Ah the Serenity…

So I have been hanging out in a small place called Vassended in Jølster and enjoying the last of the Norwegian summer which has two weather states and one temperature. The states of weather are ‘raining’ and ‘about to rain’ and as you have probably already guessed the only temperature that the weather comes in is ‘cold’. For example yesterday I went boating and we put on the river in sun shine… ‘cold’ sun shine but sunshine none the less and then twenty minutes latter is was hailing… ah and yes that was the ‘cold’ verity of hail too.

The weather is not without its charms though and it certainly does make for some wonderful scenery. These are some photos I shot today on my drive back to Oslo. They are taken looking down Fjærlandfjorden which is part of Norway’s biggest fjord, Sognefjorden.

When I came out of the tunnel (which was a mere 4 km) and got my first look down the fjord I couldn’t stop the car fast enough because while the photos are really cool, the real thing was far better. Anyhow to rap things up, I think black and white real suits these shots on account of the amazing contrast between the mountains, sky and water. Enjoy

There’s Always Time to Stop and Pick the Blueberries

(Photo Mefford Williams)

Norway is a wonderful country for so many reasons and not the least of which is the wild berries that grow everywhere. Although there are all different kinds of berries growing on the mountains and in the woods, one of the most common is blueberries (at least in the places we have been kayaking). In case you have never came across wild blueberries they grow in small bushes that cover the forest floor and at the right time of year are covered in delicious little berries. I tell you that there is nothing better than being half way down a river, feeling a little weary, a little hungry, a little nervous because of the big horizon line you have just come to, and then while scouting the rapid you get to snack on blueberries till your hearts content… wonderful country!!

At the put in to the Hornidal (Photo Mefford Williams)

Eden showing us how it's done (Photo Mefford Williams)

(Photo Mefford Williams)

Yours truly letting the river do the work (Photo Mefford Williams)

I can fly!! Or is that fall?? Amos either doing one or the other (Photo Mefford Williams)

And he's pretty happy about it ladies and gentlemen (Photo Mefford Williams)

Here's that scary horizon line I was talking about... just round the corner (Photo Mefford Williams)

Must be time for some blueberries (Photo Mefford Williams)

Time to get on with it. Eden back on the water after a healthy feed of blueberries (Photo Mefford Williams)

Checkout Where We Have Turned Up

After a fun trip down the lower Myrkdalselvi we called into the Voss Rafting Centre to catchup with some buddies and orginise the afternoons kayaking… yes that’s right Rolf, we have been paddling more than one river in a single day… crazy I know but true. Just after arriving I heard someone exclaim “hey I know those guys… they’re in a magazine”… or “you boys are famous” or something, I forget but there point was simple – our picture was in a Norwegian extreme sports magazine!!!

There we are... and for those wondering 'BRATTVANN' means 'Steep Water'

They showed us the offending photo which was taken on the Home Run section of the Mår in Telemark. Pacman had sold the photo to the good people at FRI FLYT and they chose to use it on there contents page. Apparently we are 'worth' something after all... who'd thought. Now if I could just learn to speak Norwegian I might know what they are saying about us!!

Back To Voss

Paddling on the lower Myrdalselvi (Photo Mefford Williams)

So there hasn’t been much action on the blog posting front but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t been on the rivers… it just means that I have been too lazy to talk about it. That and it has either been just Eden and me so no photo taking or we have been paddling with the locals and trying to keep up (again no photos).

Warming up with a nice Norwegian ski jump! Amos going for maximum distance (Photo Mefford Williams)

Anyhow to bring ya ol back up to speed, we are back in Voss again with both favourable river levels and favourable weather (the later is not to be expected in Voss). Mikey and Allan have been looking after us with plenty of “go there… paddle this” advice which led us to the Raundalselvi and Myrkdalselvi for some of the best kayaking we have done so far in Norway.

Hanging out in an eddy (Photo Mefford Williams)

If you remember we have already paddled an open section of the Raundalselvi with plenty of water but the rest of the river is quite tight yet still has a big volume feel with 40 something cumecs. Lots of holes, lots of must runs, and a questionable lack of scouting mainly because you can’t. We were thankful to have Allan show us down the lower Raundalselvi but we did manage to workout the train station section all by our lonesome.

Mefford running the second slide in karma cow falls

Method and Amos put in an appearance after we had been here for a few days so we showed them what we had found starting with the train station section which leads into the rafting section which has contains timber hole. Of course because they hadn’t paddled it yet we didn’t let them look at it. Instead we gave them concise instructions “Start on the right and hold on!” Their facial expressions at the bottom were priceless.

Looking back up at karma cow falls... don't you hate when the camera angle makes the drop look small. (Photo Mefford Williams)

On to the lower Myrkdalselvi which has many big slides/waterfalls and lots of holes to keep the eyes nice and wide. The main rapid is karma cow falls which is three biggish slides stacked on top of each other with some juicy holes at the bottom of each. Legend has it that on the first trip down the river a cow, spooked by the people scouting the rapid, fell in and washed over all three drops. Apparently the cow swam to the side at the bottom, shook itself off and carried on its merry way… leaving behind it the rapids name. The run ends with a seven meter vertical slide which appears to land on rock and is pretty intimidating. We all walked but we were back there a few days ago with Mikey and Allan and they called us pussies so we had to run it…I don’t think that we had a choice.

There is no doubt, it's a cool run. Amos enjoying the scenery as well as the white water (Photo Mefford Williams)

In other news some old friends from uni, Gabriella and Karolina, have just done a tour of Norway and were kind enough to include us in their flying visit. More good times, just like those good old uni days.

Later folks

We Found the Sunshine

Little Huka on the upper Rauma

When I first told people I was heading to Norway it was always met with “Why Norway?!?” Abruptly followed by “It’s really cold there!” More often than not this was from people who had never been near Scandinavia so at first I didn’t give there comments much concern. Then slowly the growing number of people who delighted in telling me I was going to freeze started to worry me a little and I splashed out and bought a dry suit. Still I though to myself ‘it’s going to be summer… the weather is warm in summer’

The first rapid... a cool wee mini gorge with a juicy hole in the middle

We arrived in Telemark to be greeted by temperatures in the high twenties/low thirties with non-stop sunshine and I started to think I had wasted my money… it wasn’t to last however. A week later and we were huddled up cooking tea with our down jackets zipped tight and several thermals on underneath!! The change in temperatures took less than a day and wasn’t forewarned by an increase in wind or even the presence of rain. It simply happened and with it everyone who had warned me about the temperatures was proven correct whether they were guessing or not.

Multi-angled picture taking... a new technique I have been working on involving mirrors

Rolf paddling the drop above little Huka

And that is really how the weather has been for us in Norway. When the sun is out, it’s warm… when it is not it’s cold. As you might have guessed by the title, or for the more observant of you the lack of vibrancy in many of the photos posted here, that for the last week or so we haven’t seen much of the sun. Only fleeting glimpses in fact… we weren’t put off kayaking but it is never as good when you are cold (thank god for my dry suit or I would have had to type freezing instead)

Me running little Huka... named after its larger New Zealand counterpart

The other curious thing about the weather in Norway is that it changes from cold to hot almost as seamlessly as it gets cold. One afternoon the skies steadily cleared and the temperature increased. The next day was glorious without a cloud in the sky!! Down jackets and thermals were replaced with tee-shirts. Bare feet were replaced with… ok so bare feet remained but the point I’m making is that it got warm so let’s not get too distracted by my non-sensible ramblings. Where was I… ah yes, it was going to be a good day on the Rauma (our river of choice) and I had my camera at the ready

Lookout for the rock in the bottom... Rolf and I paddled the run twice. The second time there was an extra serving of water in the river and Rolf was able to precision locate the rock using the latest in underwater kayak exploration techniques.

That’s the other great thing about good weather, you are able to take great photos. Many of you know that photography is a passion of mine and just as you might jump with delight at seeing a foot of untracked powder on a deserted ski field, the bright sun put a grin on my face from ear to ear as I glanced to the drops on the river I would soon get a chance to shot.

Rolf paddling Flemming Fossen... no camera tricks here what you see is what Rolf got

Well the river didn’t disappoint and the photos came out very well indeed but you are looking at them so I’ll let you be the judge. The second to last photo is of Rolf paddling Flemming Fossen, an 18 metre waterfall which has a reputation for breaking people. Rolf did well but still was not without injury. Click on the last photo, taken just after he got off the river, and have a closer look at his right eye… the early signs of bright black and blue shiner are already visible!

How's the eye buddy?

Thee Epic Game of Cards

The put-in for the upper Valldøla

For about a week and a half we have been travelling with Clare and Greg (our friends from New Zealand… oh also Dad, Clare is Murray Hawk’s niece which I found out randomly the other day – small world ay). To pass the time in the evenings, games of five hundreds become standard and the invincible team of Clare and I almost always won… well Greg either doesn’t like to stop on a losing hand or really likes playing cards because he often dealt the next round before anyone had a chance to realise how late it was and make their escape to bed.

Anyhow the other day we started a game at around eleven, after we had finished cooking/eating/cleaning/and putting wee Rolfy to bed. The first two hands took about an hour with Clare and me easily dispatching our inferior opponents… not much competition at all really. But then on the third hand Clare decided to make things a little more interesting and reneged effectively handicapping us 500 points – ‘cheers Clare!’

At one stage things were not looking good. Around two hours into the hand the result looked a forgone conclusion with the scores at 540 to -460 (we play you have to make it to go out). Greg’s confidence was showing as he casually replied “too low to matter” when we asked what our score was. Nothing for it… it’s time to bid big and dance with the backdoor. “Let’s go down in flames Clare, there’s no point in being cautious!”

Rolf 'the bear' Kelly looking ready to pounce

Maybe some Gin and Tonic will help our performance… “Yes please, make mine a big one… and easy on the tonic!!” I tell you that we haven’t drunken much in Norway as it is cost prohibitive so a couple of G&T’s nearly put me on my arse. Perfect… now if I can just focus on the cards we might have a chance.

Rolf styling the hardest rapid on the run
(unfortunately the crux can not be seen in this photo)

Our big break come as the light outside was rapidly brightening and Eden got tired of being out bid. We pushed him up from Misere to Open Misere and took him down. The next two hands hand saw us climb nearly 500 points and the scores were all but tied… game on! With Eden and Greg looking a little bewildered at how they could have blown a 1000 point lead it was time to bury the sword a little deeper and we dispensed with the formalities to finished things off quickly. The hand still lasted well over three hours!!!

Of course Greg dealt another round and we played on until morning. Time to go kayaking I think… so that’s what we did which explains the photos you are looking at. Pictures of us playing cards would be a little boring now wouldn’t they!

The Finne – Go There (Don’t Listen To Pacman)

The perfect MacPac catalogue photo of us camping by the Skjørva... now if I can just get someone to give me some money for it.

The Finne is now one of my favourite Norway runs. We paddled it on what we though was the high side but it turned out that is what you want… more water the better (within reason of course). If you make the same mistake as Pacman and paddle it too low then you might end up hating your day and never go back - and you don’t want that now do you!

A drop on the upper Skjørva

Having already paddle the lower Skjørva and found it pretty cruisey we formed the ambitious plan to paddle the upper Skjørva, lower Skjørva, and then the Finne (which the Skjørva flows into about a kilometre after the takeout). Ok so Rolf formed the plan but he’s bigger than us so we have to do what he says. Clare and Greg were along for the ride with Clare to meet us at the start of the lower Skjørva.

Just after climbing out of the upper Skjørva

To give you some background the Skjørva lies deep in a valley with the road high above the river. It’s not much of a problem carrying the boats down but as we discovered carrying them up to the road is not much fun. The upper Skjørva is quite a bit trickier than the lower run with a few portages and not easy ones at that. We made it as far as the main portage about a kilometre form the lower put-in when we discovered the eddy we needed to catch to be able to portage on the left side of the river was not there! The river was on the high side and it had simply washed away. All we could do was try to portage on the side we were on… the result was that we bashed our way up the steep slope for a couple of hundred vertical metres and ended up on a farm not far from the road. Well that was us done - “we’ll do the rest tomorrow”.

Being stalked by Norwegian killer sheep... with bells on!!!

The next day we awoke to find ourselves being stalked by a mob of vicious Norwegian killer sheep with bells on!! Fortunately we noticed their advance and were able wave to our arms. Once more peace was restored to the camp… and the peasants rejoiced.

They surrounded Eden but he was up to the challenge

Right where was I… ah yes… kayaking. We put on the Skjørva in the morning and had a mostly sweet trip to the road bridge. There was one nervous moment when Clare decided to play chicken with a sieve… I call the result a draw as the sieve only claimed a paddle. Clare got the glory points and a story to scare her parents with.

Clare on the lower Skjørva

Clare figured she had had enough excitement for one day and drove our shuttle while the rest of us paddled on into the Finne. The Finne is basically bigger volume read and run with some steep sections thrown in for good measure. We paddled the nine kilometres in just over two hours with only one portage (although Rolf still paddled it).

Rolf paddling a must run rapid on the Finne

The finial rapid was probably my favourite. It starts deep inside a canyon with no portage or scouting options and a blind horizon line. There are three big rocks which form three distinctive channels and we could see that the canyon narrows for several hundred meters. Eden and I glanced at each other for a second and our faces said it all… “Down the middle don’t fiddle” Eden exclaimed with a cheeky smile on his face as he paddled off the horizon. ‘My thoughts exactly’ I said to myself as I followed him into a cauldron of white. The rapid was almost as big as the smiles on our faces and marked the finish of the run when we excited the canyon.

Eden on the Finne

Bloody good day I reckon.