Author: Trish

About a month ago, on the 18th of April I took a walk at Rostad with a friend. On the 24th of May, we took the same walk, but there were a lot of differences in nature. In April there were no leaves on the trees, but by the end of May, their leaves were out. This year we have had over a week of warm, sunny weather, so nature is green again. In this blog, I would like to share how beautiful this part of Inderøy is at the end of May.

My friend and I have again chosen to go for our walk in the evening. We started at about 6:30 pm, when the warm day has started to cool. As I started the drive from home, there were a few raindrops on my windshield, and the road was wet, but there was never a deluge. Looking at the lightning map when I got home again, there had been lightning east of us, near the Swedish border. My friend had gotten a message from a friend that where he was there had been a deluge of rain. At this time of year, rain showers are often very local and difficult for the weather forecasters to predict exactly where the rain will come.

Many trees are blooming right now, including birch and spruce. Birch pollen causes a lot of misery for those who have allergies, including my son. Spruce pollen is much larger and very visible, on all surfaces, including the fjord. Spruce trees do not bloom every year, but this year there is a lot of flowers and pollen.

In addition to the trees blooming, there are now many wild flowers in bloom. The warm weather, with temperatures up to 26 degrees centigrade, has encourage many plants to bloom, perhaps earlier than in other years.

This year, there are three posts to find on this walk, with 10 points for each post. Two of the posts are down by the water and the third one is at the end of a tractor road so that it is accessible for wheelchair or baby buggy users.

In spite of being worried about walking when it was over 20 degrees, as I don’t tolerate the warmth very well, we had started our walk late enough that the worst of the heat was over for the day. There was a little breeze when we were out in the open, though in the forest it seemed much warmer as there was no wind. We used a little over an hour for our walk, neither of us in a hurry to get back to our cars. By taking the walk counterclockwise, we went down the long hill in the sunshine and came back up the hill on gentler slopes that were mostly in the shade of the trees. It was interesting to see the changes in nature, in the month since we had taken this walk last.

Today’s Inderøy walk started in an old parking place (Gammelplassen) which we have used quite often, but we went to two places we had not been to before. We drove about 10 minutes from home, crossing the bridge in the picture below. We walked first to Furufjellet (The Pine Mountain) and then Duklettlia (The Duklett Hill).

The weather was mostly sunny, but still cool at 9:30 am at 8 degrees centigrade when we left home. That’s a perfect walking temperature for me, especially when I am going to be heading up a hill.

Furufjellet – The Pine Mountain

We have walked to the Pine Mountain many times before as it is a pleasant walk from the bridge. The picture below shows the cliff from below from the path that we have often taken. I had often wondered what it was like at the top and today we took the trail that took us up there. But this picture is to show you why you don’t get too close to the edge.

Most of the trees in the woods we were walking through were spruce trees. So I was very interested in finding out if there were actually pine trees at the top of this hill. Though there were definitely a lot of spruce trees, even at the top, there were also pine trees, particularly along the edge of the cliff. The box in the picture is attached to an old pine tree. All of our walk today was in relatively old forest.

In the green box is a book in which to write our names. In addition we “check in” on our phones on an app that keeps track of our points and when we do the walks. I checked in to post 4 at 9:56, about 20 minutes after leaving the car. The app won’t let you check in again within 22 hours of a check in. This makes sense, but it means you can’t take a walk in the evening and get points and do it again in the morning and get more points. Of course, walking in the woods can be done at any time even without getting points for doing it. The points are just an added benefit and incentive to get out of the house.

Duklettlia – Duklett Hill

We went back down to the crossroads and started up the other trail. This one was even steeper. Everything is quite dry on the ground. Cones on the trail can be slippery. The trail is quite visible, but as it was the first time we had been up this way, it was necessary to check for the markings regularly to make sure we chose the correct path.

Was the walk worth all the effort? Definitely. Not only is it good exercise, but I enjoy being out in the woods. We heard some birds, but it was actually quite quiet in the woods, except for talking to each other. At post 3, there was a picnic table to sit at and we made use of it. Resting our hearts, lungs and legs. Note the red box on the tree stump, where there was a book to write our names in. Then, of course, there was the view.

I love walks that take me to a place where there is a view, so this is definitely a walk I will do again. It was marked as a round trip, so next time we will do things a bit differently. Today we just went back the way we came, sliding down some of the steepest parts of the trail where cones and dry moss made safe walking almost impossible. We both use canes. Brock uses one and wears gloves so he can grab things to keep his balance. I use two canes which helps me keep my balance both going uphill and downhill on uneven terrain. We got back to the car at 11:18, having been walking about one hour and forty minutes. We were away from home almost exactly two hours, but that also includes the short drive each way.

We picked a good day for our walk. It is a holiday in Norway, but we didn’t see many others on the trails that we took. The sun was shining, it wasn’t too warm, and we were enjoying each other’s company along with the restfulness of being amongst the trees.

May in Norway is full of holidays and the first of May is the European Labor Day. Stores are closed and even though we are retired, it was nice to have a day-off household chores. In addition, the weather was sunny and promising to be warm, up to 20 degrees in the afternoon. So my husband and I decided to use the early part of the day for a longer walk and chose to climb the hill in Mosvik that we see from our house. It’s called “Storlia”, the big hill. The car is parked at about 130 meters above sea level and we get to about 380 meters above sea level, so it’s a bit of a climb. It’s good exercise and the views are beautiful on a sunny day.

As usual, I started by taking a map of the area. We parked at Gammelplassen (the old place), which is marked with a red arrow on the map below. There are a lot of trails on these hillsides. Many of the trails would have originally been logging roads. Some are still wide enough for two people to walk abreast. Other trails are quite overgrown. The red line on the map shows some of the major trails that are marked. But there are dotted black lines that are also good trails that can be followed.

Gammelplassen is large enough to hold several cars. When we arrived we were the only car there, however when we came back to our car, there was one other car there. Notice the signpost on the right hand side of the picture. That is showing you the direction of Skarnsund Bridge if you are walking. It’s a nice walk and I have done it several times from home, but today we wanted to climb a hill. Gammelplassen is about 2.3 km from the bridge.

The first part of our walk, which is actually climbing uphill for about an hour, is along this dirt road which leads to a small farm. At this point you can see that the marked “red” trail from the map takes off to the left. We are going straight ahead. These trails are marked with red hikers, indicating that the trail is of some difficulty. In other words, uneven and often steep terrain.

We could hear a lot of birds talking to each other. I’m not very good at recognizing the birds from their sounds. However, I heard the sound of water near the trail. It’s not long since we have had rain, so there was a fair bit of water in the stream. In addition there is probably still some snow to melt.

It is always tricky to know when the trails will be free of snow. We could feel the temperature change as we came into this section of the trail that probably gets very little sunshine. It felt like the temperature dropped three or four degrees. In the sunshine it was lovely and warm, but the snow itself would also make the temperature drop. We managed it fine, but when we came to a second section of snow that was much longer, we almost turned back to wait for another day. But then I saw a very small trail, possibly human, but definitely used by deer or moose. We decided to try it and see where it went.

It was interesting to try this trail which would its way around the hillside, slowly climbing. I had hoped that it would come out onto the main trail. A check on the map on my phone, which tells me where I am, said that we were going roughly in the right direction, but that we need to head upwards. So we did, climbing up steep slopes, that were partly covered with trees, partly open with grasses and heather. After a lot of work, but not impossibly difficult, we did actually reach the main path.

Thinking back on our scramble up the hillside, it was rather fun. We’ve done this sort of thing before and we both enjoy it. However, it is the sort of slope that is much easier to go up than to go down. So I said we had to take the main path down, in spite of the sections of snow and ice on them.

We had a good break at the top. A bottle of water and two cookies each gave us the energy to find our way downhill to the car. I took a lot more pictures, of course, after all, the reason I like to come to the top is to look at the view.

To the northeast of the summit of Storlia is a nature reserve. This area has been made into a reserve because of the very old growth forest. Most hillsides near us have been logged every 60 to 100 years, so the trees are not really that old. You can see in this picture how the trees here are not very young and there is a lot of lichen on them. This nature reserve is on a north-facing slope, so will be very moist. It stretches from the top of the hill almost down to sea level.

The walk back to the car took a little less time than the uphill climb. But crossing patches of snow and ice also slowed our time as there was little crust on the snow, so one was suddenly in a hole, or one’s feet were sliding on the ice that had formed. We used about one and a quarter hours up the hill and about one hour down again. In all, we were walking for almost two and a half hours. Good exercise on a beautiful sunny day. But I may wait another month or so before doing it again, just to make sure all the snow has disappeared.

A sunny Sunday got us out of the house and walking in the woods. Though it was only 5 degrees centigrade when we left home, by the time we came back about three hours later it was up to 12 degrees. With sunshine all day long and almost no wind, it was the first really pleasant day this spring.

To get to the beginning of our walk we took a 25 minute drive up into the hills of Røra in Inderøy. We parked the car and headed uphill. Though we saw one family at the parking lot, and met one couple on our way back, we were alone with only the sounds of nature. Even the sounds of birds were seldom. As with many of the walks that we take, the first section was uphill, then there was a fairly even section, then downhill to the lake we were heading to. We walked back to the car on the same route this time. As it is a lengthy drive from home, when we come up into these hills we like to take a walk that is at least two to three hours.

One thing I have learned to do is to always take a picture of the map at the parking spot. One may need to reference it during the walk to see if we are on the right path. There are all sorts of paths in these hills and we had a definite goal for our walk. In addition I have a map on my telephone, which I love. The advantage of a map on the phone is that it actually tells you where you are. I’ve always loved reading maps, but it is also important to actually know where you are. GPS, both in the car and on my phone, is very useful.

We are going to follow part of the Old Royal Road or King’s Road, which was used until about 1800 as the main road through our area. This section of road that has been preserved by the local history clubs is about 7 km, but we only went along part of it.

The name for the farm, Lundsaunet, which is where we parked, could come from the name of the bird, “lom” / loon, though it could come from a man’s name. The farm was registered in 1559 and is still a working farm. We often walk to Finnheimen at the north end of Leklemsvatnet, but today we decided to walk to the south end of the lake where there is a dam. We are headed in the direction of Husby, but only walk about half way, about 2.5 km.

As we walk along the trail, we come across this building owned and operated by the Inderøy Museum and History Association. There are often meetings held here, but there was no activity as we walked by. They have made a lot of seating outside the building. This is the typical size house from the 1800s for those living in rural areas and not owning their own prestigious estate.

Most of our walk was through the woods. We were walking southwards, so often the sun was in our eyes. Even though I was wearing sunglasses, it wasn’t always easy to see with both bright sunshine and shade alternating on the path. The first 20 minutes or so of the walk was primarily uphill and in some places it was a bit rocky. Other places, like this section, were fairly level and covered with leaves and relatively easy walking.

This is a farming area and in the summer months there will be sheep out grazing. They are kept away from the cultivated fields by fencing. As it is too early in the year for the sheep to be out, the gate has been put completely to the side so that walkers have no problems following the trail. Once the sheep are out, the gate will be closed and people will be expected to climb over the stile. This saves a lot of problems as not all people are good at closing gates behind them.

I hadn’t seen this sign before so I went to investigate it. The earth cellar was used by a farm nearby. The farm was abandoned in 1878. In the cellar they would have kept root vegetables, such as turnips and potatoes, in a damp, but above freezing place. This cellar is about 100 meters away from the farm buildings, a safe distance if there should be a fire. Note in the picture the pole with the red top which is used to mark trails so that they are visible both summer and winter.

Eventually we began to climb again and came out into the open where the forest has been cut down relatively recently. Lots of choices on where one can go from here. We chose to continue on the trail towards Husby and climbed up the hill ahead of us.

“Myr” is a swampy area. Though we haven’t had much rain recently, this would be a very wet area. This swamp is called “Porsmyra” because of the plant “pors” which grows here. Pors /myrica gale has a strong smell and was often used to keep moths from clothing, flies away from outside toilets and in making beer. Inderøy is full of swamps, but what was most interesting for us was seeing a pair of cranes feeding in the swamp.

Cranes (grus grus) are the largest bird found in Inderøy. They are from 95 to 130 cm in height and can weigh between 4.5 to 6 kg. We have seen cranes several times this spring, including in the field next to our house. There seems to be more and more each year. They avoid people and quickly fly away if one gets too close to them. I have learned to recognize their trumpet-like call, so I heard them first then looked for them in the swamp.

We crossed into the neighboring municipality on our walk. Behind the sign is my walking companion, dressed in traditional green and black.

Of course, if we look back the way we came from, it shows that we have come from Inderøy municipality.

Once we had crossed into Verdal, we were in the area called Leklem, and we are headed to the south end of Leklem Lake. Note the post, with a red section and a large K, showing that we are on the King’s Road (Kongeveien).

Our goal for the walk was to get to this dam. The first time we found this place, they had emptied the lake and were rebuilding the dam. The lake is a water reserve for Verdal municipality, but otherwise the water spilled over the top of the dam and ran down this stream that we crossed.

The lake was still partly frozen, but with 12 degrees and sunshine, I don’t imagine it will stay frozen very much longer. We found a picnic bench to sit at so we took a well-deserved pause in our walking. We had used one and a half hours to get to this point, with all the stops we had taken to look at the views, to watch birds and to take photos. We used only one hour to get back to the car, but I think there was less uphill on the way back, which certainly means that we walked quicker.

Walking north, back to the car, we saw the views that I quite like. The best views were from a logged area, where it was very open and the new trees were still quite short. Though there is a lot of wooded area on these hills, there are also a lot of farms in Inderøy and Steinkjer.

We used two and a half hours on our walk today, and we were healthily tired when we got back to the car. A thermos with coffee and two cookies each helped revive us. We also changed our shoes so that tired feet felt a bit of relief.

Something we could have done better was to have taken a small backpack with bottles of water. Today was the first warm day and the longest walk we have taken this year, but a drink of water would have been good when we took a break before heading back to the car. It can also be nice to have something to put clothing in as layers get taken off as the day gets warmer. I had taken off my wind jacket about half an hour into the walk. With no wind and lots of sunshine, it wasn’t needed.

This was a most enjoyable walk. We were well away from roads with traffic. It was quiet except for our noises and voices, which is something we both appreciate. The temperature was perfect for walking, not cold, nor too hot. Next time we come to these hills we will probably take a slightly different walk, but this is one I especially enjoy. I hope you were able to get out in nature on the weekend too. Being near trees is supposed to be very good for our mental health.