Go to the island

Our little island trip, which was short and beautiful and will definitely be repeated. (06.02.2021)

I had back pain on Friday from who knows what, which persisted on Saturday, so I was in the mood of 'I'll stay in bed and do nothing'. Pia, on the other hand, was bursting with energy and wanted to go out. Some light exercise would surely do me good, and I overcame my longing for the bed. Pia decided to take the ferry to the island of Askøy in front of Bergen and hike to its highest point of only 230 meters. There is a hiking trail along the island that is 34 km long and which we plan to hike in the spring. We followed normal roads to the starting point of our trail. Since Askøy generally doesn't have any really high elevations, we walked on the roads in the direction of a rocky wall the whole time and didn't see a higher mountain behind it. But Pia was sure that there had to be something higher and that our trail didn't go up there. Jokingly, I said I would eat a broom if we had to go up there. Then, almost below this wall, we looked at the map and saw that we didn't necessarily have to take the trail up there, but we decided to take it anyway. But that didn't mean I had to eat something soon. The path was steep and covered with snow at the beginning, but the higher we went, the icier it became and turned into an impressive ice channel. Climbing this bobsled run without spikes wasn't so much fun, but we were two exemplary Viking women. Even a Norwegian woman with a dog turned back, but the two of us, determined Vikings, of course made it to the top. Once we reached the top, we were basically at the same elevation and hiked along it. The landscape there has peaty soil and is usually covered with heather, but right now all you can see is beautiful white snow. From time to time, you walk on wooden boardwalks, which are probably important in the rest of the year, but we didn't necessarily need them. Pia liked the sound they made when you walked over them. The snow creaked, the wood creaked, Pia's shoes creaked, and Pia was happy. There's not much to say about the hike, it was very beautiful, and seeing Bergen from the other direction was new. At the 'mountain top', we had a great panoramic view, and we could even see the sea. Theoretically, we are always by the sea, but with the islands and fjords, it feels more like a lake. Seeing the open sea is different. It goes so far that you can't see anything anymore and is like a big blue ribbon surrounding you. Near the summit, there is a small hut with a can of cookies, from which we both had one. Because it was already relatively late and the sun would soon sink into the sea, we set off for Erdal, the next cluster of houses. We hoped to find a bus stop there where a bus would go towards Bergen city center, because we wouldn't be able to catch the last ferry. The way downhill was partially secured with ropes to hold onto and at some points it was really necessary because in the summer you have to climb over rocks, but in this winter there was an icy layer on the rocks. Once we reached the bottom, we had a nice surprise. There were two swings hanging from a tree. Of course, we took a break and enjoyed the feeling of being able to fly a little. After that, we probably didn't follow the official path because we came out through a gap in the fence behind a soccer field. Then we simply followed our gut feeling in search of a bus stop. I would say we were hungry and wanted to go back to Fantoft because our stomach led us in the right direction. We had to make some small adjustments with our mobile phones, but otherwise the timing was also perfect because we didn't have to wait long for the bus.

On Sunday, we received a message from the university and the municipality of Bergen that Bergen will go into a lockdown next week, as people infected with the mutated coronavirus were found in the city and near the Fantoft tram stop. Compared to the mainland of Europe, Norway has low case numbers, but the reaction has become very strict. We were a little sad because classes with up to 20 participants could have taken place at the university, which applied to our classes except for Norwegian and Pia's UN class. But better this way than Fantoft becoming a COVID-19 hotspot.