Norwegian Fjords

Up for another 1km swim this morning before breakfast and tendering to shore. We sat opposite a lady on the tender whose husband was amongst the last called up for National Service (which ended in early 1960s!) but who went to LHS! Small world. We drove an hour up the Utra River from Kristiansand (not Kristiansund!) for a shore excursion to some white water rafting. The guides and centre were superb - excellent safety briefings and fantastic safety on the water. Our little group of seven with Aussie Charlotte as our guide kitted up, practiced on the flat above the dam before carrying the boat down to the start point. There were three big rapids of the section - Surprise, FuckaWakka (Fuck Walking!) and the Chicken Shoot (because the drop change the pressure in the inflatable raft and can kick the guides off the back straight down the centre of the boat!). 'HOLD ON' was a fairly simple command - put the handle of your paddle toward the centre of the boat and grab the rope...''GET DOWN' was more challenging. You had to get your backside on the bottom of the raft...fine getting down, a challenge getting back up! We ran the rapids twice, at times, getting a face- and boat- full of water more than once! At the end of the second run, we paddled up stream and surfed in the white water, before getting out on an island in the river and taking a high running jump into the river. As we paddled back to shore, we all abandoned ship for a bit of a swim. Back to the centre for coffee and waffles before following the road back down the Utra to Kristiansand. During the coach jouney out and back, we had a superb local guide who narrated with local history, industry, culture and more...and who even picked us blueberries to go with our waffles while we rafted. Not many photos, but we did take a disposal waterproof camera with us...so we'll await how successfully we used it!Läs mer