Cabins at camping Varphaugengard where I had lunch
From R to L: Peruvian, camping boss, Norwegian wife and le roi c’est moi
Again for friend Hans and his neighbour Sjef in Wahlwiller
Road sign at tree hardly visible. Next picture close up
View point near cross
Looks like Brittish Colombia, Canada
Where are the frolicking otters and beavers?
A site to go back to some day
The dangerous female hero, a kind of Joan of Arc
Rendeermoss, the entire slope
Pausing in an old ski gondola
A mess inside the ski gondola. Who cares??
Very steep: cool, chilling
Hard track
I’m not a mountain goat!
But also nice views and pretty good weather
The route is very heavy. Upon arriving at camping Varphaugengard I order some food and drinks. A perfectly English speaking young man addresses me. I say you do not have a Norwegian accent. No, he says, I am from New Zealand and I come here now working the 4th summer. Chill, man! But he was too busy with his work for chatting.
Next Tosca and I slept good and quiet in our cabin. Like at many other places there were no curtains, but that is not essential. There was a brandnew kettle for heating water, still in plastic. I unpacked it of course. The electric cord is still missing. Still I want to make my soup. Then let’s have a look at the camping social room. Indeed: a waterboiler. Which I brought to my cabin and made the 4 cups of soup, as was indicated on the package. Smaller packages were not available. The main meal was a pre-packaged kind of caesar salad. For desert I had bought some goodies. Some pudding, I thought. But it turned out (curse) to be a kind of tsatziki sauce. Then I better cover my imperial salad with this sauce. In any case it covered my big calorie needs. The remainder of the sauce is good for tomorrow.
Rain was predicted but it stayed dry all day. Another magnifique route, only huge hills, tall and steep up and down. And many fences with ladders. Tosca, please girl, learn to cross it yourself. I do not want each time to get tired and dirty by lifting your 30 kilos. And being strict with her had good result: now she can do it on her own. What a woman. Every male partner dog of her should be happy.
I make a few landscape pictures, a few pictures of the many Yvonne-roads (for insiders). The masses moose droppings I photograph once more. Either there are a lot of elk/moose, or the few out there are running continuously shitting in front of me. The latter might be possible, however, because Tosca is very excited. She drags me up the steepest slopes, continually excited by all this fictional game. One deer I’ve seen. Do I release Tosca, she’ll run 100 m. to the left, downhill and 100 m. to the right to hunt uphill on the rocks and I do not understand how she and her soles can stand it.
We walk a short distance on the walkway along the highway, right next to the river. It reminds me of the river Durance in Provence, close to which my French brother in law Philippe was born. Durance is the only French River, which is unchanneled from source to mouth. But this river here is neither channeled. Beautiful sand beds, where I imagine frolicking otters and beavers. That is a fine attribute of man and of me: What doesn’t exist one can just imagine. Can be easy.
The landlady also interfered with us and explained that their place had been inhabited for already 800 years or so. I suggested to come back some other time and then I’d hear all the details..
Lunch at camping VarphaugengardAnd then … and then God created a kiss, my wife Sonja often quotes, committing, sometimes, the action to the word. I took a picture of a memorial above the road, the image of Pillarguri. The year 1612: The Norwegians were at war with the Swedes. A contingent Scottish mercenaries were on the way to Sweden to join with Swedish side. The Norwegian peasant army decided to provoke the Scots into an ambush in Kringen, the narrowest part of the valley (photo). The young girl Pillarguri lured the savage Scots into the valley, where they were massacred by the arrows of the Norwegians. What lesson do we learn from this? Never go behind too young girls. For our late Haike Battice, Mechelen, well known in and around the Dutch village of Mechelen, said about this topic: who wants to go too early to the blossom, only sees buttons!
I was, as already generated over Norway: beautiful country, beautiful scenery, good infrastructure, no problems with accommodation. So, today I’ll try to get as far as possible. Beyond Otta to Wildebik 3 km. extra . After Sel. There is a campsite that is open year-round, according to my book, but you have to cook yourself. Well, then first doing some shopping in Otta, a call to the campsite, it’ll take me about 30 min. to get there. And fix und fertig. Nobody answers. No problem, I just go there. Along the way to be sure I asked a passer by. Oh no, the site is closed. Holy s…. Then I’ll call the next campsite, 5 more km. Do you speak English? No, he says. I ask anyway: are you open? Again “no”. Man, drop dead. Then a third attempt to another camp site . No reaction. O.K., the latter was too far anyway. Well, then I’ll go to that closed camping I can always, despite the cold, put up my tent. With Tosca next to me I’ll be fine against the cold. Only, I can not put my pizza in the oven. Implies that tomorrow I’ll have to carry that pizza along all day. I wasn’t very enthousiastic the rest of today’s hike.
I arrived at the camping place. Nobody there. All morbid. Nevertheless I checked all the cabins to see if one happened to be unlocked. I can always sleep in my tent. Bad luck. Everything locked. Next checking all the barracks that they call “motel”. Waaaw, open! Yeaaah, lucky bastard. Single bed, double bed, blankets, with or without quilt, towel, shower, kitchen. All over the barrack in which were many rooms the heating on. As I entered, I saw 75 m. away someone walking the dog. Of course that person might call the manager, telling him that some miscreant is sneaking around his barracks. Bit uneasy. On verra. They can not leave me outside tonight and paying (if any!) can also be done afterwards.
Here they clearly worked hard to get everything in order for the summer opening. Now I can do two things: sneak away tomorrow very early in the morning, or tomorrow, just take it easy and leave when I’m finally ready and hope that nobody comes, because tomorrow is Saturday. Again, we’ll see. In any case, I’ll take a quick shower, because yesterday I had to pay 5 E and I thought that was too much And going to bed early. Just one more week and then sister Francien will accompany me for one week. She is my oldest and youngest sister at once, because I have only one. In Nijmegen where we studied, we have lived in the same apartment for years, so we could pay attention to each other. Therefore it all worked out in our lives. Both about equally happy. Is anotyher story, just for a chenge, than the Peer Gynt story. Rest in peace.
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