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Norway, the land of trolls and fairies. This magical land beckoned us once again for some big, serious paddling. The usual suspects, Dan, Glyn, Josh and I packed up the vans with a ton of food, enough booze to stock Asda, boats and camping gear for two weeks.
We met up in North Shields to get on the ferry for a 7:30 pm sailing. Unfortunately we found out the boat was in dry dock having a new stabiliser fitted and so was rescheduled to sail at 6.00am.Well, nothing else for it but to get on the ship, get ripped off in the bar and sleep. Many hours later we had hot dogs for lunch and a massive buffet free of charge!
After about thirty hours we got off the ferry at Stavanger and drove some miles over a few bridges and through several tunnels. The scenery all across Norway was spectacular. We ended up in Rujkan the home of Telemark. Rjukan sits deep in the bottom of a big valley under the shadow of the Gaustatopppen, a mountain topping out at 2284 meters, better known for ice climbing and skiing.
We were very excited and not sure where to start. Spoilt for choice we set off up the Mar valley looking for wet steep stuff. The lower section looked good for a warm up, but Josh and I felt differently and wanted to go big and go for the HOMERUN. This is on the middle of the Mar and is a legendary section of water.
We started with typical Norwegian slides and ledges, after 100m we were straight on the drops. No hassle. I went off the first drop with Josh following close behind. I was really unstable midflight but landed well, Josh was similar but came out well. The second drop was as sweet as a nut. Within another 100m we were on top of a big mother hubbard which made for a tricky lead-in for the following hard drop. Josh got fired up, put his brain in a box and was off, beautifully clean and sweet. Much whooping and cheering followed; I followed second and made it. An interesting first line made it scary for bank support! No dramas. Dan and Glyn left it for another day but did an awesome job of cheering us on.
Straight after the Homerun we did the lower Mar, a good grade 3 with a few G4 drops. A proper warm-up ending up in Lake Tinnsjo.
We pitched camp close to the Homerun. Norway is great as you can camp anywhere so long as you’re 100m from a house and not on any crops. Our camp was down a rough gravel track with a big turning circle at the end, this was to be our home for the following two weeks.
The following day we woke up after a long sleep and drove down the lake to the Skirva, the other easy run in the area! We got on and rumbled down with some spectacular gorge sections and hard drops. Getting off before the 15m slide was a good choice and we left it for a serious day. The Skirva also finishes in the lake and more spectacular views followed as we got off the river.
With the warm-up over we let the fun begin.
Austigbydai is the queen of Telemark, according to the guide book. We woke all fired up and headed off to the mighty Spanemfossen.
Glyn shook off his cobwebs and went big as did Josh and I. A good lead-in then woomph off an 8m drop. If this was in the U.K it would be a tourist attraction with a car park. To the Norwegians it’s just another drop and no one really bats an eyelid.
After an hour of spam, we headed down the California section; many slides and tight rapids followed as did many portages. After 3hrs we got off about halfway through, knackered and sore.
To finish this section Josh ran a slick double combo, styling it up with an aerial loop probably some of the best boating we had all seen, videos included, mad! That evening we settled down by the camp fire and decided our next plan of action.
After a lazy get-up we went to look at the legendary Project 2000. This is the equivalent of the Swale on steroids and much tighter. Fortunately water levels were not right so we went back to the Homerun to hone our flying technique.
Another river that flows in to the top of the Lake is the Goyst.
The start of the Goyst is way up the valley where it is only a few metres wide. We scrambled down the valley side to the river, putting on next to some snow! The river quickly descends and widens as it goes. It is mainly rock drop and rapids slowly picking up and getting spicier. It got very interesting very quickly and we dropped round the corner to see a horizon line, quickly hopping out to have a look. If in doubt, look is a good rule in Norway, otherwise you might just get a good kicking. I made up my mind quickly and opted to stay with the flow, skirt the nasty hole and break out in the eddy. All went reasonably according to plan. The water was faster than I thought but I made it to the end. I joined Glyn and Dan on safety and picked up the camera. Josh went for a different line, to go left and skim through and over the hole, as he came down the face of the drop he got a little lift to initiate the skim but the hole had other plans! Several underwater cartwheels later he popped his deck went deep and swam out! Fortunately we got all his gear and he was fine, just wet.
 After Josh's swim
 Same drop different line.
The rest of the river followed on a similar style. There was a nasty looking drop under a bridge that we portaged; it probably runs at higher levels! After this was a double combo. Josh and I did our respective lines, each proving to be interesting but OK. Glyn came in to the top drop and capsized on the eddy line with 5 meters to spare before the main event. Three attempts later he rolled with a sigh of relief and he ran the next drop with ease, making it look better than the rest of us did.
Another quick portage round a small ugly hole and gorge and we carried on. The river picked up rapidly and gave us a good fun paddle down to bum rush falls. At this point we got off and left the falls for another day and retired for tea and medals.
Saturday and another late get up. To our astonishment suddenly there were people in town and a hum of activity came from the village. Back to the Goyst, to where we got off, and to Bum Rush Falls. We all ran the first few slides a number of times just because it was such good fun! They were easy and safe. At this point we met some other paddlers; one lad was Lars from Oslo and www.braindead.nu. These guys had done what we did the day before but got on slightly lower down. They fired off the slides together providing much entertainment for us. It was great at last to see some other paddlers and that we weren’t the only people to come here. We ran everything up to the main event.
At this point the Goyst squeezes through a 2m wide gap then skids down 20 metres of granite, stopping with a big hole immediately followed by a drop and another hole! It is aptly named Bum Rush Falls. Much pondering followed before I went. Josh and I discussed the line. “Head right at the top and everything should be OK!” Muggins here decided to go hard right. Too much power and I hit a rock. It forced me airborne into a 360 degree turn, somehow I recovered and nailed the rest of the slide. I fell into the hole at the bottom so relieved I had made it. The hole grabbed me for a while but it was my day and I pulled myself out and into the eddy at the bottom grinning like a fool. Josh was laughing like mad “typical you over cooked it”. It was Josh’s turn. He learned from my mistake and cleaned it. We ran this slide several times, it was nectar.
We had an early night and slept well in preparation for a long drive and paddle on the Skogsaa. This runs just south of the Gaustatoppen; after an hour and a half drive we were there. Straight away you were into a drop quickly followed by another drop that slammed on to rocks. We all ran the top drop and portaged the nasty one! The river descended nicely with drops and slides spicing it up, some must make moves kept us on our toes. Soon we were upon the gorge. The entrance was an unrunnable drop complete with trees. Josh and I felt at home so decided to portage the drop but to do the gorge. Dan’s boat at this point was so shagged, bent from the Clough back home and split from the Goyst that he decided to get off and walk to the car. Glyn’s body was in the same shape as Dan’s boat so he walked off too. Josh and I gathered ourselves and entered the gorge. This was some of the best seat of your pants grade 4 paddling I have ever done; it didn’t stop for a good mile, maybe more. Every time we broke out into an eddy we were giggling and panting. At one point I dropped through a chute and into a hole with Josh right behind me. I did a stern squirt and a big recovery. I turned round just as Josh rolled. We were both sweating and relieved it wasn’t a bigger hole and we carried on. The gorge opened out to show us a huge horrible looking slide, we both promptly reccied to find the get-out at the bottom of a big 15m slide, with an awkward looking portage. We decided it would be easier to run it, Josh first and I second. The pair of us got off knackered and smiling. Dan and Glyn watched us do the big slide and had a beer each waiting for us at the van.
For the remaining three days we played on Bum Rush Falls and the Homerun.
Glyn did one of his legendary Glyn lines off the first drop on the Homerun, struggling to roll before the second drop. He came up just in time to plunge down the guts of the second drop. I stopped giggling and started frantically waving to josh in the eddy. We couldn’t do a thing but watch eventually he washed out and swam to the side his boat following him. His paddle however decided to do the rest on its own! We recovered everything, and walked back to camp with our tails between our legs.
We bumped in to two other Brit paddlers, one called Ed and the other Jim. We saw them on Bum Rush Falls and showed them how it was done! On the final day we did the upper Austbygdai down to Spanemfossen there was a lot more water in the river and this made a huge slide at the top do-able followed by a short paddle to Spanemfossen. It was certainly more intimidating with more water Josh went first and he looked brilliant. I looked at my line and decided to go for the biggest boof I could. I landed as flat as pancake my cockpit rim leapt up and slammed right between my eyes. Nothing hurt as I paddled away stunned, the water was really soft on impact but the front end had come up and hit me! Luckily my recent nose job had not been damaged and I was just left with a cut. Next time I will plug it!
Paddling finished we packed up and headed for home; the ferry was in full working order this time so it was a much easier journey. Once back in the U.K I have been caught up in the rush of life which is why it has taken me so long to write this. I think we managed to do the two weeks for £600 each, including diesel, the ferry from hell, insurance, beer, food and anything we spent over there. Not too bad really.
Norway is a go destination for every paddler. It has a wide range of paddling on offer and stunning scenery.
The Norway river guide ISBN: 3-9809315-4-4 is the singly most useful thing to have.
Cheers to Dan, Glyn, and Josh for helping me have a great time.
Blimey
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