Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå diary: Wonderful days gone fishing

We caught a big load of fish this weekend, and Kenneth was the clear winner in terms of quantity. This evening, however, it's time for revenge here on the ocean outside Stavanger. Fishing with rods from the rowing boat has provided us with valuable time off, in between all the training.

We had a slow-paced and relaxing weekend at the family cabin in Jøsenfjorden (Suldal) where we had plenty of time to fish. After our first training stint on Saturday morning, Kenneth disappeared down to the sea and stayed there for the rest of the day. I wasn't able to join him until after a ride later in the afternoon, and by then Kenneth had managed to catch more than 15 fish. Most of them were large, fat pollacks, but he had also managed to catch a few mackerels and a horrific-looking wrasse.

On Sunday morning we awoke to cloudy weather, but with glimpses of blue sky, 13 degrees and an incredible quietness. The fjord lay like a mirror, not a breath of wind, so the only thing to do was to jump into our clothes and get out into the boat. It's only a little rowing boat with two oars, nothing fancy, but then and there it really felt luxurious. No racket from cars, completely calm water, no two-legged individuals for many miles, fresh sea air, a couple of seagulls gliding around, and wild mountains on either side of the boat.

We caught a lot of fish. Kenneth used his fishing rod and I used another fishing tool called a "harp". We mostly caught large and beautiful pollacks, but also some mackerel, plus a strange little bright red fish which seemed to be completely worn out when we got it into the boat. We showed mercy this time and let it go again. One fish ended up as dinner for our two flying friends in the air. A wonderful day on the sea, balsam for body and soul.