Day 64 – 30 Aug, 3km East of Snasa to Roktdalen Valley

(28 km, total 1657 km, 7h 30m , 0825 to 0840, 1140 to 1855)

I slept a little better though still woke up a few times. There was a lot of condensation inside my tent again because the wind died away during the night and I was right on the edge of a swamp. As soon as I woke I wiped the tent inside and opened one door as there was a break in the rain. I did not bother with breakfast knowing I would soon have a hot meal but I did have my morning hot chocolate.
I got up and wiped the outside of my tent dry and then packed my pack but as I was finishing it started to rain and my tent got wet again – grrr.

Back on the road the rain stopped again and this was to be the pattern of the day, rain on and off constantly. The longest period of no rain was an hour and the lonest rain was about 20 minutes.
I only had 2 km to the intersection where I would leave the trail to head to Snasa. Only 500 meters past this intersection a car stopped for me and I got a ride the 2.5km to Snasa. The lady who picked me up said she saw me walk by yesterday. They were brining in the cut grass and were relieved they got it done yesterday before the rain.

I was slightly early for the supermarket so I just read and within 10 minutes the supermarket was open. I was surprised how many people were waiting for the supermarket to open considering how small the town was.

I was shopping for a 7 day section and was being generous with the food given how hungry I have been. In the supermarket entrance there was a table and chairs and I sat down and started sorting out the food and repackaging or mixing to prepare meals. There was so much food I cannot fit my tent inside my pack and it now has to sit on top.
Several old men arrived one by one waiting for the cafe to open and they sat around watching me, commenting in Norwegian. It felt funny to be the centre of attention and talked about without knowing what was being said, though I was pretty sure they were just bemused by what I was doing.

I finished just after the cafe opened. At the cafe I ordered the Hamburger and chips with a coffee and topped up the charge on my phone. Now feeling full I was back on the road.

The road was now deserted with only one truck going past so I walked the whole way back to the intersection and turned right. Everywhere I could hear bells as it seemed that every type of animal had a bell around its neck including the pigs, sheep, cows and horses. Definitely not quiet around Norwegian farms.

The road dropped to a bridge over a very flooded looking river and climbed up the other side.

Just around the corner from the top was my turnoff. It felt strange to be walking on what seemed a private farm track without the owners permission but this is Norway where the right to roam anywhere is ingrained. I walked past the farm buildings and along a farm track for a while before it entered the forest and headed up hill.

I had two different versions of maps for my turn off. My phone application, View Ranger, which was normally more accurate and my paper map. For once my paper map had more detail but the track was correct on View Ranger. As I did not trust that the track would actually exist I took a 4wd track for 2km then bush bashed (travel through forest without track or markers) up a stream for 500 m hoping to join the track or if not there was a pond another 300 meters on which I could use to then navigate were I needed to go.

Thankfully there was a track and I was impressed with it. I think maybe 5 years ago it was a popular and well maintained track but since then has been left without maintenance and with very little traffic. In most places it was clear where the track was going but it was a little overgrown.

The track wound though the sparse trees still heading up hill then entered a thicker patch of trees and started dropping passing a large lake on both sides and then skirting the edge of several swamps, though the track was surprisingly not as boggy as many I have been on in similar terrain.

The vegetation has been changing as I am getting further south and there were a lot of pine type trees and the beech trees were a lot bigger than I have seen previously. I was worried that there were not blueberries but as I started descending I found a few patches to collect my breakfast allocation and snack on then.

All to soon I came to the end of the fun track and was on a gravel road. I had 5km of the gravel road but it was nice scenery and no cars.

I was on the lookout for Elk (Moose) as there were lots of tracks on the road and I had been told there were lots in this area. Unfortunately tracks were all I saw.

As the road dropped down I was now surrounded by farmland and farmsteads. The farms seem to be quite small judging by the distance between the farm houses and buildings.

The road turned to seal and it was 4km but this seemed to go much quicker than I expected. I guess the distraction of rain arriving, disappearing and arriving as well as the 5 minutes I am able to stretch out the process of eating a chocolate bar by fully deconstructing it helped.

I turned left, crossed a bridge and there was an information board with information about the national park, nature reserve and local huts. Now I was on a nice gravel road in the trees for the rest of the evening.

At 1820 I stopped at the first stream I had seen. It was a strange colour so I decided to filter it. I was finishing off my first bottle when I heard a pop and suddenly water was spraying everywhere. I was worried it was the filter but it was the dirty water bladder. It had blown at the top by the mouth of the bottle. I was able to hold it and still filter the water, just a lot slower.

Now I walked until just before 1900. I was looking for a place with some wind so my tent would dry out and managed to find a clear spot on a hill. I set the tent up and fluffed around for 10 minutes to let it dry out before unpacking and getting into my night routine.

Dinner is the same thing I will be having every night with the only variation being the packet of sauce I added. It is instant potato, instant sauce of either gravy, cabanara or four cheese. This time I added some dried Lok. I am not sure what it is but it is crunchy and the packet showed it being sprinkled on a hot dog. It had good energy Kj. I also added grated mozzarella and once hot water is added and it is well stirred I added a couple of sachet of Makrel (fish). I finish that off with a hot chocolate and snack during the night on nuts or lollies.

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