Hiking in Drevja: Tovenfjellet

All along Drevja the mountain Tovenfjellet lies. It is a very long mountain with several summits. The summits are not as high as the ones in Sunndalsøra but they are more than high enough to give an incredible view. As in Sunndalsøra you do not get anything for free and have to start at just above sea level. On the other side of the mountain you have Leirfjorden, Sandnessjøen, Dønna, De Syv Søstre and of course the sea which together makes a beautiful sight. It is also possible to hike from one side of Toven and down on the other one, a hike I want to do is Leirfjorden to Toven. Apart from being a nice mountain for hiking and its incredible view, Tovenfjellet also has great fishing. Its many lakes are popular fishing spots for the locals who almost guaranteed I would get fish. But of course I did not.
This years hike at Tovenfjellet went from Toven and up to Brattlivatnet and was especially beautifull because of the clear weather and the colours of early fall. There is no path on this route, but a look at the map makes it clear where one should go and once you are on the right track the rest of the hike one just go where it seems natural. Sadly it is a bit overgrown at the beginning of the hike, but after one have crossed the first river the landscape is more open. I had good company in my cousin Knut Erik and ironicly the only people we met that day were on our age. And people say the youths are lazy and do not care about being outdoors...

Almost at the top Brattlivatnet suddensly shows up:)

A nice place to have lunch

An amazing view towards the other side of the mountain!=)

Hiking in Sunndal: Stortuva

In Sunndalen you have two opportunities if you want to train: run on flat ground or hiking up one of the mountainsides that are too steep for running. After studying a map, I found a place where I thought it could be possible to go for a run without it being just flat. A 20 minute drive from home the track to Stortuva starts. It's a summit at 1036 meters, and since it starts at nearly sea-level it makes for a good exercise:) It was just to follow the path all the way to the top except from one place: At the first mountain pasture I missed that the path took a right turn, but if you take it slow and take a look around the path should be easy to find:) It took me approximately 1,5 hr to the top and 1 hr to get back down. If you want to make it a hike, it could take a bit longer depending on the pace. 

An old mountain pasture

Ahead: The only part that wasn't possible to run 

The view towards Sunndalen

Enjoying the view towards Nesøya:)

Løykja -a short hike and lots of ixodidaes

After a week of no exercise, I wanted to get an easy start. I read about this hike, Løykja, that was fairly short, and decided to do it even though it involved some hills. It's all about getting a view in Sunndalen. The trip was okay, and it gave a nice view of Grøa and the valley for being so short. So far so good. But when I got home I found ixodidaes crawling all over me! They are such nasty creatures, and ruins the joy of being off the main path.(We went through some high grass, so I was not surprised when I got home). It is not just that you can get seriously ill of them; the whole thought of something living on you and sucking your blood to survive is unpleasant, to say the the least!

But I love nature too much to let these small insects scare me away from it. The main thing is to get them off before they find a place to bite. So from now on this is the first thing I do whenever I have been out in the woods. It is ironic that it is not a big animal like a bear or a wolf that everyone is scared of that that injures most people, but a small insect. Yes, many have started to fear the diseases, but still it seems that it is more difficult to acknowledge the danger it represents, than an obvious one(like a bear).

Tanya enjoying the view:)

Pretty happy to be exercising again!

Grøa

Hiking in Sunndal: Vettafjellet

After a late and long lasting winter it was finally possible to start hiking late in June. But not many of the surrounding mountains in Sunndalsøra were free of snow. I got a tip that both Stortuva and Vettafjellet were free of snow, and decided to make my first hiking trip this year to Vettafjellet. It is not a high mountain, the summit is only at 969 meters. The trip is very easy and does not require hiking boots which I only use if it is absolutely necessary. Neither does it take long, and is possible to do as an afternoon trip. It is a nice path almost to the top and then it is just to follow the marks made to show the way. At the time we did the hike, it was still very wet and it was quite slippery. Downhill it was some falls, but since it is never very steep no damage was done. A hike for everyone:)

Service all the way to the top:)

The view down to Øksendalen

Sunndalsøra:) Notice the amount of snow in the mountains!

It is important to write ones name in the book placed in a post box at the top.

The Norwegian National Day

On the 17. May we celebrate our National Day. This is the date at which our constitution was first signed. The traditional celebrations is walking in parades after marching bands, eating lots of ice-cream and playing funny games(especially for children). The celebration is mostly devoted to the children in Norway, they have their own parades and this day is about them having fun.

For me, this 17. May meant I finally got to wear my traditional Norwegian costume, bunad. I did not bring it to Sydney, so it had been two years since I last wore it. I really like wearing it even though it is a hassle to iron the shirt the day before and exhausting to wear the whole day. It is also a typical problem to get blisters from the shoes.

Since the day is about celebrating our country, I had to start the day with a run in the forest. The nature in Norway is something really appreciate. It started with perfect running weather, dusk rain, and I could not have got a better start on the day. But just when I got home, it really started pouring down and it did not stop till late in the evening. So it was a wet and cold celebration this year.

Ida joined me on the morning run:) Trondheim looks rather grey..:/

After the run, the next on my program was champagne breakfast with the rowing group. The breakfast lasted quite a while, and I went directly to the parade. It is so much fun to watch the parade in Trondheim because all sort of people walk in the parade and try to entertain the audience. After a while I joined the parade and walked for the rowers and then for EMIL. Part of walking in the parade is shouting hurray, the name of your school or organization or singing songs. This is very true for walking with EMIL; you haven't done a good job, if you don't have a sore throat.

Bagpipes seems to be in every parade I go to:)

Anything to keep dry and warm:)

Men in uniform! Hurray!

It seems not everyone is happy about walking in the parade

drumming nurses, very cool!



Vikings=)

!

!!!

The rowers with oars and blazers for the occasion:)

Walking with EMIL is always nice:) The EMIL oath is written on the back of the "banner": Teach us the joy of simple things, about laughter that doesn't have hurt in mind, forgiveness free of motive and love to all humans underneath the sun

After the parade I was so lucky that a friend and her brother invited my over for dinner(it's impossible to go get a table anywhere on this date, especially when it is raining). To get a homemade meal and traditional dessert out of the blue is luxury for a student! Thank you very much!=)

All in all a good day, although the weather could have been better. Plenty of highlights through the whole day=) Now, it is back to having no life and writing and writing and writing on my thesis. Thank god for daydreaming..:)

Not every day I get a rose so it was highly appreciated even though it was from a random guy(not being a stalker)

Hurtigruta

Some time ago I was lucky to be invited to a meeting with my new job at Hurtigruta. I could not say no to this opportunity to both get a better insight in what my job will be like and to travel with Hurtigruta and see the beautiful nature of northern Norway from the sea. We traveled from Trondheim at noon and arrived Bodø the following day at around the same time.

The meeting was really interesting and I learned a lot=) But it also confirmed what I already knew, I am starting working in a really man dominated business. 3 women out of 50 participant! Well, I should be glad I wasn't the only one=) That's not really a problem either, but being on a ship on the ocean, that can be a problem! Some dizziness has to be expected.

Hurtigruta lived up to my expectations. The cabin was nice and I had plenty of space and the service was splendid. Silly me had totally forgot to inform about my allergies beforehand, but that was no problem. Instead of getting the usual, you can eat bread and salad they made a dish in a few minutes. The view was also amazing. Unfortunately we passed most of Helgelandskysten during the night, but I got up insanely early to see the point where we passed the polar circle.

All in all a wonderful trip where I got to know new people, learn a lot and got to see beautiful nature. One of the highlights was of course when we passed a wind farm.

Not for eating, so it must be to show the tourists how it's done. follow the smell...

couldn't wait to leave the view in Trondheim behind...

Much better=)

Beautiful light, it lasted the whole night. Almost sun the whole day now:)

Houses showing up in the middle of nowhere, Norway in a nutshell.



Good morning and welcome to the mountains:)

The polar circle:)

Still winter in the north of Norway late in April

My traditional Easter holiday

I, as many other Norwegians, associate the Easter with skiing, preferably somewhere in the mountains, it is supposed to be sunny and warm, a lot of chocolate and marzipan and spending quality time with family at the cottage. This Easter was almost perfect. The weather was on and off, but well enough to go skiing every day. My family may be a bit more active than most families; while the usual skiing trip doesn't end to far from where it started and one sits down to make a fire to eat sausages and marshmallows, we go on long trips and high up. But one of the days we actually stopped on our way down from the mountain in our backyard, Tovenfjellet, and had a nice lunch outside.

Oh, I almost forgot. For many people, and indeed for my family, the holidays are all about traditions. And it seems like the amount of traditions just keepon increasing every year, and we are about to reach a point where there will be no room to be impulsive:S Traditions are good, but not too many!

The first tradition is a skiing competition up a mountain, a race I have participated in since I was 4 years old. I am sad every year I miss it. A new tradition that was started last year is afterski after the race. Nothing like alcohol after an exhausting race:p My brother brought tequila. As he had never drunk it before, he had no idea how it tasted and thought it tasted good. He was in for an unpleasant surprise...

I love tequila!:p

Really? Do I have to take an other one?

Here are some photoes from our skiing trips:)

The mountain in my backyear, Tovenfjellet:)

The view to the fjord...

One get a good view of the mountain, Luktind

The track home=)

My dad being very determined to reach the top. Where is the better way to reach the top?

My sister, Idun, with Syv Søstre in the background

The master of making a fire

My sister can be a bit too optimistic...

Every wednesday in the easter we drive a terrible road to get to a skiing race, Harvassdalsrennet. It is very hard to get up, the weather is usually very bad and some times not even enough snow. But because it is tradition and because it is a very social event we always make the trip:)

Nice to meet relatives:)

The wather changes fast up north!

Thursday is the day for the easterparty! It is a public party where everyone over 15 can attend. The music is allways good and it is a good opportunity to dance swing=) Really good atmoshere, but from time to time some people might drink a bit to much and do silly or stupid things. Common things are not being able to stand and ones feet and fall over all the time, getting undressed and of course getting into a fight.

Trying to get rid of the tequila at the preparty:)

My cousin was sober:( she was in the arranging committe and that means she violated a tradition!:-o

Crazy on the dancefloor

My parents are allways dancing at these parties=)

Happy sisters

And we're back to the main goal of the easter: skiing every day!

On the way up to Kveldtuva

A bit freezing on the top!

The start of a new tradition?

This easter we did something new: going out on Saturday too, to check out the pubs in the nearest town. We have to wait untill next year to see if is a new tradition or not.