HULL WATER - A PADDLERS PARADISE

Text: Vibeke C Strømmen

Photos: Vibeke C Strømmen & Martin Fossen

It is said that Hullvann/Hull Water has as many islands / islets as there are days in the year, 365. I can understand why such a reputation has arisen, because when you paddle in Hullvann/Hull Water there are islands around you quite often. We love to paddle in such waters as you avoid long stretches without anything special to look at that can be very boring in the long run.

Here we go!

Today`s route.

Long before I started paddling, I heard almost every time we came to Kragerø on holiday, that HullvannHull Water has 365 islands or islets. Now it is finally time to get on the water, not to count the islands, but to experience what we think is best with the time on the water, namely to paddle between islands and small passages.

This day we brought with us Martin's brother and my brother-in-law. He lives permanently in Kragerø and has had a kayak for a few years. We drove to Golfjell to park and launch our kayaks. NOTE: Do not go down to the small beach or park there temporarily. A poorly places sign states that it is not allowed to park here and a grumpy old lady will come and chase you away. Martin and I experienced this a few days after this trip. Anyway, this day we put the kayak out of this little beach unaware it was sniffing upon doing. We slipped happily out on the water, which was quiet here, protected from the weather by the islands.

Using the website Norgeskart, we found a narrow passage under a small bridge that took us out into the big water. This was the longest crossing as we were to paddle to Denmark. Yes, you read right. Denmark! Always a little fun to travel to another country located in your own country out in a lake. As most people know, Denmark is not a big country and it is quite flat. The Denmark we landed on was not large, but was typically Norwegian with being a little steeply covered with pine trees. A fun curiosity to have landed there.

Danmark, here we come.

Furthermore, the journey went towards E18. This water encounters the main road from Oslo to Kristiansand and that is how I was made aware of this water. The road is glued to the water for a couple of meters and now we were going into this small bay and see the road from a completely different perspective. If any of the drivers or passengers in the cars that passed by while we were in this little bay noticed us, is unknown. In my years driving on this roads I have never seen any paddlers inside the small bay.

A fun formation in a mountain caught my attention. It reminded me of Drogon, the dragon of Danerys Targeryan, aka Khaleesi, in Game of Thrones. Regular readers of this website have probably observed that we have a dog named Khaleesi. So yes, we are big Game of Throne fans. We can confirm taht Drogon rests  in Hullvann/Hull Water.

We went ashore on an island and ate some food. Martin and his brother took a dip. The weather was not warm enough for me that I wanted to join them. We set out again and paddled on the back of this island. Tried to pass between narrow passages of high reeds, but did not get through. For a short distance we got a little more wind, but after a little concentrated session it settled down when we came got some shelter between an island and the mainland. From here we just paddled around at a leisurely pace without having a fixed plan of where we were going. A small pee break for the dog was the only rest break we took before we paddled back to Golfjell. Martin and I came to the conclusion that we should return here again before the holiday was over. 

Hullvann/Hull water can definitely be recommended and I hope this post will give more people the urge to visit the place.