7ish get up and an 8:30 start with a 3:30 finish. 21.6km, 690m elevation gain.
Just before we went to bed last night, Chin-Yu was on the porch and a kind messenger (a man with a daughter and a dog) passed by and told us of a shortcut back to the pilgrim trail rather than the wooded, rooty, muddy trail we took in to the cabin. I’m not sure the way out was much shorter but it was easier to travel on as a backcountry road rather than a wooded trail.
1.2km Tankeplass (Room for Reflection): apparently, five art installations are placed along the trail we are on. This is the first we’ve seen.
Bird songs are calling to me. They are so beautiful. I wish I could share one…I’ll try with my audio next time.
Ants are showing up a lot, especially ones carrying things. Bringing food home for their community, hopefully as I am doing.
7.4km gapahuk where we had a snack break. The outhouse had two hornet’s nests…I didn’t use it.
9.9km snack stop at a farm settlement, after which we missed a trail sign hiding behind some logs. It didn’t take long before we were in the middle of a big field with no clear path, and we retraced our steps to quickly find the missed signpost hiding behind some cut logs.
We saw sheep and cows today along the trail. And busy roads. And ladders over animal guards. And beautiful flowers.
It started to spit rain about half way through the day, and lightening and thunder were around too, but I kindly asked that the storm go around us, and a short time later, it was sunny! Chin-Yu read in the news that there was a lot of lightening today and two people were killed and one seriously injured from lightening in the mountains. Eeek.
At 10.6km, we missed another sign. Luckily, we hit another dead end soon after and only had to backtrack 100-200m. The sign was so tiny and super far away. Back on track.
We met two other women on the trail today. One lived near where we began our day and the other took the train from Oslo to join her. They didn’t know how far they’d go, but wanted an adventure. I practiced my Norwegian again, listening mostly, but I also got a few responses and questions in too. I didn’t always understand the response though. But I learned that barley is bygg in Norwegian; we passed many barley fields today. It is such a beautiful plant, especially in the breezes.
We arrived at our home for the evening, which is a church hall. We have the place to ourselves, and while it doesn’t have showers, we have a huge open room for dancing. We also have a kitchen and toilet/sink. All that we need, once again, including a pool! Chin-Yu whipped up a magical meal from dried food that the church hall had available for us, and I’m really grateful she carried the broccoli that I said we didn’t need when we bought groceries yesterday morning.
My blister is healing, but it’s made a pocket (open along the line of my toenail) in which I don’t really want to collect gribblies. Part of the skin right under the toe is not ready to come off yet but I tried cutting some of it off and using alcohol swabs to clean it. It might be a bit sensitive tomorrow.
Another beautiful day!
Stories from the Walk Home 