Wednesday May 20th 2015 Hundorp, farm hostel Sygard Grytting 22 km.

Sunny?

Sign at the driveway to my hostal

Driveway decorated with bike and…

art!

7:26 pm I’m sitting out here in an old wooden barn, on the covered balcony on the second floor, to write my blog. The accommodation is unheated. True pilgrims must suffer. And I’m not a real pilgrim, only if it fits me. It’s cold and I’ve buckled Tosca on her blanket. She is lying next to me on a dry wooden floor. If I go to sleep she gets the blanket to lie on outside. I sleep on a bed in my sleeping bag. In my bedroom are hanging many tanned sheepskins, so if I’m getting too cold, I know how to help myself.
How was the day? The weather remains a key issue. It was sunny, nice walking temp. And so I was in a fantastic mood. Nature was beautiful, with waterfalls (photos), forest trails, through sheep pastures.

In Ringebu I pinned money, bought a battery charger and went to the train station, because I had heard that there was wifi. While enjoying cake (always here with marzipan) and my caffein  doping I worked a bit at my blog. Otherwise, after a few days I will have lost track. Especially with regard to the pictures. Putting those pictures in the blog takes an eternity. It kept me busy for 1.5 hours. Tosca waited impatiently outside, under a large umbrella, occasionally barking, possible to keep warm. Meanwhile it started to rain again.
Every Norwegian I speak about the weather, tells me, that normally it does not rain so much. That in summer it even is necessary to spray the lawn and the fields. Then I think that home I wanted a Norwegian grass roof on my garage, but in the Netherlands a green roof needs more rainwater than we get in the Netherlands and in my country it rains a lot. I think that irrigation in Norway might be necessary because its layer of soil is very thin over the rocky underground and dries very quickly.
I met the first couple of hikers on the whole Olav Route of the last 10 days. (Photo). Two Czechs, who wanted to visit the Dovre high altitude plain. Because of the deep snow they have now changed their plan and walk a number of stages of the Olavsweg, but in the opposite direction. Pity. This lonely cowboy went on again.

At the Frya church it happened again: “An exception though, this cold spring.” All right then, bad luck on my part . Far away, near the village of Frya, I saw a gas station, my safe haven for lunch and also the opportunity to call for a place to sleep tonight in Hundorp. I was welcome this evening and I will be the only one. O.K., nice thing about being alone is that I can do what I want, but I had imagined this route to be a little cozier, more social. The village is named after the river Frya. If I remember correctly Frya is one of the Germanic gods, after which our Friday is named. I believe she also had something to do with love. Thursday is derived from the Germanic god Thor, who was accompanied with thunder and lightning, I’ve learned in the past.
Near Forrest the Olav route was diverted. There a tunnel is being constructed. The route now is rearranged in a way that one has to walk darn much straight up and  of course later just as much downhill again. Very steep  down by soggy sheep pastures that should be dry, because those always must be sprayed a lot in normal summers(?), only this year they happen to be very wet. Kiss my donkey! I just walk straight on, not following the advised detour, nice and flat, crossing the tunnel works, between draglines and I bet that I will get there too. I found out, but how. To avoid the tunnel-at-construction I had to walk on the E 6. That’s the big main two-lane highway, which runs from South to North Norway. On one side of the road is the vertical mountain side, on the other side the steel rail, to prevent you from landing 10 or 20 meters downhill. Now I was well accustomed to this situation with Leon, my ex, the pony. So we chose the safe way. And that was outside the guardrail. The trucks whizzed 1 m. passed me.

We walked halfway down the slope. I kept up the good spirits by fooling myself, telling myself, how nice the sun was shining, how delicious the flowers smelled, that I didn’t have to walk up and down, as compared to climbing over the mountain, how much my walking improved in those months and with the thought that this stretch would last only 4 or 5 km. What a delight!
Not long afterwards I see the sign of my hostel. An old bicycle and a piece of art in the driveway attract my attention (photos).
The landlord leads me to my accommodation, a centuries old barn, as mentioned above. He said that I also could sleep in his house, but besides that it is much more expensive, his house is packed with family, because yesterday his father was buried. I wanted to show commitment. How old was the father? Did it happen suddenly? But, with a stranger, he was not familiar. He quickly went back to his visitors. Until tomorrow morning 8 am., we agreed and we will continue our conversation, he said.
The sun is coming out. It’s 8 o’clock in the evening. I’m having dinner with dog Tosca, make some calls and then go to bed early. That’s it for now.