Counting down to the summer holiday
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 07.07.25 | Årvikveten | 458m | 205m | Sande, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 08.07.25 | Saudehornet | 1303m | 825m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 09.07.25 | Saursegga | 516m | 93m | Sande, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 09.07.25 | Gjøna | 531m | 163m | Sande, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 10.07.25 | Around Gurskøya | – | – | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | – | MAP |
| 10.07.25 | Rambjøra | 132m | 109m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 11.07.25 | Around Gurskøya | – | – | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | – | MAP |
| 11.07.25 | Djupvikhaugen | 98m | 29m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | – | MAP |
| 12.07.25 | Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 13.07.25 | Glamping | – | – | Steinkjer, Norway | – | MAP |
Årvikveten (458m), Jul 7 2025
Monday: After work, I asked Anne if she was game for a round-trip hike across Årvikveten. The plan was to descend to Dalen, where I would have my bike awaiting. Then the ladies could hang out at the Gapahuk while I biked back up to Drageskaret – our starting point for the hike.
It was a beautiful afternoon. Karma was interested in the beginning, but after a few minutes she stopped. We knew that she would be alright, once warmed up, and ignored her. She had no other viable option than to catch up with mommy and daddy. Turning around was not an option today.
Karma was clearly warm, but there is not a whole lot of water (that she approves of) along the way.
Both Anne and I got quite fatigued at the same time. The type of fatigue where you’ve run out of carbs and have to wait for the body to switch to an alternative energy source. It’s a known feeling. Nothing to worry about.
Finally, we reached the top. Mostly downhill from here!
This was my 32nd visit to this top. I would consider myself quite familiar with this mountain. It’s not a goal to hike a certain mountain a certain number of times, but it’s fun to keep count.
I do enjoy this mountain. It’s perhaps a little too low for my taste, but I enjoy the views and the many round-trip options available.
After a short stay, we moved on.
We descended down to lake Nyksvatnet, where we quickly concluded that this route is best in spring or autumn. It wasn’t so fun in mid-summer. Too much bush, too high grass.
But it was nice to hike along the lake. Karma could finally satisfy her thirst, and we tricked her into swimming by tossing treats in the water.
I could tell that the terrain was wearing Anne out. Karma was doing quite well – all cooled down and warm at the same time.
Eventually, the “Gapahuk” (lean-to shelter) was not too far away, and Anne looked forward to relaxing there while I went on my bike trip to get the car.
After a 200 vertical meter ascent from Larsnes, I arrived on Drageskaret and could return to pick up the others. When I got to Dalen, there were a bunch of women there. Mariann (a friend) was about to head out with her local trim group.
The plan was to have a barbeque evening down in Tovågen, but we decided to enjoy the dinner on my terrace instead. It’s something we seldom do, but it was enjoyable on such a lovely evening.
Trip statistics: 7,8km on foot, 3,3km on bike, 570 vertical meters, 2h:43m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
Saudehornet (1303m), Jul 8 2025
Tuesday: This hike is featured on a separate post…
Saursegga (516m), Gjøna (531m), Jul 9 2025
Wednesday: After work, I fancied going across Saursegga in order to get to Gjøna (aka Nipa). It was a tough ask for Karma, but it was a route she’s done many times before and hopefully she would enjoy the walk.
It didn’t start so good, as she refused to walk already at the car. I told her that you can’t quit without a minimum of effort and she got going. Once on the forest path, she picked up a scent and zoned out.
Above the forest, the scent had disappeared, and she looked 100 years old. Maybe she is, actually. I mean, how old is a soon-to-be 13-year-old dog in human years. Is it 13 * 7 or 13 * 7 + 7?
Fortunately, there was another scent on the mountain path, and she zoned out again.
It was very nice to be crossing Saursegga again. Since they developed the new path from Muren and directly up to Gjøna, I’ve been choosing that route lately. But it’s dead steep all the way and I didn’t want Karma to suffer such a hill without access to water.
She lost her “mojo” again on top of Saursegga, but then there were sheep coming to the rescue. She doesn’t actually care about sheep and in the beginning, they were of no help. I had to go “look, sheep, look!” to get her interested. She got interested without fully understanding what this was all about. But at least, she kept going.
Eventually, we were at the foothills of Gjøna, and we only had 100+ vertical meters to go. The final hillside is quite steep, and I had to give her a friendly push here and there.
It was nice to reach the top. Karma could enjoy a well-deserved break.
When we left, Karma stopped at the Muren fork just below the top. She gave me the “we’re not going back the same route, are we?” look. I told her that it would be in her best interest, and she came along.
Nothing much exciting happened on our way down, but all of a sudden, there was a guy just behind us. He came up from Muren, hiked across Gjøna and Saursegga and would be returning via Hanen and Botnen. We had a quick chat and then we continued down to Haugsbygda.
Trip statistics: 8,4km, 740 vertical meters, 2h:38m
Around Gurskøya on bike + Rambjøra (132m), Jul 10 2025
Thursday: I was quite tired after work. I rested a little, only to find myself spiralling into deep sleep. I was able to get “out of it” and decided to take an easy bike trip around the island. The headwind would be strong today, so I would definitely not try to beat my 2h:10 lap from June 29th, which included a 2-minute break.
The wind caused so much noise that I hardly head the music in my headphones. I just heard a lot of static.
I had the wind against me for 21,4km, until I got to Gjøneset. Then my average speed got increased by approx. 10km/h. What a delight to be cruising in 30-35km/h!
Alas, the tailwind didn’t last, and I was back to hard work already at Gjerdsvika.
I didn’t stop for pictures on this round, and when I got back home, I assumed that this round was somewhere between 2h:20m and 2h:30m. To my pleasant surprise, the total time was 2h:08. Maybe, just maybe I could stand a chance to get below 2 hours! That would be just awesome and that’s now officially a goal. And it will be on my own bike, with my big and rugged tires and without locking my foot in the pedal. It’s going to be off-trail on asphalt!
When I got home, there was no dog to greet me. Maybe a couple of hours is below her “going bonkers” timeframe, but it was a little odd. I didn’t say anything and just got ready to give the dog a walk across Rambjøra. Still, no sign of the dog.
I had to call on her. She came running down the stairs in a pace that is way too fast for her. She went completely bonkers in the hallway and rushed outside, huffin’ and puffin’.
She knew that we were going to Rambjøra (I don’t know why she always knows that) and she ran directly to the trailhead. I had to keep up with HER.
How should I describe her behaviour on the trail? Well, imagine 10 bitches in full blossom heat walking a path just minutes before a young, male dog arrives at the scene. Karma was that male dog today.
When we got to the first junction, it was full stop. She wanted to go down to the school, but I didn’t. I won the discussion.
She accepted the chain of command, but the pace had dropped significantly. Now, she was huffin’ and puffin’ from the warm weather, and I decided that she would get her overdue haircut on Saturday, the day before we would go on vacation.
Around Gurskøya: 47,8km on bike, 500 vertical meters, 2h:08m
Rambjøra: 2,7km, 140 vertical meters, 0h:35m.
Around Gurskøya on bike + Djupvikhaugen (98m), Jul 11 2025
Friday: It was a very nice afternoon, and I decided to take a bike trip around the island, for the 2nd day in a row, and for the 6th time in 2025.
Yesterday’s trip gave me some clues as to how break the “magic” 2-hour time. From yesterday’s trip, I had to save more than 8 minutes. It was less windy today, but there was still wind. And even just a little wind can feel like a wall on the south side of the island.
My plan was simple – bike hard. Uphill, don’t gear up – unless it makes sense. Just stand up and bike hard…
The first test if this would work was the Leikongbakken hill. I was standing on my bike half of the hill, and I felt I had better momentum.
From there on, it was just “pedal to the metal” and I didn’t allow myself a second of rest. It was actually going better than I had expected.
When I got home, I was desperate to check my GPS track. To my despair – it had failed to record. Fortunately, I looked at the time before leaving. The time was 3:12pm and then I had to lock myself back in the house to get something. So, I was leaving 3:13pm or 3:14pm. When I got home, the time was 5:08pm. I had to check twice.
I did it! With margin! Now I am looking forward to a trip without any wind. I am curious if I can get down to 1h:50m and I have no ambition of going faster than that, on my current bike. Whether I can do the island in 1,5 hours with a racing bike is of no interest…
Karma was excited when I got home, but as it was quite warm (more than 20 deg. C.) I didn’t want to take her hiking. Instead, we went up Djupvikhaugen. I brought my bike of course.
After yet another fun ride down the ridge, we went down to lake Djupvikvatnet to cool off. The lake was so warm. It really surprised me. I had brought Karma’s toy ball, knowing she wouldn’t get into the water unless there was something to retrieve.
We had a good time. She made a lot of weird noise when she was trying to drink water at the same time as retrieving the ball…
Around Gurskøya: 47,8km on bike, 500 vertical meters, 1h:56m
Djupvikhaugen: 1,9km on bike, 85 vertical meters, 0h:35m.
Rjåhornet (600m), Jul 12 2025
Saturday: A heatwave had come upon us, but as I hadn’t really paid attention, I didn’t know. To me, it was just a warm Saturday morning, and I had lots to do before Anne came in the afternoon, and before we went on our 3-week summer break the next day.
But a quick hike up and down Rjåhornet wouldn’t affect the schedule in a negative way.
Already at the Djupvika trailhead, Karma told me that she was not interested in hiking. I told her that tomorrow would be travel day and maybe Monday too. So, I really felt she should come along. She did.
It didn’t take long before her tongue closed in on a new personal record. But there were pits of water here and there, and I assumed she would be fine. It’s not that we’ve never hiked on a hot day before.
But after a while, she was breathing so heavily that I started to wonder if this was a mistake. Did I take her age (soon-to-be-13) into consideration? I cannot say I did, but I don’t know to distinguish “too old” from “can’t be bothered”.
I found it useful to shift her focus, and we went off-trail. That didn’t help much. She was still breathing heavily, and she was dragging her tongue.
But she was stabile, and I decided that we would reach the top today.
We took a break in the shade behind the summit building. I’ve never heard her breathe this way before. I apologized and promised her to be more considerate in the future.
We started out by taking the same route down – this time ON the path, but when we got to the first fork, she wanted to go a different route. “OK”, I thought. “You’re not exactly dying, here…”
It was clearly easier for her, going *down* the mountain and after a little while, the heavy breathing was gone.
Trip statistics: 6,7km, 580 vertical meters, 2h:07m
“Glamping” in Lorvika, July 13 2025
Summer vacation 2025, day 1
Sunday: We left Gurskøya in the morning – en route to Lorvika in Steinkjer municipality, where Anne had booked us in for the night – at a “Glamping” place. I don’t even know what that means. “Glamorous camping”?
We had a long drive ahead of us – 554km. I didn’t want to take the ferries and drove Romsdalen. It’s been a few years since we drove here. Nice to be back.
An unusual heatwave was passing across country. We had temperatures we don’t see very often. Luckily, we were quite cool in the car, but it was a shock every time we stopped for a break.
Eventually, we got to Lorvika and checked into the “Glamping”. It was nice and clean inside the tent but there were ants all over the place, and insects. I suspected that I was in for a night with little sleep.
But first, we went down to the fjord to take a swim. We noticed a “private road” sign and concluded that we were OK, as we were not driving. We went down to a molo and enjoyed ourselves in the fantastic temperature in the water.
On our way back, the land owner was waiting for us and had some things about trespassing, that he needed to get off his chest.
We explained that we had walked here in good faith. Surely, access to water would be allowed for the public? Nope. Not at all. We decided to end the discussion by apologizing and getting the hell out of there.
Back at the “Glamping”, it was time for dinner. I was a little sceptical about the combination of this heat and barbecue, but Anne wasn’t. So, we barbecued…
It got a bit cooler in the afternoon, and when we went to bend, I slept like a baby until 5am – when Karma got restless. One hour later, I fell into deep sleep again and didn’t wake up until 8am. The temperature was quite alright, and “Glamping” wasn’t so bad after all. The flies stayed on top of the tent and the ants stayed outside.
