Day 61 – 27 Aug, Royrvik to Skorovatn

(43 km, total 1553 km, 9h 15m , 0940 to 1855)

I woke up a little before my alarm so enjoyed a little lie in. I packed away my tent and then had a nice hot shower and went to the restaurant for breakfast. The manager was cooking and gave me bacon and eggs with thick toast, a small salad and a huge orange juice. I made the most of the last big meal for a while.
After breakfast I finished packing paid for my room and meals and it was less than I expected. I noticed one meal was missing so went back and paid for that but still very reasonable price for Norway.

I left my pack there and walked down to the post office to mail the last resupply package of the trip to Brekken which I should reach in around 10 days.

I picked up my pack and headed for the petrol station to get an ice cream for the road but they only opened at 1000 and I did not want to wait so I started walking.

The mist from earlier had burnt off and it was a lovely day with lots of blue sky and the sun was out. It still wasn’t warm so I had my wind jacket on for the first hour. I knew today would be tough being 42km on tar seal so I started at an easy pace. A guy doing something with a trailer and equipment I could not identify stopped for a quick chat and knew what NPL was.

My chest was feeling a bit congested but I was not coughing.
The road followed the west side of Limingen Lake, the 8th biggest in Norway.

At the end of the lake was a junction and I turned left onto a smaller sealed road. There was very little traffic on this road which was nice.

The road climbed over a hill then dropped down to a lake and it got cold so on with the jacket and gloves again. A woman came past on a cycle and stopped to talk, though this was difficult with my lack of Norwegian and her lack of English. An hour later it was warm again so jacket and gloves off.

Now the road followed the edge of the lake for a long long time. When I thought I must be coming close to the 30km mark I was starting to feel the effects of the road. My legs felt tired and when I stopped I stiffened up quickly, similar to when starting the hike back in June. I was feeling slight twinges in my shins and the arches of my feet. I was managing this with lots of stretching.

Not long afterwards I saw a sign saying I had come 28km and there was 14 to go. Nice to have made progress but 14km was still a long way.

By this time it had started to cloud over and at 1630 it started raining. My hopes of the first day without rain in three weeks was gone. As there was no wind I was able to use my umbrella which made it more pleasant, rather than the rain beating on my hood I was able to keep the hood off and keep dry.

At one point a lady stopped her car and got out to open the boot for me to put my pack in and get a ride. I tried to explain why I couldn’t but I am not sure if she understood. She was talking a lot in Norwegian. I think she got that I needed to walk and I think she then offered to take my pack but I am a purist and keep my pack with me at all times. It was nice of her to offer.

The rest of the walk was in the rain and finally the road turned away from the big lake. It passed lots of smaller lakes before climbing.

The houses became more frequent and it was actual farmland in parts with sheep behind fences. The sheep were still wearing bells.

Community rubbish station

Slowly the trees reduced and the swamps increased and I could see the hills changing to barren rocky terrain. I could see a sign ahead and it indicated I had now come 42km from Royrvik.

From the sign it was a walk down a hill and finally to the town. At the town sign was a red squirrel. I stopped and watched for a while. We do not have squirrels in New Zealand so they are a novelty for me. As I kept walking there was roughly a squirrel every 50 meters for the next 250 meters. After seeing no wildlife today now I was happy.

At the bottom of the hill in the town itself was a statue of a bear which I couldn’t resist taking some selfies then I turned left.

There was a shop there but it was closed. The hours seemed to be 1200 to 1700 so a small window. I started heading up the hill and stopped at a stream to fill up my camping water.

Not far along I saw what looked to be a large abandoned building which had an entry way that was sheltered and still dry. Conveniently it looked the perfect size for my tent and I decided to camp there. It would be a nice luxury to camp under shelter. My tent did fit and I was happy to have the extra poles to allow the self supporting option so I could camp where pegs would not work.

As I was having dinner two very wet looking hikers dropped down a bank in front of me. They were heading home and their car was parked beside the building. The guy said this used to be a community centre with a pool before it closed. They didn’t seem concerned about me camping here which I was happy with.
I settled in for the night with aching legs and happy to be back on a trail tomorrow.

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