Recovering from sickness, dog problems, rain and winter in Sogndal…
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 12.11.24 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 13.11.24 | Hasundhornet | 533m | 93m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 14.11.24 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 15.11.24 | Røyrafjellet | 123m | 100m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 16.11.24 | Amlaholten | 508m | 265m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 17.11.24 | Stedjeåsen | 625m | 123m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Rambjøra (132m), Nov 12 2024
Tuesday: After a week of being sick (a bad cold, I think) and limping around after a fall in the forest, injuring my already bad knee even more, things were improving. I could now focus my attention to treating Karma’s extreme hot spot – maybe the worst she’s ever had.
Given the location of the wound, it’s impossible to make bandages stick, so I had to make her wear the suit when indoors. That would kind of keep the bandage in place. But when I went to Ulsteinvik for medical suppliers in my lunch break, her suite stayed on.
As I felt better, I decided to take a late evening walk across my local top Rambjøra.
It was a nice afternoon, albeit windy.
I strongly felt that the reflexes in my left knee were not what they used to be. In other words, I had to be careful on the slippery forest descent. I hope I can stay away from more injuries and train the knee back to its former state.
Karma is on heavy medication (antibiotics and pain killers) but seem to be full of energy when it’s time for a walk. She’s clearly in distress regarding the wound, but not while walking it seems.
It was a nice walk. I hope I didn’t blow the recovery…
Trip statistics: 4,5km, 150 vertical meters, 1h:05m
Hasundhornet (533m), Nov 13 2024
Wednesday: Anne went back to Sogndal this morning and I had a normal working day. After work, I felt completely washed out and had to rest a bit. It was a fight to get back on my feet and I clearly hadn’t fully recovered from the sickness last week. According to what I hear, “everybody” is sick right now.
And outside, it was raining. But, after a while I decided to drive up to Fjelle and hike Hasundhornet along the gravel road. Not much of a hike, but better than nothing.
For the most part, it was pouring down. But there were also minutes without rain. But the fog persisted.
On the way down, Karma was clearly uncomfortable with the wind coming from behind. It was clearly related to her wound, which I had not covered. She spends the day in a suit, so she doesn’t get to bite in the wound. As such, I think it’s important that the wound gets some air.
I feel really sorry for her. She’s OK when she curls in, but walking with the suit and the bandage is a big problem for her.
Trip statistics: 5,3km, 200 vertical meters, 0h:41m
Huldrehornet (271m), Nov 14 2024
Thursday: The general shape and form was improving and after a hectic working day with troubleshooting from start to finish, it was nice to go for a small afternoon hike. I wish it wasn’t raining, but … oh well.
I chose to head up the Huldrehornet forest, from Djupvikvatnet. Karma was eager and didn’t seem so bothered by her wound – which I tried to cover as best as I could – with two layers of coat.
The hike up the forest didn’t take long, and meanwhile, I pondered on what kind of roundtrip hike we should do.
When we reached the top, I had made up my mind. We were to head down the south side, continue on the Rjåhornet trail for a while, then head down to Djupvika, follow the newly developed path up to Djupvikhaugen, and return along the Djupvikvatnet road.
All in all, a good hike. Fresh air can never be overestimated…
Trip statistics: 6,3km, 430 vertical meters, 1h:36m
Røyrafjellet (123m), Nov 11 2024
Friday: This was a busy day. End-to-end meetings the first half of the working day. Then I had to drive to Ulsteinvik to get more antibiotics for the dog. Once that was in the bag (literally), I wanted to give Karma a walk up and down Røyrafjellet on Dimnøya island, as we were driving to Sogndal in a few hours.
I really wanted to get up and down before the rain came. Not that we have a problem with rain, but I didn’t want Karma’s wound to get wet. I could see the rain showers roam across Gurskøya, just across the sound.
It would come down to minutes, whether we made it or not.
We were still in the clear when we reached the top. Which was most excellent, because it was really, really windy. Strong wind + rain would not be a good mix for Karma’s wound.
Our stay on top was short, and we were able to get back to the car before the rain came.
It started raining the very second I closed the car door. When I got back on the main road, I could look back on Røyrafjellet and be very happy that we dodged the rain.
Back home, I worked for a couple more hours before I headed to Sogndal 2:30pm. I drove in rain most of the way and it was raining quite hard from Utvikfjellet to Sogndal. Darkness didn’t improve the driving conditions. I was really happy about reaching my destination some 3 hours+ later.
Trip statistics: 2,3km, 145 vertical meters, 0h:30m
Amlaholten (508m), Nov 16 2024
Saturday: I woke up feeling crap. Great! Did I just turn sick again? Hopefully, it was just the stomach, which felt weird. “Fortunately», I had to work a couple of hours from 8am, so I was forced to get up. After work, I went back to bed for an hour but couldn’t relax. I felt the dog had to be walked and I knew that once I got going myself, I would feel better.
As the weather was quite miserable, I chose to go to Amlaholten. We would be quite sheltered in the forest. Anne wanted to join as well. The plan was to follow the forest trails and have an easy hike across the forest top.
For a couple of minutes, we stuck to the plan.
Then we moved onto a really nice forest path that we’ve recently discovered. It was a bit strange that the path was free of snow, although there is a natural explanation for that. I’m just not sure what it is. But I guess moisture and temperature in the ground are key factors.
Then I got “restless”, and I just had to leave the path.
Luckily, my girls (for the most part) follow me without too many objections.
This was not my first hike on snow this winter, but it was the first hike with snow at the trailhead.
Apparently, the weather was quite rough in Sogndal (signs flying around) and I got TEXT saying that the ferries back home (on Sunnmøre) were not running. We didn’t have any bad weather in the forest.
I was absolutely OK with following the main trail back down, but it was slippery. We quickly found that going off-trail gave us a much better grip and I got new tracks for my GPS map…
Karma’s wound (hot spot) was healing nicely, and I decided that this would be the last day she would have to wear the “superwoman/condom suit” when inside.
As we closed in on the trailhead, we walked through a part of the forest that was completely free of snow. Again – natural explanation I presume, and I can only speculate. Maybe the snowflakes just didn’t make it past the treetops?
I had to rest after the hike, but I could feel that the shape and form was improving. The hike probably did me good!
In the evening, we had been invited by good friends to enjoy a good Smalahove meal. Smalahove is a sheep’s head that has been salt-cured, smoked and steamed. It tastes way better than it looks!
At midnight, Anne had birthday, and our friends served the best sponge cake I’ve had in years. The winning element was the plums.
Trip statistics: 4,1km, 320 vertical meters, 1h:20m
Stedjeåsen (624m), Nov 17 2024
Sunday: It was Anne’s birthday and after breakfast, we were up for a birthday hike. Given the expected amount of snow in the mountains, we should not attempt to go much higher than 600m, and so Stedjeåsen was a good choice.
We decided to start out from Skardsbø and hike back home, via Stedjeåsen.
It’s been a few years since we did this route. It was nice to be back!
On our way up, I was wondering if winter had come to stay. It’s hard to tell these days…
Karma’s wound was still healing good, and she seemed very happy about being in the snow!
Anne struggled more. Maybe she should have skipped the last Cognac last night? 😉
Eventually, we reached the Stedjeåsen meadow and as expected – there was quite a bit of snow…
Today, we would for sure visit the true high point (no one besides me hardly ever go there)
It was nice to be back up there. I truly enjoy exploring this forest, although we stuck to paths today.
It was borderline condom suit conditions, but as she had already worn the suit indoors, we decided that she could skip it today. All the snow would melt on the way down, anyway.
It was a nice ending to a hiking week that started very slow. But now, I really felt that the cold I’ve had for 2 weeks was letting go.
And then we began our descent.
Of course, we had to stop by the Sogndalsfjorden viewpoint.
And suddenly, there was no more snow…
What happened to winter?
After a 6,4km hike, we returned to Anne’s place. I then took her E-bike to bike back to Skardsbø to pick up my car.
I had a nice trip. E-biking is so ridiculously easy…
Trip statistics: 6,4km on foot, 12,5km on E-bike, 700 vertical meters, 2h:38m
