Day 38. Fondsbu weather and rest day
Posted by: James on February 7, 2009Distance 0km | Time 0hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m
After a good nights sleep I had a leisurely breakfast. It was overcast and snowing lightly outside so I did not feel too guilty about a rest day.
After breakfast I went up to the library in the lodge and immersed myself in many of the books up there including many new ones about Norwegian mountains which I had not seen yet.
Just after a simple lunch the weather improved and although overcast views appeared. I put my skis on and went for a small ski round the newly restored Eidsbugarden hotel and also to the culturally significant cabin built by Aasmund Vinje.
Vinje is a well known and respected political thinker and poet from them mid 19 century. He was born in humble circumstances but with the help of patrons and his own hunger to learn eventually graduated with a law degree and worked in the justice department.
Norway at this time was ruled by and indeed was part of Sweden. It had also have been subjected to Danish rule and cultural influence, especially the official language of Norway, called Riksmal.
Vinje belonged to a small but vociferous group of radicals who dident like these political and cultural foreign dominances. He made frequent protests and his rebellious stance earned him further patronage among patriotic but conservative Norwegians.
Vinje had spent considerable time in Oslo and forgot about the Norwegian countryside. However, on his way to a protest in Trondheim he encountered the mountain region of Rondane. For him it was a road to Damascus moment and it reawakened his childhood appreciation of nature.
He then spent a while looking for a perfect spot to appreciate this nature and eventually found a small spit of land at the west end of Bygdin lake. He borrowed some money from his patrons and built a small cabin he called Eidsbugarden on this deserted spot.
He spent a couple of summers here, the first with friends the second with the recent and only love of his life. During this period he wrote significant Norwegian poems. He wrote in Nynorsk, an amalgamation of Norwegian dialects which created a new language, aiming to distinguish itself from the Danish influenced Riksmal.
After a couple of years Vinje suffered a tragic loss when his only love died in childbirth and he passed away soon after with an illness probably encouraged by a broken heart.
The cabin was taken over by a patron called Thomas Heyfte who was the first leader of the Norwegian trekking association, now the DNT. Heyfte built the start of the current Eidsbugarden hotel around his cabin. Fondsbu lodge was part of this hotel until recently.
So Vinje, the respected nationalist, poet and political thinker had a very strong attachment to Eidsbugarden. So much so the place is associated with his ideals and cherished in current Norwegian culture, while Vinje is seen as one of the founding fathers of independent Norwegian culture.
After continuing my tour past some of the around 50 leisure cabins, their turf roof heavy with snow and drifts up to the windows I returned to the warmth of Fondsbu lodge.
Later in the afternoon I helped Solbjorg and the caretaker carry boxes of drinks and kitchen equipment around to prepare for the opening in a under a week.
The evening meal was another delicious affair with lots of stir fried vegetables. I needed the vitamins so that was extra good. Another bottle of red wine and further conversations about the history of Eidsbugarden and Norway in general rounded off a perfect rest day.
Tomorrow I would leave for Gjendebu cabin feeling well rested and nourished I still had a lingering cough but that is minor compared to how I felt when I arrived here at Fondsbu lodge.