Mønestadvannet - Fleseland, 16,20 km, +1101 m
Date | Days total | Distance today | Total distance | Elevation gain | Start position | End position |
14. 7. 2022 | 2 | 16,20 km | 27,73 km | 1101 m | Mønestadvannet | Fleseland |
MAP - DAY 2:
We are getting up early at 8, after 5:45 hours of sleep. But it takes me painful 7,5 hours to back up all of the footage, sort photos for the article, write the first long article for this website summarizing previous days, doing kind of a system in million things in the car and getting back to the starting point by the lake, where I finished last night.
It is 15:30 in the afternoon, damn damn damn, when I say bye to Radka and start immediately climb up the southern rocky face of Holeheia hill. My legs, scratched from yesterday, hurt in the bushy terrain, so when I reach amazing boulewr at the top, Monestadsteinen, I dress my running leggins, because I know what is ahead of me. The worst part of Lindesnes peninsula, maybe of the whole NPL. A brutal bushwacking through the jungle full of thorns, mosquitos and ticks and climbing up and down.
Again, the best way to describe this part is to play this video, which shows some moments from this part of the NPL route. Exactly the part between time 04:15 - 10:00.
Compared to the last year, it is much less painful, because I have long sleeve and the leggins and not shorts and T-shit. But still it is incredibly slow and constantly up and down. I found an amazing new way down the almost vertical rocky wall of Monestadsteinen hill down to Gronsfjord valley. I think it could a really cool easy via ferrata, such a fantastic easy climbing on ledges with beautiful rock formations all around. The rock quality is great, it could a a super good climbing crag here. And then again up and down. It is funny... The highest hill here is Midtboknipen is only 214m high, but still I did 1101 vertical meters during this short 16 km run. Well... "run". My speed is much less than 2 km per hour. In some parts much slower, on a few trail parts faster. I managed to do even cleaner and nicer path than last year, so I feel good, despite being so slow.
The nature here is mind-blowing, super beautiful, and the vegetation is totally different than anywhere else in Norway. It feel like in southern Europe, than in Norway. It is still super windy and much colder than last year.
I cross the road 3 times today, always I make only 5-6 long steps and I am back on trail or in free terrain. Amazing. Super clean crossing. I am just super super slow, even though I am pushing quite hard. When I am crossing the road for the second time, I meet Radka and Čenda and they follow me to the last "rocky mountain" on the Lindesnes peninsula, Rundasen. Here is an amazing climbing section, about 18 meters of easy and almost vertical slab/crack climbing, which I climbed last year. Easy, but tricky, you are free-soloing in running shoes and the rock is often covered by moss and the holds are very slopery. Radka is taking pictures from a ledge to the right. I could avoid this climb, but I felt so happy and free here last year, after climbing it, so I had to do it again. But yes, you can relatively easily bypass it about 50m to the right.
Very windy at the top, but fantastic evening light with very very nice views to all sides. Last year, I went from here straight down to Jasund brua, the only dry way to the mainland from Lindesnes. It would be super fast to just run it on about 400m of asphalt.
But my challenge is to skip as much asphalt as possible. So I am getting down to a little bay Troysvika. Here I inflate a small rubber boat and then I paddle across the strait of Jasund on the boat. It all takes soo much time, including the filming. Fantastic feeling, seeing the bridge from the sea, not having to go there. It is super late, about 23:00, when I am on the mainland. It is very dark, when I get to the road with the boat, where Radka is waiting for me. Here I am taking the headlamp, crossing the road for the fourth time, and on a short gravel road I continue north and dive into a very dark mysterious thick forest. I am finding a small almost invisible path through young growing forest and soon I am on the forest gravel road leading towards Fleseland. Here on these 2,5 km, the running is so easy, that I have a feeling that I am flying, it is so so much faster than in the jungle. I wish I could continue to Lyngdal, I always feel the most fresh in the night... But I am stopping at the end of the gravel road, because there are about 300 m of asphalt road, which I definitely want to bypass throught the forest on the way to Lyngdal. But the forest here is absolutely thick, so I will leave it for the morning. Because on the way to Lyngdal there is also a lot of bushwacking. Another super short day, in terms of kilometres, but that is the way it is in the south. And this is the price you pay, if you want to run, film, take and edit photos, write articles and post it to several media... If it was only about running, I would do at least 40% of distance more every day. At least here soo far. But I hope it will get better day by day...
