185 vertical meters, 45 minutes
Ramnefjellet (444m), Hovdenakken (474m), Aug 25 2020
Tuesday: Anne came to Sunnmøre, as I needed her to drive me to and from Ålesund the next day, in addition to look after Karma while I was going through a medical examination. I was fasting and didn’t have a lot of energy. But, the dog needed to be walked. I could always ask Anne to do it for me, but I felt that a hike across Ramnefjellet and Hovdenakken was something I could handle.
The weather was fairly OK when we headed out and also when we passed Ramnefjellet. I had some hopes that we could return to the car fairly dry.
Things still looked fairly good when we began our ascent up Hovdenakken.
But Hovdenakken was not a nice place to be today. We hurried down after having performed the usual rituals (pictures, GPS waypoint, treat for the dog …)
We took a different route back to the car, and the trail was just … SOAKING WET. There’s no other way to put it…
Trip statistics: 5,1km, 350 vertical meters, 1h:25m
Rundebranden (294m), Aug 26 2020
Wednesday: Holy cow, this was a bad day. Not only was I fasting, I also had to “clean the system” and woke up at 2am with … “things to do“. But as time went by, I got more and more dizzy and then got really, really sick. I collapsed on the bathroom floor and hit my head in the fall. For a while, I thought that “this was it“. The bathroom floor looked as if the shower had gone berserk, but it was just me sweating. After a while, I recovered enough to call on Anne – sound asleep. According to the Doctor, I had a sudden drop in blood pressure – not very uncommon, given the circumstances.
Later in the day, Anne drove me to Ålesund for my medical examination and I was barely able to put one foot in front of the other, due to a splitting headache. Fortunately, they gave me enough drugs and the examination was over before I knew it had started.
Feeling much better afterwards, 50% drugs and 50% relieved this was over, we returned home where I had a very unproductive working day until I logged off at 4pm. Anne wanted to do a field trip to Runde and I decided to come along. The daily walk is in the bone marrow. The day I don’t walk is the day they carry me out…
Being a park ranger – primarily in Jostedalsbreen National Park, Anne also looks after Runde (famous bird island) when she’s visiting me on Sunnmøre. We headed out from Goksøyr and enjoyed the nice afternoon and my … revival.
Her primary goal for the day was to inspect the wooden walkways. If maintenance is required, she makes a note of it, and fixes it the next time she’s around.
She has no business on the top of Rundebranden, but I do. So, she comes along…
Part of the job is to keep an eye out on the birds…
… and they were here today as well. Especially the Northern Gannet (Havsule)
This is quite an astonishing island, most known for the puffins. But this was off-season for them.
Not so for the Great Skuas. They’re not the least shy and it’s not uncommon to find them on the busy trail.
But if you get to close to the younglings, the parent will launch an air attack. So be warned!
Eventually, we headed back down and I concluded that one of the worst days in my life had a fairly nice end to it. And, it was really good to be eating again!
Trip statistics: 4,4km, 300 vertical meters, 1h:33m
Pictures from the trip (Canon EOS RP):
Saudehornet (1303m), Aug 27 2020
Thursday: See separate trip report
Sandhornet (909m), Aug 28 2020
Friday: See separate trip report
Veten (521m), Sneldelida (633m), Aug 29 2020
Saturday: Another “orange” day (which means my body let’s me go on a little hiking, but doesn’t initially want to), but it’s at least better than pure “red“.
The weather wasn’t the best either, and I decided that my ambition was to get to top of Veten above Flø before the rain sat in.
And, if the weather wasn’t too bad, I could always continue to Sneldelida. That would be a decent round trip hike.
I parked at the entrance to Midtflødalen valley and walked along the car road for 0,6km before I took a short-cut towards the forest path. I enjoy this path. It’s pretty much straight up!
We stopped for a view towards Flø. The rain still hadn’t come along, which was a bonus!
But, just as we reached the top, I could feel the first raindrops.
Still, I decided to go through with the hike to Sneldelida. I didn’t care if there was some fog on top.
But, if I had remembered how cumbersome the off-trail hiking up here is, I would probably not have gone this way. But, at least we were closing in, bit by bit.
The weather on top of Sneldelida was not nice. It was just a matter of getting a picture and a GPS waypoint and then we were off.
The 4,5km along the Midtflødalen road was kind of boring, even if it stopped raining…
Trip statistics: 11,2km, 710 vertical meters, 2h:25m
Selsteinen (598m), Storehanen (493m), Aug 30 2020
Sunday: I woke up on a “green” note, which meant that I *felt* like hiking and decided to make progress on the Øyrahornet – Selsteinen route that I’m in the process of marking.
But this time, I would start in Moltudalen, not Tjørvåg. The only issue was the weather. Not exactly what was promised!
I waited in the car for ~15 minutes and noticed that it was raining less. So, we headed out.
Again, the backpack weighed in at 22kg, which is a decent load up the hill I was heading for…
The comfort is that it was only this load and then the final one. The total will be 7 or 8 loads. . I actually lost count.
Eventually, we reached the top of Selsteinen and I had only downhill from here. At least with sticks on my back.
There’s always time and opportunity to enjoy the views, especially when the weather has changed from foul to excellent.
Then we headed down to the Slettheia – Selsteinen saddle and picked up from where we finished last time.
I know it’s a fair question why I wasn’t working my way *down* the mountain, and there are a couple of reasons for that. First of all, it’s easier to find the best route heading *up* and secondly, I want the endpoint to be the last point marked.
Back on Selsteinen, I decided to include Storehanen on my return hike
And, we had some more good views before descending the steep route towards Kvia, before breaking out on Blåfjellstien – back to the trailhead.
Trip statistics: 8,3km, 570 vertical meters, 2h:45m
Pictures from the trip (Canon EOS RP):
