Fjord-O in Sogndal, July 13-18

Prolog:

We left home a day early in order to spend the night with MaryAnn and Nils Nøbben and have a proper visit. It was really great. MaryAnn's garden is amazing, the stone work and the flowers! It's different every year. Can't wait to see it when she gets the waterfall going. There is now a young man who wants to farm their land and even make use of the barn for his cows. Nils has been cultivating a field that had been lying fallow for years and years in order to use the manure in the manure cellar and sow grass to extend the hay field down by the lake.

Day 1:

Sogndal with campground

We drove the same route that Tor Idar biked less than a week ago so that I could see it. The Sognefjell is a fantastic area! Wild and untamed mountain, an eerie landscape that seems like another planet. Down in the valley, many hairpin curves later, the town of Sogndal nestles in a corner of the Sognefjord. We checked into the campground at 1 pm, where we had the good luck to get the one cabin that they have for rent. It lay at the top of a bank. 3 orienteering families from Haugesund camped below us in a little field. The rest of the campground was in an apple orchard with picknick tables, tents and campers parked under the apple trees.

Tor Idar and Lucy at our cabin

Days 1 and 2 were near the Sogndal airport. The assembly area was at the site of the reality show "Farmen" called Haukåsen, with a spectacular view over the fjord. The weather was bright and sunny, but of course we had forgotten to bring the camera.

"the farm" Haukåsen

We found a spot in the shade and out of the way for Lucy. Parking was at the airport, the assembly area a 30 minute walk from there, then another 30 minutes back along the other side of the airport to start. The course was basically in the woods and marshes on both sides of the airport, so that you could see the Widerø planes flying in low for landing right over your head while you were running.

Lucy

I started 20 - 30 minutes before Tor Idar on all days. Both of us running in the 17C class. The event got off to a good start with Tor Idar winning his class by over 3 minutes. I spent an hour on the 2,9 km course. Besides the camera we had forgotten to bring money. Luckily we had sandwiches so it wasn't so bad.

Day 2

View from Haukåsen

Day 2 was cloudy and a little rainy, but we had remembered both the camera and money for the barbeque plate after the race. There was a whole mobile sportsstore at the assembly area as wel and I bought myself a new pair of neoprene socks and a sweatband before the race. Tor Idar missed winning by 3 seconds. His main competition seems to be a 21-year-old russian kid.

Assembly area at Haukåsen

I should have worn a baseball cap to keep the rain off my glasses. It's hard to read the map with drops of rain on it, even if it's in plastic. Rain on the glasses makes things worse. I kept putting my glasses up on my head, just taking them down to read the map and half-way through the course got a twig caught in them which knocked out one of the lenses (luckily you can buy new lenses for O-glasses). There was a bit of a mix-up with the codes to the controls as well, since one of the controlls had been cancelled on the map, but was still printed on the loose controll slips. I got that all figured out only to find I had been disqualified for stamping the very first control wrong! I cannot believe it!

Day 3

Glacier Museum

This was a rest day. We went first to the glacier museum at the foot of the Jostedals glacier. It was an interesting museum with lots of interactive glacier related exhibits and an 18 minute film by Io Caprino where he had hung 5 video cameras under a helicopter creating a panorama. The theatre had 5 screens so that it was like flying in the panorama of the Jostedals glacier.

Solvorn seen from Urnes

Afterwards we decided to visit the Urnes Stave church. To get there you first leave the main road and follow a smaller winding road through farmland until you enter the village of Solvorn, with its boat houses on one side of the ferry dock and the sandy beach on the other. This sleepy little village has almost a mediterranean atmosphere. We had discovered it and it's fantastic cafe yesterday. Today, we parked in the square by the ferryboat dock and took the ferry over to the even smaller hamlet of Urnes on the other side of the fjord arm.

Ships dog

The ferry is tiny. It takes only a few cars. Most people just park in the square and walk on. Lucy does not like ferries. She finds them scary and on a car ferry prefers to stay in the safety of the car. I took her up to the top deck where she made the aquaintance of the ships dog, a border collie who came out fromt the steerhouse to investigate.

Urnes Stave Church

Urnes is basically a large farm and a few more houses. The road winds up from the ferry dock past strawberry and rasberry fields, until you get to the little stave church. The oldest in Norway, built 1150 on the site of 2 previous churches, Urnes Stave church is a Unesco heritage site. The girl who gave us the tour seemed very knowledgable about art history. Before going back down to the ferry, I bought a postcard. We were half-way back when my cell phone rings. It was the gift shop calling to let me know that I had left my wallet behind. With only 20 minutes until the ferry was due to leave I ran back up the hill to get the wallet and then all the way back down, arriving just as it was docking. On the way back it turned out that there was a ships cat as well. One of the crew was carrying a big tom around on his arm.

Hot chocolate and Turidmisu

Back in Solvorn we revisited the cafe for their delicious Turidmisu (tiramisu in Turid's version - Turid works there), snickers cake and hot chocolate, made with hot milk and melted chocolate. There we sat on the terrace. Other people were sitting nursing their coffees while reading a novel, the newspaper or surfing the net. Very laid back atmosphere!

Day 4

The River at Hodlekve

The last 2 days were at a different location, a ski center north of Sogndal. It was another sunny day, and again we forgot to bring the camera. We found a spot near the rushing river for Lucy. All runners had to cross the bridge to get to the finish on the first day, and both to start and finish on the second. It was a tough course going steeply up, up, up for the first 5 controls, through open land, brush and marsh and across several streams. The highest controll was in an area of summer cabins, where a whole family were basking in the sun watching us struggle up the steep hill. From there the course followed the river down, down, down. It was wonderful to get wet feet running through marsh in the hot sun. On both days I kept seeing these beautiful wild orchids. They are called Heath Spotted Orchid (Flekkmarihånd). 

Tor Idars knee had been bothering him since the last race. The russian started 3 minutes after him but caught up with him at the 3rd or 4th control after which they clung together for the rest of the race, Tor Idar trying unsuccessfully to shake him off. This put him in second place again.

Day 5

Assembly area in the rain

Tor Idar woke with a sore throat and feverish, not sure if he was even going to start. Not only that but it started pouring rain. He ended up running the course anyway, coming in 4th. It was my best race. I ran the 2,4 km course in 38 minutes. It wasn't actually pouring during the race, more like dripping so I didn't really have the problem with water on my glasses. I find it easier to run in the rain, since I don't get so hot and parched. 

There were prizes for total points from the best 3 races and Tor Idar won a second prize. All in all a great achievement to run 4 orienteering races within a week of the Tour de Jotunheimen bike race. No wonder his body was saying "stop!"

Tor Idar is tired. No more smiling.


We drove straight home after the race - a five hour drive but good to get back. Once again the girls had everything in great shape, and it was a pleasure to come home!