18/06/08 - Hunting for Trolls

We are stopped in a rest area with the intent of soaking up the last
of the sun whilst BBQing a 1kg marinated pork chop for dinner. Daniel
says that it may be cooked by tomorrow!

It is a special day today because it is 5 years to the day that Daniel
had twisted, nervous stomach all morning because of a lunchtime date
he had with a pretty young lady. The same day Marea fell asleep in an
afternoon meeting because her lunchtime cider, and more importantly
the first date of many, was so enjoyable ;-)

This morning we drove to the town of Åndalsnes with the express
purpose of finding a long walk for today. We were directed to
Isfjorden, where we followed the Grøvdalen Valley Road. With no idea
what we were in for, or even where we were really going, we packed
lunch and snacks, water and of course warm clothes.
And we needed them all! It was six hours before we got home and we'd
hiked through rain forest, beside a mountain river, over a swing
bridge, over rocks, over snow and up to frozen, snow covered mountain
lakes. The sun shone, the rain fell, it got freezing cold and then, as
we descended, it became a clear blue sky day again.
Between the three of us we saw, a badger, a frog, a cool blue beetle,
a deer and a nesting mountain bird. Its nest was in the rocks in the
middle of our path and along with the absence of any other footprints
in the snow meant we might have been the first hikers on that trail
this year.

Apparently it is Norway which may have been Tolkin's inspiration and
right now we are in Troll country, so Daniel insisted we check out the
Trollstigen ("The Troll's ladder'') , and not just from the bottom.
With 11 hairpins, it was pretty hairy for old Pat both up and down.
There is now a bridge across the very dangerous Stigefossen waterfall
but in centuries past, many men and beasts were lost over this
waterfall and the old packhorse route, which you can still scramble up
today.

After dinner we also checked out Trollveggen -the troll wall. This is
the largest vertical cliff face in Europe, It wasn't climbed until
1965 and is considered the ultimate challenge for Norwegian rock
climbers. The wall is 5500 feet, with 3000 vertical metres and a 150
foot overhang. Awesome!