• 09:30 – 16:00: Break camp and load canoes. Paddle to Syrtveit dam. Portage canoes and equipment to Troll Aktiv. Make camp in Lavvo (70,-).
• 18:00:                  Rafting or other activities. (Voluntary, 370,-)

Before that trip, we made a route card for the canoe part (calculated with 3km/hour)

After we arrived at Byglandsfjord and load the canoes Martin introduced us to some basic canoe techniques, which we tried out for about 1 hour.

The one sitting in the front, is the pace maker. He should paddle with a nice, steady rythm. The backman is responsible for the stiring. Communication, coordination and cooperation is really important here.

Canoe paddles have only one blade, with a T-grip at the other end. It’s important to hold this T-grip with your top hand knuckle up and thumb under, and the shaft of the paddle with the other hand. Hold the T-grip in one hand; place the other hand so that if the paddle is held horizontal in front of you, your hands are slightly further apart than your shoulders. Holding the paddle correctly is really important to get the maximum force with a minimum of effort.

The bow stroke: The paddle is drawn in a line parallel to the keel. We turn the paddle 90° and lift it out of the water

The draw strole: We use the stroke to change the direction or to rotate it. We draw the paddle and set it “far” away from the boat. To turn the canoe faster both paddlers do it on the opposite side.

The sweep stroke: We use it to turn the canoe away/towards from the paddlers side. We place the paddle as far as possible in the front and pull the blade in a semicircle on the way back

J-stroke: the path followed by the blade. As the blade passes the thigh, rotate the wrists outwards so that the top thumb points forward. Keep pressure on the drive face of the blade throughout.

After practising we started paddling towards the island, which should be our place to overnight. After a few hours in the canoe, we reached the island and looked for some nice place to built our natural shelter. When builting a shelter it is important to consider the weather, especially wind and the surface. You want to have a flat and dry area, that provides you shelter from wind and rain. We choose a rock, that was surrounded by some trees. We used those for building  a roof and walls. In the end we had a small hole, which was very comfortable and had enough space for 4 people.                                          At the next morning we left the island and paddled towards Trollaktiv. As the wind was with 15 m/s really strong and hit us from the side, we decided 4km before finish, to stop the canoeing. As the fjord is really wide and water quite cold, you won’t last long in the water after you capcized. Trollaktiv had to pick us up and finished the day with some climbing and their climbing tour and a nice bbq in the evening. The next day, we jumped on our bikes to go 30km to the local climbing crag. After a lunch break and some saftey instructions, we had a perfect day climbing in the sun.

How to secure yourself and belay from the top: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last day we biked 65km all the way back to Kristiansand.The only painful thing was the sattle, which was quite hard and as I haven’t been biking since I am here (I miss it a lot!), my butt wasn’t really use to it.

Conclusion: It was a great trip. We were so lucky with the weather and everything worked out well. There is nothing I would do different the next time. A bike pants might be a good thing, but it was not like I was dying on the bike. You get used to pain. Cooking together with Martin and Michael was also a great idea, so everyone only brought food for one dinner and every night it was someone elses turn to cook. It was the third time for me climbing outside and I realised again, that I prefer it so much more than climbing inside. I am less scared of falling outside as I am more focused on the rock and were to put my hands and feet. On artificial walls your route is already set, so there is less to think. Routes outside takes longer time to climb and there is always so many different solutions how to climb it. My mind is more concentrated and you have to adapt to rock itself, so you get divert from your actual fear of falling or height.