Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 0km | Time 0hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m

I was tired after yesterdays long day and more importantly needed to devote some time to paperwork issues, not least the blog where I was two days or three hours behind. I also needed a shower and to wash some clothes. I had planned a rest day in Masi in my head for ages. Indeed it was perhaps why I let the writing slip for 2 days.

So when I woke I rolled over again and went straight back to sleep. Eventually I got up at 1000. Luxury. For all my bragging about how I could have gone further after my 59 km yesterday my legs this morning let it be known there would be a mutiny if I asked them to do more than walk to the shower block.

The little hut I was in (cabin is too grand a word) was very basic and poorly equipped. There was a one ring cooker, fridge, two beds which looked like they had been nailed together by prisoners using old pallets, a table and two chairs and a wall heater. However it did the job.

I spent the rest of the morning in my hut looking at maps and writing up the day from Reisajavri to Njivlovuopmi. I finished this by about 1300 when the café which ran the huts opened. I had a small breakfast so was pretty hungry and went over to the café and ordered two meals. It was run and owned by a Lapp woman of around 60. Her prices were quite steep.

Then in the afternoon I stayed in the café and wasted the luxury of my hut. Here I wrote up the day from Njivlovuopmi to Masi. I also had a few emails to send and a few phone calls to make.

Once these office chores were done I had a shower and washed my clothes. It would have been a good drying day in the sunny breeze, but I missed the afternoon and by early evening when the hand wash was complete the sun was still out but the temperature had fallen to below zero again.

I went back to the café in the evening for another two meals. The portions were not big. There were a couple of other Lapps in the café. I got chatting to them but they insisted in speaking English rather than Norwegian. There English was terrible and I quickly got bored. They both owned reindeer but paid somebody else to look after them. One cow is worth 5 reindeer apparently.

I spent the evening in the cabin with cloths hanging above the one ring electric cooking plate and wall heather hoping they would be dry by the morning and then remembered the tent had to be dried also.

I eventually crashed out at 2300 with plans to get up early and ski the 35 odd km along scooter tracks to Nedre Mollesjokka Fjellstue.

It had been a boring day with writing on the phones keypad and using it as a phone taking up most of it. Still my body had a chance to rest and I could gorge myself on nasty quick food which tasted great. It was the type of day which just has to be done from time to time, like wading through forest snow.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 9:46 am and is filed under Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.