This year's August long weekend we spent in the Norwegian Fjords with 7 of our friends. It was simply stunning, so hopefully our text and the pictures give you an idea. Our adventure involved 3 days in the fjords: kayaking, camping & hiking.
So here's the team, from left to right below: Pete, Kate, Kirst, Morrie, Fi, Sare, Rich, Bec, Sarah.
and the equipment (we had to carry all our supplies for 3 days: tents, food, clothes, wine, etc.):
...and of course the fjords, which we had to ourselves - it was magic!
Just a few things to point our in the photo above: (i) bright sunny skies (it was 20+ deg); (ii) glassy, mill-pond water; and, (iii) the grandeur of the fjord valley rising steeply up from the water's edge (in some cases 1,300m straight up!).
The boys decided to test the water on the first day; surprisingly warm at 15 degrees (but still quite... refreshing!). The fjords are glacial, and the water is a mixture of sea water and fresh.
After the 1st day of kayaking, we set up camp in a great spot just next to the water. Tent construction was something that none of us had done for a while, so we were pleasantly surprised with the advances in technology since the triangular frames we used to struggly with!
Constantly looking for more excuses to get in the water, the boys found a rock next to the camp to jump off. The water depth can get up to 1200 metres, so no risk of hitting the bottom here.
On Day 2 we hiked from our camp (at sea level) to the top of the fjord valley, over 1300m above sea level. It was a 9 hour return trip and was by no means an easy stroll but the reward at the top was well worth it! Here's a shot of us crossing one of the rivers near the bottom.
The low shrubs were blueberries and rasberries, which gave us plently to snack on along the way. You can see from Pete's stride that this section was particularly steep. "Section" doesn't actually give enough credit to the difficulty from this point to the top - we were climbing (literally hands and feet for long periods) for at least 2hrs on the way up!
Sarah's still smiling!!
and then after quite a lot of climbing (and, let's be honest, a bit of whinging) - The top!
Sarah, Sare, Fi and Morrie are looking over a cliff edge that heads vertically down almost 1300m to the water in the fjord below - no wonder they're lying down!!
Lunch at the top of the world. The highlight.
It was a long way back to the bottom and dinner was very well deserved back at camp - we had all worked up a good appetite.
This was our tent, what a view to wake up to!
More kayaking on day 3 - it started off very peacefully but once we turned the corner the wind picked up and we were paddling head on into about 20kts for over an hour.
Below is a shot of Pete - behind him (the highest point in the photo) is the clifftop that we climbed the day before.
This is just one of Pete's arty photos we thought it would be good to include...
Two of the girls paddling down yet another empty fjord.
