Safe Return Doubtful

There are more reasons for hills 

Than being steep and reaching only high.

The small hills around Vingsand were a delight, though much harder going than I had thought. There are steep little ups and downs, big steps, chains to help ascent on slippery rock, the occasional ladder, and treacherous gaps between heather that a leg can easily descend a half metre unwillingly. The rewards far outweigh the difficulties though.

This morning we managed the two peaks to the south of Hamanvika Beach on a warm and humid morning, with cloud slowly gathering.

It was wandering here that put me in mind of Norman MacCaig’s poem High Up On Suilven, a favourite of mine, and the specific quote above. It fits very well here.

Storms were forecast today, and it seems, eventually, an end to this heatwave. I topped up with water on Vingsand quay before driving north, in 26C.

The journey went through Namsos town, which I cycled through heading south when bikepacking in July 2016, it’s in the archives here, Day 9 on Pining For The Fjords. Looking back, I’m amazed at how quickly I travelled through Norway, that was just 8 days south from Tromso. I loved it of course, but at that pace, 100 kilometre a day, sometimes more, I missed so much. There was a reason of course, my time was limited because I was working..

From Namsos I had chosen a small island called Jøa that I had done some research on. It seemed less populated, and less visited than some of its neighbours. It is served by one of the smallest ferries in terms of distance covered, about 800 metres, covered in 4 minutes. It’s currently a free service, and must be in the queue for a bridge when the economy finds its feet.

I’m on the west coast at a beach called Rakkavika which has toilets, and a couple of huts for a break on days of wild weather. By the time I got here the storms began.

I sat the first one out in the van, about 30 minutes during which the temperature and humidity dropped significantly. It was 5 pm by now, so we headed out on the trail around the headland which takes in a recreated old Viking settlement, and a couple of viewpoints. We were out for about 90 minutes, and timed our return well, just before the next batch of thunder, lightning and heavy rain moved in.