Sunday “saved” the week…
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 03.10.22 | Fløtravarden | 869m | 59m | Gloppen, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 04.10.22 | Hornseten | 190m | 152m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 05.10.22 | Storehanen | 493m | 67m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 06.10.22 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 07.10.22 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 08.10.22 | Storehornet | 686m | 256m | Vanylven, Norway | – | MAP |
| 08.10.22 | Sollidhornet | 592m | 44m | Vanylven, Norway | – | MAP |
| 09.10.22 | Skarphornet | 698m | 195m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 09.10.22 | Hornet | 695m | 182m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 09.10.22 | Instehornet | 653m | 200m | Volda, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Fløtravarden (869m), Oct 3 2022
Monday: I did not sleep well and at 4:30am I gave up sleep altogether. After 2 hours of blogging, week 39 was on the internet and I was a total wreck. I tried to get a nap on the sofa but gave up after 5 minutes. I logged in early at work today…
In the afternoon, I drove home from Sogndal. I had completed a full working day but was totally dead meat. That said, whenever I am driving, I am fully focused. In any case, I announced to Karma that there would not be an afternoon walk today. She would have no reason to be disappointed, given the 17,500 vertical meters (!) in September.
But when I passed Utvikfjellet, something happened. I was just unable to skip a hike when it wasn’t raining. If it only had rained!!!
So, I decided to take a walk to Fløtravarden and visit the totally insignificant Nuken hump (658m) just by the road while at it.
I’ve been to Fløtravarden a few times before, mainly on skis. This time, I followed the signpost which took us way, way off the general direction. This was truly annoying, and I protested by jogging. Not that I was in jogging mood, on the contrary. But I just wanted to get the hike over with.
Finally, the path seemed to head in the right direction, and we reached the cairn 49 minutes after heading out. A lot of time was wasted trying to find a route from Nuken towards the mountain road.
After a round of pictures, I found the “general direction” path and followed it. Still jogging. Or maybe – running. Still wanting to get the hike over with…
The descent went a bit faster than the ascent – 29 minutes. Subtract plenty of time for a muddy path…
But it felt really, really nice to get back into the car – knowing that the dog – and I – got some good exercise on a day when exercise wasn’t on the agenda…
Trip statistics: 8,5km, 330 vertical meters, 1h:25m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Hornseten (189m), Oct 4 2022
Tuesday: Back home and with a forecast that promised rain, rain and rain for the rest of the week. After a month of stunning weather, it was really hard to motivate myself to go out in the wind and the rain. The wind and rain combination was so rough that it would be dog abuse to attempt one of regular higher tops on the island and I decided to drive to Bergsøya island and do a “controlled hike” across Hornseten.
It’s always nice to follow the fine path across “Heida”
The “Heida” path also offers a nice viewpoint towards Fosnavåg.
Eventually we made it to the top and after the hike, I considered creating a diploma for the both of us, for – maybe – being the only ones hiking to a top this afternoon.
Trip statistics: 4,1km, 250 vertical meters, 1 hour
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Storehanen (493m), Oct 5 2022
Wednesday: We got a break from the rain in the afternoon, and I got in the car without knowing where we would end up. Eventually, I decided to drive to Moltudalen and as Storehanen was the only mountain top not covered by fog, that’s where we’d go.
We headed for the steep “Kvia” route but when we got there, I decided to go off-trail for the sake of variation.
By now, the fog had left the higher mountains and I regretted not going to Selsteinen or Sollia. But OK, we were her now and I decided to enjoy the hike.
We went up to Moltuhanen where I decided to secure a picture before it started raining again.
But the rain kept its distance and we also got to Storehanen, still dry.
We could have moved on to Selsteinen, but I was a bit bored by now and just wanted to get back home…
Trip statistics: 5,2km, 330 vertical meters, 1h:17m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Dyrkyrkja, Rambjøra (132m), Oct 6 2022
Thursday: I had actually decided NOT to go hiking today. The weather was THAT bad. But then a message appeared in the local trail committee’s Facebook forum: “Could anyone check two trees that are about to fall across the path, below Dyrkyrkja?”
I volunteered and headed for the forest below Dyrkyrkja. It turned out that the “two trees” were quite harmless and would probably not kill a rabbit if they fell…
But as we were out walking, I reckoned we could do a round-trip hike across Huldrehornet and headed up the forest path to Dyrkyrkja.
Then we heard the first thunderstrike above us. I hoped that it was just something passing by and continued towards Huldrehornet – out in open terrain. The second strike made me turn around, as it sounded quite a) serious and b) very nearby…
Turning around – as in – “Come on Karma, let’s get the hell of this mountain”
Then we got a hail shower of the nasty kind. As I had put a raincoat on Karma, she was not completely exposed, and we didn’t have to go into hiding.
Once down from Dyrkyrkja, I decided to hike Rambjøra – just to get a top. There, we would be in the forest all the time – not so exposed to thunder og lightning.
We were however very exposed to the nasty rain and when we reached the top of Rambjøra, neither of us had a mighty good time.
But – lo and behold – just then, we got a break and had a couple of minutes without rain before turning back.
Trip statistics: 6,2km, 300 vertical meters, 1h:39m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Rambjøra (132m), Oct 7 2022
Friday: It was supposed to rain ALL day, except during my lunch break. I took the opportunity to do some errands in Ulsteinvik and visit Osnessanden beach at the same time. Just to have a memory of blue sky when this day came to an end.
After work, I’m not sure where I found the motivation to grab the grubbing hoe and go out in my local forest. Maybe it’s because it’s easier to lead water away from the trail when you can see it is piling up in ponds.
Once we’re out and “in it”, it’s not a problem to keep moving.
We got a short break from the rain when we reached the top (just like the day before) and I put my index fingers in the air – you know – like the soccer players when they’re scoring goals.
I had my hoe (is this really the English word for the tool?) but not my lopper. So, when I decided to spend half an hour on ripping bush, it was all about muscle power. That juniper bush can be really tough! But there is a technique. You can’t dive directly into it. You have to weaken it, take out one by one until the whole “bouquet” loses its strength and then you can rip the rest…
Man, we were wet when we returned to the house…
Trip statistics: 3,6km, 135 vertical meters, 1h:36m
Storehornet (686m), Sollidhornet (592m), Oct 8 2022
Saturday: The first part of the day was spent working, so I didn’t pay too much attention to the weather. But when I did, I learned that it was the same crap weather that we had all week. Except the hail showers – which is a quite important detail.
I figured that if we were to get wet to the bone, why not get off the island and get some variation? So, I drove to Vanylven with the intention to hike Storehornet. And maybe on the way back – hike across Sollidhornet and Lidahornet?
It was raining when we left the trailhead at lake Børevatnet. It felt like we were sprayed by a hose and you couldn’t even spot the rain on the pictures!
At best, I dreamt of a 50-50 mix of rain and no rain. I would even settle for 70% rain and still be happy. But so far, it seemed like 100% rain. I decided not to lose the faith…
On our way up the Storehornet ridge, it was raining less. Still, the mountain was fogged in and we didn’t see anything from the top.
But on the way down, something seemed to be happening…
We continued up to Sollidhornet and then we got our first proper view. Nice! Now, we could take the planned route via Lidahornet!
But the break only lasted for a couple of minutes and then it was raining again. Now I was just fed up and decided to return to the car. It didn’t seem like Karma disagreed either…
It was nice to get off the island, but when I returned to Gurskøy, it was all sunny. Was it like this all the time? I could feel a touch of disappointment. But when I reached Myrvåg (where I live), it was raining. And I was thankful…
Trip statistics: 7,6km, 400 vertical meters, 1h:50m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Skarphornet (698m), Hornet (695m), Instehornet (653m), Oct 9 2022
Sunday: It was unclear how the weather would turn out today, but I took a chance and drove to Volda to hike Skarphornet. If the weather was OK, I could continue hiking the ridge towards Volda and get off whenever it turned unpleasant.
I parked by lake Rotevatnet and was prepared to follow the forest road up to Botnasætra, which I always do. But then I stopped a couple of hikers and asked if they knew any alternative routes. They did, and soon Karma and I were on a forest path where we hadn’t been before.
A bit lame on my part, as the path IS on the map…
From Botnasætra, we left the path and headed off-trail past the unnamed lake and then in the direction of lake Vardevatnet. I like this terrain.
The weather seemed to be stable – for now, but I could feel the wind was getting stronger the higher we got.
It was the kind of day when you’re happy you brought the camera. There was a lot going on!
Eventually, we reached Skarphornet, and the wind did its best to straighten out Karma’s curls…
I decided that we should continue towards Hornet and now we were in the outskirts of “the weather”.
At some point, I was thinking to myself – what the HECK is going on, on the other side of the fjord?
But we were in the outskirts, and I could only feel some raindrops. It was however nice to get off the windy ridge.
I always fumble when I do this route and instead of following the path in the direction of Vassteinsætra, I always take a short-cut that leads us into cumbersome terrain. There is just no learning curve here. But eventually, we were on our way up to Hornet.
On Hornet, it was just as windy as on Skarphornet. But it was just *windy*, not full gale-force inferno. It was possible to stop for pictures, although I had to take MANY pictures, as most of them would be useless because of the wind.
From Hornet, we descended towards Homborsetsætra, where we were in shelter from the wind.
I decided to also include Instehornet on this hike and followed the ridge path.
When we reached the top, it was very tempting to continue to Rotsethornet and descent to Volda. But that route is challenging when you have a large dog and I decided to descend towards Litledalen valley instead. We descended off-trail for a while before we joined the forest path.
This was a really nice hike, way above what I could hope for with the current weather. It is tempting to do the full “Volda rundt” round-trip hike. In addition to these tops, the route also includes Melshornet (807m) and Koppefjellet (940m). 36km in total. Something to think about, come 2023…
Trip statistics: 14km, 1280 vertical meters, 4h:10m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
