Imarbu Sea Kayak

In preparation for the World Adventure Race Champs which Chris will compete in a few weeks time in Spain we decided on a kayak mission for the weekend. On the Thursday week night before we left it was very mild so both Chris and I took a dip in the Kyvannet - I'm pretty sure that will be our last swim in the lake this year (-:


Evening and autumnal feeling swim in the Kyvannet

On Friday afternoon after work I met Chris at the boat sheds in Ila in our wee Toyota Corola. I had already been in town purchasing some lengths of rope for attaching the kayaks to the little set of roof racks which came with our car. We headed out of town in heavy traffic and through to Orkanger. From there we drove the E39, a road we have previously biked along - until we made it to Valsøa where we loaded the kayaks and set out across the fjord in the gathering dusk.
The fjord in the fading light - it was about 8 when we finally set out
Chris organising the kayaks

Nearly ready to go

We paddled for over three hours - it was about 16km across the fjord then up another channel to the DNT hut Imarbu. It was beautiful and calm, but unfortunately we were too busy paddling to take any photos and it was dark too, so they might not have come out so well.

By ten o'clock Chris thought we should be close and sure enough a light appeared in front of us and we heard voices on the beach. There was a 'working bee' happening on the hut, so there was a big group of friendly Norwegians staying there, as well as a tramping group from the Uni. One man we met had just been studying in Dunedin for a year, so we had lots to talk about with him!

Imarbu hut the next morning
Before we set out for our long paddle on Saturday, I was considering ditching the kayaks and taking that inflatable white speed boat thingee in the background.

The sky was gray, but the scenery was still very cool
We paddled for about 4 hours before we stopped for lunch on a rock outcrop. We saw a wee otter swimming amongst the rocks, and I was enjoying listening to my iPod as we paddled. We had also rigged up an ingenious tow system the night before so my kayak slip streamed Chris's.... and if I felt like a little break he would never even notice....

At about 7 o'clock we finally rounded the headland and floated back into the bay where we had parked the car. We were both really tired after a long paddle, but happy to be back at the car and it was Saturday night, so the best thing was to be able to drive home and have a nice long sleep in the next morning (-:


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