July 6th: On this warm and sunny day, we set off for Valdres and the cabin by Vinster lake, high in Norway's central mountain region, at the gateway to Jotunheimen. This little cabin, belonging to our good friend, MaryAnn and Nils, has neither electricity, nor running water, yet this is where we have been coming each year to gather strength in the simplicity of everyday living, and the beauty of nature. We come here, even though the weather forecast is for nothing but rain. Even though we have to pack wool underwear in the height of summer.
The mountain cabin on the far left. To the right and behind it is the barn containing the outhouse, and just in front of the car is the wood shed. The other cabins and barns were unoccupied. In the foreground is the fence that surrounds the 3 summer farms, giving Lucy a large area which she can run freely in.
Hot and sweaty after a long drive in the car I jumped into the Lake for a refreshing bath. It was the last time as far as I was concerned. The water is freezing, but Husband bathed in the Lake almost every day.
Lucy watching the cows coming down the road to find pasture after morning milking.
The fence around the summer farms has been fortified with an electric band to keep grazing animals out, as the grass inside is to be made into hay. Below one of the cows has waded out into the lake, and gone round the fence. The water came way over her udder. Husband and Lucy chased her back before the others could follow her lead.
July 8th: 5 hour hike to skreddalsfjellet (1440 moh) and svarthamartinden (1471 moh) in bright sunshine today. Didn't expect the sun, so hadn't brought suntan lotion, and thus got burned.
Lucy carried a pack with mittens and hats, treats and our sandwiches.
Husband at our first resting place.
Lucy hunted lemmings the whole way.
On the top of Skreddalsfjellet.
Sheep. This is why we had to keep Lucy on a lead.
By the time we got to the second peak, where we stopped to have our sandwiches, Lucy had eaten so many Lemmings that she must have been full. At least she took the dried pigs ear we gave her and dissapeared into the rocks. She seemed to come back too quickly, so I went looking for it in all the nooks and crannies. Suddenly I discovererd a place wherre the moss was scraped away from the ground. Further investigation uncovered the pigs ear buried under moss and lichen. This time she ate it up however.
July 9th: Spent the day with MaryAnn and Sigrid, her elderly neighbor. We went to synkakudagen at Marit Anny's Vevstugu in Lomen, in Vestre Slidre. This weave workshop was hosting a cultural day. Local craftsmen were exibiting and selling their work: woodwork, ceramics, woven stuffs of course.
MaryAnn is in the middle. The woman on the left is Sigrid, while the gentleman on the right is Sigrids brother who was exhibiting and selling his woodwork.
MaryAnn is in the middle. The woman on the left is Sigrid, while the gentleman on the right is Sigrids brother who was exhibiting and selling his woodwork.
In the cafe on the second floor you could buy coffee and kvikaku with sour cream and berry preserves as much as you could eat and drink for 75 kr. We ate at long tables, while the kvikaku were being baked on a "takke" in the middle of the room. There was entertainment as well: a tv weather man who spends his vacations in the area told weather stories, local musicians played on the langeleik and the accordion, and an old woman told stories of life on the summer farms in bygone days.
July 10th: Windy, with alternating periods of sun and violent downpour. Husband started talking of leaving a day or two early. He is getting restless. I however am nowhere near ready to leave. The very thought made me all stressed out. Spent a quiet day though, reading, playing games, writing letters. Got back into my routine of meditation and training sessions with Lucy 3X daily, pluss 2 long walks. On the second walk we passed a herd of cows both coming and going. A Jersey cow showed intense curiosity about Lucy, who got a little worried, but we made it through the herd okay. This afternoon, I took advantage of one of the spells of sunshine to fire up the barbeque. This evening there was a beautiful rainbow. One end of it came down by a rowboat beached just by the end of our fence. I could have gone there to look for the pot of gold.
July 11th: It is decided. We will be leaving tomorrow. Today dawned with lovely sunny weather, and absolutely calm. Though we could see clouds in the west, they were high in sky, promising a day of partly sunny, partly cloudy weather. Since we had to drive through the toll gate anyway to get water, we took the opportunity to hike along the Bygdin Lake.
To get water I called at the kitchen door at Bygdin Fjellkro. An unfriendly woman who manages the kitchen was less than gracious about the water, though she did fill our container part way. She may be a good cook, and is surely able to keep her staff in line, but her service mindedness was sadly absent.
Lucy seemed a bit footsore, though it might be that she is less inspired when on leash, carrying a pack, along a dirt road. She seems to much prefer the mountain paths. Below are pictures from the hike along Bygdin Lake.
July 11th: It is decided. We will be leaving tomorrow. Today dawned with lovely sunny weather, and absolutely calm. Though we could see clouds in the west, they were high in sky, promising a day of partly sunny, partly cloudy weather. Since we had to drive through the toll gate anyway to get water, we took the opportunity to hike along the Bygdin Lake.
To get water I called at the kitchen door at Bygdin Fjellkro. An unfriendly woman who manages the kitchen was less than gracious about the water, though she did fill our container part way. She may be a good cook, and is surely able to keep her staff in line, but her service mindedness was sadly absent.
Lucy seemed a bit footsore, though it might be that she is less inspired when on leash, carrying a pack, along a dirt road. She seems to much prefer the mountain paths. Below are pictures from the hike along Bygdin Lake.
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