Riley's road trip

Last week Riley and I drove the 565 km to Tingvoll to spend a few days with Kirstin. Lunch beside Mjøsa, a walk on Dovrefjell and various other short watering stops broke up the 10-hour long journey. Riley's not much of a conversationalist and the radio/CD-player in the car is broken, so I was reduced to talking to myself and singing aloud, but what's new?



Tingvoll lies on the Western coast of Norway, a couple of hours south of Trondheim. With a population of just 3400 nestling beside the fjord and a twelfth-century church, it is an idyllic village with friendly people where nothing much happens. Although they do apparently have Zumba classes there once a week! Twenty-odd years ago we stayed on the campsite in Tingvoll for a night  on our way up north, and my only abiding memory is that it was the smallest and darkest cabin I have ever stayed in. Riley and I checked out the campsite and the cabins are still there!


We spent Thursday on Averøy helping Kirstin with her field-work. This involved scrambling up and along a high rocky outcrop in the pouring rain to see if we could find any endangered plant species. Riley was very unimpressed with this kind of a walk and at one point refused point-blank to scramble along a ledge through juniper bushes. Apparently it was all worth while. Although we didn't find anything special there, we did find a rare kind of fungus behind the local museum in Kvernes. I wouldn't have bothered preserving it as it looked grey and slimy, but the experts thought otherwise! While on Averøy, we popped into Glassforum where I did my Tiffany glass course in 2005, and picked up some glass and a few other bits of equipment. The centre is in the most idyllic location looking out over the fjord towards Trollheimen - not surprising people feel inspired and creative working there.

Feeling well and truly chilled after our ramble in the rain, it was good to get back to Kirstin's cosy flat, light the fire, drink hot soup then curl up on the sofa and watch chick-flicks.

The weather picked up on Friday and Kirstin and I went on a sightseeing and shopping trip to Molde. An attractive town nestling between the mountains and the sea, Molde is renowned for its annual jazz festival, its roses and its football team, sponsored by a "local lad made good" and now coached by an ex-Man United player. We didn't get to hear any jazz or see any of the local celebrities, but there were plenty of beautiful roses in bloom and the shops kept us occupied until it was time to pick Kevin up from the airport.

Saturday was a beautiful day, so after a lazy breakfast we made a packed lunch and drove to Innerdalen which is supposedly Norway's most beautiful valley. It was indeed very beautiful; a winding road, green pastures and a lake mirroring the mountains towering above, topped with a sprinkling of new snow to remind us that winter isn't far off. Riley really appreciated this walk (more than me as I tried head-butting the car-boot door and nearly knocked myself out!) and greeted everyone we met along the way very enthusiastically. The spectacular Innerdalstårnet that was used as "Blåfjell" in the childrens TV series looked enticing, but I think that's a climb Kirstin and I will do alone!

And so the long journey home again on Sunday with cold, wet and windswept stops along the way. The temperature dropped down to 2 degrees as we passed over Valdresflya and the snow was not far from the road. We made better time on the way back, and having unpacked, done the washing, eaten dinner and cleared up, we sat down to relax in front of the TV before going to bed. However, the road trip had been all too much for Riley, and his stomach tied itself into a knot. I spent the night watching over a dog that became increasingly distressed before driving through a rainstorm to the vet at four in the morning to get his stomach pumped. This had to be repeated twice during the following day before he was allowed home on a drip! Maybe next time we'll leave him at home....