Dit zijn de afstanden die er per dag gefietst zijn. Dag 4 was de rustdag.Dag 5 en 6 waren de dagen dat we rond hebben gereden in de Veluwe zonder bagage.
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Norway Summer - Day 6 : Romantic dinner
In the morning it was cloudy but dry. My two pair of socks were both damp, just like my shoes. Today would be a long day through a remote and quite mountainous area, before I would reach another cabin. First I walked uphill along a river. Then I crossed the mountain ridge, which was a very tough climb and because the route wasn't clearly marked I had to navigate a lot. Apart from the bad weather this area looked much like my hike in Greenland. Climbing was difficult but the view on top definitely made up for it.
On top was a lot of snow and many lakes I had to circumnavigate. This made hiking almost a puzzle. Then the long way downhill started, leading to a large lake. Of course it was drizzling most of the time. I noticed the first mountain cabin in the distance, the second was a few kilometers further removed. I had planned to sleep there tonight.
It took over an hour to reach the first cabin and I was pretty tired. I decided to take an unplanned break there, not knowing that would be one of the best decisions I made the entire trip. The cabin was reasonably large with many small huts around it. There were no other guests and only one lady to 'man' the front desk. She asked if I wanted to stay the night but I hadn't decided yet. I inquired about the weather and it turned out it would rain like hell the next day. I asked what the price was to stay with a tent. Apparently there wasn't really a campsite so I could stay anywhere for free. I was also allowed to shower for 2 euros and could join for dinner tonight if I wanted.
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I was about halfway through my vacation and really wanted to dry some clothes before heading into the rain again, so decided to stay. I pitched my tent somewhere behind the cabins. While pitching my tent one of its poles broke, I think the sections had come apart a bit, because they were nearly indestructible otherwise. Fortunately, I carried a repair segment, a slightly larger metal tube that could be slid over the broken section. That worked surprisingly well. I headed back to shower and met the other woman working there. I had only been hiking for a few days and wore warm and waterproof clothes, but the feeling of a hot shower after 4 days of walking nearly non-stop through the cold and rain was indescribable. Completely happy and relaxed I came out of the bathrooms and walked into the living area. The lady from the front desk had just finished preparing dinner and had made enough for me to join. I walked into the dining room where a hot Norwegian girl was setting the table. She turned out to be the daughter of one of the ladies. The evening just kept getting better and better. We ate spaghetti with meatloaf, a salad with dressing, bread, and a lot of wine.
Dinner was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed talking about hiking and Norway. The lady from the frontdesk turned out to live in a nearby village and worked in the cabin every summer. The other lady and her daughter worked in a hospital in Oslo. After finishing a second mountain of food they asked if I wanted to eat more. I tried to be polite and said no, but apparently wasn't very convincing. After 3 full plates I had enough, then the ice with chocolate sauce were brought out. After eating two servings of those I didn't dare to ask for a third one, but was also pretty full. This really was a great evening. Around 22:00 we all went to bed. The lady only charged 10 euros for the shower, camping, 3 full plates of food and 2 desserts. It rained the entire night, but fortunately my tent stayed upright despite the broken pole.