Corona Diaries, Part four, April 8 - 10

Wednesday, April 8th
Day 27

Hunnedalen again - at last!

So, it’s been over a month since we had been there and we were so excited to sit in the car this morning headed for Hunnedalen. The weather was not spectacular but it didn’t matter at all. We call Inge Marton as we passed Byrkjedalstunet and he was ready to meet us, he just had to deliver a few lambs first.

The walls of snow from plowing the roads was over a meter high at the parking lot, the snow was hard enough to walk on, and we were looking forward to spending the day here. We unpacked the car and left a pile of stuff for Inge Marton to pick up while we put on our skis and headed up. We had brought our skis down a month ago to go to Knaben with Thorhild and Aadne, but never got that far. The higher up we went towards the cabin the more snow there was. As we approached the cabin Inge Marton was already on his way up.





The cabin was totally snowed in on the porch side, with a pile of snow almost up to the roof of the porch. It is so interesting to see now the snow blows and makes formations as it falls.

Behind the cabin, the snow had drifted above the height of the roof and we could look down to where the living room windows are.

It's hard to believe how much snow had fallen since we were last here.





We had a long chat with Inge Marton after the boxes were unloaded, and finally asked him inside for a cup of coffee. He won’t turn down a cup of coffee and a chat as long as he has time for it, and today he had plenty of time. It’s amazing to listen to him and all the stories he has to tell. That man is an institution.

After he left, Knut used several hours clearing the porch of snow while I unpacked all the stuff and started assembling what I could of the furniture for the porch. I unpacked the rest, folded all the cardboard boxes flat and stowed away the unassembled parts. By then, Knut was pretty much done with the porch, and we put on our skis to go look at the conditions around the lake.




There was so much snow that everything was flat and well covered. All the boulders, rocks and other unevenness of the mountain sides were flattened out and the skiing was a breeze.

Still we didn’t know how the winds had been during all the snowfall and we took it pretty easy, always checking for cracks, snowdrifts and sudden falls. We went on the lake and it also looked quite safe as long as we stayed away from streams going in and out of the lake. We didn’t have that much time and only went around to the end of the lake.




We headed home again, looking forward to the days when we can come up and spend as many days as we want up here.



Thursday, April 9th
Day 28

Easter 2020 is officially here. I never thought we’d be sitting in Sandnes on what they call Maundy Thursday. Strange name. Oh well.

Today the weather was a bit better and we decided to take revenge on Skrussfjellet and take the entire hike. This time the first part of the hike seemed so short, I guess when you’ve already been there before and you’re not freezing cold and wet it is a much more enjoyable experience.

We try again.

Almost half way. Better than last time.

So we got to the crossroad where we turned around on Monday in no time flat. We even saw some rock climbers working on the wall of Skrussfjellet. From the top we could see Oykjafjellet and Høgås to the North and had a panoramic view over the lakes of Lutsi in the west to Bynuten in the East.

The climb towards Skrussfjellet

From the top we followed a construction road down the mountain top almost to Høgås where we turned left and headed for Alsvik again.

Looking over Lutsi lakes

The last section took us through a steep ravine straight down into Alsvik again. Next time we could stay to the North and catch a couple of outlook points and end up right at the parking lot.

Friday, April 10th
Day 29

Today's plan was set. Meet Jone and Olaug to go to Vårlivarden in Hommersåk. It was a sunny and relatively warm morning (7 degrees), not too windy and it seemed like a perfect day for a good hike.

 We drove to Øvre Hetland where we could park at Jone's uncle's cabin which was a good thing because all parking lots are full these days. It was a beautiful trip. I remember going there years ago with Ragnar when the kids were small. There was fog the whole time and we only got a quick glimpse of the view that day. 

Today was totally different. We took several pauses on the way up to soak up some sunshine and enjoy the view. At the top, the clear, crisp air gave us a beautiful view in all directions. 

 

On the way down we found a dry, warm and sunny soft to sit, eat and relax. What a delightful day!

That evening we had another happy hour with Patti and Cornell. This time we made tacos together and has a delicious Mexican dinner. So much fun talking to them for hours on end. Poor guys though, as we finished, rather tipsy from the wine and drinks, Knut and I can just go straight to bed, but they have the rest of the day in front of them!