I have been pretty fortunate to have travelled to many different spectacular places in the world, yet there is one that draws me back again and again…Norway! The stunning landscapes, friendly people and ease of wild camping all make for a great trip but the real pull is the sheer quantity, quality and accessibility of amazing whitewater. Whether you are looking for low volume creeks, bouncy playruns or terrifying yet clean slides, rapids and drops Norway has it all. Pair that with an awesome festival bringing together all walks of extreme outdoorspeople and you have a) a bad hangover and b) the time of your life.
Brandseth Race. Photo by Njal Johansen
The trip did start with a disaster as my not so trusty Ford Focus failed its MOT leading to new transport plans needing to be made in a hurry. Luckily my partner in crime the notorious Sheila Robinson (a.k.a. Scotty) has friends and we managed to hitch a ride out with Will Clarke of Nalubale Rafting fame in his fully-loaded Subaru. This landed us just outside of Oslo with no vehicle, no maps and no guidebook. Luckily Rent-A-Wreck had an outlet within walking distance and we were able to go and pick up the Toyota HiAce that would be home for the next month. After downloading maps.me and getting some river beta from Lee Royle we headed off on the long drive towards Voss stopping on the way to catch the Hemsil river at a low, but runnable, flow. I was excited for this as I have been eagerly anticipating an H for my alphabet of rivers and managed to nail two on this trip…the Hemsil and the Hummedal!
 The 'slutty carrot' HiAce adornment |  Rent-a-Wreck is no joke! |
Meeting up with Dan and Ieuan we headed to Voss ready to hit up some of the classics. The uncharacteristic sunshine had been melting lots of snow early and levels were starting to come down so we managed to sneak in some classics before the rain started and brought everything back up again. Voss highlights were definitely Lower Myrkdal, Tunnel to Nosebreaker section on the Raundal skipping the bigger drops, and watching Dan celebrate his birthday by throwing himself off Money Drop in a blow up dinghy. Tunnel and Kittelbreaker were looking pretty scary and I don’t know how I managed to balls up and run them back in 2013, however I did man up to the slide at the end of the Ruande and narrowly missed both the humongous hole half way down and the one at the bottom causing a celebration part way through the run. We spent ages scouting Karma Cow on the Lower Myrkdal before running away as usual :-) …one day!
Scotty on the Raundal. Photo by Dan Rea-Dickins
sAs it was nearly time for the boys to head home we set away from Voss on a mini road trip and I got to paddle a river I’ve been hoping to for the past 7 years, the Skjoli. It truly lived up to expectations providing about 6km of non-stop, full-on read and run excitement. Second run was indeed double the fun with a slight boost in the level and the knowledge that all was good to go and that there were no sneaky trees hiding round the corner. Also incredible fun were the Upper and Lower Jori, the intimidating drops on the upper provided some adrenaline blasts and a couple of short walks whilst the lower was continuous fun this time for around 10km! Scotty somehow managed to hang on to his eyebrows after claiming Fleming’s looked good to go and we feasted on a good haul of disposed of bread rolls and potato salad. The Skjevra provided us with some great fun rapids then a long walk out when we realised that perhaps the level was a little on the high side.
After the boys headed off home I was joined in the HiAce by Mark and we met up and started paddling with the crew from Newcastle Uni (plus Butler). Water levels had come back up in Voss and even some of the easier runs started getting pushier. We discovered that the hole on the second drop of the Upper Myrkdal can indeed be as nasty as it looks and that foam over your footrest really is a good idea. Dan (Leicester) unfortunately had to head home early due to a sprained/fractured ankle when it got caught behind his footrest whilst rolling. The Jordal and the Brandseth produced the goods with some rain though next time I will definitely wear elbow pads for the Upper Brandseth after giving mine a good smashing on the big slide. The Raundal was at a tricky level where only really the rafting and playrun were going but these are still quality sections, and nothing beats nailing the boof off of Church Drop!
After the boys headed off home I was joined in the HiAce by Mark and we met up and started paddling with the crew from Newcastle Uni (plus Butler). Water levels had come back up in Voss and even some of the easier runs started getting pushier. We discovered that the hole on the second drop of the Upper Myrkdal can indeed be as nasty as it looks and that foam over your footrest really is a good idea. Dan (Leicester) unfortunately had to head home early due to a sprained/fractured ankle when it got caught behind his footrest whilst rolling. The Jordal and the Brandseth produced the goods with some rain though next time I will definitely wear elbow pads for the Upper Brandseth after giving mine a good smashing on the big slide. The Raundal was at a tricky level where only really the rafting and playrun were going but these are still quality sections, and nothing beats nailing the boof off of Church Drop!
Lukas getting a good line on nosebreaker...we won't talk about what happened at the bottom! Photo-Dan Rea-Dickins
The festival was fast approaching so it was time to get the fast lines dialed on the racecourse and the livers trained for a week of heavy partying. Being a little on the broke side I signed up to volunteer behind the bar 3 nights out of the 7 which was actually incredible fun and a good way to enjoy the party whilst not getting (too) drunk. The big event for kayakers at Voss Week is the Brandseth downhill where usually a qualification run of the course is followed by a finals run for top 15 men and top 5 women and the two times added together. This year was a little different however when due to an upset with the timing system no one got a first run time so everybody qualified for the finals and it was all down to your second run. I put down two solid runs to secure the win in the women’s category and 21st place overall. Eric Deguil raced his composite creation to first in the men’s event. Afterwards I teamed up with Jacob and Johann for an awesome team race down the Upper Brandseth. We had good lines and beat some big names (Bren). The second kayaking event of the week was a boatercross race on the Stranda. Having a successful heat I qualified comfortably for the finals, which is where it all went wrong. Getting ahead off the start meant I had clear lines through the first two gates and had a convincing lead avoiding all the carnage behind me. Right near the finish I ended up a bit further right than intended and dropped into a huge hole I’d never even known existed! I spent the next 2min violently side surfing trying to work out of said hole and had the pleasure of watching the other girls paddle past me and at some point hitting myself in the face to get a bloody nose. Being very out of breath from racing I couldn’t commit to hanging out upside down hoping to flush so I ended up pulling my deck and gracefully accepting a throwbag into the finish eddy! The racing was followed by a memorial paddle for Beth Hume and Benji Hjort where nearly 200 kayakers turned out to paddle the rafting section of the Stranda in their memory. It was heartwarming to see so many people out enjoying the river and both of them would have loved the supportive and fun atmosphere on the water that day!
 The Toro in race mode. Photo by S. Ulvund |  Mo, Matt and Lee on the team race. Photo by Carl Van den Boom |
With the festival over it was time for me to start heading home and planning the next adventure. I gave myself a good amount of time to cover the drive back to Oslo and managed to take some of the alternative tourist routes to take in some of the stunning scenery on show, definitely preferable to 28km in a tunnel! The trusty HiAce was abandoned at the airport and I easily got my boat checked in confirming reports that Norwegian are indeed the best airline for taking kayaks. Not the best airline for being on time though as my flight was delayed nearly 3hrs meaning a very late arrival back in the UK, but this was just a small blip on what was otherwise a fantastic holiday. Huge thanks to Zet Kayaks and IR for helping me out with kit for this trip, I would have been distinctly cold and miserable otherwise!!
 |  Still working on my selfie tekkers. |
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