Caught the morning bus up to Byglandsfjord, and met at the beach near the bus stop. We all unloaded the trailer and got all of the canoes laid out, and then split into groups for some lessons from Rauridh and Scott about paddling techniques. After some demonstrations on land, we all got into our paddling pairs and got into the boats to practice on the water, where they then showed us several more paddle techniques, one primarily being the J-stroke to help the back paddler steer the boat without having to swap sides constantly with their paddle. We learned how to collectively turn a boat, with one person in the front paddling forward on one side, while the person in the back of the boat paddles backwards on the opposite side. After practicing our J-turns for a bit, we came to shore and did a brief capsizing run-through. We then all sat and had lunch and prepared for our day out in the fjord.

We all loaded up into our boats, and strapped our bags into the middle of the vessel so they would hopefully stay in incase we ended up capsizing. To start things out, our boat was backwards for about the first five minutes until Sean looked over and was giving us weird looks, and then Len giving the confirmed answer that it was indeed the wrong way around. Lea and I had to swap places and I ended up taking the back of the boat that day when she had originally wanted to do so, but we managed to swap places safely without flipping the boat. We departed from Bygland and made our way towards the island of Øyni for our first checkpoint, roughly 2kms south. From here we made our way further south down the Fjord, where tops came off halfway through as it was an amazing day out. We stopped on a small beach just east of Nånes and had a snack break, and enjoyed the sun for a bit on the rocks. Lea and I were given the next length to lead, down to the south side of Bernesodden – 2.5kms from the beach we were at. The paddling was going well and I was slowly but surely getting my J-turns panned out. There were a few times where we definitely drifted a bit too much to one side as I would over adjust the turns and many times on accident and I was trying to J-turn too much. Sean gave me advise to only J-turn when I have to go the opposite way of the side I am paddling on, and through that advice I was able to stay much straighter and had much more control of where we were heading. As we approached Bernesodden we went around the peninsula and to the south side of Horgi, and hangout on the beach for a short while until the other group paddled to us to join. Simon and I went out to a nice little rock in the water and Michael joined once his group arrived. Our boat mates thankfully paddled to us to pick us up, as we were threatened to have to swim to our boats as punishment for going out there, the others were just jealous of our island sun spot though. From here we hit the last stretch of our paddling for the day, and headed towards the island of Storøyi to set up camp for the night. We stopped near a small island on the way, where Len pointed out a massive iron ring bolted into the rock. He said that loggers back in the day – who would tie loads of logs together and float down on top of the mass – would tie off to islands like the one he had pointed off to either fix something, change direction or just take a break and maybe stay the night.

We made our way to Storøyi, and on the way noticed some Canadian geese on the North side of the island, and we made a point to not set up camp near them as they are very territorial. I had no idea that Canadian geese had made their way across the pond and are apparently a rather invasive species. Upon arrival to the island, I grouped with Michael, Simon and Jonas as we all had hammocks and scouted out a nice area to group up for the night. We found a group of trees near the southwestern end of the island, with a nice little cove beneath us, and with big cliffs around us to where the morning sun wouldn’t wake us too early. After setting up our tents, we headed back to the beach where we docked our canoes and went out for a small paddling session where Len and Thomas taught us a few more paddle techniques, specifically how to paddle sideways in which consisted of making a figure 8 in the water. I could not figure this out for the life of me and Len was practically screaming at me step by step trying to adjust my technique, but my mind was gone and I was not executing it well. We were all slumped after this and ready for dinner and bed. We all cooked on the point and watched the Australians go for a swim around, and then hung-out and talked for a short bit before heading back to our sleeping quarters for the night.

Woke up to the birds beginning their morning tunes, and could hear the songs start with the birds right above me, and slowly drift across the whole island almost in a wave. Was quite a blissful awakening. Had a solid nights rest in my hammock, was the first time I had used it. I angled it a bit too much on the upper tree and found myself sliding down throughout the night and had to adjust several times throughout the night to pull myself and my bivvy back up onto the mat, but aside from that I was pretty happy with my setup. I disassembled everything and packed up my stuff, and headed to the point to cook breakfast and get ready to head out. Used a small chunk of the brush to clean out my pan and it worked wonders compared to using my fingers / my spoon. Was the first time cleaning out a pot in water without any cleaning utensils, or snow to clear things out. Lea and I loaded into our canoe and she was in the back this time and I took the front. I was in Thomas’s group today, and we headed to our first destination which was the west side of Langenesøyi. Lea had some trouble with her J turns on the first leg and I had to help her adjust directions quite a bit at the start, but she seemed to be getting it down more as we went on. We made it to the island and weren’t ready for a break yet, and so we changed leaders and made our way to the island of Ambogøyi another km south, in which we took a break on the north beach of. After this break, Rauridh had taught us a new paddling technique in which was used by indigenous people when hunting in water to sneak up on prey. The stroke consisted of making little to no noise, and paddling with your oar just below the surface of the water and making very long strokes, and then pulling it back to the front sideways – without lifting it from the water making noise, and without pushing your boat backwards through the process. After practicing it for awhile, Lea and I had been given the next destination point, and we hugged the western coast down to Sines for 3kms, where we ended up meeting up briefly with the other group to get some photos and also to get a headcount as to how many people wanted to go rafting later in the day once we had reached TrollAktiv. After this brief meeting we made our way through a very narrow opening where we had barely managed to make it through, and had to get out of the boats to pull them across the shallow area. From here we continued on south west for another km to the peninsula of Eikjånodden, and headed to shore on the south side for lunch. At this point Lea and I had failed to notice one boat drifting behind and Thomas had pointed out that it’s important to always have sight on the last boat in your group, especially if weather is bad and is a very fair point especially when leading a group. We made it to shore and it was a nice little island with a rocky point for all of us to group up on and have lunch together. Was different paddling up front all day compared to in the back, but I enjoyed it as it took less mental strain to try and figure out when to turn or not as the front is just the engine house and the back is suppose to do all the turning, but I still had to use the front rudder method several times to readjust our boat but that was only when necessary and for the most part I could let my mind wander and just paddle away. We paddled across the open fjord for another 3kms after lunch before approaching the narrow channel which would lead us to the end after 3 kms into Byglandsfjord. This was a rather chill section of the trip as the channel was pretty direct and we just stayed in a line down it all. We approached a small beach to where the other group was and stopped for a relief break across from the logging company, and then continued down towards the dam. We passed  a mother goose on her eggs which was neat, and headed to shore about 10 meters apart in single file so that boats could get pulled up and emptied by the time the next one came behind. We grouped on the other side of the dam and pulled all of the boats over and had a small water and snack break, and then everyone who was rafting went out on a walk with Len to see the rapids in which we’d all be going down.

After walking the whole way down alongside the river, we ended up at TrollAktiv and walked up to the resort where we were met by some of the instructors and we signed into the guest sheet. They gave us a briefing and checked equipment out to us and we went and changed almost right away and we were loaded up into the bus ready to go about 45minutes after our arrival. We split into two groups and got our rafts into the water and seated with paddles in hand. We went over basic instructions and orders and practiced for a bit down where we had unloaded the canoes earlier right at the dam entrance where the water was rather still. Once the guide felt we all had it down then we unloaded and went across to the other side to get ready to start our first run down. One of the instructors had jumped into the stream to show us how to react if we happened to fall in and to swim to shore when instructed. We went down one time all the way, and then back up 3/4 the way to do some surfing which was awesome and everyone got the chance to be in the front of the raft. Afterwards we did a mini cliff jump and swam back to shore and got into the rafts to head back to shore. Halfway back he had told us all that we could swim from here on out if we wanted to, and of course we all jumped in. All of us immediately regretted the decision as we were still a solid 2 minute swim out from shore and the water was freezing, but we all managed. After our rafting venture, we all got back and changed and collected our belongings from the bus that they others had loaded up and put them into our lodges. Then we got our bikes checked out to us so we would have that done with by the morning, and we were able to ride into town that evening with them because stores were closed the next day.. so no Evje bakery run sad day. The lodges were nice and cozy, just small little huts with three sets of bunk beds. Mostly everyone had gone into town on the bikesand then came back and cooked dinner, and we played a round of wizard before bed. My knees were in pain as my ride to the town was a wake up call for me and glad that I had done it because I had no idea how my bike should have been adjusted, and my seat was far too low and my knees were doing all of the work. Had I gone any further than the 6kms there and back then it would have been really rough. Was nice being able to freshen up a bit at the lodge and wash my ghost faced-self with warm water before bed, and the beds were very comfortable and I didn’t have any dreams of falling all night like I had experienced the night before in my hammock – however it was apart of it and a note to my future self to make sure that my hammock is as flat as possible before I call it good.

We woke up at around 8 to head out by 9:30 for our first bike tour to the crag, and made breakfast and packed and cleaned up after ourselves. We said goodbye to Tim and his wife and started our journey in 2 groups and I was in Thomas’s again. We had nearly left Tim’s land when Thomas talked to us a bit about people wanting to hunt wolves in norway as they think that they threaten the reindeer and people, however there has only been one documented killing of a person back in the 1800s of death by a wolf, meanwhile the real predator is the wolverine that takes out most deer, and apparently there has been one spotted on Tim’s land and people are wanting to hunt it, but Tim does not want to. We continued on down the gravel path past some farms and into Evje, and then eventually to some buildings in which we took a nice ten minutes break at and found from Thomas that the buildings were historical to the area as they were used as housing for the army during the war. The soldiers stationed here were told to forfeit and then they were allowed to go back home, and that is exactly what they had done. This was the end of the stories and we continued our trek to the climbing area which was roughy 20kms from Evje. There was one major hill up to the crag which nearly burned Scott and I out, and after this I was terrified for the journey tomorrow as I was absolutely winded after this short excursion. Definitely need to get some cardio in the works. We had arrived to the crag shortly after noon and had taken about an hour break upon arrival and had lunch and almost a nap. We then went on a walk about with Len and Thomas and Len had shown us the area in which we’d be staying for the night and the possible spots for putting up our bivvies and an example of a nice bouldering crag for kids to learn how to climb on, and then Len had shown us how to properly run 4 overhead climbs off of one rope and how to tie them off effectively. We then climbed these 4 for some time in which seemed to get harder as they went further across the cliff. The last one proved to be a real pain for many where the grips were all finger holds and your footing was nothing but a cm of ledge to put your toes on. Was a fun and challenging climb, and then Len had rigged up another rope along the larger cliff to where someone could belay from above which proved to be a difficult climb at the start in which I had nearly managed it until I lost my grip and sight with the bulky (but safe) helmet and had to catch myself on the rope right before I had gotten my feet up so that was depressing, but still proud of my effort leading up to it. Slowly getting a better climbing technique, I always find myself finding one proper foothold and then not knowing where to put my other foot which burns out my arms quite quick, but i’ve found myself searching for solid footholds before I climb which is what I need to keep doing.

After I had done my climbing about, I went up to find where the others had pitched their hammocks and I found a nice spot right above them between two trees in which I was able to surely fasten my hammock flatter this time around. I had gotten my hammock looking real nice and by the time I was seated in it there was a nice ledge chest level in which I could place all of my things at before heading to bed which turned out to be perfect. After getting it all rigged up I had headed back to the bottom of the cliffs and had a swim with some others. The water was quite cold but warmer than it had been the day before while we were rafting, and felt really great to be able to refresh after the hot day in the sun. We all dried off and began to cook our dinners and boil water, we could drink the water from the lake but it was still water so we all boiled it before consuming just to be safe as we were a 10km bike ride away from the nearest fresh water supply bank which we’d reach the next morning. Everyone cooked and hung around and talked and it was a chill evening. Chef Michael whipped up pancakes and it was nice watching him do his magic while hazed out from the long day. The sun had slowly set and the sky was pink by the time I had climbed back up to my hammock. I went up a bit higher up to the top of the cliffs to see the whole sky and surrounding area, and it was a delightful end to the day. I was climbing into my hammock before 9:30 which is always an amazing feeling knowing that I will get at least 10 hours of sleep that night, which was definitely a much needed amount before the 70km bike ride in the morning back to Kristiansand.

We woke up on the 4th day and packed up our hammocks and belongings, and headed down to join the others for breakfast. I have gotten quite good at efficiently packing away all my things, and packing up with the hammock is ten times easier than doing so inside a tent or on a bunk bed as you’re able to stand up while doing it. After breakfast we prepped out day packs and brought all of our other bags and equipment to the side of the road under a tarp in place for Tim to come back later with a shuttle to load up. We all loaded onto our bikes and peddled about 1.5kms to a junction where we had all met up and split into our groups. Michael and Lena were our first group leaders, and we were all set on stopping at the cafe an hour out of Kristiansand for a coffee and cake before we return, which turned to be our motivation for the day. We started out at a mellow pace, and then Simon and Lena lead and they were cooking it. We had an insane pace going and after about 20 minutes from the switch we had reached the water bank and were able to fill up our bottles and discussed the pace and that it needs to slow down immensely as we were at least 15minutes ahead of the other group. We had a small bite to eat and refreshed our legs before getting back on our bikes. There was a small trail with some ramps off to the side that Michael had hooked onto, and he had almost made it all the way through before we all heard “Ooope, Oooope,” and then looked over and saw him going head over handlebars on the last leg of it. Was quite a sight to see, but the Schmidt man was alright and we all had a nice laugh. I was feeling quite okay on my bike after already going nearly as far as we had the day prior, and was feeling much better about the remainder of the trip than I expected. Slowing the pace down helped a lot, and I had adjusted my seat to be perfect earlier so that my knees no longer caused me hardly any pain, and I figured out how to best adjust my gears as Thomas gave advise to adjust the front wheel before the back, and I had been doing the opposite until the point which really burned me out quick so glad he had a better alternative. From here we rode on for quite a ways and through many tunnels which were really awesome to go through. We were playing games along the way and when going through the tunnels I really had to focus to stay in the middle of the road and not drift into the side as it it pitch black in there. We regrouped with the other group beneath another dam and went behind a hydropower building for lunch. Was a very nice place to stop with the sun above and grass to layout on, and a scenic view the whole time. We were over halfway done at this point and after lunch I felt very drained and just wanted to nap there for awhile, but it was my turn to lead and I had to wake up and continue on. We continued on through a small town where Thomas had stopped us all and pointed out a small building next to the railway, in which the town had input water through in order for the steam engines to work (water was our last guess for what it was for as we guessed coal and fire before to Thomas’s delight,).

From here the road began to get very hilly and we would climb up a ways, and then drop a bit, and go right back up. This really tested my endurance for my legs as they were on fire but I had to keep up with the group, but my only complaint is that we went way too quick through this section and didn’t really “enjoy the journey,” but only “focused on the destination.” The surrounding area was beautiful but we went by too quick to be able to take most of it in, so if I did it again I would surely slow the pace but I guess it was necessary to keep the pace we had as we wanted to get to Kristiansand at a reasonable time and had to meet the other group at the cafe. We arrived at the small town of Venessla   to grab our coffee and cake, and I had a nice cup of coffee and cinnamon roll. At this point we were only an hour out from Kristiansand, and it was a nice thing to be able to stop and enjoy the journey to this point and sit around with everyone for one last time before getting back and parting ways. We left the cafe and hit the final stretch of the trip. We went a bit too quick through the city and even scared a few children unintentionally as our leaders were flying by them and catching them unexpectedly in the middle of the sidewalk, but no-one was injured physically just mentally through this. We had made it to a chainlink bridge which was something I had never seen before, but was very fun to ride across as the whole time across it I was wondering how secure and old it is as it was quite rusted but had many cables supporting it. We passed by the crag in which we had climbed at months prior to and upped the pace once more and we were approaching the other group and Thomas had told us to slow again and regroup and decide to either overtake or stay behind. All in all our group struggled with cohesion and everyone going the same pace, but we panned out for most of the way but good notes to remember for when leading other groups in the future. We made it back to the garage about twenty minutes past this point, and all organized the bikes and helmets. Everyone went home for about two hours before Len had returned with the bags and canoes, in which we all returned back to the garage to help unload and organize everything. I think we got everything done and put away within ten minutes as everyone was very tired and wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible which was quite funny but efficient. This was my first bike tour that I had ever been on and I was quite proud of myself for making it through as swiftly as I did, and I learned new techniques for it and it has further inspired me to want to invest in a nice bike when I return home, I just wish I had the accessibility like Norwegians do to be able to ride bikes from one town to another with ease through bike lanes and wide sidewalks, so that was nice to be able to experience and get the feel of how it is like to cycle through the country. I had an amazing time and we had some awesome weather, and all in all was a delightful trip and rather chill up until the final day which compared to the ski trips was unusual as everyday usually requires quite a bit of work, but paddling is a rather leisurely sport and climbing isn’t too work intensive just strength requiring. Cycling was a great way to end the trip and helped to show me how out of shape I am, and also taught me how to communicate collectively when in groups going this fast compared to when skiing or paddling where everyone is usually going the same pace with the same effort. In the end this showed me how much my own home area lacks accessibility to a sport as simple as cycling, and has encouraged me to want to end up somewhere where I can safely get out and do something like this in the future.