Between rock giants

Date:
25.08.2020 until 26.08.2020

Day: 023 – 024

Country:
Norway

Location:
Between rock giants

Daily kilometers:
168 km

Total kilometers:
2611 km

Travel time:
09 hrs

Soil condition:
Asphalt

Bridge crossings:
2

Tunnel passages:
3

Sunrise:
06:13 h to 21:03 h

Sunset:
21:01 to 21:00

Temperature day max:
18°

Night temperature min:
5°

Departure:
09:00 a.m.

Arrival time:
6:00 pm

(Photos of the diary entry can be found at the end of the text).

Click here for the podcast!





Link to the current itinerary

After a night of deep sleep, we have recharged our batteries for today. Shortly after 9:00 a.m. we are standing in the parking lot of another fast food restaurant. “I hope some weirdo doesn’t chat me up again,” I grin as I enter the restaurant. Beep! Beep! Beep! The terrible noises come from the kitchen. “I can’t understand why the management of such a fast food chain would treat the nerves of their staff so badly.” “What do you mean?” asks Tanja. “Well, if a person has to work all day with such a terrible noise, they can’t stand it for long. It’s been proven that loud continuous noise is stressful and harmful to people’s health and what’s coming out of the kitchen here is absolutely unhealthy. In both senses of the word,” I say. Beep! Beep! Beep! It sounds again, which probably means that another euthanasia from Hamburger is ready.

“It’s crazy that it’s still expensive to send digital data in the 21st century if you don’t live in the country and don’t have the option of sending data via a router from a landline,” reflects Tanja. “Then we could save ourselves these unpleasant stays,” I add. “We could spend more money and do all our work from the Terra.” “It’s worth considering. If we add up what we consume in cappuccinos, it might not be more expensive in the end,” I mused.

After updating our website with pictures and texts, sending out a podcast and updating Instagram and Facebook, we move on. We leave the main road and follow a narrow pass road that winds its way up endlessly. The landscape becomes more and more spectacular, so spectacular that we can no longer stop marveling. The dark, new asphalt strip takes us up to an altitude of 1000 meters. “If you imagine the lush greenery between the light gray rocks, you could think you were on Mars,” says Tanja. “And with the green, it looks like a forgotten world on a wondrous planet called Earth,” I say and can imagine dinosaurs wandering through the valleys of the round mountain ridges or quenching their thirst at one of the many lakes on the high plateau. Passers-by have erected cairns in various places, leading one to believe that these creatures have lived here since time immemorial. We drive on slowly, following the twists and turns of the black stripe that winds like a giant snake over and around the round rocky ridges. Our Terra Love, printed with an earth-colored map, nestles into the light gray of the rocks and stones, nestles into the deep green of the lush grass and lichen, as if it were a wild animal that belongs here like one of the many sheep that lie on the road and are not disturbed by anything or anyone. Ominous-looking rain clouds drift over our heads. They are constantly taking on new shapes due to the strong wind. Because the extraordinarily interesting, indescribably beautiful and wild landscape stimulates my imagination, I see mythical creatures dancing together in a wild round dance, whirling around so quickly that the blue of the sky, as so often in this region, blends with an old pink and ericaviolet. “We should stay there for the night,” I say, pointing to a larger alternative bay where a few campers are already winding down for the day. “Yes, it couldn’t get any better,” Tanja agrees. We park the Terra perpendicular to the sloping cliff edge so that we can look out of the large cabin window into a valley below us, on the bottom of which a small lake spreads out. “Ohhh, how beautiful nature can be,” I exult, walking around the high plateau to inspect our campsite more closely. Wow! Wow! Wow! Ajaci, who is tied to the Terra’s underride plates with his long dog lead, barks as a couple of sheep approach him. Completely fearless and cheeky, they sniff his fur. Wow! Wow! Wow! If he tries to put them to flight, however, the woolly animals do not react to his barking and smell him even more intensely. One of the bucks is so bold that he wants to take Ajaci on his little stubby horns. “They’re not afraid because dogs have to be kept on a lead in Norway, so they’ve never been chased by dogs,” I assume. “Still, it’s strange that the otherwise shy sheep come so close to the camp. Perhaps they are being fed here on the plateau by one or two travelers,” Tanja ponders.

As it gets colder by the minute, we retreat to the Terra. While Tanja prepares our dinner, I type the log files into the laptop as I do every day. Every now and then I look out of the window. “Unbelievable, look at that. You’d think the sky was on fire,” I say. We immediately go outside and watch as elongated bands of clouds stretch from the beginning to the end of the sky over our heads and Terra Love. In the east, where the fireball is at its lowest and has already slipped behind a mountain ridge, you could be forgiven for thinking that a glowing volcano is spewing its hot yellow-red magma into the sky. It seems as if the high-frequency blue is scattered to the side. The closer the clouds move in our direction, the redder they become. As soon as we have absorbed the play of colors, it changes again. Suddenly some blue variants are added again. Light blue, steel blue, azure blue, but differ from red-yellow, melon yellow, signal yellow, honey yellow. “Fabulous,” I say, snapping a few photos. In the last evening light, our Terra shines as if it were a pure, valuable, oversized gold bar. Then, all of a sudden, the spectacle of color is over and darkness takes over. We quickly jump back into the warmth of the cabin and end the wonderful day in an even more wonderful location…

The next day we decide to extend our stay on the spectacular plateau, edit and archive a few pictures and prepare for tomorrow’s hike up Kjerag Bolten. “It says here that it’s a red hike, i.e. a track classified as difficult,” I read the information from the internet to Tanja. “It will be a challenge for your knee,” she says, “because I played American football in the First Bundesliga many years ago and injured myself badly. “I’ll be fine,” I say and continue reading. “This challenging hiking route with an altitude difference of 460 meters leads over several mountain ridges. Please note that you cannot do this hike in all weathers. In snowy conditions, the hike is only recommended, if at all, when accompanied by a nature guide. In any case, sturdy shoes, preferably mountain boots, warm clothing, something to eat and drink and possibly hiking poles are recommended. A good level of fitness and a complete head for heights are absolutely essential. Do not set off if you are not sure that you will be back at the starting point before nightfall. Please note our further information. Finally a bit of action again”, I’m looking forward to tomorrow…