Not much fun....

... being back at work the week just gone. Would have been nice to have another week or two with holiday, but guess that wasn't gonna happen!

It's Sunday and we've spent the day being lazy at home. T went out last night, so he's been asleep most of it, and I've spent it in front of the TV and computer really.

Yesterday we went to Østmarka to pick blueberries. Found about two kilos, so now we're making some jam. Yummy :) Had pancackes with blueberry jam yesterday.

The week has gone fairly quickly, although it was boring being back at work. Just have to make the most out of today now, before another week starts. Anniken is coming for dinner tomorrow night though, so got something to look forward to :)

Mountain walking

Just got home after six days in the mountains and a couple of days relaxing at my parent's house in Lillehammer. I must admit it's nice to be sat on the sofa in front of the computer again, although we had a fantastic trip doing a lot of walking.

We set off to Lillehammer last Saturday after dinner at Torkjel's parents on the Friday. When we tried to book train tickets to Hjerkinn for Sunday or Monday the website said it was fully booked. Luckily Magne was going the same direction on Sunday and had offered us a lift, so we took him up on the offer.

Sunday: Day 1
Arrived at Hjerkinn at six ish in the evening, and walked in the rain down to Hageseter. About 3 kilometers to walk. Got to the cabin/campsite, and the rooms were fully booked. We put our tent up and slept there.

Monday: Day 2 Hageseter to Grimsdalshytta 15 kilometers
We set off after a burger with egg on bread breakfast about half ten in the morning. It was raining, so had to pack a wet tent before we set off. Leaving without waterproofs was not an option as the weather looked pretty wet. The trip started uphill for a few kilometers. I think we met two people the whole way that day. It was still really nice to walk, despite the constant rain. We used 6 hours on the trip, and didn't stop for lunch. It stopped raining for about 15 minutes all day. The best part of the trip was when we got down to a small stream to cross it, we saw something move. When we got closer we realised it was an Ermine (Røyskatt). We're not sure of it's behaviour, but it was constantly running around us, up and down the rocks. Looking at us, then running again. We watched it for about five minutes before we carried on walking. Torkjel was afraid it would have a heart attack because it kept running. When we got to Grimsdalshytta the rooms were fully booked, so we slept in the self service cabin with about ten other people. We got a bed and duvets though, which was nice :) It was lovely to sit inside that evening, as it had been a wet day. We had a three course dinner, before relaxing and going to bed early.

Tuesday: Day 3 Grimsdalshytta to Haverdalssæter 10 kilometers
We got up in the morning and had breakfast before getting our stuff from the drying room. The weather looked a lot better, so we set off without waterproof trousers. We started off walking down to a river, before crossing it and setting off uphill. We had a slow uphill walk for the first few kilometers. About half way we sat down and had a lovely rest boiling water for "rett i koppen" and eating our sandwiches. The rest of the walk was very easy and we took it slow. We didn't meet a lot of people, just saw three people walking whilst we had our rest, and an elderly couple having a rest by the path as we walked past about two kilometers from Haverdalssæter. It was a lovely entrypoint to Haverdalssæter. We looked down on a house with a few older buildings surrounding it. It was furthest in in the valley of Haverdal. We got down and was met by a Thai woman who showed us to a bedroom and told us when dinner was to be served. We relaxed until then, and went down to eat sharing a table with the elderly couple we had seen earlier and another couple. It was nice food, including cream from local produce. The "farm" is known for a certain type of cheese they produce too. The rest of the evening we sat in the "peisestue" and talked to the other couples.

Wednesday: Day 4 Haverdalssæter to Dørålseter 11 kilometers
We discussed what to do that day, and initially planned a two day hike to Høvringen. Torkjel was more keen to walk to Dørålseter, so I tagged along. That turned out to be the most knackering but also the best day on the trip. To get to Dørålseter we had to walk over Dørålglupen which is a fantastic gorge (juv) that stretches several kilometers through the mountain. The highest point was about 1300 meters. The day started off very easy with flat terrain for the first six kilometers. Then we started walking uphill towards the gorge. It looked pretty impressive from the bottom, but that was nothing compared to what we could expect when we got up there. It was really steep on both sides, and very rocky with masses of big boulders we had to walk on. It was hard to find the path sometimes. Fortunately there were red T's to follow. After spending four hours passing the gorge, we got down to Dørålseter and got a room. We spent the evening there eating dinner with four other woman and relaxing in the peisestue.

Thursday: Day 5 Dørålseter to Rondvassbu 10 kilometers (18 for Torkjel)
The walk from Dørålseter was nice and easy. It was uphill the first seven kilometers, but not very noticeable. My last three kilometers was downhill, but one kilometer before my walking ended with a boat trip across Lake Rondevatnet, Torkjel and I went separate ways. He wanted to walk across the mountain, whilst I wanted to be lazy. I got the boat over to Rondvassbu (20 minutes ride) and Torkjel set off walking. When I got to the cabin we got the last twin room which was great :) T got there about three and a half hours later, soaking wet. He hadn't just walked across the mountain, but decided to go up one of the 2000 meter peaks too - Veslesmeden 2015 meters high. Crazy boy. He was really happy though. It has to be said he did carry his 13 kilo rucksack on his back most of that way too. The rest of the evening was spent eating dinner, sitting in the peisestue and going to bed early.

Friday: Day 6 Rondvassbu to Mysuseter 10 kilometers
Friday was our last day of the trip. We had two options to get to Lillehammer. There was a bus at 10.45 or 16.20. We decided to get on the first one. At eight we had finished packing and were ready to enter the world of mountain breakfast with another 50 hungry tourists. In 17 minutes we had breakfast, paid for the cabin, made our lunch and set off walking. We walked 10 kilometers (mainly dowhill on a road it has to be said) in about two hours! We got the bus, and then the train to Lillehammer where my mum picked us up. We were back in the sivilized world, and had a fantastic trip across the mountains. You can see some of the pics on here, and I think T will put the rest up on Facebook.