Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 26km | Time 6hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m

It poured all night. The pan I put out to soak in the rain had collected some 20 mm of rain water. It was still pouring and it was almost calm with rain pouring out of the still heavens. I was reluctant to get up and finally made it out of bed by 1000. I was not looking forward to packing up.

I had arranged to meet two Scottish friends and their family whom I had known for 25 years. They were avid visitors to Norway and lived here for about 3 months a year in their cabin in Trollheimen. We agreed to meet in 3 days just before Kristiansund for a day.

I eventually had everything in bags and threw them out into the rain before I got into my leggings and paddling cagoule and joined them. I started to dismantle the tent and broke the end of a pole segment. I also lost the flame spreader for the stove. It was another phone call to Colin and Karen for the parts to bring to the campsite before Kristiansund. As they ran outdoors shops in Scotland they were the best people to sort out these two issues.

I eventually set off around 1300. The rain had stopped but only momentarily and there was some mist around. Initially I had to paddle across the open Bjugnfjord. It was very calm in the rain and I could see porpoises surfacing all over the place. There were a lot of skerries and reefs about. The Hurtigruten ferry went past going north but I knew no ships would stray in here.

There was a lot of long “spaghetti” weed about. I had noticed it firstly in Troms area. It grows from the bottom in long strands up to 10 metres long with a good few metres lying on the surface. It is buoyant and occasionally I would see some stands of this weed in deeper waters having lifted the small stone it was still attached to off the sea floor. It would then drift to eventually establish another colony if conditions were suitable. I don’t know if this weed is becoming a widespread problem and can’t remember it from 20 years ago anywhere. It was a nuisance to paddle through.

I reached the far side and then continued south along the coast in the pouring rain. The wind was slowly starting to increase. I passed a very picturesque lighthouse which was on a skerry among other skerries. It seemed to have the keeper’s cottage with the 4 storey tower. I took a picture risking the non waterproof camera in the downpour.

Soon I got to Trondheimsfjord. It was only some 5 km wide but I suspected it was busy with ships and in these conditions with poor visibility it was not ideal to cross. I reckoned it would be only about half an hour I was exposed. I paused then started to blast over. There were remarkably few ships and one fast ferry and I crossed without problem.

There were some remarkable currents in this crossing however. The wind was now a force three and some of the areas were calm and others contained metre high breaking waves. The tide should have been in the final stages of ebbing. The water was very warm to touch as it flowed out of the fjord.

However the frequent waves washing over the deck and rain meant the cockpit was getting water in it through the neoprene spraydeck and I was getting soaked. By the time I got to Agdenes on the other side the wind was westerly and the tide was against me. I started paddling west but was making 3 km an hour. It was hard work for little gain; I was almost wet through and decided to camp.

I went into Agdenes for some 2 km to a campsite. It was only a collection of static caravans with tacky wooden porches attached to them and some decking around this porch. It was nor for me and I would have felt silly camping here so returned a km to the small boat marina.

At the marina there was some decking and not wanting to camp among metre high wet grass put the tent up on the decking. The rain continued to lash down as I prepared. By the time it was up and I was in everything was damp. I cooked supper and got into my sleeping bag after sponging as much of the film of water on the groundsheet from the morning’s packing as possible.

It was a miserable day. I was soaked and cold at the end of it. Tomorrow I would dig out the drysuit again which I was saving, until I get a new spraydeck and paddling cagoule. I still had about 100km to go until to meet Colin and Karen at Magnillen in two days so hoped tomorrow would be better.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 4:58 pm and is filed under Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.