Showing posts with label pregnant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pregnant. Show all posts

Wednesday, 21 August 2019

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.






Monday, 12 August 2019

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. 😜

Monday, 5 August 2019

Outdoors and pregnant - 1 - where to go, what to do?

So, yes ... that happened.
I think I went a bit crazy suddenly and pretty soon I'll be not just me anymore. yay, pink fluffy puffy stuff and all, but how to do outdoors while preggo?
Later I'll write something on activities with kid, but first things first...

So, many women have a great pregnancy, they're energetic, do fitness training and everything and just seem to not change physically except for the bump. A colleague of mine was telling me about running around in the woods doing her exam to become a captain in the military, just days before full term. I was amazed that she could actually RUN! My body had no intentions of following that sort of a road. Already from the start I got super mega insanely exhausted. I've spent almost 3 months sleeping. After work I'd just crash and .. well,.. sleep like the dead. And eat. Yeah the eating part. My regular low carb, healthy, veggie rich diet did reeeally not go well with the growing, crazy, carnivore, sugar craving embryo, so I gained some weight quite quickly in the beginning trying to figure out how to eat. Luckily that part normalized, but I do feel pretty heavy. Aside from that an old pelvic injury started bothering me to no end.

So, no exercise and heavier than I'd hoped, but the craving to go outdoors has not lessened. So far I've spent a week at the coast with my bro, fishing and scrambling over boulders and rocks along the Swedish west coast, as well as done a cave scramble in Börsås - super much fun, very tight cave, and way too short. Took us 15 minutes to get through. In the pic I'm looking at the tiny exit hole. I couldn't find any good website on it, so try googling Börsås cave or check it out on youtube.


Anyhow, next I'm considering a slow pace hike in Norway or somewhere in Sweden and these are the things that need to be taken into account.
  • I'm not very fit at the moment.
  • I'm heavy - extra weight means weight of a backpack needs to be minimal as I have a bad knee and SI-joint.
  • Backpack can't be too tight around the waist - again, minimal weight.
  • Energy need is higher - need to have more snacks and stuff to keep a steady blood sugar level throughout any hike. 
  • Hiking pace needs to take a loose pelvis into account. Can't walk fast and no sudden moves.

Other than the above, it should be a piece of cake, right. 😅

Sweden?
I have never really explored Sweden. For some reason it has not been as interesting to me as more "exotic" places abroad. That said, the country has loads of interesting spots to offer and is full of forests, lakes and hills with hiking trails, fishing areas, rivers for kayaking and so forth...
I've always wanted to go to Treriksröset, which is the place where Sweden, Finland and Norway meet, the "Three country cairn", but I'll have to save that one for later. Its as far up north you can get in Sweden. In the pic here you have Sweden below, Finland to the right and Norway to the left.


Norway?
So... Preikestolen for example, only has a 300 m ascent. There are 2 difficult sections, first one being in the very beginning of the hike. It's a constant scramble up a hill. Last time we were there it had been raining and the trail was quite muddy. We were late starting out our hike and didn't have time to go more than half way. So we stopped in the middle section and had dinner by a stream before heading down again. We couldn't go very far back then because we had our dad with us and he was in really bad shape (which he protests very loudly, not acknowledging that we only did the first part of the hike). If I go for this one I'll be the one who's in really bad shape. 😝

The mountainous Norway has a typical shifty weather, meaning you need to be prepared for both fabulous sunshine and sleet rain. If you want to spend the night at the top the gear you bring needs to accommodate cold and rain.

I considered Finland too, but that would require sitting still at the table visiting relatives. Not what I'm looking to do in my last days of FREEDOOOM!!!

So...
Tent with tarp.
Warm sleeping bag.
Base Layers - merino wool under layer, wool socks, etc
Layers - sweater, pants.
Water resistant layers - pants and jacket, buff, gloves etc.
Cooking gear. 
Head torch for moving about and to have as a light in the tent.
Water! and snacks....

So... my regular clothes are out of the question. I've ordered a new pair of pants for hiking, which hopefully will fit. I'll go with one of my old puffy jackets, a blue 8848Altitude, instead of my super efficient, Haglöffs ROC, fabulous shell jacket. That one will have to wait until next year... In this pic I'm wearing the super shell over a simple Quechua quilt jacket from Decathlon. It was insanely cold and windy on that mountain pass, but the combination was perfect for that weather.
The blue 8848 jacket survived a year of shifty weather on the Faroe Islands, though, so I think it'll be ok.

Well then, the first part of the project is finished - deciding to go.
Next comes packing for all eventualities. I'm planning on going super flexible as I haven't decided where to go and what to see. I just need my gear and a car and off it is 😜