In pursuit of the nice weather
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | MAP |
| 24.07.23 | Alvenesheia (Ørntua) | 135m | 120m | MAP | |
| 24.07.23 | Bodø | – | – | MAP |
Alvenesheia (135m), July 24 2023
Monday: While we couldn’t complain about our vacation so far – with a weekend in Jotunheimen, a memorable hike to Snøfjelltinden and the nice “Aungrenda rundt” hike, plus several other tops and hikes – we wanted sunshine and blue sky! This could supposedly be found on the north side of Saltfjellet and so we left Brønnøysund this Monday morning and sat course for Bodø.
We stopped in Mo I Rana to see if my uncle and auntie were home. They weren’t and so we moved on.
It was about time to walk the dog and I had found a good candidate – Kjemåfjellet (972m) on Saltfjellet, with Lønsdal as the trailhead. But when we got to Lønsdal, the weather wasn’t as good as I had hoped, the mountain was hidden in fog and the walk was a bit longer than I first thought. We decided to keep moving.
The weather was slightly better on the north side of Saltfjellet and now we could look forward to walking the dog without getting wet. We agreed that Veten (173m) outside Fauske. would be a good place to do just that.
It was a bummer when we learned that it was forbidden to hike this mountain. The radars on top gave me a bad feeling a mile away, and so it didn’t come as a surprise…
But there was another similar top not too far away – Alvenesheia aka Ørntuva by Valnesfjorden.
Anne didn’t have a strong need to come along on this hike and so it was just me and Karma heading out. I expected to be back within the hour even though I had absolutely no idea about the paths, if there were any.
Fortunately, there was an information board showing a path across the top. This would definitely be a round-trip hike!
We located the path and I assumed we had a forest hike ahead of us.
But then the terrain radically changed character!
I didn’t see this slate coming…
Shortly after, we were back in forest terrain again…
In not too long, we were on top of Alvenesheia. A couple came up from the west and we chatted for a few minutes.
While it didn’t rain, the fog still hung low on the mountains. This is not what we “ordered” and hoped that the weather would dramatically improve in the coming days. Which it did…
We descended along the west ridge and followed the road back.
Then Anne called me, informing me about cows heading my way. As I didn’t want to run into a bunch of cows with a dog present, I asked Anne to come and pick us up. But when she arrived, the cows had disappeared. Thanks to this unplanned pick-up, the hike took one hour sharp…
Trip statistics: 3,8km, 150 vertical meters, 1h:00m
Bodø, July 24 2023
We continued to Bodø and checked into Scandic Bodø. We got a room against the main street, which is never a good thing. The room was also steaming hot, and I got a bad feeling about the upcoming night.
Then we went out for dinner at Olivia Ramsalt. The food was OK, the service was so and so, but they had many guests. When we left, I didn’t pay attention to the check and paid for someone else’s dinner – which was twice as expensive as ours. I didn’t find this out until the next day. But, we were able to sort it out with the restaurant. Thumbs up!
Afterwards, I took Karma for a walk.
When it was time to hit the bed, I simply could not sleep. It was way too hot and the noise from the street was overwhelming. Anne can sleep through a nuclear attack, but I’m way more sensitive to non-static noise. Like, from the bar below. And after the bars had closed, the nightlife still continued into the morning hours. We had booked the room for 3 days, but I already knew that this would be our last night here…
