Fleseland - Solvang, 29,12 km, +1324 m
Date | Days total | Distance today | Total distance | Elevation gain | Start position | End position |
15. 7. 2022 | 3 | 29,12 km | 56,85 km | 1324 m | Fleseland | Solvang |
MAP - DAY 3:
We are waking up by a small lake about 400 m above Fleseland into a sunny, but cold and windy day. Again, the same story. It is necessary to back up the data, write article and select photos for the web, which Radka edits while I am moving. Again, it takes several hours and therefore I am starting at 11:30 a.m.. Shit!!! This media part of the project is killing me, it steals so much time needed for moving forward and more quality filming.
I drive 400 m down with Radka back to the place where I stopped at the midnight. She is driving to Lyngdal and I am starting to move straight through very painful thick vegetation, to the right of the road. I climb up steep face under a rock wall to bypass the 300m asphalt between Fleseland and the crossroad where we slept. From that crossroad starts a nice old forest road starts. I am reaching the forest road totally scratched again and it took me 35 minutes. If I did not care and ran on the road including these 300m on asphalt, I would be there in 3 minutes.
From here I am running towards my favorite lake Traelandsvatnet by a hidden settlement Traeland.
Very very atmospheric, again a bit mysterious place, especially the small shelter with an axe on a small peninsula. This time I am going for the first time without Čenda, so at least a photo of him from the last year.
Behind the lake I am getting onto a gravel road again. I run on it about 3 km through a nice landscape with a few farms and lakes.
After lake Oygardsvannet I turn left and after another 1 km of bushwacking I am standing on a viewpoint rock high above the town Lyngdal.
The only town and the only place, where I willingly step on the asphalt road.
Because from Lyngdal leads the most logical line towards the mountain ridge, on which I will continue all the way to distant Jotunheimen.
I manage to downclimb the very steep and totally bushy face to Lyngdal to the left of the rock with view, so I spare about 500 m of asphalt. Cool. I am meeting Radka down by REMA 1000. We go shopping, me for the last time for many weeks. Then I continue through the town full of people. There is a gathering with music on the square.
Very strange, such a contrast to the last 2 days in thick jungle. What will I feel after 2 months in the wild? I am crossing the town. Exactly 490m of asphalt. Great! I counted with 1 km. So alltogether I have 515 m of asphalt from the start in Lindesnes. 490m in Lyngdal and 25 m after 5 road crossings. Crazy game
I am crossing the river full of drunk people on the rubber boats (they are here every year!!!) on the hanging bridge and continue on a field gravel road about 2 km north along a nice river. Here I cross the road again and start walking up very steep small forest road towards the hills. I pass a nice lake and the road stops. Another slow bushwacking section ahead of me. I am going through very well known place already, I know exactly where to go. After walking across a nice ridge, I descent to an old wooden cabin, totally lost and hidden in mysterious forest. She smells like a fire wood. Beautiful... I remmber that moment from 2019, when I accidentaly saw her for the first time.. Like a creature from different age...
From here I am changing the my path from 2019/21 and follow very narrow, very old and almost invisible forest paths towards another amazing cabin at the upper part of a very nice valley.
From here very hard bushwacking again. After 30 minutes I am standing on fantastic rocky hill Kalasen with great views towards south. I see part of Lyngdal and the end of the fjord by Lyngdal. The last time I see the sea for the next 1900 km. Next time it will be in magic remote Hellmobotn, in the narrowest part of Norway. I really hope so..
I am bushwacking north. I cross the gravel road on which I was running last year, but I am immediately diving into the forest again and walk across a small ridge above and later along the Hagevann lake. Exactly from the other side than the road goes. Damn... such a slooow terrain.
After 1 hour of hard hard walking, I am in very nice village Lille Kveland. Totally peaceful forgotten place. It is funny to see an older couple, standing above their farm, trying to get a mobile signal.
From here another very hard section starts towards an amazing, fantastic lake, which looks like lakes much more in the north. Mindblowingly forgotten atmosphere. So many memories, especially of the year 2019 when I walked here with Čenda in almost total darkness, through a freshly burt forest. It was scary and super slow night bushwacking night. Now I am much faster. But still slow. No running possible. There are trails on the map (Norges kart) but in reality, there is nothing. Like on many places to come the next days. These trails maby existed 50 years ago, when each farm was active and had many sheep and cows. Today.... Nothing. I stop on a steep rock above Krokevatnet and watch for a while a small river, which reminds me of my childhood dreams...
Exactly such river I wanted to visit one day and spend weeks there. Incredibly nostalgic feelings. I have to return here and spend some days here, I am promising myself. Now it is time to go.
I see a canoe with 2 man fishing on the lake. Such a peaceful image. Reminds me of Femundsmarka... Through hard terrain I continue to a small settlement Vidringstad,
Here people are throwing away Mercedeses into a forest. There are 2 of them along my path, one by the road.
The second of them located on 2 big boulders. A very bizzare view. I jump into the second Mercedes. It is open, smells nice like an old car. I am finding papers from the owner Knutt. Last time the Mercedes is was on "technical check" in the service in 2014. Probably it did not pass.
I am filming crazy driving shots (the car is missing steering wheel) but befor I can take nay photo, I see a man with a dog coming. Damn, hopefully it is not the owner. No, it was not him. After a short chat I am continuing across the ridge towads Havetoft farm.
I am doind a small detour to a rocky hill with an amazing evening light and fantastic view towards the first real mountain, Tjodneskaknuten, where I will get tommorow. I am not going to beautiful farm of Havetoft, because then I would have to walk about 1 km on asphalt to Solvang. I am going north east straight through very wet marshy forest. Sooo nice in the evening light, like from a fairy tale, but much much harder than I expected.
I am crossing the asphalt road by the crossroad to Solvang, where I am meeting Radka. We film small interview and I start running on very small gravel road 1 km to Solvang along beautiful lake and weekend cabins of people who definitely are not poor.
At the end of the road I call it a day. Another evening section would be still possible, there was about 90 more minutes of some visibility, and I wanted to take bigger backpack with sleeping bag and sleep outside, but I must, again, select photos for the web-page, write text of the day 2, back up data from four 4K cameras etc. etc. Damn... If we were not doing the film and daily reports, I would have more time but also fun, to be honest...
We are sleeping in the car about 4 km to the west from Solvang by splendid lake Toftelandsvann. I am cooling down my feet, they are quite swollen. Today I did 29 km and almost 1400 vertical metres. Not too bad considering the hard terrain and late start due to all the media part and filming. But again, I know I could do so much more, 50 easily even here. I am running with 4 different 4K cameras. Insane... I would be so light just with my phone...
I have to seriously think about it, because I can't do it like this many more days, I would need at least 3 full months to cross Norway. I must focus much more on running. So maybe the next articles will be much shorter. I would love to make them detailed, make them much better and add many videos, because it is much more visual. And I have cool videos, I am investing 95% of the energy into filming and just 5% into photos. Maybe even less. But I will have to leave proper writing for home, where I can play with one article even several days, to make it good. Here I do not even have time to read it properly again...
I am writing this article about Day 3 at 3 a.m. at the end of the Day 4. What shall I say more...