Feeling absolutely crap, week 1
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 06.10.26 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 08.10.26 | Garnestua | 654m | 417m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 09.10.26 | Blåtind | 697m | 697m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 10.10.26 | Sollia | 661m | 661m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 11.10.26 | Hasundhornet | 533m | 93m | Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Huldrehornet (271m), Oct 6 2026
Monday: I felt awful on Sunday, and Monday was a hard day too. I managed to pull off a half decent working day and to drive safely from Sogndal and back home on Sunnmøre.
The drive home wasn’t as smooth as usual. The amount of water in the Våtedalen river was staggering high, and I wondered if it would be flooding the road.
Utvikfjellet was closed due to roadwork, and I had to take the Anda – Lote ferry. The wind was incredibly strong. From Nordfjordeid, I decided to drive through Heggjadalen. I hadn’t driven this road in many years, and it was fun to drive here again. The road is very narrow…
It was nice to get back home again, after being away for 17 days. News bulletins on closed bridges and ferries not running came ticking in. We had a good-old fashioned storm going on. And if I hadn’t felt so crappy, I would not have gone hiking – because of the weather.
Tuesday: I was able to get an appointment at the doctor’s office. They took a CRP (c-reactive protein) test and the verdict was 51. A good value is 5 or less and given the fact that I felt much better today than on Sunday, I would not be surprised if I was “knocking on” the 100’s on Sunday.
I clearly had an ongoing inflammation. The stomach was highly upset, and I was sweating a lot. But the recommendation was just let the body heal itself.
What did I pick up in Vietnam?
After work, I decided to go for a short hike up and down Huldrehornet – my local forest top.
Fortunately, it wasn’t raining.
It was indeed a strenuous walk, and I wasn’t so sure if this was a good idea at all.
But I was willing to take the penalty, whatever that might be.
The penalty was a strong headache during the night, and the sheet was soaking wet from my body sweat.
Trip statistics: 2,2km, 255 vertical meters, 0h:42m
Garnestua (654m), Oct 8 2026
Why can’t Google fix the map for this area??? Arghhhh!
Thursday: I felt too tired for doing any hiking on Wednesday, but after work on Thursday, I found the minimum strengths required to go for a hike up and down Garnestua – from Løset.
The test results had come back – Salmonella. It was definitely not good news, but at least I now had a name for the misery I was experiencing. No prescribed wonder drugs, either. I just had to ride it out.
I didn’t assume hiking would contribute hugely to the recovery process, but at least it made me feel a bit happier.
I had a little bit of energy in the beginning. That quicky wore off. I was quite exhausted by the time I got to the Flåna ridge.
I decided to take the sunset as a sign of better times ahead…
It was delightful to reach the top. I didn’t have any energy left and looked forward to the downhill.
Going to bed, I didn’t feel any new penalty was on its way, and I hoped that this hike wouldn’t bite me in …, given that rest is an important part of the recovery process.
Trip statistics: 5,3km, 465 vertical meters, 1h:35m
Blåtind (697m), Oct 9 2026
Friday: I was very tired after an intense working day, or rather – an intense working week, also fighting the Salmonella infection. I should probably have rested but decided to enjoy the nice weather and hike Blåtind – the highest top on Hareidlandet island.
I know this route extremely well and as the ground was wet after recent rain, I stepped where I assumed the ground would be dry. Only to find my foot buried deep down in mud. What used to be solid ground was now soaking wet, oversaturated and unable to support any weight.
Oh well. At least it wasn’t winter.
It was nice to get to lake Hundelaupsvatnet, as that meant I was more than halfway up the mountain.
I was more tired than I liked. Intellectually, I understood that I was recovering from a rather serious infection, but my simple brain was probably thinking that I could go on doing what I typically do.
The final hill was strenuous. To get a little bit of inspiration, I aimed for the steepest part of the top, hoping I could get some nice scrambling.
To the north, I could see that snow covered the top of Ytstetinden, Remmemstinden and Sprovstinden. Winter is on its way. The only question is when the snow will hit the ground…
The steep part didn’t require much scrambling…
This is my playground…
And finally – I was up!
To get something else – other than the fatigue – to think about, I took an off-trail route down the steep mountainside, before joining my ascent route near the valley floor.
Trip statistics: 5,1km, 630 vertical meters, 1h:54m
Sollia (661m), Oct 10 2026
Saturday: As I had hiked Hareidlandet’s highest top the day before, I might as well hike Gurskøya’s highest top today. There was only one problem – I had almost no energy.
Still, I decided to go for it and headed out from Tjørvåg – effectively sea level.
I hoped that Friday’s episode of “National Rap Show” could give me the energy I needed, but the first part of the show was sent in mono, which was more than slightly annoying.
Minute by minute, my feet brought me higher and higher and when I reached Nonshornet (485m) I figured that if I had come this far, I might as well continue to the top.
The higher I got, the more fatigue I felt. I had a feeling that this hike could come back and bite me in the rear…
It was quite depressing. Moreover, it was October. Winter would soon be here, and I wasn’t mentally ready for it.
It was nice to see the top. The descent would be nowhere as strenuous as the ascent.
I had considered hiking over to the western top and take a different route down. But now I could see that rain was on its way in and I was OK going back the way I came up.
That is – with a small variation – until I joined the fork down by lake Holmevatnet.
Perhaps my body disapproved of this hike, but I was still glad I did it.
In the evening, I got an emerging headache. I went to bed at 9pm with a splitting headache, which didn’t let go until 4am in the morning.
Trip statistics: 9,1km, 720 vertical meters, 2h:30m
Hasundhornet (533m), Oct 11 2026
Sunday: After a bad night, I got up at 8:30 AM, only to find myself incapable of doing anything meaningful. I got some coffee and sat down in front of the PC, continuing with my blog from the recent Vietnam trip. Besides lying in bed, this was the only activity I could muster strengths for.
After lunch, I had to rest for 1,5 hours and when I got up, I was determined to do a short hike, regardless of whether it was a bad idea or not. I chose to hike Hasundhornet from “Halsen”
I could feel raindrops after a few minutes, and although I could see rain in the distance, I assumed these were just drops.
And they were. 10 minutes later, there was no more rain.
I felt so tired. In a best-case scenario, this fatigue would have been forgotten about in a few days. Worst case would be that the effects of the Salmonella infection would linger in my body for quite some time. Time would tell and there was nothing I could do with that now.
Still, it was delightful to be outdoors!
From the top, I decided to follow the gravel road down to the car road.
In the evening, I didn’t feel any more tired than when I woke up this morning and decided to take that as a good sign. But I was really curious about how next week would be like…
Trip statistics: 5,5km, 260 vertical meters, 1h:19m
