Translated with DeepL
Today was a real pleasure. I was only looking forward to the day to a limited extent because a lot of rain had been forecast. The threatening clouds in the morning did not inspire me with hope either. In the end, however, most of them passed me by, only my tent got wet at night. It only rained a few times and I even had a lot of wonderfully warm sunshine in the afternoon. I took my time today, dawdling in many places in the best possible way, starting with a long lie-in.
I knew from four weeks ago that there had been lots of wild strawberries along this stretch of road. But would they still be there, or would they have dried out and gone mouldy? The first stretch of road yesterday definitely had significantly fewer berries. Not the stretch today. I helped myself to handfuls of wild strawberries - and they were on the perfect side of the border between overripe and rotten. Sweet, slightly sour and some of them were surprisingly big. I wanted to save a few for later and, in the absence of another container, replaced the part of my peanut butter that I had already eaten with strawberries. I then enjoyed the combination of strawberries and peanut butter a few hours later.
I knew from my previous explorations that I would have hardly any internet on the route. That’s why I stopped at the corner where the probability of a stable connection would be highest. Two bars of 5G, that’s more than enough to call grandma and grandpa. I enjoy shocking grandma with my outdoor cooking habits: eating and drinking everything directly from the pot, only scraping it out and rinsing it from time to time. I don’t have a sponge with me. While I’m telling my grandparents, the sun comes out for the first time. I enjoy a leisurely lunch in the sun and talk to my grandparents for a long time on the phone. I tell them about the wild strawberries I stumbled across in the tall grass on the way to the rock that serves as my lunch table. When I’m actually ready to continue, I decide to call Tobias “just for a moment”. I miss him, and when I can at least take him with me on the phone, I feel a little more at home on the road. I take him with me for almost the next 300 metres in altitude (in between I give up talking because it gets too steep) until the connection breaks.
In the absence of people, the landscape is my best companion after lunch. I had changed my route on Jon’s (the motorcyclist who had invited me for coffee) recommendation: he recommended the Vassfaret Nature Reserve to me - it is said to be particularly beautiful. “Like in Canada,” he said. I can’t judge that, but I’m definitely enjoying the landscape very much. Lots of rivers, lakes, beautiful paths and everything bathed in an increasingly friendly evening light.
Possibly less enjoyable were a few kilometres of pushing my bike and lifting it over stones, sticks and the like just before the end. That was really exhausting, especially when it went steeply uphill. But I’m crazy enough to enjoy it, which adds to the pleasure of the day - and I arrive wonderfully exhausted. It’s also nice to realise that I feel fit again. I had actually tried to take it easy again today, but my route had other plans. Not to forget: if you have to push, it’s easier to pick blueberries.
I arrived at the beautiful Fønhuskoia cabin, where I had been three weeks ago. It is architecturally beautiful and picturesquely situated above a lake. It is even more beautiful in the sun than it was in the rain last time. I really enjoy my swim in the lake; the water here is much clearer and colder than the water from yesterday evening. For dinner, while I’m writing these lines, I’m having the same couscous, soya bolognese and carrot mixture as yesterday, this time with sauerkraut on the side. It tastes particularly good with my ravenous hunger.
On bear-like berry days like this, I don’t ask myself why I’m doing this trip.
