Inderøy Walks – Page 2 – Patricia McLellan's Blog

2024-04-222024-04-21

Evening walk at Rostad, Inderøy

One of the nice things about April is the light evenings which allow me to get out for a walk. This week I met a girl friend at about 6 pm and we took a 50 minute walk that we have done many times before, but this was the first time in 2024.

“Rostadrunden” means that the trails go in a circle and one can walk either way.

During the summer months, we can often get points for going to certain parts of this trail, but it is too early in the season yet for that. But it was a nice sunny evening, though there was a very cold wind blowing. The temperature was about +5 degrees centigrade, but there was a big difference between being in the sun or being in the shade. There is public parking near these signs, which holds five or six cars. We each drove a car as this location is halfway between where we live and we come from opposite directions.

The property at Rostad was originally a wealthy family’s farm. The house has been well-preserved and is often used for meetings. The farm continues to be used as a farm. However, for about the last one hundred years, a residential school has existed on the property. Over the decades the type of school has changed and who has run the school has changed. The first school was an orphanage which started in 1902. The property is currently run by the CRUX Foundation. CRUX Rostad is an institution for teens aged 13-19 who need a place to live when their parents are not able to function. The institution has 12 residential places. The children live in other newer buildings on the estate.

At the parking spot there is information about Rostad. A former prime minister of Norway, Ole Richter, grew up here and later represented Norway during its union time with Sweden. He inherited the farm but had no descendants so at his death the estate was sold. Ebba Astrup became the first director of the orphanage that opened in 1902 and she worked there until 1918. In 1927, she gave money to start the Rostad Foundation. It is still run by a foundation.

The mausoleum where Ole Richter is buried.

There are not many mausoleums in Norway, but on this property there is one. Ole Richter was buried here after his death in 1888, along with his wife who had died a few years before.

The gate posts on the road up from the fjord

Though today this estate is easily reached by paved road, in the 19th century, access to the estate would have been from the fjord. There is a gravel, tractor road that we followed down the hill. The gate posts in the picture would have been the formal entrance to the main building. We decided to take the walk in the counter-clockwise direction, so we started by going downhill, about 500 meters towards the fjord. It was very windy on the water, so we avoided going right down to the fjord.

A lot of the walk goes through the woods. It goes up and down quite a bit, but there are no very steep sections. Most of it was quite dry, though the streams had plenty of water in them. The trees are quite bare still and the ground is covered with the leaves that came down in the fall. It is evening, so there are small patches of sunshine, but at times the woods are quite dark. It stays light until about 9 pm now.

There was only one section that was muddy, so here there is obviously water that drains off the hillside that is not put through a pipe. It was a very short section and very easy to get around.

The white anemone is an early flower that comes out on the forest floor before the leaves come out on the deciduous trees and take away the sunshine. These were the first ones that I had seen this year, so it must be a spot that is both sheltered and sunny. Note that the moss seems to be growing quite well here as well.

There is a stream that runs through the property. Where it comes out at the fjord, there is quite a drop and it has been used to power a grain mill in the past. It doesn’t look like a very large stream here, but it is nice to have a bridge to cross it. At this point the trail divides and if one wanted to walk to Undersåker (approximately 2 km to the east by the trail), one could take off on a trail that goes off to the right from here. We are coming from the foreground, will cross the bridge and head off to the left. You can see directional signs, but there are also a lot of information signs on this part of the trail, primarily about dwellings in the past.

Farm field at Rostad, looking toward Trondheimfjord

As we came out of the woods, we looked across a farm field to see the fjord in the distance. This is a working farm with grains and grasses being grown.

It didn’t take us long from here to get back to our cars. It was lovely to get out. For me it is also a social time with a girl friend. I enjoy springtime, with sunny days and nature just starting to turn green again. The air can be cold still, but with no leaves on the deciduous trees, one can see more in the distance. I hope you can enjoy a walk today too.

2024-04-17

Regular Walks

Most weeks I walk once or twice up to a local dairy farm, Åsvang, to buy fresh milk in bottles. And by “up” I mean a 25 minute walk uphill, and a little more than one and a half kilometers. According to Google Maps we live at 32 meters above sea level and the farm is 129 meters above sea level, meaning that there is an altitude difference of 97 meters. It is good exercise.

When one does the same walk many times, it may seem a bit repetitive, but as the seasons change, it is interesting to see what changes have happened since the last walk. Especially in spring, there can be quite a few changes, just in a week. We’ve recently had plenty of rain and the walk today was sunny, so nature is coming to life again after winter.

Where just a few weeks ago, these first yellow flowers were hard to find, they are now coming out in large clumps and quickly spreading along the sunny road banks. All pictures in this blog were taken on 2024.04.16.

View from Åsvang, looking west, 2024.04.16

As one looks over the fields, some of them are just starting to turn green. The snow has disappeared, but it will be a while before the trees have leaves on them. If you look carefully, you can just see the tops of the two towers of Skarnsund Bridge.

I love it when the new growth is starting to be more visible. Even the deer are starting to find enough grass in the fields to eat. There is still a lot of dry grass from the last year, but the new growth will soon be tall enough that one won’t see last year’s growth which becomes fertilizer for the new growth.

Though the fields are still mostly brown with dried grass, some of the fields have been plowed, often in the fall before the winter came. The road bank to the right of the road is just starting to show the promise of green grass. In the distance can be seen an island, Ytterøy, which means the outer island. We live in Inderøy, the inner island, which is actually a peninsula.

Along the road to Vangshylla, 2024.04.16

In the ditch, where there is still plenty of dampness from the heavy rains a few days ago, the leaves of flowering plants are showing that it won’t be long before there will be more flowers to be seen.

In a previous blog I mentioned people cutting down trees for firewood. Here’s an area that has been attacked by such a person. There is a field to the left, but in the center of the picture quite a few trees have been cut down this spring, making the hillside look bare. The small branches are left to rot, which is fine, but it doesn’t look very good.

For many, spring is a problem with pollen. The birch tree is one that can cause quite a bit of problem, both for myself and many others. Already, the trees are putting out their pollen producing catkins, but it will be a month before the leaves come out on birches. There is a sharp difference in color between deciduous trees, like the birch, and the evergreens, either pine or spruce, which you can see in the background of this picture.

Willow trees put out their flowers long before the leaves come out. The pussy willows on this tree are just starting to come out and will soon be shedding their pollen. Checking today’s pollen warning shows “moderate” for willows, or salix.

Trees are always hard to photograph close-up, in my opinion. What I see with my eye, is not always what appears in the photograph. Eyes are really much better devices than cameras in many ways, even older eyes. This year there have been a lot of spruce shoots from the ends of branches lying on the ground as if there has been too little food and animals have been eating the shoots. The new growth has not really started but at the very ends, there are signs of new growth just coming. The spruce trees did not bloom last year, and there are very few cones left for the squirrels to munch on, so I hope the trees bloom this year.

I am always eager to see what is coming up in my garden. Once the sprouts are showing from the bulbs, growth can happen amazingly quickly. Here are both tulips and daffodils coming up and there is also a peony plant that will emerge as well. The tulips don’t do very well anymore as the deer tend to eat them. But the daffodils do well as the deer don’t eat them.

Our house is called “Fjellheim” and we translate that as “Cliff Cottage”, though a more direct translation would be “mountain home”. The above plant is a wild orchid that comes up every year. When we first moved to the house, it was growing in a ditch, as it needs lots of water. I carefully moved it one year so that it didn’t get destroyed by people digging in the ditch and I managed to find a place where it thrives. It comes up early, and already the flower stem is starting to show in the middle. This one will have a dark purple flower.

The lilac bush’s buds are starting to open out in the sunshine. We still have frost at night, but the daytime temperatures can be up to about 10 degrees. This bush gets lots of sunshine and will be one of the first ones on our lot to put out its leaves and flowers.

Crocuses are the first bulbs to bloom and these ones are enjoying the sunshine under the lilac bush. These come up in a bed where we have been putting snow when clearing the driveway in the winter, so there are always a lot of stones in the bed. Eventually the largest of them will be put back on the driveway, though that is a tedious job.

These were some of the delights of nature this week. But the joy of this time of year is how things change quickly. The earliest flowers disappear, the leaves come out on the trees, and new flowering plants emerge. I hope you can get outdoors and enjoy the nature that is around you.

2024-04-08

Spring 2024 walking season has started

I have been quite lazy this winter, doing very little walking outdoors except when going specific places, like the dairy farm or the egg farm. But today, the temperature was finally a bit more comfortable, at 12 degrees centigrade, so my husband and I put on walking trousers, hiking shoes and went for our first walk in the woods.

We have a favorite location that takes us along some gravel roads and a path in the woods. It takes about 20 minutes to get to Bear Cliff (Bjørnbrøttet), where there is a book to write one’s name in and a small shelter to take a short pause. I have written blogs about this walk previously. You might like to contrast today’s walk with the one in 2023 when the weather was quite different.

The view from Bear Cliff taken at 16:31, looking towards the island of Ytterøy with Levanger in the background.

As you can see from the picture, it was cloudy and there had been rain showers earlier in the day. We did not have any rain while we were walking and we were out for about an hour. But shortly after we were home again, there was another short rain shower.

As this was the first time for this walk in 2024, it was interesting to see if there were any changes, either in nature, or to the cabins we walked by. There were a couple of trees that had been blown over, some that had been cut down. There seemed to be more open spaces as if cabin owners wanted more sunshine or a better view. At this time of year I am always looking to see what flowers are out. The two earliest ones here in Inderøy are coltsfoot (which is yellow) and anemone hepatica (which is blue).

Coltsfoot /hestehov) or tussilago farfara. The flowers come out from the rhizome first before any leaves appear. The leaves are very large but disappear during the summer. These flowers like the sunshine and appear first in sheltered, sunny spots and along the roadsides.

The blue anemone, sometimes called liverwort, (hepatica nobilis / blåveis) is a bit hard to see, but they are also very common in Inderøy and one of the signs of spring. They will eventually cover large areas as the days warm up. They are quite small and are often found under trees.

You’ll have to look closely in the photo to see the hepatica / blåveis, but it is in several parts of the photo.

Getting out in the fresh air is important. Getting walking exercise helps keep us in good shape. I was surprised that I was in such good shape as I did not labor up any of the hills. So that is a good sign. I also feel that it is important for our eyes to look far in the distance and not always to be looking at a screen or things close to us, for example, knitting projects.

Looking south-west towards Trondheim, through Norviksund, with Mosvik on the right and Ytterøy on the left. There are rain clouds in the distance but they didn’t get to us until after we were inside again. Looking at the small island on the right, we see that it was relatively low tide.

We live in an area with quite a variation in tides. When this picture was taken (at 16:46), the tide was still going out and low tide was at 18:40 and at 6 cm above the base level. At high tide, later this evening, the water level will be at about 324 cm, so the water level will be more than 3 meters higher than at low tide.

As we came up our own driveway, I looked to see if there was anything flowering yet. I have lots of bulbs, but the ground has been frozen until the last few days. Crocuses are just starting to show some color and only need a few days of sunshine to come out in full bloom.

Not wild flowers, but planted in my garden. Crocuses are the first flowers that bloom in my garden. These need a bit more sunshine before opening out.

I hope you too are able to get out for longer walks out in nature, now that we are in April. Enjoy the nature you have around you.

2023-03-20

Spring 2023 is around the corner

Today I went for my first walk in the woods in 2023. I’ve been wanting to do it for quite a while, but both in February and March we have had quite a bit of snow which required removal from our long driveway. So, there was no energy left for pleasant walks in the woods.

The snow is not gone, but today is the vernal/spring equinox, (at 22:24 our time), so the feeling is that spring is just around the corner. The weather today has been a mixture of sunshine, rain and sleet, with plus degrees. But underfoot there is still snow or mud. I didn’t see any flowers yet. Here the first wild ones are usually seen at the beginning of April, so there is still two weeks before that sign of spring should appear.

For safety sake, I often carry a walking stick with me. It helps give me better balance both when it is slippery or I’m on slopes. I’ve accepted that I’m not so young any more.

Animal Tracks

With snow on the ground, it is easy to see where wild animals walk. We are used to seeing deer, squirrels and birds in our yard, usually near the bird feeder which has sunflower seeds. But once I got away from our own property, it was interesting to see other tracks in the snow.

These are definitely the tracks of a human who uses a walking stick in her right hand.

These tracks are deer tracks, the most common tracks I see near us, often across our lawn and through the flower beds.

These tracks are much larger than the deer tracks and belong to a moose. Moose are common in the woods in Inderøy, but I seldom see them on our lot.

I’m not positive, but I think these are the tracks of a wolverine. They were seen in the woods, away from the cabins. Wolverines are often nocturnal animals.

The Trail

In the summer months, this is a road that can be driven on by car, but it is not cleared in the winter. Most of the tracks were animal tracks, but some were human bootprints. The snow was not so deep that there was any problem walking.

In some places there were even few tracks from before.

As I went away from the road and into the woods, there was even less snow. It was almost muddy.

This section of the trail is often a small stream. The ground was soft and it was thawing, but there were no problems with running water or large pools, yet.

The turn-around point of my walk, “Bjønnbrottet” or Bear Cliff as I call it in English. Inside the lean-to there is a box with a book in it, so that visitors can write the date and their name. I like to count how many times I write my name in the book. Today was the first time for 2023. There were a few names before mine, but not many yet in 2023.

Here is the book that is used for walkers to register their visit, if they wish. Over the years, the book itself has been decorated as well.

The view from the lean-to, looking south to the island of Ytterøy.

Changes

When I haven’t been to a place for a while, it is always interesting to see if there are changes. In the woods, winter storms can blow down trees. Near the cabins, humans can also make changes.

This tree looks like it just rotted and fell over. This has happened during the winter as the trail used to go on both sides of the tree.

Suddenly I came to an open area which used to be dark from the trees. The cabin up the slope on the right has probably wanted a better view.

The view from the open area where the trail goes. People in the cabin up on the hill would probably see over the trees. The view is looking south-west out over Trondheimsfjord. When I got farther along on my walk, the wind was blowing up from the fjord in that direction.

This is a walk I usually take many times in a year, and I will certainly be doing it many more times in 2023. It takes about an hour and has several uphill sections so that I get good exercise. I was lucky with the weather when I was out today. Shortly after I came indoors, it poured with rain.

How would you define spring where you live? I think of spring as the first wildflowers blooming, the snow disappearing, the farmers ploughing fields, the temperature being above zero degrees and more hours of daylight. So spring is still around the corner here, but I don’t think it will be long. We have plus degrees in the daytime, many more hours of daylight than we had in January and the snow is slowly disappearing.

I hope you are also starting to get out for walks in nature. It is said that being near trees is very good for our mental health. Have a good week and a good spring.

2022-11-06

Liatjønna and Melting Lake, Mosvik

I haven’t been writing many blogs this summer as most of the walks I have taken, I have written about before. But today, my husband and I went to a little lake, Liatjønna, that has a short walk part way around it and then we decided to go for a longer walk along the gravel road that gives access to this little lake but also continues for about 3 kilometers.

When my husband asked me where I wanted to go walking this Sunday, I suggested somewhere the sun was shining. In November, the daylight comes late (today sunrise was at 8:12) and leaves early (today sunset was at 15:45). With only about 7 hours of daylight, getting some sunshine becomes important. After checking my weather app on my phone, we headed to Mosvik and the little lake, Liatjønna, that you see in the picture above.

As you can see from the picture, there was a little bit of blue sky, some clouds, but very little direct sunshine. The sun does not rise very high in the sky at this time of year, but at least it felt a bit bright. There was no wind and about 5 degrees Celsius. There is a gravel path about three quarters of the way around the lake, but you have to come back the same way. In places the path was quite damp as we have had lots of rain lately, and I am sure they get more rain up here in the hills of Mosvik than we get down by the fjord.

It is now fall/autumn and nature reflects the time of year. Deciduous trees have lost their leaves. Coniferous trees are still green. In the foreground you will see small pine trees and in the distance there are primarily spruce trees. Between me and the lake there is swampland and most of the grasses growing there have turned brown.

When we got back to the car, we felt that we hadn’t walked enough and wanted to walk more as it was pleasant to be out of the house and out in the fresh air. So we chose to just walk along the gravel road that goes across the swampy areas, through some forest and out along a narrow peninsula that juts out into the bigger lake, Melting Lake.

Melting Lake is a large lake with a very irregular shape. We are actually walking along a little peninsula that juts out into the lake and though we never saw the lake on both sides of us at the same time, we did see it occasionally on the other side as well. As you can see in the picture above, the sky is quite cloudy and though the far side of the lake is in brighter light, we are walking in a relatively dark area.

Melting Lake is a regulated lake and is used to make electricity for our region. As you can see in the picture above, there is quite a shoreline, showing that, in spite of a lot of rain all summer, the water is being used to produce electricity.

We walked about 2 km along the gravel road, then decided that we were half tired, so turned around and headed back to the car where a thermos of coffee and two mugs were waiting for us. As we headed back, we met a couple with a dog, and a van passed us going back to the road. We weren’t the only ones out on a Sunday morning.

We were out of the house for over 2 hours and probably were walking for about one and a half hours. It was a walk I would do another time. Walking around the little lake, there was noise from the road that goes close by, but once we were walking on the gravel road, we quickly got away from traffic noise. It was a pleasant Sunday walk.

2022-05-26

Aunan and Floåsen

The view from Aunan, looking west. The gap in the distance is Trondheim Fjord with Levanger on the left and Mosvik on the right.

Tuesday, May the 24th, was a Bahá’í holy day, so my husband and I decided to take a walk in the hills at Røra. It is an area we both enjoy walking in. Today’s walk was about 2 hours plus a sandwich break for about 15 minutes. I have been to both Aunan and Floåsen before and if you want to read about the walk taken to Aunan in August 2021, you can read it here.

As we started our walk, I wondered what sort of theme I should have for this blog and my husband suggested “signs”, so that will be the main theme. What sorts of signs do we see while walking in the woods? Some are easy to read, some are directional (i.e. which way to go), some were about the place where we found the sign, some were almost impossible to read, some were official signs, some were hand-made. I think one thing that can be learned from some of these pictures is that signs with writing on them need to be looked after.

The parking area at Røflo Lake has a sign indicating that one is allowed to park here. There is also a sign showing which posts can be reached from this parking area.

When taking an Inderøy walk, one of the first signs one sees is the indication of where parking is allowed. This year they are wanting people to park in one place and find multiple posts from the same parking spot. From this parking area, one can walk to six different posts depending on how far one wants to walk. We visited two posts, nr. 46 Aunan and nr. 45 Fløåsen.

This map covers an area called “The Old King’s Road” and up to Marsteinsvola which is a hilltop at the junction of the municipalities of Steinkjer, Inderøy and Verdal.

One of the things I have learned over the years (at least since having a camera on a smart phone) is to take a picture of the map that is posted at the parking area. One can always look at it if one isn’t sure which trail goes through. The app for the Inderøy Walks has a good map, but not all trails are actually marked on it. Today we were walking on some good trails that didn’t seem to be on the app’s map at all, though the dot that shows us where we actually are indicated that we were going in the correct direction.

Our walk started at Røflo lake which is the main drinking water source for the municipality of Inderøy. The water is purified before sending it out to the customers which also include a juice factory.

Drinking water – fishing, bathing and camping are forbidden.

This is an older sign which has been looked after. It is important to repaint the lettering regularly. Translation: “Røflo Lake is the municipality’s source of drinking water. Help us keep the water clean. It is not allowed to bathe in the water or to camp in the area. Fishing is only allowed for those who have special permission.”

Røflo Lake would freeze over in the winter, so it becomes important to have a warning sign. Translation: “Danger: Unsafe ice. Traffic on the ice is forbidden. Openings can occur because of draining.” Notice also the gray box below the sign has a number on it. These gray boxes are usually connected to electricity.

Near the parking area, there were a lot of electricity poles which, of course, each have a sign on them warning of the danger. “High voltage, life threatening” plus a number.

These two signs indicate that there are grazing sheep on the other side and give information on the purpose of this area as well as contact information if one sees injured animals or other problems. Dogs must be on a leash.

The field closest to the parking area had cows out today. They are usually kept close to the barn for milking. However sheep are sent up into the hills for the summer and are expected to look after themselves. Here there is a fence so that they don’t get out onto the road. We saw the sheep briefly and the lambs are still quite small. We saw two lambs laying on the grass resting and eating the grass that was in reach!

We will cross the road and head up the steep trail on the other side.

Most of the walks in Inderøy have good signs to indicate how to get places. The sign above shows that we are on a blue trail (not so easy trail, but not too difficult either) taking us to Floåsen. Under the blue man is the name of the organization that is responsible for this trail, Røra Sports Club, and at the extreme lower left hand corner is the number 28. All this type of signs have a number. The red and white tape on the sign indicate that this is a marked trail for this year’s Inderøy Walks.

We came to a bridge with a railing, crossing a stream that was very gentle today. Wooden bridges like this can get very slippery in the rain so having a railing on one side is very nice. On this bridge there were also two signs, neither of which were easy to read.

Not all of this sign is easy to read, even though it has a plastic cover on it. There is the name of the bridge (“bru”), a date (30-9-2011) and the name of who put it up (Floåsens Venner = Friends of Floåsen)

On the far end of the bridge was a different sign, which also needed a bit of maintenance to be easier to read. I couldn’t read everything on this one, though it also seems to mention “Friends of Floåsen”.

I came across this sign that was almost impossible to read, but the text indicated that you could borrow this shovel, but please return it here on your way back.

This was the first time that we had gone walking in this area this year. Last year we had gone too early and the trail we had taken was still covered in a lot of snow. So I was curious to see if there was much snow left at all. We’ve had plenty of warm weather and sunshine so I wasn’t expecting too much snow left now.

This was the biggest patch of snow that I saw on our walk. It was in a very shady area, under the trees.

Aunan to the left and Floåsen to the right.

Aunan is a relatively new place to go to in these hills. It is a hilltop that has been recently logged so that there is a beautiful view looking north and west. These signs have been put up after the more professional signs were erected along the trails. At the distance this picture is taken, it is hard to read what is written, but it was quite clear when one stood closer. We headed off to the left to go to Aunan first. We made a circle tour and came back to this intersection on our way back from Floåsen.

Of course there is a sign where we check-in for the post. This picture shows what a logged area looks like a few years later. There are lots of white anemone blooming, an early spring flower that will cover the ground.

The view from Aunan, with Røflo Lake in the foreground and Straumen in the distance. The hills in the far distance are in the municipality of Steinkjer.

On the way up to Aunan I had seen a sign that indicated a path and I suggested to Brock that we take it and explore. He agreed, so we ended up taking the long way round to Floåsen, but along lovely trails through the forest.

The sign indicates that Marsteinsvola is in that direction, so we take that trail and look for a turn off it to Floåsen.

Part of a trail that we hadn’t taken before. It is well used, even though it wasn’t on the map I had.

We have come from Aunan. Marsteinsvola is another hilltop, but we won’t go there today. We head off to Floåsen. This next section of the trail we have been on before, on our way back from Marsteinsvola.

Though there is a lovely view from Aunan, Floåsen is an open area in the middle of the forest. There are two buildings at Floåsen, and there are several signs here. The sign below tells the story of this location. This was originally a farm owned by the King. It was purchased by municipality of Røra in 1924. The cabin that is here is owned by the Røra School.

More signs, a map, a notice that this is a check-in post for Inderøy Walks, and a box put up by the local sports club, with a book inside. You can write your name in the book to indicate that you have been here.

The sign says, “Floåsbua, Åpen for alle, Floåsens Venner”
Translation: Floås Cabin, open for everyone, Friends of Floåsen
The left hand door leads to a toilet and to the right is a room with a small kitchen, where one could take shelter in bad weather. We sat at a picnic table outdoors and ate some sandwiches.

Two places we decided not to go to today.

We had now been walking for about one and a half hours, enjoying our time out in nature. There were other places we could have walked to from here, but we agreed that going back to the car was appropriate. Taking the quickest way back it would take about half an hour to the car.

We found this angel hanging in the tree on our way back to the car.

The walk took a little over two hours, in cloudy weather and about 14 degrees Celsius. We were tired by the time we got back to the car, but we want to do walks this long regularly so that we keep in good shape and grow old gracefully. We got to try a different trail we hadn’t been on before and we didn’t get lost.

I hope you have a chance to get out for a walk today. Enjoy nature! They say trees are good for our mental health.

2022-05-08

Inderøy Walks 2022

Today, Sunday, the 8th of May, was the first day of the Inderøy Walks for 2022. My husband and I took our first walk today. There were also a lot of other people out walking too. The weather was mostly just cloudy, but we had one rain shower while we were in the forest, so we didn’t get too wet.

This year there are 48 posts and often several can be found on the same walk. We did a circle tour and were able to check in to three posts. We use an app on our phones to check in to posts when we get to them. For several years now, there have been posts that have been accessible to those who use wheelchairs (which also allows access for those with baby buggies or strollers), but this year there are also several posts that are accessible for those who are kayaking. However, I will be traditional and use my two feet. Today, I also borrowed my husband’s second walking stick to see if that was useful. On flat bits, I didn’t like having to carry the stick, but on steep areas it was useful.

We parked at our local recycling center (previously known as the garbage dump) and headed off on an easy walk through relatively open terrain. The trees are just starting to put out their leaves. The walk from the car to Markaplassen was about 600 meters.

Yes, we could walk to Vangshylla and home from here, but it’s a bit too far for me. Today we chose to go left, towards Markaplassen. There were new information signs along this path, primarily about insects, birds or other animals. The blue hiker on the signs indicate that this is middle difficulty, though the section we did today was quite easy. In spite of recent rain, the ground was not muddy or particularly wet.

Here is the trail and the open forest that we were walking through. The trail is marked both with signs and streamers. The red arrows are an older version of the signs. Today they use signs with a hiker on them.

Our first post, number 25, for 2022. We got 10 points each for this easy walk.

This little shelter at Markaplassen can be used if the weather turns bad. There would be benches inside to sit on. We were still energetic so we continued our walk without sitting down.

New this year were two posts on the Stene Nature and Culture Path. It is posted as a green trail, which means it is quite easy. It is not a very long trail, but does go around in a circle. We came to the path from the right on the map below and took the trail in a counter-clockwise direction, meeting many people going in the opposite direction.

We came from Markaplassen (labeled 3 on the map, went up to the main car road, crossed over it and followed the red dotted line in a counter-clockwise direction.

It is always fun trying a new trail. This trail was well marked with streamers, and I’m sure by the end of the summer, it will be very easy to see on the ground as well. However, there were many narrow trails, probably deer trails, in the forest so we had to keep a good eye on the streamers in the trees.

Into the trees we go. We had to keep an eye on the red and white streamers so that we went in the right direction. Most of this trail was in a coniferous forest that has not been logged recently. We climbed quite a bit, so we got good exercise.

Our second post of the day, number 24, was called Furutoppen, the Pine Top, Here we got 20 points for our efforts.

There was a little bench to sit on while we checked in on our app. We now had been to two posts and gotten 30 points each. Onward ho! We have to get back to the car, so we keep on going. We are enjoying the quiet of the forest, though every now and then we hear the voices of others who are out walking. It is Sunday, so lots of people will be out on the trails today.

While we were in the forest, there was a short rain shower. By the time it was finished we came out into the open where the forest had been cut down, perhaps a year or two ago. I noticed that small spruce trees had been planted in this logged area.

Looking back the way we came. We are going downhill now, and I’m looking back at the forest we have come out of.

Suddenly, when we get out into the open, there is a view over the farmland of Utøy. It is just clearing up after a short rain shower.

Our third post of the walk, number 23, for which we got 10 points.

They have made a nice sitting area here, with a view out over farmland and the fjord. The island of Ytterøy is in the background.

Suddenly, the sun has come out again. We’ve just come down this section of the trail and it was very nice to have both a railing to hold onto and a walking stick to help with balance.

We enjoyed our walk today, in spite of the weather not really cooperating at one point. We were prepared for rain and mud, so there was really no problem. We used about one and a half hours on this round trip and we agreed that we would do it again. Though we have to drive to get to the starting point, the parking area is only about ten minutes drive from home.

I hope you get out for a walk today too. Enjoy the nature you have near you.

2022-04-15

Easter in Norway, 2022

Though Easter is a moveable Christian holiday marking the death of Jesus Christ, in Norway this is a national holiday that no longer has anything to do with Christianity. Though Christians may attend church services, most people just see it as a nice break from work or school. Most people will have a five-day weekend and it is traditionally the time to either go to the mountains and have one last skiing trip, or head to the cabin near a fjord and get it ready for the summer season.

Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday are all days that are holy days and therefore most people will have the time off, unless they have a job that has to be manned 24 hours a day and seven days a week, like the police, hospitals and other health care services. Schools take the whole week off, so that children and students get ten days free. Stores are open on Saturday, but will often close a bit early so that the workers can also have extra free time. For example, my local grocery store has standard opening hours from 7 am to 11 pm but on the Saturday before Easter Sunday they will close at 4 pm.

I’ve never been keen on skiing, but getting into the woods and up a mountain have always been things I like to do. For me, this year, this is the week that my walking season has begun in earnest. Yesterday I took a one-and-a-half hour walk with my son and we covered about 5 km. However, I took no pictures yesterday so I won’t write more about that walk except to say that I really enjoyed it and I wanted to do more.

Today was again a bright sunny day. There was frost when I got up, but as the sun climbed higher in the sky, the air temperature warmed up considerably. While my son and my husband headed off for a day-trip in the car, I got a ride to a drop-off point that is about 5 km from home. I walk up and along a back road that brings me to Skarnsund Bridge, cross the bridge and walk through the woods to home again. It is only on the bridge that I have to listen to the noise of cars. Today I used two and a half hours, so probably walked almost 8 km.

The typical Easter weather that everyone wants is a sunny day, with heat in the sunshine. Today was a good day for fulfilling that dream weather.

Dream weather for an Easter walk – sunshine and no wind. Too bad the photographer couldn’t hold the camera parallel to the horizon. We can blame it on sun in her eyes, or perhaps just carelessness.

Though the snow is gone in low-lying areas, I was prepared for snow as I climbed up the hill. Mosvik gets a lot more precipitation than we get at Vangshylla. I quite often notice it raining or snowing in Mosvik and we don’t get anything. We also got a lot of precipitation in March this year, often as snow in higher elevations. Several storms would also have blown the snow, causing drifts in open areas in the woods.

Dalavegen in Mosvik is a back road with only a few houses on it, but it is kept open all winter long. However there are a lot of trees preventing the sun from melting the snow in the ditches. The higher I climbed up, the more snow there was. I use about 20 minutes to walk up this road as it is a steady uphill climb.

The snow was melting and there was lots of water in all of the streams that I saw. This little waterfall captured my attention as a bent tree gives the water a nice edge to fall over.

When I got to a farm called Setervang, the road divides and continues eastwards towards Skarnsund Bridge or heads north then west to reach another farm which I think is only used as a summer house. This road is not always suitable for driving, even in the summer as it can have quite deep ruts. It is not plowed or kept open in the winter. In the summer there is a gate to keep the sheep away from farm fields.

There was still quite a bit of snow on this back road, one that is not kept open in the winter months. However there were lots of tracks from people walking up the road. This is a popular walking area in the summer.

There were a few challenges where trees had stopped standing and were lying down for a rest. Someone had come by with a saw and made an opening for people to get through.

The main reason I had decided to come up this rather snow-covered road was to get to a viewpoint where I could see out over the fjord. There are several that can be accessed from this road, but I decided to neither go to Storlia nor Korpsåsen, both of which are lovely walks, in the summer. By the time I had gotten to this point, I did not want to go much farther across snow. I was on my own and had to be careful that I didn’t twist my ankle or otherwise injure myself. So I decided on a place that I knew about which was closer than either of those places.

I took a left turn here but I’m not going to go as far as Korpsåsen, which is 700 meters according to the signpost, but I always feel is about twice that distance.

Maybe a hundred meters from the snow-covered road, then turn left at the top of this hill.

A viewpoint with a shelter, at the edge of a cliff.

The view, looking east towards Vangshylla and Verdal. The island of Ytterøy is also visible. This was the reason to trudge through the snow. I stopped her for a few minutes to just enjoy the sunshine and being able to see a long way. Though it doesn’t show up well in this picture, there are snow-covered mountains in the distance.

After enjoying the view, I went back to Gammelplassen, where in the summer you can park a car and headed off towards Skarnsund Bridge and home. However, there was a lot of snow on the trail, trees that had blown over, and a stream to cross before I got onto the section of the trail that was mostly free of snow.

Gammelplassen – no parking available at the moment. Come back in a month or two. But I’m not the first one to cross on foot. There were both human and animal footprints.

I’m on my way home, but first I have to get to the bridge. I’ve used about an hour so far.

Colt’s foot (in Norwegian, hestehov) is one of the first flowers to come up in the spring. The flower comes out first and then large leaves grow throughout the summer. These fellows had plenty of water and were eager to get on with their lives. They were not going to wait for the snow to disappear.

The trail continues on the other side of the stream. I followed the footprints and found a good crossing point. There was quite a bit of water in the stream, heading down to the fjord.

Here too there were all sorts of lazy trees who couldn’t stay standing. Some of the trees were more difficult to get around, over or under than others.

Finally, the trail becomes more bare than snow-covered, though the first part was quite wet.

Furufjellet (the pine mountain), the goal of the walking trip, about an hour and a half from the start of my walk, and about 50 minutes from home. As I suspected, there was little snow on this part of the hillside.

Looking up from the previous picture. There are pine trees at the top of this cliff.

I often like to look at the flowers that are growing in different places, but in the middle of April there are still very few wild flowers out. I’ll have to wait until May before more come out. At this point there are a few that have to get their blooms out before the leaves come out on the deciduous trees. Colt’s foot (hestehov in Norwegian) is usually the first one and at lower elevations there are now numerous blooms along the sides of the road. Another plant, hepatica nobilis, (blåveis in Norwegian), anemone hepatica or liverwort in English, is very characteristic for Inderøy municipality.

This picture was taken on a sunny slope facing south. Anemone hepatica likes dry and calcium-rich soil. We have this on our lot and it is quite common throughout Inderøy.

I’m back to the bridge. One kilometer across the bridge and about half a kilometer to home on the other side.

This was my first long walk of the year, using about two and a half hours, without any breaks except to take pictures. I was tired when I got home, but not as much as I had expected. Getting out into nature, away from cars and people, helps me charge up my batteries and keep me in a good frame of mind.

I am planning to do other walks and perhaps there will be blogs about them. Most of the walks that I can do easily from home I have already written about, so no promises about how often new blogs will come out. From about the middle of May, the municipality of Inderøy has a series of walks which I am hoping to participate in this year too.

Have you been out for a walk in nature recently? Is this the weekend for you to get away for an hour or two? Enjoy your walk.

2022-02-06

February Walk – Ice

As the walks that I take at this time of year tend to follow the same few trails or roads, I look for different themes for taking my pictures as I walk. Today I noticed ice in different types of locations.

January 2022 was the month of storms in Norway, though we didn’t feel all of them where we live. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute summed up the month of January with very high levels of bad weather warnings (see the article in Norwegian here), about twice as many as a year ago. There was a storm somewhere in Norway on 26 of the 31 days in January, with 82 yellow warnings, 12 orange warnings (more serious) and 2 red, extreme warnings. Why were there so many storms in January in Norway? There was a high pressure area sitting over Great Britain, so they got the sunshine. The storms coming in off the Atlantic Ocean went around Great Britain and came to Norway.

I usually think of January as the month that it warms up a bit and the snow disappears. This year we got that, but we also got several storms that brought more snow, or heavy rain. The last week of January saw more snow. February tends to be, in my opinion, more stable weather, meaning that there are fewer storms and more sunnier weather, though it can be quite cold and very often a lot of ice.

Today the temperature was about +2 degrees Celsius and no wind when I was out walking. The sun shone intermittently, but the day felt bright. But the last few days has given us changeable weather, sometimes snow, sometimes rain, but always the temperature has been about zero degrees, so that the rain does not get rid of much of the snow. That means that we have had perfect conditions for creating ice, especially where one drives or where one walks.

Running water creates ice and this stream was no exception. This is the same stream that a few weeks ago was causing flooding on the field at the top. The stream is fed under the cultivated field through a large pipe. Here the stream tumbles down a ravine, causing ice to form along its path.

In the woods, running water can also cause icicles to form. Here was a long series of icicles.

As I got closer to the icicles, I noticed the rock formations as well. Here there were several layers of rock, with large spaces between them. Above there are farm fields. Some of the water seems to be flowing in the stream I had found a week ago, but most of the water just seemed to drip over the edge of the rocks. Note that there is a lot of moss on the rocks indicating that these rocks are wet all year long.

The sun came out as I was writing my name in the tour book at the lean-to. I checked the map on my telephone and it told me that I was about 80 meters above sea level. I make sure I don’t go near the edge at this time of the year. I do not want to slide down a cliff face.

A week ago, I had seen a large tree stump at the water’s edge at the beach. Was it still there, I wondered? So I walked down to the beach and sure enough, it was stranded near the high water level on the beach. Today the tide was much lower. We can have up to four meters difference between high tide and low tide.

Back to ice and the conditions of the roads. This is a private gravel road that leads to five homes and many cabins. Icy! I was glad that I was wearing cleats under my shoes. I was also very careful where I walked. At the lowest point of this section of road, the stream goes under the road through a large pipe.

Even the municipal road that leads to the quay at Vangshylla was very, very icy, though a bit of sand had been put down to allow cars better traction on the ice. Walking along the edge of the road, it was very icy. I was glad to be walking uphill, not downhill.

As I walked up the road, I again saw icicles forming where water drains off the cliff and freezes as it falls.

The yellow fence at the top of the cliff shows our property. Here, too, ice forms as water is draining away and then freezing.

As it was several days since I had been out for a walk, I dawdled a bit, watching where I was walking and was out for about an hour and a half. It was good to get fresh air and let my eyes focus on things far away, and not just look at a computer screen or my knitting.

I hope you too have had a good walk this weekend.

2022-01-31

January Walk – Checking in

Today is the last day of January and finally the weather was pleasant enough to go for a walk in the woods. We’ve been having snow, rain and sleet, but today there was little wind and light cloud so I was tempted out for a walk.

I like to have a goal for my walk, somewhere I turn around, though I don’t have to go back the same way that I came. In Trøndelag, Norway, there is a tradition of having a mailbox, possibly fastened to a tree, in which there is a book in which to write your name. These “turkasser” (tour boxes) are usually put out by the local sports club to encourage people to get out walking. They would normally be some distance from a car road, so that you are required to walk there. The books in the boxes usually last several years and one writes the date one comes, and one’s name. Some people like to add the time of day, comments about the weather and even the dog’s name. In the one that I visit most, I often write the accumulated times I have visited the place during the current calendar year.

Bjønnbråtte

One of the most common walks that I take is to a place called “Bjønnbråtte”. Here there is a gapahuk, a primitive lean-to. It is a type of shelter, usually open on one side. This one would sit about three adults at the opening and you have to watch that you don’t hit your head when you stand up again. A Norwegian gapahuk, or lean-to, comes in many sizes and can be large enough to sit ten to fifteen people inside, or small like this one. We have lived here for 32 years and this one has been here all of the years we have lived here.

There is enough height to sit at the front. Today it was dry, but the last time I came here, snow had blown into it so I was not able to sit down. On the inside of the far wall, there is a box in which a book is stored. The box keeps the book dry. The lean-to is made out of logs and planks and sits on a foundation of mountain rock and large stones. The roof is covered with sod.

During the summer months, this is a check-in place for Inderøy Walks, but I also use it as a check-in place and turn-around place in the winter. Having a check-in place makes a good goal for a walk, and I find that it gives me the feeling of having gotten somewhere. Living in the country, walking to a store or other municipal facility is not possible.

The tour box has been opened and the book taken out to write my name in it. Today was the fourth time I have visited this spot in 2022. When we first came here, the book that was used at the time was just kept in a plastic bag to protect it from the weather. A couple of years ago my husband decided to make something more weather-proof and the result was the current box made out of used terrace boards.

The information sign inside the gapahuk/lean-to.

Why is this place called “Bjønnbråtte”? The Norwegian word, “bjønn” means a bear. So the sign gives the story of a bear, as retold by Jens Ness who was born in 1872. “A bear came across Ulvingrenda hamlet, crossed Leirdalen valley and came past Ness-sand, where a boy herded cattle at Ness. The bear killed a heifer which he started eating. Eventually, a lot of people gathered there and the bear was chased over the “halleren”, across the Bjønndalen valley and on top of this plateau.” It is not known whether they killed it there, shot him or scared him over the cliff. This is supposedly the last bear seen in the village.

Inside the lean-to, there is also a sign warming about forest fire danger. Between the 15th of April and the 15th of September it is forbidden to light fires. The telephone number for reporting fires is also given.

Rotsveet

After reaching my goal and writing my name in the book, I turned around and headed home. The first part of the trail I have to just retrace my steps, but I stopped to read one of the information signs along the way.

Norwegian at the top and English in small print at the bottom. You can also read all the signs for this walk between Vangshylla and Straumen at https://www.inderoysti.no/kart-og-tavler/.

(English translation of the sign) Once upon a time, this area has been used for cultivation. We see stones that are at the lower edge of the plot from when it was cleared, and as the name suggests, it was cleared by flaming, and used to grow root crops. (The word “sveet” means method for the clearing of land by burning and flaming.)

It was common to have land like this in the forest – where it was protected from the weather and the climate was good and warm. Another conclusion we could draw is that at that time there were no moose or deer. The root crops would then have been animal food and not human food. This has probably never been a place of residence.

Just below there is a great and airy view point out towards Norviksundet and Ytterøy island.

The stones that are mentioned in the text. There is a viewpoint straight ahead, on the edge of a cliff.

The viewpoint, looking towards the island of Ytterøya. I didn’t go too close to the edge when it was snowy and possibly icy. There is a sheer drop down many meters to the fjord.

You can just see the sign on the right of the path. It is relatively flat here, so one can see why it might have been cultivated at one time. The viewpoint over the fjord is off to the left from where I am standing.

The beach at Rotvollvika

To make my walk a round trip and to give myself two more uphill stretches, I often walk down towards the fjord. Today I caught sight of something unusual for our local beaches, but probably a result of the recent storms. Where I grew up in British Columbia, beaches were often littered with logs that had gotten loose from log booms. There are no log booms in the area here so there is very little driftwood on beaches.

The tide was relatively high when I came by. Seeing a floating stump in the water is unusual here. One can also see a smaller stump higher up the beach and some branches that have been put on the beach by either a higher tide or waves.

Looking eastwards along the beach, one can just see the piles of seaweed, deposited on the beach at high tide. Now is it covered by snow and ice. In the foreground there is a stream.

This stream has always fascinated me as it flows under the red boat house at the left.

I was probably out for an hour on my walk today and it was good to get outdoors and get both fresh air and exercise. I hope you get out for a walk today too.