Day 70 – 5 Sep, Storerikvollen Hut to 3km E of Stugudalen

(35 km, total 1849 km, 8h 20m, 0910 to 1730)

I slept quite well but had a vivid dream about having to pack for an Army deployment in a hurry and missing my plane – very random.

I woke at 0700 and lay there for a while as it was too early to get up. Finally at 0730 I got up and packed most of my things before heading to the dining room for breakfast.

It was an impressive spread with Porridge, a whole lot of salads, cheeses meats, bread, cereals, coffee and orange juice. I had two servings of porridge and a couple of sandwiches stuffed full of things. Then I made a couple of sandwiches for lunch and wrapped them in the paper provided. It actually ends up good value,for Norway, staying here given you get three good meals, plus the accommodation and shower. For all that I paid 850 kr (NZD 160). At breakfast the conversation was mainly in English so I could participate and I had a good chat with a young Swedish couple. She was an experienced hiker and he was just starting to learn about hiking and seemed to be enjoying it.
I had a final chat with the guy who was supervising the construction crew fixing the roof and was off at the leisurely time of 0910.

As I expected the trail was in very good condition, similar to a New Zealand Great Walk. There was boardwalk over all of the swamp and the trail was wide and clear of obstacles for the most part.

I was feeling full of energy and, except for the repeated coughing to clear my lungs, felt strong.

I caught up to the older Swedish Ladies as we were crossing a long bridge over a river at the end of the lake.

From there it was a steady gentle climb. The track was different to the one I had marked on my map but I was staying with the main track. There were heaps of tracks on he hillside but the lovely main track was good walking. The track stayed high above the lake and was mainly dry.

I missed 1800 km in the rain so celebrated 1820 instead

The hut 3i came from was in sight for over 10km. This is great when leaving but must be fustrating when heading towards the hut at the end of a long day.

It seemed really quick when I reached a sign showing I was half way to the next hut. 3 hours 50 minutes for 12 km and I didn’t even feel like I was pushing the pace.

Not long after the sign the trail started dropping to a river and I was very surprised there was no bridge. I was able to rock hop across keeping my feet dry over both the channels.

Now it was a steeper climb and I met 4 guys with British accents, but could have been Swedish as I have noticed several of them speak with a slightly British accent when speaking English. We talked for about 5 minutes. Two of them were doing a east to west traverse of Norway and the other two were doing a 6 day circuit.

At the next big stream I crossed I had one of my sandwiches. It was so nice having fresh bread and different filling to my normal cheese and salami. I had wrapped some pickled gherkin and really enjoyed the vinegar tang.

After a bit more climbing it flattened out and I saw two people coming towards me. As they approached they called out “Hello Restless Kiwi”. It turns out they, Staffan and Marie, have been following my blog and had also read the Te Araroa Blog. They are frequent visitors to New Zealand and have section hiked the majority of the Te Araroa which is an amazing achievement. They have even done New Zealand hikes that I have not and gave some recommendations. It was fantastic to meet people who knew what I was doing and they were so supportive of what I have done. They understood why I was doing it which most people don’t get. They have done several very long hikes so understand the difference between a short one week hike and thru hiking. Conversely I was very impressed at what they had done hiking wise and they had even written some hiking books, including one of the area we are in. I would have loved to have more time to speak with them but after over 30 minutes it was starting to get cold and when another lady turned up I carried on. I hope they enjoy the rest of their hike.

New Friends; Staffan and Marie

While we were talking there were several people who went past heading north, including two men and a Poodle who 10 minutes later then walked back past us going south. There was one group of three ladies heading south. I quickly caught and passed them and then passed the two men and a Poodle. I was really flying now and having a blast.

I came down a small hill to a stream and met a Swedish lady who asked if I was the New Zealand Hiker. She had been talking to Staffan and Marie. This lady had a great sense of humour and I enjoyed our short chat. She had been staying in tents, very rare here where everyone is going hut to hut. She was on a 6 day hike and had survived some horrible weather.

I continued on and it was a fairly steep downhill all the way to Nedalshytta Hut, another 65 bed super hut.

I went inside and ordered a reindeer burger and a waffle with a coffee. I figured this would be an early dinner.
While waiting for it to arrive the Swedish Lady arrived and we continued our conversation. We were talking about the silly things we do and learn from while hiking. The food arrived and the waffle was huge, twice the size of what I had at the last place, and the burger was big as well. I enjoyed both. As I was finishing the Swedish Lady, she told me her name but as usual I forgot, left to continue walking. She was heading East back into Sweden.

I felt full after the food but was happy and continued on. I followed a gravel road for 1.5 km looking for the trail on the right but did not find it. As I was feeling a bit lethargic from my full stomach I did not want to bush bash so I stayed on the road knowing the trail crossed the road a bit later on and I could try and pick it up then.

When I got to that point there was a sign. I was very tempted to stay on the road as it was easy walking and I was feeling lazy. I also was enjoying having dry feet. There was a battle going on in my mind over this but finally I made the decision to take the track and I am glad I did as it was lovely. It was back to the normal standard track (very faint and rough), but there was a track for most of it and the stone marking was good.

Because it was rocky I was able to jump from rock to rock over most of the swamps and keep my feet dry. I was loving the riot of colour on the ground. It is definitely autumn now and the plants are changing colour. The blueberry plants are turning red and there other plants turning yellow or orange. It looks like the hills are on fire with the strong colours. I was really enjoying the trail and the scenery.

The lake where the town is came into view and I decided to camp up on the hill with the amazing views rather than drop down into the trees. I knew this was a risk as the wind had been rising but I was in a rocky area and found some big rocks to hold my pegs in. Surprisingly I had no trouble getting pegs into the ground.

I ate the second sandwich for a late dinner and enjoyed watching the sunset turn the hills and lake orange, very happy with a neat day of good trail, good food and great people.

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