Back to Oslo Day 15. Sunday 18 July. Often it is best to brute force a known solution rather waste time improvising a new one…, but this was on the bruter side

Bolærne to Askerholmen (just north of Drøbak). 57 km. Average speed about 6 km/hr. Start 1140 arrive 2355.

We awoke to the sound of the wind blowing hard. Headwinds. They were forecast to come down late morning so we chose a leisurely pace for breakfast. We also felt we needed some rest after the a bit longer than planned yesterday. So we weren’t on the water until 1140..,still headwinds but no more than 5 m/s. We agreed today needed to be a bit shorter than the previous days

We took the shortest route to Horten. No sightseeing and no geology (Erling thought he saw some interesting Permian conglomerates, Karianne pointed out that this was about 90 min drive from Oslo, maybe Erling could drive down and have a look some other day??)

The main issue was the same as yesterday, boat traffic. In Horten ferry traffic. Four ferries continuously crossing from Horten to Moss. We went all the way to the ferry stop. Then it’s a quick 50 m crossing of the ferry lane.

Next we found a beach just north of town. And decided this was the long break, with swimming and ice cream. Well deserved we think, but not overly timely it was 1800 before we set off to do the ca 12 km/two hour crossing of Breiangen. And still headwinds.

Now we had options, but no definite plan: we could stop at Ramvikholmen where Stein and Erling made their dry run in March 2017. Nice but 47 km from Oslo. Then there was a camping site 35 km from Oslo, we’d have a look. The last option was to try to find a place along Hurumlandet. Unfortunately Askerholmen which we knew to be a good place was too far away, north of Drøbak requiring almost 60 km paddling and it was already early evening.

Long paddle short: the campsite didn’t look like it catered for paddlers like us with permanently parked campers and manicured lawns. There was no inviting places along the beach of Hurum either; all private. So we went for the non-alternative: Askerholmen. We arrived at 2355, in darkness after a five hours fifty five minutes in the kayaks, headwinds and head currents. No one was tempted to paddle round the islet for another five minutes to break the six hour mark.

Often it is best to brute force a known solution rather than waste time trying to improvise. But this was on the bruter side.

After a very late/early dinner it was still warm and a breeze was blowing. We decided tents were surplus to requirements at this point. Rolled out the mattresses and passed out

Tomorrow will be a shorter day, it’s only 25 km to Oslo Kayak Club. That is the shortest route. That is our route. WP.