Today’s walk started with my son driving my husband and I to the parking area at Rostad where we started our walk. The goal of our walk was to pass two check-in points (30 points each) and get some fresh air and exercise for about an hour and a half. We usually go for our long walks in the morning, but today it poured with rain until about 3 pm. By the time we left home at 4 pm it had stopped raining. In open places there was a bit of wind. We wore hiking boots and rain jackets. It was often muddy on the paths and we had to walk carefully so that we didn’t slip. But it was good to get out for a long walk. It has been a while since the last time. Today’s temperature was about 12 degrees Celsius so for me a very pleasant temperature for walking.
The first part of our walk, from Rostad to Frøsen has been written about in a previous blog (see here). Though the previous time we took this walk, it was a warm, sunny evening, today was an overcast, gray day. I am just going to write about the section of the walk from Frøsen to Bjømnbråtte.
Frøsen is a bridge across a stream, which even after a couple of days of heavy rain and no water in it. This picture was taken on the previous walk at the beginning of June. Today the wooden boards were slippery as they were wet.This is what our weather was like today. The view from the path looking out to the fjord with Ytterøy on the left and Mosvik to the right and behind, both in the clouds. We didn’t experience any rain, but a lot of the walking we did was under the trees.This pathway we are on has information signs about historical events of places. This sign shows where Maria Mortensdatter (born in 1814) lived with her sister, Siri, after Maria’s son went to America. Maria worked the land and Siri went fishing. The house no longer exists.
The trail from Rostad to Frøsen and onwards to Sleipvika is under the trees. At Sleipvika we came out to a road with several houses and farms.
At Sleipvika, I saw this typical older house from this area with two entrances into the house. One entrance would lead into an entryway and the living room and would be used for guests to enter the house. The other entrance would be used as an area to take off muddy boots and clothing before going into the kitchen. I remember seeing this painted stone a year ago. The pandemic had started and with many activities in Norway shut down, the slogan “Alt blir bra” (meaning: all will be well) was commonly seen everywhere. It looks like this stone has been repainted newly.The sky was menacing but the rain seemed to be in the distance. This field of grain was turning a beautiful yellow and cheered up the landscape as we walked by.On the other side of this yellow field was a cottage and access to it seemed to be this path cut through the field of grain. In the foreground is the gravel road we were walking along.We are halfway on our 5 km walk.We’ve walked around the farms and head across the stream and we have a steep hill to climb.We’ve started to climb. We saw a deer making its way along the edge of the field, but he must have heard our voices and suddenly he dashed away, heading across the sands of the beach you see in this picture.We have headed into the trees again, but the climb is steep and narrow.As it has rained for two days, the trail was muddy in places. I was very glad to have a railing here as the drop goes straight down probably at least 50 meters.Eventually we got to the top and here there was a picnic bench to sit on and catch our breath from the climb. The view is looking over Trondheim Fjord to Ytterøy.Bjønndalen is a narrow ravine that goes from the farms at Nes and Rotvoll, down to the sea. There wasn’t much water in the stream at this time of year.This tree, I think an elm, has fallen down. In this part of the forest, with steep slopes, the ground can get washed away under the trees and eventually they fall. It also looked like some humans had come along and cut it up, possibly to get it off the trail. This was the first time I had been this way this summer, so I don’t know how recent it was.Trees have long lives, but they don’t last forever.One more very steep and muddy section to get to Bjønnbråtte, a place which we go to at least once a week.Bjønn = bear. There is a story about the last bear in the area. Perhaps he was chased to here and scared over the cliff. The view from Bjønnbråtte.
The walk from Bjønnbråtte to our house is about a 20 minute walk and is a walk we do quite regularly. It is partly on road and partly in the woods and mostly away from traffic. Once we had gotten to Bjønnbråtte today, I felt that we were “almost” home.
We were lucky with the weather and timed our walk for the correct time of day. I enjoyed our walk a lot. We haven’t been out for longer walks much as we have had quite a lot of warm weather and the last few times we have been out there have been a lot of flying insects, which I don’t like. Today was much cooler, and I didn’t notice any flies at all while we were walking.
It also made a change doing the walk just the one way. It is simpler to be driven to a place and then walk home, than to arrange to be picked up when one is tired. We also wanted to do the steep climbs going up them, as they were as slippery as expected. I always prefer to do very steep climbs going up, rather than down, if I can choose.
