SPRING FIELD TRIP
| Byglandsfjorden, Bygland |
26.04.21 – 29.04.21
How Norway can be so amazing? Actually no words can describe this trip; the combination of perfect weather with cool activities and great people was too much.
On the way to Bygland everybody was quiet and sleepy in the bus, getting ready for what was coming. First unexpected fact, we had to wait for Len and the canoes, thus we took our time to have lunch nearby the fjord facing the sun. After a while we were ready to “play” with the canoes and learn the basics to go down the fjord properly afterwards. Two persons per canoe, we tried to mix experts with inexperts although most of us had done it before. Since it was two days of canoeing, we switch the couples twice so we could experience paddling with other people and also change positions.
We had maps with us so each couple was guiding for a kilometre or so to put on practice the veileder techniques. The main things we had to have into consideration were to group everybody so that the leaders were aware of everything, f.e. if someone had to stop; there was one couple in charge of being the last boat to make sure no one was left behind; explaining the route before starting to let everyone know where were we going and in which direction; to ask frequently if everybody was all right; try to get close to the shore due to safety reasons, mainly because of the water temperature (if we felt in the middle of the fjord was more dangerous than falling 15 meters close to the shore since we only had to swim few meters and not 200 meters given that in those conditions is hard to stay in the water for so long);
With this short moments of leading the group, I was able to see who was more used to lead a group, who was active and responsible of everything that was going on, who didn’t really know how to act, who barely interacted with the group while leading; overall, I was quite focused on how each couple was doing it, that’s why I found very smart to change every 1 or 2 km. Communication was the thing we put in practise the most while leading for those moments, making questions, explaining the plan, looking for nonverbal signs sometimes, using simple and clear language to avoid misunderstandings, even more important if people are far away from each other.
After we got to our cute island called Storøyi, the place to sleep the first night. To find a good spot to sleep wasn’t complicated given that the weather was amazing, so we only need to look for a flat surface and quite sheltered. The goal of our choice was to face the morning sun, and that was what happened, what a feeling! One of the bests awakenings here in Norway, impressive how the sun can warm you up.
We had the same distance to canoe to get to the next stop, Troll Aktiv. The weather was as good as the first day during the morning but then in the afternoon changed and got cloudy. The second night was in a tipi, we expected to be comfortable and warm but surprisingly we weren’t, was so cold and not comfortable. I realised that sleeping on grass/plants is much more nicer, that’s the nature!
Canoeing was finished, the third day was turn for biking to the climbing spot and staying there for the rest of the day and the night as well. The route was mostly flat and nice, ideal temperature (we started a bit later than we planned because was too cold in the morning). Cycling with people is nice. The climbing consisted in practising and learning how to set all the ropes, focused on how would we do that with a group of people. We did top-roping and up sailing, to different things. Up sailing was quite complex since you have to take into account a lot of things, follow the process carefully and in the correct order. The ones that were more into climbing were more focused maybe than others, or at the same time in my case that I have only climbed few times,
The group vibes were so good, the atmosphere was so calmed all the time, enjoying every moment of the trip. Specially in that day, during the lunch/tea breaks, we were sharing experiences between us and Len, just talking, sitting on the ground. So maybe, of course the weather was one of the main things that contribute positively to have a perfect trip, but the group vibes, the group aurora was as shinny as the sun of the whole trip, from my point of view.
To finish the trip, last day consisted in packing everything inside the van of the university and bike back to Kristiansand with only the things we really needed. Flat and nice path, good weather, a bit cloudy first but good for cycling, and then sun. We had a huge lunch break in Venesla and then there was just 1-2h left to got home. My body was fatigated, tired, after practising three different activities where you work all your body. I had stiff in my upper body since I’m not used to use it that much, so was a good training. So happy and grateful for having had the chance to do this trip in those conditions, I can’t really describe what we have experienced during these days. Thaaaanks!
