Summer vacation, day 21-22
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 02.08.25 | Mørkdalstua | 345m | 345m | Hitra, Norway | – | MAP |
| 03.08.25 | Haglebjøra | 143m | 143m | Hitra, Norway | – | MAP |
| 03.08.25 | Vettan | 164m | 164m | Hitra, Norway | – | MAP |
| 03.08.25 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Continued from summer vacation, day 20…
Mørkdalstua (345m), Aug 2 2025
Saturday: After breakfast in Rørvik, we chose to avoid the E6 and took the Hofles–Lund ferry on our way back to Sunnmøre, so Anne could return to Sogndal on Sunday.
We proceeded to Namsos, followed by Rørvika, and from there, we took the ferry to Flakk.
It felt wrong not to maximize our vacation to the fullest, and I suggested we could visit Hitra, southern Norway’s largest island (569 km²), since none of us had been there. Anne agreed, and from Orkanger we headed to Hitra, where she booked a room at the Dolmsundet hotel.
It was still early afternoon when we arrived on Hitra island, and so we decided to visit the island high point before checking into the hotel. The trailhead was in the opposite direction from our hotel, which cost us about 30 minutes of driving.
The signpost indicated 8,5 km to the summit, so we took our bikes, aware of a tractor road but unsure of its condition.
The quality of the road was OK for the first 4km.
Then we met a guy in a excavator, probably fixing the road for the long term, but the road was impossible to bike on.
We pushed our bikes for a while, then biked a little, then pushed them again. Eventually, we met a family, coming off the mountain, and they told us that we would be best off leaving the bikes behind.
So, we did, and that was a bad decision. The road was still possible to bike for yet another kilometer. Lesson learned – again. Don’t always listen to others.
Eventually, we reached the foot of the mountain and followed the path upwards.
It was so nice to reach the top. The time was now 5:35pm and we wanted to enjoy dinner at the hotel before the kitchen closed. Our stay on top wasn’t long.
The descent went faster than the ascent (of course) and we returned back to the trailhead 6:45pm. The whole trip took 2h:37m.
We took the luggage out of the car, put the dirty bikes back in, and then the luggage back in. Then we drove to the Dolmsundet hotel – a ~45min drive.
After checking into the hotel, Anne found that we could pre-book dinner on-line and so we did. 40 minutes after checking in, we went down to the restaurant and got our pre-ordered dinners right away.
The room was really nice. It even had a balcony. On the other side of the road, there was a non-stop serenade of sheep going baa and bleating. Either they had a conversation going or they’re just numb nuts, going baa without pause. Either way, they wouldn’t prevent us from having a good night’s sleep.
Trip statistics: 6,6km on foot, 9km on bike, 450 vertical meters, 2h:37m
Haglebjøra (143m), Aug 3 2025
Sunday: After breakfast, we checked out from the Dolmsundet hotel on Hitra. The room was very nice, but the price was stiff (NOK 1900, -). Stiff, in comparison with the Wood hotel in Bodø, which had higher class throughout and were a few hundred kroners cheaper. No complaints though. The room was OK, the breakfast OK and it was nice and quiet.
I wasn’t in the mood for driving straight home to Sunnmøre in this gorgeous weather and Anne agreed to join me in a quick hike to the high point on Fjellværsøya island – Haglebjøra.
The island is located just east of Hitra, and the detour wasn’t that bad. There was parking at the trailhead, a signpost and a visible path. Perfect!
The hike to the top was short and easy…
It didn’t take long for us to reach the top.
The views were … well, I don’t know what to say. The only thing standing out were the wind turbines on Frøya and Hitra. Still, it was nice to be here.
After a short stay, we returned to the car and left Fjellværsøya.
Trip statistics: 1,3km, 80 vertical meters, 0h:25m
Vettan (164m), Aug 3 2025
Sunday: I had one last walk in me and convinced Anne to come along for a hike to Vettan on Helmskjela island. We try to collect island high points > 100m whenever we can. There are 400 tops on that list, but I only had 126 before starting the summer vacation. If we reached the top of this one, I could add 5 more (from this summer) to my list.
We turned left immediately after coming out of the Hitra subsea tunnel and drove to the old “forsamlingshus” where a gate blocked the gravel road from further driving.
We proceeded on foot from here, heading into the sea fog that came rolling in.
After 950m, we saw a path going up the mountain.
Shortly after, we noticed a gravel trail coming up on our right-hand side. We also met a family coming down.
The top was clearly a bunker from WWII. I’m claiming that without checking.
The name itself – Vettan – tells me this top was part of the coastal defence back in the Viking era. They would light a fire on top if the enemy came sailing in.
We followed the gravel trail back down to the gravel road we followed upwards. Then we returned to the car and sat course for Sunnmøre.
I wasn’t mentally motivated to get on E39, so we drove via Kyrksæterøra. Eventually, we had to get onto E39 near Vinjeøra, and the traffic was going so slow. When we got to Halsa, the ferry was about to leave. We were the last car onboard.
We continued towards Molde. I hate this harbour. We had to enter lane 3. Lanes 1 and 2 were packed, as far as they eye could see. I could have sworn we would not make it onto this ferry. But we did! As the very last car!
The last ferry was Sulesund – Hareid. When we got to my 5-minutes left to the ferry marker at Mauseidvågen, we had just 4 minutes left. But there was no traffic, and I *may* have been slightly above the speed limit. Can’t say for sure. But we made it onto the ferry as the very last car. The gate closed before I turned off the engine. We just had to laugh. The last car in 3 ferries straight?
Trip statistics: 2,9km, 130 vertical meters, 0h:41m
Huldrehornet (271m), Aug 3 2025
Sunday: After 3 weeks on the road, we returned to Sunnmøre. The first thing I did was to move Karma’s bed to a room I seldom visit. I’ll deal with that later. After getting all my luggage inside, I left Anne, still moving her stuff over to her car, and went to hike Huldrehornet. I just wanted to get my daily dose of 500 vertical meters.
I didn’t find much joy in the hike, other than the vertical meters. I missed my 4-legged hiking companion. But I’ll deal with that later too. Now, we just had to get settled in.
As I was approaching the car, Anne came up the forest to meet me. That was a nice gesture. It’s just the two of us now. It will be different from now on…
Many thanks to Anne for 3 wonderful weeks and many thanks to Karma for almost 13 wonderful years. We still cry over you…
Trip statistics: 2,4km, 250 vertical meters, 0h:36m
Thank you for the nice and very detailed post.
Nice photos too.