A less memorable biking & hiking week…
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 30.09.24 | Skeidshornet | 310m | 12m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 01.10.24 | Melshornet | 809m | 567m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 02.10.24 | Djupvikhaugen | 98m | 29m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | – | MAP |
| 03.10.24 | Blåtind | 697m | 697m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 04.10.24 | Storehornet | 278m | 78m | Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 05.10.24 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 06.10.24 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Skeidshornet (310m), Sep 30 2024
Monday: I didn’t have a good night, and I didn’t have a good day. And maybe, just maybe, if I didn’t have a dog I would have rested this afternoon. Instead, I chose to attempt to bike up “Mørdarbakken” – the hardest hill for miles and miles around.
I’ve biked all the way up, but that was years ago. Now, I would attempt the hill with my new bike, and it started all good.
But in the most crucial moment, I chose the wrong gear, I was just spinning and had to get off the bike. I was able to get started again from the same spot, which must count for something. It was harder to get going again than if I had been biking without technical blunders.
This happened one more time, but eventually we were on top of the hill. From there, I was able to bike up to the top of Skeidshornet.
Another hill was awaiting – up to Skarpeidet (359m). I was determined to bike all the way up, but in the very last difficult part, I did yet another technical error. OK, better luck next time. And there will be a next time…
The plan was to just cruise back to Bugarden via the water works and Vikemarka. But when I got to the water works building, I decided to try bike a path I hadn’t been on in years. It started out OK, but already after 100m, I should have turned around. The path was just awful.
When I reached a creek that wasn’t supposed to be there, but was there because of all the rain, I made an attempt to bike across it. The effort failed miserably…
Then it got easier for a little bit…
…before it got much, much worse…
Trip statistics: 7km on bike, 310 vertical meters, 2h:41m
Melshornet (809m), Oct 1 2024
Tuesday: Along with October came a wonderful day. I had a feeling this was more of an exception than a rule for the 10th month of the year and so I drove to Volda to hike Melshornet. The bad shape from the day before was still there, but nothing would prevent me from enjoying the beautiful afternoon outdoors!
I parked by the water works building and we followed a nice path up the forest.
Eventually we reached the Præstesætrevegen road and got the mountain tops in view. At this point, the plan was to visit Melshornet first, then head over to Grøthornet and descend from there.
The beautiful weather had attracted many hikers, and I saw more than one person in shorts. That was maybe not the best fit for the temperature, but as long as they kept warm and didn’t fall…
We had to stop at one of the classic viewpoints…
And then we were up! The Ørsta view is just amazing from up here…
Then followed a round of the usual pictures…
I skipped Grøthornet. There wasn’t A LOT of snow, but it would cover my terrain shoes and it would be a bit tedious to go that way.
So, we returned the way we came up from lake Dinglavatnet, but then sat course for Turnhytta and once across the meadow, followed the Kortmyra path.
Eventually, we got on a gravel road and stopped by the “Heltnehuken” Gapahuk (lean-to shelter).
Ah, such a wonderful afternoon!
Trip statistics: 8,3km, 600 vertical meters, 2h:21m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Djupvikhaugen (98m), Oct 2 2024
Wednesday: Still not in shape, but I was OK enough to do something useful outside. I parked by lake Djupvikvatnet and brought the brush cutter to work on a new path we’re going to add to the trail system.
This new path consists of 3 parts. Part 1 and 3 is developed by using a brush cutter. Part 2 – in the forest – will require different tools. So, after finishing part 1, we headed over to one of the Huldrehornet paths and I started to cut grass until the headache got the best of me.
I decided to hike across Djupvikhaugen on the way back. This trail had already been maintained by other members of the trail committee, so there wasn’t much for me to do there.
From the top, we descended to “Halsen” and returned the car via the gravel road.
Trip statistics: 4km, 180 vertical meters, 2h:03m
Blåtind (697m), Oct 3 2024
Thursday: I had no idea why I felt so miserable these days. It almost felt like the flu, but without any “outward symptoms”. So maybe it wasn’t the perfect day to get the flu vaccine. But I had booked it a week earlier, and I was pretty sure that it was the headache that caused the “flu feeling” and so I took it.
It’s probably not recommended to go hiking after a flu vaccine, but I’ve never really been a guy that can take a good advice and so I decided to try to get up to Blåtind – the highest top on Hareidlandet island – before the bad weather came along.
There was no chance…
Karma wanted to go off-trail, and I let her decide. It’s a bloody steep hill, pardon the expression.
High on the mountain, it was only raining lightly. Which was good news. I had rain gear in my backpack, but so far it was not needed. But I was on the border of getting cold.
Morale got high when we reached the top. Only downhill + less wind from here on…
Karma didn’t seem affected by the weather at all. She just wanted to check out every inch on this mountain…
This will not go down as one of the memorable hikes to Blåtind…
Trip statistics: 5,4km, 630 vertical meters, 1h:37m
Storehornet (278m), Oct 4 2024
Friday: No improvement in my general shape and form. And now I even had a sore throat. Maybe because of the flu vaccine. My knee suggested that I should walk the dog from a bike this afternoon. I thought about where to go for quite a while and ended up driving to Larsnes – to bike up to Drageskaret and then hike or bike Storehornet.
We started out in Halleosen – a place I quite like!
We followed the “Vardevegen” trail through the forest.
It’s a fun forest. Too bad the trail is so short.
Then we crossed the main road and got on the old road taking us up to Drageskaret.
From Drageskaret, I pushed the bike until it wasn’t so steep and was able to bike a little. But it was overall not fun due to a very muddy and slippery path. I biked to the first hill on the below picture and then proceeded on foot.
In not too long, we were on Storehornet for the 2nd time this year.
The sky was grey and boring, but the turfs were beautiful…
I had been considering pushing the bike all the way to the top, in case that I felt like biking very, very off-trail down to Hallebygda. I’m glad I didn’t. Instead, we returned the same way to Drageskaret.
I do like the Storehornet – Nupatinden ridge, but the roundtrip options are not good. From Nupatinden, you can either descend west – which means a long way back along a car road. Or you can descend east and have a long and not-so-fun walk along the shore, to Sandvik – and then get back up to Drageskaret.
It would have been nice with an OK path from Storehornet and down to Hallebygda. I’m just sayin… In case my buddy Bjørn is reading this…
We returned the same way, but when we got down to Larsnes we did a loop in the village. I enjoyed the trip!
Trip statistics: 8,2km on bike, 1,6km on foot, 380 vertical meters, 1h:43m
Rambjøra (132m), Oct 5 2024
Saturday: Headache all night and I wasn’t able to get it under control until 13:00. I had a very late breakfast and was generous with the coffee. Somehow, coffee seemed to help.
Late in the morning I mustered the strength to give the dog a walk, but only across my local top Rambjøra.
Karma certainly didn’t mind the choice of route. She loves this forest!
The week was coming to an end, and I already started to look forward to the next. Surely, it could only improve!
Trip statistics: 3,6km, 140 vertical meters, 0h:49m
Huldrehornet (271m), Oct 6 2024
Sunday: The crap week continued and then Karma added a new dimension to it. At 5am in the morning, she desperately had to go outside.
Traditionally, that means that she either has to eat grass (nausea) or that she has to relieve herself (diarrhea). But today, she just had to pee. Once done, she went back to bed. I tried to get some more sleep but couldn’t. I was just waiting for her having to go out again.
OK, enough already. This could not go on. I decided on two things; 1) I would order a thorough examination of her and 2) I would resume self-massage (tennis balls in a sock). Karma’s examination would have to wait but I could get started with the self-massage right away.
As my current problem was the neck (from biking on a bike that didn’t fit me), I didn’t think that rubbing balls on my back would help. But it did. I could feel a relieve of tension right away.
With that good news, I decided to go for a hike. But then the car wouldn’t start. That was the 2nd time in a week, and this could certainly not go on. I added “call the garage” to my to-do list for the upcoming week.
The rain was pouring down, but I figured we could do a walk from the house and up to Huldrehornet. Karma wasn’t so sure this was something she wanted to do.
But when daddy kept on going, she did too.
As we reached the top, the fog started to lift a bit, and I found inspiration to do a roundtrip hike.
We went down the (steep) south side and I really had to mind my steps. The path was super-slippery!
The forest path was in a miserable condition. I have years of work ahead of me in this forest. Maybe I should just move to a place where all the trails are in order, and I can just enjoy walking. Nah. Truth said, I actually enjoy the trail maintenance…
Trip statistics: 5,6km, 330 vertical meters, 1h:22m
