The Plan
The aim was to go to Flekkefjord for three days and do some hiking. We chose this region as it has some more mountainous terrain and some beautiful fjords. We wanted to practice carrying heavy packs and do some hiking now the sun had melted.

The weather was meant to be grey and drizzly for the first couple of days and then be nice and sunny on day three.

I should start by saying that this was a bit of a thrown together trip. It was all a bit last minute and due to this we decided to pick an area that was well signposted and easy to suss out. Stupidly we didn’t bring any maps with us.

Day One
We arrived at Flekkefjord at midday and headed straight to our destination. We decided to stay in a DNT hut and do day trips. The hut was only about 9km from the car and should have been an easy trail. However, we had parked in the wrong place and ended up on the other side of the hut than expected. Luckily there were a few signposts and we followed what we thought was the right path. About an hour in we realised we had taken the wrong path and detoured off, luckily the path did a big circle and led us eventually around the right way. This was just the beginning. At this point we still thought we had parked in the right place and were coming at the hut from a different angle. The area we were coming in from was not that well signposted. It took us a good couple of hours to find the hut. The terrain was also very bumpy and slippy. There were some extremely steep parts and with big packs it was sometimes a bit of a balancing act.  We ended up arriving at around six. Bit of a hopeless start but luckily we did manage to avoid heavy rainfall that came in the evening. We snuggled in the most beautiful hut for the evening, ate a lot of pasta and played some games.

Day Two
On day two we were waiting for two more friends to arrive so in the morning we made our way down to the sea and had a good look around. The surrounding area was beautiful and opposite us was an island with lots of cabins on. I am often in awe of the lifestyle many people in Norway have, we met a very friendly couple who had bought their boat over from the island for the day to have a walk and would be returning in the evening. This sounds like a very idyllic way of spending time off.
Our friends met us at lunch and we all set out towards the mountains for some exploring. This time we made sure we knew exactly how to get back to the cabin but did take a more laid back approach to where we were going. We found the nearest, highest point and decided that would be our desired destination. The weather although dry was very windy and the more we ascended the windier it became. We played around going up various hills before heading back to the cabin for the evening. Here we made a fire, toasted ample marshmallows and drank too much hot chocolate.

Day Three

We decided we wanted a full day hike so set off towards a lake. The journey in total would be about 15 km so it wouldn’t be an exhausting day but with fairly challenging terrain and our navigation skills anything could happen. The weather was due to be drizzly in the morning and then brighten up in the afternoon.
We set off at around 10 o clock with a map! About half an hour in the rain started absolutely pouring down. It was not a slight drizzle and within minutes we were completely soaked through. We all kept on trudging with heads down hoping it might blow over. It continued solidly for around an hour. I have to admit it was not fun, I don’t think any of us were having a great time at that point. Luckily the afternoon weather forecast was correct and the sun came out to say hello. We all stopped for lunch and dried ourselves on some rocks. The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful but very pleasant. The sun continued to shine, we finished our hike and headed back to the cabin to have a coffee and a snooze. We even all had a wash in the stream, it was beyond freezing!!

The final day
I am happy to report we got back to the car with no hassle and without getting lost!

What I learnt:

• ALWAYS take a map. We were in a safe area, with people living all around and signposts but obviously the sparcer the place you go the more dangerous it gets.
• The Norwegians know how to live. New life plan, get a boat!