I lived in Volda, Norway, for half a year in 2015 to finish my undergrad.. I had brought my whitewater kayak and was sure someone at my university would paddle, but nobody did, so I tried to find people in different ways. I’ve already written about how I contacted the raft base I’d driven past. This time, I saw a car with boats on the roof parked in town and left a note with my e-mail address and an explanation under the windscreen wiper. The guy who owned the car actually got in touch (and I feel a bit bad about forgetting his name - I think it was something with an M.
We met by the river and he greeted me with ‘there’s a four meter waterfall at the beginning.’ I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t, so this became my first waterfall.
Photos: Anna-Sophia Leuk
I had never paddled a river like this. It was really narrow and small, like a waterslide. Pretty straight-forward unless you manage to get stuck.
The obligatory scout before the first run
And setting safety.
We ended up doing a second run. mostly because it was so much fun, but also because I somehow feel like I’ve done a rapid or feature ‘properly’ if I do it twice. I guess it makes it less likely it was a fluke.
I love how paddling makes it so easy to connect. Wherever I am, if I managed to find some paddlers, I usually ended up having a great time.
I’d promised my sister and her friend a paddle on the fjord that day, so that’s where we headed next.
The whitewater guy, M(?) was staying on a boat in the harbour and had us over for drinks that night. We ate at the local pizza place first as a rare treat. It was an awesome day.