Norway - Roadtrip, Forest & Such - 4

After breakfast and packing of gear we headed toward Molde. We had our goal set on Trollkirka/Trollkirkja this day. It is a cave complex, apparently the largest one in Sør-Norway. There is a bit of a hike before reaching the entrance at 484 m above sea level. The actual ascent I think is about 400 m. It was a bit more than I expected at first, but a slow and steady pace got my third trimester bump all the way up.
The trail starts at the fv64 road, by a parking lot. A lot of people stop here for the hike. We were a bit late as always and started out after 4 PM. The weather was shifty so we brought extra layers and rain clothing. The actual cave is cold, wet and dark so gloves, a hat and head torch is a must. Aside from that hiking poles are really good to bring at least for the descent. Oh, and bring water and a snack!

The trail starts out on flat gravel, after a while changing into a fur tree forest with a soft fur needle ground cover - almost like from a saga. After a while the angle of the trail increases and the forest changes to birch. There are lots of rocks all the way up so a careful footing is important.
After a while the trees give way to grass and smaller bushes.

There are a couple of resting spots on the way, but most people I think can do the hike without breaks. We stopped a few times, though and had a drink and a bite to eat.

The last part of the trek is the steepest and depending on weather it might be a bit slippery. There are parts with rope to hold on to in case the ground is wet.

The actual cave is made of three systems interconnected with a river. It is quite dark and torches are a must at least in the first part. Some bring helmets as parts of the cave are a bit low. I actually saw a few drops of blood on a rock, probably after a head bump into a rock.

At the end of the first cave there is a round room with a water fall. To the right from the entrance the route continues up through a tighter space. It was wet as we passed and the rock may be a bit slick. At this point our dad gave up and headed back toward the entrance.

Bro and I continued up and found another high ceilinged room with a water fall. The trail continued further up after that and there is supposed to be a third cave above, but that one we did not find. By then it was getting a bit late and we had to head back down the hill.

The descent was quicker, but not quick. The rocks were wet by that time and we had to check each step on the way down. Besides, dad and I are not very fit at the moment. This trek was a bit hard on my preggo belly and at times I had to take smallish breaks due to some Braxton-Hicks contractions that seemed to be provoked by the jolts of each step down the hill.


Besides I hadn't really trained for this trip, which I usually would have done before heading into mountainous terrain, so the muscles around my hip joints and lower back were a bit mushy at the end.

It was a great hike, though, even though bro was bored by the pace.

Afterward we hurried off to our next planned over night stop. We had to cross a fjord by boat, because driving would've been way too long. Norway is a pretty expensive country and each crossing by ferry is very expensive, so that has to be taken into account if traveling in Norway for a longer time. Luckily we only had 2 ferry crossings during our road-trip.

This night we again decided to stay indoors. We were so late that the probability of finding a good space for pitching a tent was diminishing.
We booked a tiny cabin at Romsdal campsite in Åndalsnes, very close to Trollstigen, "The troll's road".
We have been there before, but decided to go there once more. Last time we were there so late in the day, we really didn't have time to enjoy the pass.

So, next morning we did some stocktaking, re-packed, re-supplied and headed off to the pass.
Trollstigen is a winding road up to the plateau which lies at 858 m over sea level. There are a few hiking routes that go to the plateau from the bottom, but also ones that start at the plateau and go to the top and to the Troll wall, the tallest vertical rock face in Europe, with its 1100 m of sheer cliff wall. At its ridge summit it has an overhang of 50 m over the base. There are loads of climbing routes on the wall, many of which have been destroyed due to rock fall.
Anyway seeing that wall would have been fabulous, but the hike is 5 km and about an hour per km. Dad and I didn't have the strength and we didn't have the time to go there. Instead we did a nice and easy walk on the plateau and just enjoyed the view.

 Afterward we drove East between two massifs and stopped twice to look at some fantastic glacier water rapids.

We had way too time consuming stops again, exploring the rapids, so again we were late in finding a tent spot. Because of this we decided to pitch the tent at a camp site. It's a bit cheaper and there is the possibility of having dinner inside. As this was the chilliest area we've been so far, having the possibility to go inside was great. We hurried and pitched the tent under a tree, in case of rain, and headed inside for dinner. This night was actually very cold, and the temperature mark hit 5 degrees Celsius (41 F). I slept wearing layers and actually had a pretty ok night. Ben had to remake his bed during the night due to cold. He slept on a fairly big air mattress and those get really cold. He actually forgot to take the merino base layers into the tent that evening and didn't want to go look for them in the middle of the night, bummer. Dad squeezed himself into more clothing during the night and was able to sleep after that.

Outdoors and pregnant - 2 - packing list

So prepping for some nights in the great outdoors, a little hiking, maybe scrambling up a rock and taking a dip in a lake or two, this is what I actually ended up bringing. Good thing I'm traveling by car😉

General stuff - check!
Tent
Sleeping pad
Sleeping bag
Hiking poles
Backpack
Flashlight
Head torch
Mosquito net (pregnant, deet is off limits 😞)

Kitchen
Cooking gear (Trangia)
Cup
Knife
Small thermo bottle
Water bottle
Dish cloth and soap
Lighter

Need to get: gas for the kitchen.
I forgot my food container, so I'll just get something simple for the trip.

Hygiene
Soap
Toothbrush
Tooth paste
Deodorant
Skin moisturizer
Sun screen
Tape
Plaster - check
Towel
Toilet paper
Tweezer for all kinds of small stuff, ticks included.

Clothing
Warm sweater
Socks
Warm socks
Hiking pants
Shorts
Gloves
Hat
Under garments
Swim suit
Rain jacket
Rain pants
Jacket
Sandals
Boots
And in some inexplicable way I forgot the base layers!

Stuff that might come in handy
Climbing gear: shoes, harness, carabiners, gloves, helmet

So now I'm just hoping for fairly good weather. The insane heat of this summer seems to have passed and there are a lot more rainy days - which is good, since my core temperature is higher than usual due to the pregnancy and I've been dying of heat exposure over and over this summer. Ice water is heaven sent sometimes. 😜

In retrospect - southern Norway- climb and drive, the ferry to Dk- Road trip westcoast and southern Norway_5

Our last day in Norway was fabulous. After a nice breakfast at our hotel we headed out toward Froland, a crag with 16 sports routes, ranging from 5 to 7a+.

Froland-crag

It is situated close to a town called Osedalen I think. We headed there first to get something for lunch and later on for some ice cream.



This is a pretty popular place and very easy to access. There is not super much space for cars, but I think we could squeeze in 4 or so. From there you cross a small stream and take a short, lovely forest path to the actual wall.

As we arrived there we met two guys, brothers, who had spent the night in the forest with tents and backpacks and were just about to head to the crag. Really fun way to travel.

At the crag there is a little postbox where you can find the topo and names of the routes.

The rock was fun to climb with good hand holds and spots for the feet and I tried one of the easier routes to the far right of the crag. Ben tried one of the more difficult ones to the left. Somewhere in the middle the more difficult and long ones are situated, the ones with overhang. I realized first hand why you should secure yourself to the ground if standing a bit off from the wall (there are spots for just that at this crag). At one point Ben fell a bit above the quick draw, his weight pulling me in. I wasn't secured so I more or less flew toward the rock face and he ended up falling 3-4 meters or so. Noob me. Noob!! I ended up laughing hysterically and the other climbers looked at us strangely...












We spent as much time here as we could before packing our gear together and heading further south toward Kristiansand.
We had a ferry to catch in the evening and a couple of hours of driving to do. On arrival in Kristiansand we found a nature reserve more or less inside town and made dinner there on a rock, before finally heading to the ferry and exiting Norway.

In retrospect - Road trip on the Swedish west westcoast and southern Norway - Part 3

Our plan was to sleep out in the free this night, somewhere near the coastal area of southern Norway.

We actually arrived so late at our destination (due to a mishap earlier in the day - forgotten item at a stop, so we had to drive back and ended up more or less going in a circle for 3 hours due to that) that it was already dark. No worries though. We looked up something that resembled a foresty area on a map and headed there.

It had actually been quite rainy and stormy earlier in the evening, so I guess being late had the positive of the storm having ended. Otherwise I bet we would've been quite miserable, being late AND wet.

We had, of course, brought our head torches, so that we could rummage around in the car with the torch light and only bring what we needed for the night and next morning. So off we headed into the night-moist forest. We each had our own tents, mattresses, sleeping bags, under layer of warm clothing in case the night got chilly (wasn't so bad actually) and one of us brought a pillow. I actually brought two mattresses, because I usually experience that the cold conducts through the mattress and I end up freezing. I have one of those old style mattress rolls and an inflatable one too. I even considered using a foil blanket to really boost heat saving.

Yeah so we had those too, foil blankets. 

Aside from that we had a storm kitchen (trangia), a gas burner, water for coffee and porridge in the morning, other food stuff (bread and such) and regular hygiene stuff.

 

The right of public access to the wilderness otherwise known as the freedom to roam is strongly established in the Nordic countries. The rights include hiking in the wild, picking mushrooms, sleeping in a tent ( although not too near private residences), swimming in lakes, kayaking, fishing with a rod in fresh water. They also include some obligations, however. You are not allowed to harm, disturb or damage wildlife or crops or pick endangered plant species. Littering is forbidden! If there are no trash cans, you bring all trash with you out of the nature zone.

Sometimes in the summer using open fire is forbidden. In Norway this applies from April to September, in the other countries it depends on forest fire risk, which from time to time can be substantial in some or many areas.

In Norway the freedom to roam applies to the so called "utmark" - areas without private residence, industry, farmland etc. Crossing farmland is only allowed during winter.

Right-of-access - Norway

After a while we found a tent site in the darkness. We picked it for its open space and trees that could be used for a tarp, rain cover. A bit of fiddling in the dark got all tents erected and by that time it was time to go to bed.
The first picture above is actually taken at about 1 AM, so the sun doesn't completely set even at that low latitude.

We had expected more rain, but luckily got to wake up to a fabulously sunny morning.

Before long we had breakfast underway, boiling water for coffee and porridge, setting up a little breakfast area. The colours were crisp and clear and the air fresh and uplifting.

Packing our gear went swiftly and luckily the heat of the sun dried most of the tent fabric. I always find it unsatisfying to pack a moist tent cover or under-layer.

Next we headed off to a crag not too far away from where we had spent the night.

4th of October - Morocco - back to sea level

The evening after our hike I had a quite serious headache. Not so that I thought AMS, even though some of the others had been affected to a degree that at least one had to take Diamox (check out the article on Acute mountain sickness to the right). I had just really not been hydrating enough and eating had not been very efficient either due to my allergies. Nothing new though, I always eat a bit differently when not at home, the new factor was the level of activity though.  I went to bed with a pounding headache and woke up at 2 AM with just as much pain. I hit the water bottle with a vengeance and fell asleep again. Luckily the headache had let up by the time my alarm clock sounded in the morning.

Breakfast was a couple of slices of bread and some porridge and a more or less fantastic cup of Peter Larsen coffee. I think I will buy these for every single trip from now on. Sooo nice and so simple !!

We soon gathered the troops again and head off back toward the kasbah in Imlil. We kept a very good pace and people were chatting in small groups all along the way.
The weather was fantastic, just as all our days have been after the first chilly, rainy one. Already after 15 minutes we had to stop and pack jackets and sweaters away. The member of the group that had been the slowest the day before in the snowy terrain headed down in a faster pace than many of us could manage to keep up with. Haha, who would've known.

I spent the first part of our hike in silence, just thinking, relaxing my mind and occasionally listening to what people said with half an ear. I just felt generally good, although I once again considered changing my career completely and becoming a full time traveler ;)

Later I had a long conversation with Peichii (whom we all have been calling Peachy). We talked about traveling and she really has some good travel stories. She told me about being in Japan among other places. Very interesting. I would love to go. We discussed religion and basic common sense and how the two are interrelated. I bet we could've kept this discussion up for hours. It is always interesting to speak to someone who is not agreeing with you. ;)
I talked a bit about Mexico, my favourite travel destination so far.

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When we reached Sidi we stopped for a cup of coffee, juice and tea before continuing. We had some almonds and figs left from our lunch packs and gave them to the owner of the café as we left.
When crossing the last river bed some of us picked a few rocks to bring with us home. There were so many different colours. Green, red, spotted, striped, just beautiful rocks. (Yes, brother, I can hear you sighing as you read this, I did pick a few...)
On arriving at the kasbah we just had time for a quick freshening up before getting all our backpacks and heading down to Imlil. The WMT team had ordered lunch at a roof terrace in the village, salad, chicken and french fries. Now I finally had the chance to talk a bit with Barry. I'm generally, seriously impressed by all these WMT people.

As I've said before, I've met Barry during a previous course. His accident has really made an impression on me and the others. It is very inspiring to meet someone who is a bit passed the worst part of such injuries. I usually only meet people when they are in the middle of it, bloodied, afraid and terrified of the implications of what has happened, thinking that everything is over, but it's not, right. There is a life after an accident too. Just like with so many other things, you have the possibility to affect your future, even if you won't be the exact same person again. but then again, we change continuously whether such incidents happen or not, we get older, slower, learn other ways of doing things. The difference is that an accident will have it all happen at once. The breaks are pushed suddenly and that's what shocks you. I'm very happy to have heard the story of someone who is over the first part of recovery and has the strength to find his way back to what is important to him, as well as to share his experiences and to keep on organizing such huge events as our expedition.

Thinking of Barry's incident, I remember a specific person running after me in the corridor at work one day some time ago. I had treated a close person to them. I received a hug and they told me how important it had been that we had had a clear and calm talk about the implications of the other persons injuries and a timeline of recovery and most importantly hope for the future. Together we had laid a foundation that they could start working from.Making sure that they knew things would get better even though it would be slow going had been important.

Even though I seldom get the chance to talk more with the people I see, there sometimes is a chance to talk to their loved ones and underline the importance of emotional support and lending of strength, even on the days when the person wants to give up.

Anyhow, after the lunch we packed our bags in buses and headed back toward Marrakesh.

 I sat next to Chris, who told me about his plans for the next few days together with his sister. They are heading back toward the Atlas mountains and the south side of the mountain range. Apparently there's a stretch called the road of a thousand kasbahs (I have really not prepared for this trip at all. I know nothing of this country! It's embarrassing...) that they will travel and maybe stay in the desert and trek too. Sounds like super much fun. I got such a craving for more traveling! He suggested I tag along and my mind right away started working on how to make it happen. Would've been super nice to travel a bit more with someone as friendly as this guy, but crashing a sibling party and being all nordic and weird didn't really feel right. (Although in retrospect, I'd have no qualms about inviting ppl with me on my sibling travels...)
I can't let go of the idea of doing more in Morocco, though.

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We got to our hotel in Marrakesh, close to the main souk (market). I shared a room with Martina from Malta (I think) and Marzanne from South Africa. I spoke mostly with Marzanne and ended up inviting her to Denmark and Sweden. Would be great to meet these people again. Oh and family and friends, if you are reading this, I have promised your couches to these upcoming guests. Now you've been warned... Before the evening meal we had time for a quick look at the market.

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The evening was spent on the terrace writing course evaluations, mingling and having dinner. I sat next to Jim, Mike and PeiChii and we ended up having a discussion on Brexit and IVF. I don't know how we ended up there, but it is interesting to hear how the NHS works. I can't really repeat the information here though, I don't remember the details. We also talked a bit about real British food (real British food and not the immigrant cuisine) and weather or not the Britts learned anything from the time they more or less were the Empire of the World. I think the conclusion was "nah, not really". Funny stuff.
Later we went for drinks at a nearby bar. People were being generally really fun. I learned what floss and dab means - Hilarious!!! Jim demonstrated the moves. Too bad I don't have a picture. We're talking stroke level funny.

I talked a bit more with Nigel, our group guide. He is such an impressive and knowledgeable person, climber, hiker, former army dude and just generally a warm person.
Some of the others got a water pipe and sat in a ring enjoying that. I don't do any kind of smoke (especially since my first delivery of "the bad news" to one of my sweetest patients ever. Can't remember their name, but the eyes....)
Aside from that, just a lovely evening that ended with a stroll through the plaza in front of the large market place. It was super lively, filled with people, musicians, snake charmers, street vendors among other things.








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We fell asleep quite heavily in our room where the AC was broken. We are talking heat stroke sleep...