Our next trip was the mountain to fjord trip from the 7th to 10th of May. I was really looking forward to that one as we planned to do a lot of exciting activities like paddling, climbing and cycling. Also the weather forecast for the whole week was perfect with a lot of sun and blue sky.
We left Kristiansand in the morning to drive to Bygland with the bus. After getting out the wrong bus stop and got picked up by the guys from Trollaktiv we finally arrived at our starting point in Bygland at the river close to the museum. First we did some little paddle exercises to get used to our new equipment and our “paddle partner”. I was in the canoe with Laura. Furthermore they did a demonstration on how to safe people who capsized with their canoe. After we finished our lunch at the beach of Bygland we started paddling to an island 10 kilometers away between Bygland and Evje. Laura and me used the “stay on one side method” that means we took opposites side and the stern paddler (the one at the back of the canoe) uses occasional J-strokes (begins like a standard stroke, but towards the end the paddle is rotated and pushed away from the canoe) to correct the direction. On Monday I was the stern paddler and the next day we changed position. On our way to the island each canoe had to navigate and lead the group to a specific point Evan told us before. This was a great possibility to work on our leading and navigating skills on water while paddling. After we arrived at the island in the late afternoon we set up our hammocks on top of a little hill. The view out of the hammock was amazing, just directly on the river and the mountains in the background. As it was really sunny and warm we decided to go for a swim and jumped from a stone into the water. The water was still freezing cold but it was a nice refreshment after the paddling. After this we started a campfire next to our sleeping spot and started playing hide and seek in the other way around (one is hiding and the others are looking for him and then hide with him) around the whole island.
On the next day we started paddling to Evje (14 kilometers away) in the morning. Each canoe had to lead the group again. We stopped for having lunch at a nice bay. After arriving in the afternoon at Trollaktiv most of our group went for rafting. This was a lot of fun.
The next morning Janna and I went for a little run in the morning before we started cycling 20 kilometers south of Evje. We arrived around 12 o’clock at the climbing spot which was directly next to a lake. We didn’t do a lot of climbing but I learned a lot about set up different systems and how to organize and lead a group when you go climbing with them. For instance I learned how to set up abseiling, top and bottom roping or the rescue style. I never set up any systems before, so it was an educative afternoon but it was also a really long and exhausting day.
On our last morning we started with a little swim in the lake. That was the first time in Norway going for an actual swim and not freezing away the whole body. After Len has picked up our equipment, we started cycling to Kristiansand. It was only 45 kilometers more to go and the weather was again sunny with a blue sky. The cycling track was really nice and not that much challenging, so it felt like a nice Sunday family trip. In Vennesla we stopped for lunch only shortly because the weather changed quickly and clouds were coming. Just a few minutes after we continued cycling it started to rain. Furthermore we took the wrong road once up a really steep hill (in the end we came to route 452). On that hill the chains of Will and Rob broke, so they went down the hill again and got picked up from Len. After a while we started to wonder if we are still on the right track, so we asked a cycler we met on the way and we realized it is a different way we were supposed to take but it also leads us to Kristiansand with a few kilometers of detour. This track took us through the forest and unsealed tracks with a lot of up- and downhill. Finally it was worth it to have rent a mountain bike from Trollaktiv. For me this little detour was definitely the better and more fun way to cycle back to Kristiansand.
All in all it was a fun week with a lot of great activities!