An early start to the day revealed the weather still to be against us. Although the wind had died down considerably and the snow had abated, the wind speed was still around 10 m/s. It was clear we were not going to be travelling to another hytte today, not only because of the weather, but also because of Seans as yet untried equipment and his lack of experience at cross country skiing. I myself certainly consider no expert either and, although my third visit to the Hardangervidda, I still consider myself a novice and will always defer to the advice of those more learned then I. First things first though, breakfast! Once again, the hytte excels in keeping the traveller well fed, happy and content with a buffet to suit all tastes. In fact anyone who isn't happy with the food they serve here is one of those people that can never be pleased.
So, after our hearty breakfast we seek out Andreas, the resident guru in all things wintery. His advice is to take a trip up to Appelsinhytta which is situated on the Hardangerjøkulen. A short round trip to give Sean a chance to get used to the equipment and have a little practice at his technique. One quirky practice at Finsehytta is that if you are only booking a night at a time, you have to book out before 11am and you are not then able to book in again until 3pm. I'm not sure why they do this, maybe because if the weather improves, people who have booked in in the morning might suddenly disappear to other places, leaving them with booked rooms but no occupants. We duly paid up, sorted our gear and prepared for our journey.
After a couple of unsteady steps, Sean very quickly got into the rhythm of cross country skiing and really impressed me! The first part of the journey was pretty much continuously uphill, the most physical aspect to cross country skiing, and he was managing it wonderfully. I take a little credit for my ski waxing abilities though!! ;)
The wind was still quite strong but, due to the lack of snow, visibility was excellent. The wind had the effect of making it appear you are wading through some magical/mysterious fluid that is washing over your feet and skis like some sort of unstoppable force, almost as if it had been doing this since the begining of time and would continue to do so until eternity. It really is quite beautiful! As we pushed on, we were pleased to catch up and overtake several groups, which did no end of good to boost Sean's confidence, and mine too I suppose, as it was good to see Sean taking to the skis so well.
We eventually arrived at Appelsinhytta only to find there were infact no apples there! Not one!! Not only that, but at the very least we were expecting a Dulux apple white type finish to the exterior, but no! In fact, Appelsinhytta means orange hut in Norwegian, something that never ceases to amuse me. I always have this picture of British and Norwegian sailors meeting each other at sea and exchnging goods and fresh fruit, with the meaning of apples and oranges getting lost somewhere in translation. Anyway, the hut neither contained oranges, nor was painted orange!
We got into the hut out of the wind and had our lunch of sandwiches made at breakfast as well as an obligatory Kvikk Lunsj and a cup of hot chocolate. We had a few housemates with us, a family of Swedes to start with and then a steady stream of Norwegians. It actually wasn't much warmer inside the hut, but it was at least out of the wind.
After our refreshments, we once again donned our skis and heade back down toward Finse. This was the difficult part of the journey for Sean as he had been really worried about his snow ploughing technique with skis, not realising that I am not that confident myself! But all went well and we arrived back at Finsehytta in one peice, only to be bathed in sunlight.
It was still very windy though, so we went inside and ditched our skis before heading back out with cameras to make the most of the sunny disposition.
It seemed like the day was improving minute by minute, so we decided we would head straight back out after the 3pm check in time, so we got a few extra hours skiing under our belts.
Our room for the night finds us on the ground floor and we were immediately struck by the difference in the view from the day before.
Once again we have found ourselves in a room for four, but up until now (8pm) we are the sole occupants. Loads of room to sort our gear and, after a quick shower, we made our beds for the night. On this trip I should mention that I have had the first opportunity to use the "Rab" silk sleeping bag liner Hanne bought me. Being a rufty tufty male, and thinking silk is purely the remit of the more gentle feminine side of the species, I was a little dubious as to the suitability of it. But WOW. It was so comfy I can't begin list the benefits of silk! Not too warm, not too cold, and all soft and lovely. The only thing missing was my gorgeous fiancee herself to make it complete! I even have some subdued lighting to set the scene. To complete my bed for the night is a flowery pillowcase that I had as a child, my mother obviously thinking that her son shared her taste for fashion trends! Yes, apparentley it was once fashionable.
Once we had sorted our gear, the weather was so nice, and dinner so far away, that we once again donned our skis and headed into the great white unknown. Sean was going from strength to strength on the flat and uphill, but steep downhills were still a problem for him, as they were for me a little too. I will crack it eventually though, as will he. We continued along the trail to Klemsbu until we saw the weather looking like it was begining to close in again so, discretion being the better part of valour, we turned tail and headed back to Finsehytta where we changed and took a much needed shower. Unfortunately the much needed shower lasted only three minutes, that is all the hot water the token buys!
The above photo is the hotel at Finse, Finse1222. Notice the novel connection between the two partrs of the building, an old railway carriage complete with track.
I also have to share this photo as I am wearing my lovingly handknitted gloves and headband, thank you Hanne!
Tomorrows itineray is still undecided as we wait to see what the weather throws at us. The forecast is encouraging, so fingers crossed.
Ooh, nearly forgot. Dinner tonight was a starter of cream of cauliflower soup followed by salmon with potatoes and veg and then the usual selection of deserts. And on that note I am done for the day.
God natt!
