cold and crisp frosty new years eve morning walk

yummie xmas cake and cosy home time

boxing day sheep

christmas eve lights

walking on rennesøy

copenhagen

tysfjord - mørketid - not much sun!

The skiing begins! Strandalen, "marginal"

1st snows (on storeberget)

Vinjakula

Tomannsbu - gortex required!

going - going - gone...

world cup cure

paddling mission to Kvitsøy

more paddling!

heading home

walking again

out on the water

beautiful Stockholm

Hardangerfjord, from above Nordheimsund

holiday landscapes

from the top:
Hardangerjøklken from Finse 1222
towards Gjende (bessegen somewhere in the cloud)
on the spectacular Valdresflyet looking east just past Bygdin
from Juvasshytta looking east with Galdhøpiggen and the summer ski centre right and Glittertind left
looking towards Breheim and Jostendal in the back on the left
crossing Lustrafjorden (one of the many sognfjord arms) looking towards Urnes stave church
looking towards Storebjørn (in the mist) from Krossbu

good old Leirvassbu

Leirvassbu one of the best cabins anywhere, and certainly a very nice place to spend a few days even with a broken ankle - the views and potential for trips are stunning - top right photos actually show the route up storen and the turtagrø swiss chalet

spot the bit that shouldnt be there.....

an amazing rescue by the guys after quite a successful day on the hill trying to climb store skagastølstind in Hurrungane, Jotenheimen from Turtagrø (see previous entry) helicopter over the hills to Otta, taxi to Lillehammar, x-ray and CT scan, quick bit of plastering and back to Lom for a relaxing one

på storen

the jewel in the crown - a must - a stunner - one to dream of - so we started early - on the 1st top for 2nd breakfast and then climbing the 2nd & 3rd by 2nd lunch at which point the weather turned - not today - retreat - home, to be saved for another day....damn, thats broken, really quite sore - get me to the doc on time.....here comes the bird - but not before the boys lower me down extremely professionally, thats what all the training and practice is for...thank you

mountain paddling

up at 1000m above sea level - water was still pretty icey! but boy were the insects having fun - never thrown snowballs from a kajak before!!

Festival of Speed

a beautiful collection of wonderfully prepared cars assembled at the annual goodwood festival of speed!!! for the hill climb - what a fabulous day out - so much to see - you could spend days there - the red arrows even visited - lots of big engines purrrrring with passion, gleaming with pride, both classically old and the secretly very new

last one of the season

http://www.folgefonni-breforarlag.no/UK/start_uk.htm
http://www.folgefonn.no
http://www.folgefonn-gjestetun.no

From Bleriots to Dakotas, Hurricanes , Hercules & Wing walking

In celebration of the airports 70th Birthday the Sola airshow was blessed with perfect weather for some stunning flying, stunts and beautifully presented planes

up the arete

A rather nice peak just around the corner from Lysefjord in Viddalen, a warm up for more things to come during the summer?? a nice few pitches up the line in the middle - good lead!

Crossing Jostedalsbreen

Trying to load a google map of Mid Norway (Jostedalsbreen, just north of the Sognefjord)...wont work if just viewing the feed, pls see the blogger site

you can interact with the map - zoom in and pan, click on the pins, which show are campspots and the line shows the route taken (thats if I could figure how to make it work!!)

meeting the rest of the DnT group on friday night at by the bus stop in sogndal we jumped into a maxi taxi which took all 17 of us ot the start of our adventure - camping at the end of the road in Faberstølen, just beyond the Breheimsenter activities centre, on the northern edge of Jostedalsbreen (apparently mainland europes largest icesheet) - our mission - to traverse from north to south....70km later it was confirmed i had the wrong skis and far too much kit, now i really know why there are fjellski and randone skis!! but somehow i made it - with much help from cognac the siberian husky but not much from the weather, i did discover some fab trip food - no washing up!

Prekestolen

looking down on Pulpit rock and Lysefjord - some very tasty waffles, jam and cream as reward!

Gratulerer med dagen

National Day, parades, music, singing, suits and Bunads and this time stunning blue sky for champagne on the balcony

rocks galore

a few field days in berwick-upon-tweed looking at rocks, totally inspirational, reminds us why we do it, but why not more often....even managed to sqeeuze in my all time favourite beer - caledonian IPA
from top left clockwise - soils, coals, shales and limestones (parasequence top); tidal sands, muds and burrowing; zoophycus; faulting; bryozoa corals; marine shales, lower shoreface to incised valley (just think of the implications!); and very well preserved huge Carboniferous fossil tree

holy island

quite a season opener...

to start the season off with a quick 50km perhaps was a touch ambitious, but with good weather predicted off we set from Lundsvågen naturskole at 6pm – boats fully loaded (some more than others, i havent quite got the art of kajak packing sorted yet!) for a weekends paddling, 18k later and in need of dinner we pulled into a very suitable spot on the southern end of Fogn, cooked and went to bed!! The morning was bright and sunny and with the prospect of paddling half way round the islands of Ryfylke we breakfasted heartily on eggs and bacon and espresso from the tranja!!
saturdays morning paddling was great, quite still and flat with not so much wind, although paddling without the technology of wing paddles and carbonfibre boats as well as with enough food for a small family and technique like someone from the stone age going wasn’t quite in keeping with the “4paddle” rating the trip was given ;~) heading to the bridge at Ølesund (Randøy) we stopped for a nicely relaxed lunch – but the after lunch paddling was definitely “low 1 iron into the wind” stuff and certainly a lot more of an effort, after a much needed stop on the western end of Ombo we headed across to the Sjernarøyane which couldn’t have come sooner, although not the most inviting camping spot i’ve experienced – was still picking the ticks out 4 days later, last count was 11 – we watched the sun set with a cosy fire and our omni-present friend mr Mack!
sunday dawned as predicted with light rain but also with a wind that seriously challenged us, to the point where a “lift” was required – getting back on land in the face of large waves and a rocky coastline was rather exciting as was dashing the boats onto car ferry where they charged us for 2 cars!! So there’s still the return journey round the islands to do (although i’d didn’t realise that til after a long soak!!) – perhaps at a more leasurely pace…!

our friend Mack

the worlds most northerly brewery - Mack - and Tromsø's oldest pub apparently!! plenty of fabulous products, kept us warm and well fuelled on the easter escapade to the north, and this isnt all of them either...veldig smakful is all i can say!!

one for savouring!

21 years in the making and 7 years in the drinking (and it was a half bottle!) that was a very memorbable bottle of springbank, but all gone now - very enjoyable!! seriously recommend a browse in cadenheads for inspiration and stocking!

Quidi Vidi Brewing

All the way from Newfoundland - the "Icebergbeer"!

pushing it ;~)

more cross country skiing back in the old favourite from fidjeland - a classic bit of combat skiing - stricktly speaking rather off piste - but this time on foot, not skis ;~) - jump!!

Rombakstøtta

just around the corner from narvik we made out last official top tur of this easter trip up the rather stunning and noticable Rombakstøtta - a cosy lunch was had in the lee of a friendly rock while we kept an eye on the cloud coming and going, but the decision was made and we skied up to the col, took our skis off and walked up the final summit ridge - a very nice, if a little obscured, views even across into sweden - the nedkjøring was powderful and sweet

yummy easter eggs

marvelous Lyngen

thats the beach - those are our skis and there's even some blue sky - skiing from 0.3m above sea level...beautiful - our best weather on the whole trip - although it only lasted until 2pm by which time we were high on a glacier and unable to see anything - no summit that day as we slowly retraced our steps down Tafeltind....will just have to come back for a repeat of the valley of fear next year

the best nedkjøring ever - perhaps 1km continuous powder up to you armpits ;-) daltindan - although, as ever no views from the top but some quality combat sking through the forests at the end and a heart in mouth moment on return to the car as we found that muggins had left the lights on - luckily the hirecar didnt let us down - phew!!

52km of ski racing - under stunning blue skis

the waxing

the preparation

and finally they're off

a successful team at the end of the day - all with personal bests
Sesilsåmi results - compare it to last years experience!! and PS thanks to a rather splendid support team - stunning ;~)

its early this year

so warm, must be about a month earlier than last year - the buds all appearing and coming out already, the white coating is being shaken off

downhill at Voss

some rather nice downhill at the voss ski centre and accomodation at the historic hotel Fleischers but boy what an epic return - left at 16.30 home by 05.00!!! storms and ferries arent a good combination!