Business as usual, an “ear disaster” and headache…
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 24.10.22 | Veten (Hidsegga) | 556m | 320m | Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 25.10.22 | Løkeberget | 579m | 300m | Hareid, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 26.10.22 | Sollia | 661m | 661m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 28.10.22 | Nuken | 919m | 126m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 29.10.22 | Stedjeåsen | 625m | 123m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 30.10.22 | Nuken | 919m | 126m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Veten on Hidsegga (556m), Oct 24 2022
Monday: During my (extended) lunch break, I drove to Ulsteinvik to upgrade Karma’s bed in the living room. She had one proper bed in the bedroom and two not-so-proper bed upstairs. But first, I walk on the Osnessanden beach.
Karma is still limping whenever she has laid down for a while, and in the beginning, she looks like a really old lady.
Then, after she’s a bit warmed up, we give each other “the look”
And it’s on…
Back home, I presented my NOK 2K upgrade to Karma. I’m not so sure I appreciated the way she received it…
After work, it was time to give her a proper walk and I chose to go to Hidsegga from Moltudalen. It’s a route I very seldom do because of the cows, but today I reckoned the cows were off the mountain and gave it a go.
The cows were indeed off the mountain, and we had a nice walk upwards.
The sheep are however omni-present, but they don’t care about the dog and the dog doesn’t care about them.
And then we were up. The time was 5:15pm and I had a whole hour plus then some until darkness. No rush at all!
And that was the problem, I guess. Because, I just had to make it harder. So I thought to myself – what if we descended to Hidsdalen (158m, the other side) and then made it back up to Grøthornet (458m, along our ascent route) and THEN descend back to the car – within an hour plus then some?
It sounded like very hard work, and I guess that’s why it was appealing.
We descended along a path that I’ve seen before, but never followed. It took us straight down the very small forest above Hidsdalen, and it was hard to find a way out of it (hurricane debris).
But eventually, we were in Hidsdalen and would follow the forest road for 0,65km before getting on the path leading us up to the ridge on the other side.
I wanted to jog, but I couldn’t. It hadn’t been long enough since my four-day-in-a-row-jog and my leg muscle simply wanted more rest.
But eventually, we reached the top of Grøthornet. The time was now 6:08pm and I had 20 minutes before “lights out”. Which was enough to make it down to the car.
5 minutes after reaching the car, it was “lights out”…
Trip statistics: 9,1km, 720 vertical meters, 1h:55m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max)
Løkeberget (556m), Oct 25 2022
Tuesday: I couldn’t log off from work when I wanted to and as such, I had to find the walk-the-dog hike that would take us to a top and get us down before dark. I still hadn’t found the headlamp from wherever I left it last winter.
The choice fell on Løkeberget from Løset. This would be an off-trail hike to the top, getting some GPS tracks on ground that I haven’t covered before. I was determined to follow the normal path down, avoiding any further injuries to Karma’s fragile shoulder. Going uphill is never a problem.
We found a cool, new route to the top and now it was just a matter of cruising down the path.
But when we reached Langheida, I couldn’t control myself anymore and went off-trail.
At first, it was just OK off-trail hiking on wet grass. But then came the juniper bush, and OH MY GOD this was annoying terrain. But eventually, we got down to the Løset cabin road and got an easy walk back to the car.
Trip statistics: 5,2km, 390 vertical meters, 1h:31m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max)
Sollia (661m), Oct 26 2022
Wednesday: The day started out with a lunch-break walk on the Osnessanden beach in Ulsteinvik.
Last night I got a message from the local trail committee – the last page in the visitor registers (on the mountain tops we have routes to) had to be photographed. It’s a season closing event, which I had forgotten all about. I had only one afternoon left before heading for Sogndal and chose to visit the highest top on the island – Sollia.
I was a bit “edgy” about this hike. I had given Karma a haircut earlier in the day and managed to cut off a small piece of her ear. She was bleeding like crazy, but in the afternoon, I thought I had the bleeding under control.
I gave her a proper band-aid on the air and hoped I wouldn’t regret taking her on a hike. She didn’t seem to take any more notice of the “ear situation” and was just happy to be out.
I tried to time this hike so that we wouldn’t be in need of a headlamp. Which I still hadn’t found…
We reached the top and I took picture of the last page of the visitor register before taking a different route on the north side of lake Holmevatnet.
To my despair, I noticed that our sticks were all over the place. The culprit? The sheep! Rubbing on them. I’ll be back – with tools.
We were back at the car just minutes before “lights out”
Trip statistics: 10km, 640 vertical meters, 2h:25m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max)
Nuken (919m), Oct 28 2022
Friday: Thursday, being a transport day – didn’t allow for any hiking. But, I was able to get some help at the Veterinarian’s office – in cleaning Karma’s ear wound properly. At all cost, I would have to prevent her from shaking her head.
After work on Friday, I took Karma up to Åsen to hike Nuken. We lost valuable hiking time as the old road was closed and I had to take a detour via the new road. But eventually, we were on our way.
It’s an easy 2,9km hike to the top along a good trail from the highest trailhead near the town centre (660m). The road to Åsen is a toll road – NOK 50,-
After reaching the top, I was wondering how I could get some variations to the normal route. I was first able to find a small variation to the nearest cabin SW of the top.
Then I discovered a vague path that runs on the south side of the next ridge. That was fun and I could see several off-trail variations here.
Eventually, we were back at the car, and I was happy I had been able to walk the dog. I had an emerging tension headache, but I hoped it would subside in the afternoon. It didn’t.
Anne has a colleague that had stayed with her all week. This evening, we were going to the La Pergola restaurant in Sogndal to meet her colleague’s son and his girlfriend – both studying in Sogndal. It was a nice dinner, but hard – due to the headache. That night (too) was spent in a chair with my head bent in an awkward position. It’s the only way to “survive” this…
Trip statistics: 5,5km, 300 vertical meters, 1h:21m
Stedjeåsen (624m), Oct 29 2022
Saturday: I went to bed with a headache and woke up with a headache. Anne’s colleague left in the morning and so I didn’t have to be social. I just sat in a chair for hours, bending, stretching and massaging my neck – hoping the tension would go away. It didn’t.
At 2pm, I decided to walk the dog in the Stedjeåsen forest. It was a hard call to make, given the situation. But it felt good to be outdoors and we went in zig-zags up the many paths that this forest has to offer.
On the upside, Karma’s ear was healing nicely and so I decided to skip the band-aid…
It’s difficult to find new variations going up the forest, but today I decided to find myself some new terrain on the way down.
And what do you know – I discovered a path that seemed to run straight off the cliffs. I followed it downwards and was now below the viewpoint where we typically stop for a picture.
This path eventually faded out and we had to go off-trail in pursuit of the normal path.
And eventually, we were back on track…
A nice hike. Too bad about the headache. It stuck with me for the rest of the weekend…
Trip statistics: 7,1km, 650 vertical meters, 2h:17m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max)
Nuken (919m), Oct 30 2022
Sunday: This was a grey day, both outside and in my head. To be honest, I was in a terrible shape. But I know this headache so well that I knew that it wouldn’t get (much) worse if I went on a hike. I also knew that it wouldn’t get any better either. As such, it was just a question of mustering enough will and strength.
I guess you can say it’s typical for me to then choose a much longer hike than I had to. But the will and strength would only come from terrain in which I hadn’t been before. So, I decided to hike Nuken from Dvergadal. Here, I would get more than 7km in new terrain.
I parked my car near the Dvergadal farm and followed the tractor road up to Dvergadalsstølen.
From here, it was all off-trail. Fortunately, the forest was quite easy to hike.
At 550m, we crossed the path from Ølnesstølen. I don’t know where this path continued. Maybe I will find out one day.
Anyway, we continued straight up the forest and eventually reached the “endless” meadows up here.
Rain, fog and headache. I’ve had better days…
But eventually we reached Nuken and I could now look forward to a 919m descent to the fjord.
We took the Hølsete path and this path – known to be wet and muddy – really exceeded its reputation today.
But eventually, we reached Hølsete and we could follow the forest road down to Åberge, before following forest paths down the fjord.
I called Anne and asked her to pick us up down in Sogndal and drive me back to Dvergadal to pick up my car.
I was in a horrible shape, but glad I did this hike. It would be yet another night spent in a chair, but eventually the self-massage (a tennis sock with two hard balls) would pay off. And at 7:45 the next morning, the headache subsided…
Trip statistics: 13,5km, 800 vertical meters, 3h:14m
