Local hiking, biking and a “dugnad”
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 28.04.25 | Igesundhetta | 216m | 216m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 29.04.25 | Leinebjørnen | 271m | 108m | Herøy, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 29.04.25 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 30.04.25 | Løkeberget | 579m | 300m | Hareid, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 01.05.25 | Hasundhornet | 533m | 93m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 02.05.25 | Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 03.05.25 | Dugnad @Hustadneset | – | – | Ørsta, Norway | – | MAP |
| 04.05.22 | Sollia | 661m | 661m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 04.05.22 | Bike-trip Gursken – Larsnes | – | – | Sande, M&R, Norway | – | MAP |
Igesundshetta (216m), Apr 28 2025
Monday: Both me and the dog was seriously lacking “mojo” today. Maybe it was the rain. It was raining horribly during the day. I had the car at the car repair shop down the street and biked from and to. Got serious wet. Even if I had Gore-Tex clothes, I had to change the underwear when I got back home.
We had to do something after work, and I drove to Fosnavåg to hike Igesundshetta from Kleivalia – a route I hadn’t done before. The route was hardly visible where I parked but got gradually better higher up the ridge.
I was happy to see the new bridge to Nerlandsøya was coming along.
When we got to lake Storevatnet, I felt it had been a while since we did the steepest routes to the top.
So instead of heading for the north ridge, we headed for Igesundskaret. From the pass, there is a short ledge where I had to make sure the dog walked where I wanted.
Below the summit, we should have turned right. Instead, we turned left (I didn’t remember the route) and we got another steep, but easy enough pitch to the top.
It was quite windy on top. It was really nice to begin the descent and get to less windy terrain.
For descent, I chose the Storhornet – Litlehornet – Grønfjellet route. The path was still narrow and overgrown. I am very surprised that they don’t have better paths so close to a Norwegian city. The paths from Eggesbønes are OK, but the Fosnavåg paths are just terrible. I don’t understand why. If only I had lived there…
I didn’t get my daily dose of 500 vertical meters and on our way home, I considered stopping and do another quick hike (solo), but in the end – I didn’t really feel like it. No “mojo”.
Trip statistics: 3,4km, 305 vertical meters, 1h:09m
Leinebjørnen (271m), Huldrehornet (271m), Apr 29 2025
Tuesday: It was raining when I finished work. Karma heard me get ready for a hike, but without making a sound. Only when I opened the front door, she came running down. I don’t think she wanted to go hiking, but she didn’t want to be left alone.
I decided to hike Leinebjørnen on Leinøya and started out from Einedalen school – a route Karma knows well. She wasn’t a bit enthusiastic about walking but walked. She gave me the “I’m doing this for you” look.
We had a slow walk up the mountain. Karma didn’t walk any faster than strictly necessary.
Something was new since the last time we were here. Another “Gapahuk“(lean-to shelter). How many “Gapahuks” are there on Ytre Søre Sunnmøre now? The strange thing is that when weather is bad and a shelter is called for, I never see anyone.
We moved over to Vardeheida where Karma got treats. Then we headed down to Svartevatnet and returned to the trailhead via roads.
I wasn’t soaking wet yet, but that was about to change.
On our way home, I decided to hike Huldrehornet to stay “in balance” with the daily dose of vertical meters.
It was now pouring down and the hike was miserable from beginning to end.
Leinebjørnen Trip statistics: 4,7km, 290 vertical meters, 1h:13m
Huldrehornet Trip statistics: 2,4km, 250 vertical meters, 0h:35m
Løkeberget (579m), Apr 30 2025
Wednesday: I took Karma to Haddal, for her favorite trail – up to Garnestua. She took off like a rocket and I looked forward to a nice 600 vertical meter ascent.
Then – just as we were about to start the forest ascent, there was a loud metallic noise from the local concrete plant. Karma froze and then she turned around and ran back to the car. I could have stopped her, but I knew she would be nervous for the next hour. She’s become so fragile for sounds over the years. Still – she could sleep tight through Expendables I, II and III.
I didn’t give up on her and drove up to Løset to hike Løkeberget. She was very eager when we reached the trail. I decided that the reason for turning around wasn’t fatigue or some physical problem. It was the noise.
She kept a steady pace up the forest, and I was really happy about it.
When we reached the top, I had to decide on what we should do next. One option – but not really an option – was to return the way we came. That would only give me 350 vertical meters.
A more tempting option was to take the long way back, via Fjelle. That would surely give me 500 vertical meters.
And so off we went, down the north ridge. Karma still looked really happy. I am a little worried about her right hind leg. It gives way from time to time and today, I made an appointment for X-ray in mid-May.
The round trip we were about to do, was one I was certain we hadn’t done before. But when I got back home, I found that we had done the exact same route back in 2019. I didn’t remember anything from that hike. With my volume of hiking, 6 years ago feels like 20.
At lake Svartevatnet, I wasn’t able to make Karma walk the plank. Maybe she’s seen too many pirate movies…
Eventually, we reached lake Hammarstøylsvatnet. Only 5,6km left to go…
I had expected that Karma would get bored somewhere along the way and fall in behind me. But she never did. It started to rain a little when we reached the Fjelle road, but the rain was very light.
So, a good hike in all respects…
Trip statistics: 11,8km, 530 vertical meters, 2h:29m
Hasundhornet x 3 (533m), May 1 2025
Thursday: International worker’s day, and a welcomed day off work. I got up at 8, walked the dog, had breakfast and then I felt so incredibly exhausted. I simply had to go back to bed.
11:30am, I felt better and it was time to get today’s exercise over and done with. My knee had begun to act up a little. The last part of yesterday’s hike across Løkeberget was downright painful. As such, I decided to take the bike today.
The plan was to bike up Hasundhornet with Karma, then let her stay in the car while I did two more rounds. That would give me 600 vertical meters, which was an OK reward for some effort in the rain.
There were lots of people going up the mountain. This was by no means unexpected, as this is a very popular trail.
The forecasted rain hadn’t really begun yet, so we only had very light rain on the first trip.
Karma wasn’t very enthusiastic about this walk, but didn’t submit any protests either.
We took it nice and easy on the descent. Karma tried running a little bit but concluded that it wasn’t what she felt for doing today.
Back at the car, I let Karma in and put on my headphones. Kendrick Lamar would help me get up the mountain for the 2nd time. I decided to leave the helmet in the car. With this many people on the trail, I didn’t want to be “the idiot” that came down the mountain on a bike, in full speed.
The weather was worse on round #2. More wind and more rain, but I was still committed to stick to my plan on three trips.
Hasundhornet is NOT an easy mountain to bike up. It looks easy from distance, but I always find it quite strenuous. Round #3 was quite similar to round #2 and I only stopped at the top for a selfie.
All in all, good exercise!
Trip statistics: 9,1km on bike, 605 vertical meters, 1h:27m
Rjåhornet (600m), May 2 2025
Friday: A good working day as most of my colleagues took Friday off. Thursday was a public holiday and this is some kind of weird Scandinavian perk, which I apologize for, to hard-working international colleagues.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate my colleagues, but from time to time, it’s delightful to concentrate on work, without having to attend half a dozen meetings during the day.
As Anne was coming up in the afternoon, I quit work at 3pm (still having completed a full day) and drove to Djupvika to hike Rjåhornet – no matter what the weather was like. I brought Karma along. If she wasn’t up for it, it would show within the first 10 minutes and then she could wait in the car.
She wasn’t totally up for it, but didn’t turn around. It was just one of the days where she wanted to be on the trail but needed to gradually warm up.
I’m not really sure if she’s 87,5 or 94,5 years old but regardless, I can’t imagine how it is to hike a 600m mountain in that age. But she knows she is allowed to turn around and she didn’t.
The first part of this hike isn’t very steep, so she got gradually warmed up, I suppose. She looked more and more eager, the higher we got – despite the rain.
It was pouring down. Not hard, but I got wet through and through.
Eventually, we reached the long hillside – 400 vertical meters straight up. It was good that she had warmed up by now. Every now and then, she left the trail to “smell the roses”, which is always a good sign.
When we finally got up, it stopped raining, and we got a nice rainbow in reward.
I was soaking wet, and it was windy too. My Gore-Tex jackets from 2017 doesn’t have any more Gore or Tex in them. So, I had brought one more of the 8 I got from testing outdoor jackets for a newspaper magazine in 2017. Anne also got 8 jackets. That extra layer helped a lot.
We took a different route down the 400 vertical meter-hill and rejoined our ascent route at the bottom. Karma had lots of “mojo” now that we were off-trail.
Back on the trail, I bragged about her. She liked that. She started running in circles, totally losing it. Heartwarming.
We arrived at the house 10 minutes before Anne arrived. We had a nice Taco evening.
Trip statistics: 6,5km on bike, 575 vertical meters, 1h:44m
“Dugnad” @ Hustadneset, Sæbø, May 3 2025
Saturday: This Saturday was dedicated to “dugnad” (private work party) at our friends’ cabin at Hustadneset, Sæbø.
This was a continuation of the “dugnad” we had two years ago. There are all sorts of things to fix, but my job is always cutting, chopping and stacking wood. But as we were in Sæbø, I had to stop by the local store to see if my 2006 picture from Saksa was still in the window. It was.
The main tasks for the others were to fix the broken gate and to put gravel on the path up to the cabin. I was totally absorbed by the “timber job”
But occasionally, one has to pause work for pictures. In Norway, everyone photographs the coastal express, when it’s passing.
We had the best lunch a work party could dream of…
No one else (except Anne) is asking me for any kind of help, so when Jannike and Mara ask, it’s always a big YES from me.
Gradually, the stack of wood grew…
The rain came and went. I didn’t really notice it. But I kept an eye out for rainbows and suddenly – one appeared.
I worked hard for 5 hours in total. Afterwards, I was aching in places I didn’t even know could ache…
Sollia (661m), May 4 2025
Sunday: We awaited the forecasted sunshine and didn’t start preparing for going hiking before 11:30am. I had suggested that we could go to Sollia – the highest mountain on Gurskøya island.
I had been to Sollia twice so far in 2025, one time on foot and one time on skis, but it’s always nice to be hiking on the Sollia massif.
We headed out from Leikongeidet and by the looks of it, it wouldn’t start raining again.
To my delight, Karma was really eager. I think the presence of Anne had a lot to do with it. Beyond that, she had a full resting day the day before and she had gotten pain killers ahead of the hike. Maybe all these factors came together and gave her the energy she displayed.
We followed the regular route to Sollia.
The snow had returned, but only down to 800m. Below that, there was just a thin layer in the north facing sides.
I was stiff and sore after the “dugnad” the day before. But if felt good to be hiking.
Eventually, we had the final hillside ahead of us and we could starting to look forward to standing on top.
It was a bit windy. Our wind jackets came on already at Sædalsskaret.
Once we sat down, Karma was very curious about what we had brought for lunch.
We just have to live with the fact that we haven’t spent a lot of time training her not to be a part of our outdoor meals…
This hike was nice, but alone it wouldn’t get above 3500 vertical meters (the week minimum) – mainly because of yesterday’s “dugnad” which didn’t give me any. Well, it did but I didn’t track going up and down, cutting, throwing, chopping and stacking. Maybe I should have.
In any case, I started to think what I could do after this hike, to “get me across”.
We descended to the northeast and hiked on the north side of lake Holmevatnet.
I was happy to see that almost all the sticks were more or less firmly in the ground. But all sticks > 400m was in serious need of repainting. There goes June…
I decided to go biking after the hike. As this hike gave us almost 700 vertical meters, I settled for a bike trip that would give me 400 vertical meters.
The rest of the hike was uneventful. Back home, I discovered a problem with Karma’s right paw. It was swollen. I hoped it was just yet another hot spot waiting to burst and not a snake bite. I will have to keep it under observation and send a picture to the Vet.
Trip statistics: 11,4km, 680 vertical meters, 3h:28m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Bike Gursken – Larsnes – Gursken, May 4 2025
Sunday: After the Sollia hike, we returned home and I had something to eat before I drove to Gursken for the bike trip that would get me above 3500 vertical meters for the week.
I parked by the grocery store and biked up the old road to Drageskaret. It was a 200 vertical meter climb across 2,8km.
As there was little traffic, I decided to bike the main road down to Larsnes. That is, I went over to the school and followed the forest gravel trail down to Larsnes.
At Larsnes, I had another 200 vertical meter climb ahead, but across 2,3km. I was very happy that I only needed 400 vertical meters and not 800. But a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do…
Trip statistics: 11km on bike, 400 vertical meters, 0h:56m
