At the start of the summer, two groups of students went on a trip to Norway with World Challenge. It was loads of fun, and a once in a lifetime opportunity to go somewhere that is off the beaten track.
Our journey started on what was called “Day 0” where we all met our instructor ‘Big Boy Piers’ to check we had packed the right equipment. We then organised ourselves into teams that would manage different aspects of the trip: food, navigation, health and wellbeing, and environment teams. This was really valuable as it allowed us to get a head start on what we needed to do once we arrived in Norway.
When we arrived, we got a transfer from Kristiansand Airport about an hour north of the Setesdal valley, our expedition destination. We had a well-deserved pizza from “the best pizza place in Norway” which was on our basecamp at the TrollAktiv Centre, Evje. We distributed tents and set up our camp before enjoying some free time playing football with some scouts from Blackburn.
The next morning the food team got up early to buy all our food for the week before having a late breakfast, which was bacon rolls. In the afternoon we went on our first trek which was 12km out and back to a mountaintop lake, where some people chose to have a swim. The views were well worth the challenging walk. The food team came down the mountain earlier to start making chilli con carne for dinner. After dinner we all played volleyball before getting some well needed rest ready for the start of our expedition.
We woke up bright and early the next morning to start making everybody’s breakfast, before breaking camp and starting our four-day expedition. The first day was definitely the hardest, with 400 metres of elevation gain up and out of the valley, largely without footpaths, and with outdated maps/instructions. We walked past Arekleppvatnet lake to camp on the rocks next to a smaller lake, Keivtjorni (600m). We ate rice and sausages for dinner and that evening we had a campfire with foraged wood, and an explore of the surrounding area.
The next morning, we had our porridge, this time with wild blueberries which we found nearby, which was delicious. We put down our tents and then started our walk to the peak of Ardalsknapen (762m). After a few hours of walking, we reached the peak where the views were incredible, and you could see for miles before the weather turned and we had to quickly make our way down below the clouds towards our next campsite. At one point we could barely see a few metres ahead of us, which made it challenging for the navigators as we had very few visual references so we had to especially rely on our bearings from the compass. A couple of hours further and we chose our next campsite, which this time was in the Vinddalsristi forest. This day had a lot of challenging terrain which was very tiring, so in the evening we just ate dinner and went to bed.
After a rough night’s sleep because of the very loud rain, we had to get up early so we could meet our canoeing instructors and set off on the second half of our expedition. This morning was some of the most challenging terrain we had met so far, as we made our descent off the mountain. It was incredibly steep, and there was a lot of sketchy scrambling, which a few people found very difficult. We all made it though, and once we were at the bottom, we got driven a few kilometres up-stream of the fjord, where we swapped our rucksacks for barrels and loaded into canoes.
It took some time to get used to effectively paddling a canoe, but we soon got the hang of it and started to make good progress down Byglands Fjord. We stopped for lunch (peanut butter and honey wraps) at a secluded beach, before making the final crossing to the island where we camped. We set up our tents before going for a swim in the fjord which was surprisingly not too cold and a great way to relax and have some fun after a long couple of days.
When out wild camping, we have to be very aware of our footprint on the environment. This meant that on the island we had to take everything away with us, even human waste!
On the final day of our expedition, we canoed down the last stretch of the Bygland fjord, stopping at a fjord-side supermarket to top up supplies before finally arriving back at the base camp. It was nice to be back in civilisation again, and to have a proper shower. It was also fun to meet up with the second team, who had arrived in Norway while we were on our expedition. However, we didn’t give them any tips or advice, as we felt it was important for them to have their own trip and deal with their own challenge.
On our final day of the trip, the food team made everyone egg and bacon sandwiches for breakfast, before we went white water rafting. It was an exhilarating experience with drops up to three metres high. At one point our raft got stuck on a rock and we all had to work together to pull it off. In the afternoon, we did the high ropes course at the campsite which finished on a 15 metre jump off a platform which was terrifying at first but fun once you got used to it.
The trip was absolutely worth the effort raising the money, and I’d definitely do another if I got the opportunity. I think my favourite thing about World Challenge was that they leave everything down to you and the team makes all the decisions, which meant that everybody always had a role in the team.
Thank you to Miss Shine and Miss Isaac for organising and attending the trip with us, as well as our team leader Piers for being an absolute legend!
-Theo, Year 13
