29th September 2013 - Walk aka Climb

Decided to go up to the top of Skaugumsåsen today to do some walking - Wikipedia here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skaugums%C3%A5sen

Feeling I haven't been doing enough walking while I've been in Norway. While the bike has been working I tend to cycle everywhere I've been so far. To work and back, shopping in town and even longer days out.

Skaugumsåsen is the mountain which stands above Asker in Norway. It is next to Semsvannet, the lake near to my house. It is visible from the front door to the left in the distance.

I have been asked a number of times whether I had been to the top yet. To be honest in the past it just looked too steep to even think about it.

Today I was going to give it a go. I had heard it would be about 1.5 hours. I wasn't too sure of the route to the top so had to rely on the ViewRanger app. again. 

As I got closer to the base off the climb it wasn't exactly obvious where the track was supposed to go, until I saw what looked like a path heading into the trees.I got out one of the walking sticks just in case I needed. As I was setting it up, I saw a small boy come out in front of his dad. Once he saw me, he stopped dead until he caught up.

Oh great. Here I am getting ready to hobble up using a stick and a toddler comes out from where I'm going. Sometimes I feel so out of place not having been brought up here.

I did however need the stick as the ground became steeper and steeper with more and more rubble. For most of the climb it was a scramble where I had to use my hands as well as feet.

Part way up I came across a structure which looked like a notice board. Couldn't see any aerials or power cables and it was painted green. This meant it was either military or they just wanted to hide it in the trees. I did ask a woman coming down what it was but she didn't know either. She was part of a group which included quite small children. Still amazes me how much they do with their youngsters, even small enough to be carried. Not sure I'd want to risk carrying a small person myself, especially as I was having to watch my own footing.

The climb took me about an hour to get to the top. Or what I thought was the top.



I tried to take a panoramic picture but as usual I have trouble seeing which bits I miss. Don't want to retake it too many times as the batteries on the phone were needed to keep the nav app going.

It turned out there were another two bits which were higher, and after taking pictures took me another 30mins.

While I was at the top I seemed to have a memory of being here before. Might have been 10-12 years ago when I was working in the old office for a few days. It was an evening walk with Clare Rew, Andy Thompson and a few others from the office at the time.





At the top, top there was a metal box, attached to a tree, with a visitors book. It had a QR code which I scanned just to see what it was.

Turns out to be an SMS instruction. As the Nexus isn't attached to a Norwegian network I couldn't do anything with it.

On the top there were these 4ft posts about 10 inches across I expect for triangulation surveys, and parents were getting their kids to stand on top while they took pictures. Again amazed.

I didn't hang around too long as I was feeling the sweat getting very cold and because I wasn't sure of the exact route back. There was apparently a gentler route down but it went away from Asker, so rather than risk getting lost in the woods I decided to back track.

It was even harder to go back down. The route back wasn't marked and I had to use the disturbed ground as a guide. Thankfully I still had plenty of light, despite leaving the house at about 1330hrs. I eventually got down. It was almost steep enough to warrant rope descents. The knees were feeling it to be honest.

It wasn't the longest walk I've ever been on, but not bad never the less.



 It is possible to see it at my ViewRanger page. http://my.viewranger.com/track/details/NTQxOTAy

7th September 2013

Well last night I finished off quite a bit of wine and probably didn't do me any favours on the bike ride I did today.

Saturday 7th September 2013

Actually woke up quite late in the morning. 1100 was quite reasonable and I felt bit refreshed than the previous week.

The weather report for the day was good but wasn't taking any chances so packed the new over trousers and waterproof poncho purchased yesterday at XXL.

Probably over did it on the weight side. Approx 15kgs worth of stuff including some small food and 2.5litres of water. I included warm and dry clothes as you never know in the hills.

The plan was to set off on a loop down from Drammen to Svalvik, crossing the fjord to Verksøya and then back up to Drammen, which I'd estimated at approx 50km.

I eventually made it to Drammen at 1300hrs and set off down the left hand side of the Drammen fjørd.

The first few km are still within the outskirts of Drammen and it's not until about 12km that the fjord and trees become visible or prominent.

It was quite sunny and the sweat was stinging my eyes quite badly. I took the helmet off and despite owning it for many years realised that the forehead band came off and I could rinse it. I only had the water from the small bottle on the bike frame so only rinsed it a little bit. There was a sense of relief after rinsing it out and re-applying it.

Just after that I got a puncture. Bugger 13km in and got the first puncture. Doesn't bode well. It didn't take too long to find the hole and get it patched up. As I had the awesome pump it wasn't a hardship to get the pressure back up to normal operating pressure.

It was relatively flat until Svalvik. The temperature was quite warm. The going wasn't what I'd call exceptionally easy, probably due to the excessive weight I was carrying. Trying to get up to touring weight though so wasn't too upset about it.

What I did get upset about was the appalling way that pedestrian and cycle paths just vanished into thin air. Luckily the road wasn't very busy and I could cross to the road again without too much issue.

Picture taken near Svalvik.

At Svelvik I tried to find a place to get some food at a cafe or some such. I couldn't even find a polser shop. In the end I went into a Spar supermarket and bought some apples and a drink, just to keep me going in case I really got stuck.

I got to what is probably the shortest ferry ride I've ever seen. In fact according to Wikipedia it is the shortest in Norway. Actually seems odd they haven't dug a tunnel to replace it yet. It takes about 5 mins to get across but it was only running every 30mins.

I arrived about 15mins before it was due to run so didn't have too long to wait. It cost me 24 NOK for both me and the bike. Not sure of the breakdown as separate.

Once on the other side I thought I'd be able to find some sort of shop/kiosk to buy some food.

The only thing I found was a hill. What a hill it was too. I hadn't looked at the elevation before setting out and didn't know how far up it was going to go.

It was a slog. Lowest gears and just keeping the legs going. 

At what turned out to be about half way up I heard the distinctive notes of an ice-cream van coming from a side road. I crossed the road and joined the queue. I thought it a bit odd that there weren't more kids about. The adults who were there, seemed to be buying multiple packs. After standing for a few minutes I thought I'd better ask if it was actually possible to buy one!

The van was from a company called Hjem-Is.

The man who was dealing with the money told the woman helping that I couldn't. Bugger I thought, leave me standing there in my biking gear on a hot day with my wallet out and not mention that I wouldn't be able to buy one. Just as I was about to set off for the rest of the hill, the woman came out from around the front of the van with an ice-cream in her hand. I was about to offer to pay when she put her finger to her lips and waved me off. I said 'takk' quietly so no one would hear.

I headed up the hill and hid under a bush at the next junction, so that if the van came my way the woman wouldn't get into trouble. Despite the fact it was free it wasn't what I would've bought if I'd had the chance. It was a dry ice-cream sandwich.

As I continued up I was struggling with sweat getting into my eyes. Very bad stinging. I had to stop to wipe my brow clear more regularly than I'd've liked. When I got near the top and onto an actual path I took my helmet off. I assumed the chances of me falling off or being knocked over, going up hill on a path was very small and worth the risk.

By the time I'd got to the top I'd come up about 175m/580ft from sea level.



I took another break at the top and tried to rinse the head band again as I'd have to wear the helmet going down the hill.

At the bottom of the hill I found a petrol station. Luckily they had a toilet where I refreshed my water supplies and gave the head band a thorough rinse. Unfortunately it then fell apart.

I bought a hot-dog as it was now about 1600hrs and I was not a little peckish.

On the road heading back North there were plenty of slowly rising hills and then long drops. On these downhill sections I managed to get up to a max speed of about 46kph. Got passed by lots of older cars which Norwegians only take out in the good weather. Plenty of examples from the US.

I was starting to think I may have taken on more than was wise! Wasn't planning on giving up, just thinking about the pain in the morning.

At one point where the road does a 180 bend round the fjord I decided to take an extended break. On another day if I'd started out earlier I'd've taken a quick dip to cool down.

At this point I thought I only had 15km togo. Oops! Only 5km out.

On the last few kms I was getting more and more tired. The closer I got the worse the path finding got. There was a particularly bad one which went steeply downhill quite a way before I realised it wasn't the correct path but somebody's driveway.

Another one close to Drammen centre indicated that the walking/cycling path would be 5km into the centre. I sent Eileen a message saying I'd easily be in the pub by 1830hrs. As I got closer I didn't see another sign until I ended up in a railway sidings with no obvious route out to continue. Bugger. Not good. I had to back track to the 5km sign and find another route using the main roads instead.

Even once I'd found a set of bike signs they weren't consistent. I eventually had to ask somebody and use The Force.

I only just made it to the pub by 1830hrs. 5.5hrs in total for 38miles.

.
http://my.viewranger.com/track/details/NTA4OTE4 . 

1st September 2013

Quite a weekend.

Friday 30th August 2013.
The plan was to have a BBQ.

I got home after doing some final bit of shopping for the BBQ. I had asked plenty on people but wasn't sure how many would turn up. There were some SE's around who I've taken to calling squints, who were invited. I gave them enough pictures to find the place but you never know with some of them.

After getting home I managed to get a little bit done before the arranged 1800 start. Needn't have worried though as it was at least 1815 before anybody showed up.

The first person to arrive was Kris. Then Ted. After that the squints arrived sans supplies. Bit put out by the fact I needed to supply them with food and some beers. Made them feel guilty the rest of the evening.

Henry turned up with a huge dog. Good 30 inches tall. Put the wind up a couple of the squints until they saw she was a big softie.

We had a good evening chatting.

I am still surprised at the number of people who don't know about toasting marshmallows. The new converts enjoyed it and I'm sure they'll take the knowledge back home.

We didn't stay up too late and I didn't drink too much.

Sat 31st August 2013

The plan today was to go into Sandvika to look at new snow tyres for the bike. After last night I also needed to drop off a load of bottles and cans at the supermarket.

The small wheeled box wasn't going to cut it and I loaded the bike trailer instead. Even then I left a few bottles.

Not used to walking anywhere really as I tend to cycle everywhere.

After dropping off the contents of the trailer I saw I'd need to wash it out to stop it getting sticky.

As I got into the town centre I noticed that there were political parties canvassing for votes. Needless to say I just politely said no when offered leaflets.

When I got to Sandvika there was some sort of festival going on. There were quite a few food stalls as well as ones from local shops. All the people caused issues as I tried to weave the trailer through them.

After being disillusioned yet again by XXL I headed out and had lunch at Pepe's Pizza.

On the way back to the station I spoke to one of the food stalls from the UK who were selling cheeses and pickles. They were quite expensive. The reason apparently was due to the Norwegian government imposing a tax of 270% of the purchase price. Gods that explains a lot.

Sunday 1st September 2013.

Today's plan was to get out on the bike.

Normally I have lunch then go out. Today I decided to practice making a fire and took the sausages and bacon with me to cook at the lake.

Rather than the usual route I planned to investigate a new one. Oops.

After leaving through the far side of the carpark at Sulli I found myself heading down a boiler track. I managed to keep my head but was worried it might not be doing my wrists and ankles any good. I found myself at a lake I hadn't seen before. After checking the map I saw I'd gone too far. Yet again I managed to find that I don't know the correct routes on the map as I ended up walking on a treacherous track for about an hour. Up and down boulder strewn slopes, through small streams, it was quite difficult to drag the bike along. The main problem was I kept catching my right leg on the left pannier bag.

While walking along I picked up a few dry sticks, as I had no idea how much wood would be available at the lake. I took some time to get some birch bark, as I'd seen on various TV shows it was good for starting fires.

When I eventually got to the lake it didn't take too long to get a fire started. I did need to use some cotton wool to keep the spark viable for long enough to get the birch bark to catch though. After that it went even better than I'd expected. I ate two sausages and two rashers of bacon in three rolls. After that I lay on the shore reading or napping for about 40mins while I waited for lunch to go down a bit.

After leaving the lake it only took me 40 mins. to get back home. The track on the way down was rutted and I was worried about the front wheel being thrown off course and crashing.

Luckily I managed to get back in one piece.