Bleh. Snow again. Isn’t it time for spring yet?

Nysse went out yesterday afternoon, wandered off all the way to Spånga centre with Ingrid and a bunch of her friends, then darted off into some bushes – and didn’t come back. It was past midnight when I gave up waiting for him and went to bed. He’s never been gone overnight before.

I woke up twice during the night and checked for him, and when morning came, I was fully expecting him to sit behind the French doors, looking annoyed, waiting to be let in for breakfast. But he wasn’t there.

We’d all been out looking for him by now, and were getting really worried. Had he been run over? Gotten lost? Been taken by someone? He’d never voluntarily miss a meal.

I kept the French doors ajar all day so that he’d definitely be able to get in whenever he turned up, even if I happened to be in a meeting. The house was cold, and felt even colder than it physically was.

Just as I had finished designing a “have you seen this cat” poster for Eric to print out, Nysse finally turned up – at 16:30 in the afternoon, a full 24 hours after he went out. He ran straight for the food bowl, and then was extra clingy and contact-seeking all evening.

Our best guess is that he got distracted by Ingrid & her friends, didn’t pay attention to where he was going, and then couldn’t find his way back home. Whatever it was, we are very relieved that he turned up.

The flashback feature at the top of the blog showed me that I’ve taken photos of liverwort/hepatica flowers around this time of the year in the past, so when we had a weekend with decent weather, we went out walking and I took the macro lens with me. Looks like we’re too early for them, though – when Eric spotted the first ones and Adrian found me more, they were all still in buds. Which didn’t come as a surprise: the roadside ditches in the woods were still solid ice and the ground was frozen through in most places. We’ll have to go out again next week for more photos.

It takes Nysse about the same time to gobble up his food as it takes for me to serve it. But he’s no longer as obsessed with food as he used to be. He’s learned that food on the table is off limits, and so is the kitchen counter – but anything in the kitchen sink is fair game.

You thought it was spring? Hah! April Fools! Have some snow and hail instead.

Much of the yarn I buy comes in hanks, so I’m often winding it into balls. Everybody on the internet says to buy a yarn winder and a yarn swift, but I really enjoy doing this by hand. It’s meditative. And the yarn feels nice. And it reminds me of my grandmother.

I remember holding up hanks of yarn for her to wind. I remember seeing her use a yarn swift in her home in town, but she probably didn’t bring it with her to her summer cottage, so I had to do its job when she was there. And she taught me how to hand-wind yarn into a soft, squishy ball, so it keeps its elasticity, by winding it over my fingers.

I loop my hank over an IKEA step stool instead of children’s hands.

No photo.

A full day of travelling, from Lillehammer via Oslo and Karlstad to Stockholm. The bus from Oslo to Karlstad was delayed but this time my buffer was enough to allow me to make the connection. The delay was due to the bus being pulled in for a customs control on the border. Everybody off the bus, take your luggage, march past the sniffer dog. Almost kind of exciting, but also very dull.

The last day. 23 km. We heard rumours of there being no snow beyond Nordseter so we might have to take the bus from there. That would have been a sad end to our trip. But the wonderful Skisporet.no app showed a live view of track groomers passing along those trails as we were having breakfast, so our worries were relieved.

The hotel at Hornsjø was a strange one. Large, nearly empty, mostly unrenovated since the late 1970s by the looks of it, only reachable by a gravel/dirt road – like straight out of the Shining. Bathroom walls covered with nubbly greenish beige wallpaper, broken window latches, frayed carpet edges. We were the only group staying here tonight, and while there were three or four other guests here as well, I think the staff outnumbered us. But the beds were decent and the food was good, and there were no actual murderers in sight.

Due to the freshly groomed tracks (most of the way) we actually had really good snow today. But also a lot of other people, now that we’re so much closer to civilization, of all kinds. There were some on backcountry skis like ours, but many were out with no packs and on their skinny little skis, racing along like the wind. Also several bunches of serious skiers in matching lycra outfits and with matching brightly coloured poles, racing along even faster.

The last section of trail today went through the woods near Lillehammer. Narrowish paths with natural rather than machine-made trails, and quite a lot of winding downhill slopes, made for fun skiing.

We didn’t ski all the way to town – a local bus took us down the last kilometres. And then we were in town and suddenly skiing and snowy mountains felt far away. I’m already looking forward to next year’s trip.

(Central Lillehammer, by the way, mostly consists of shops for outdoor equipment and clothing, but also boasts three shops selling wool and yarn.)

19 km, 277 m of ascent, 4 hours. I had a late start because I had to wait for the luggage transport to Hornsjø, and only went out skiing at 11:30.

The wind today was ferocious. It was blowing from the north mostly, which was lucky for the group skiing south and south-east to Hornsjø from Vetåbua – had they had the wind in their faces for 40 km, their day would have been quite horrible. Now they were pushed along and barely had to do any work at times, as they told me afterwards. Had I known in advance that the conditions would be like this, I would have gone with them to Vetåbua, but you can never be sure about the weather in the mountains.

For me there was only the option of out and back, which meant going out against the wind and coming back with it at my back. And what a difference the wind (and the hills) made! The same 10 km took me 2:30 going out, against the wind and generally uphill, and exactly half the time coming back, with the wind and mostly downhill.

The outward half of the day was actually not particularly enjoyable. I would probably have given up and turned back earlier, if I had been able to find any kind of shelter at all. Now I kept going all the way to the little hamlet of Lienden where there was a café according to the map. Not that I actually expected any café to be open at this time of the year, but where there’s a café, there are at least buildings of some sort, with walls that I can shelter behind.

I had my lunch sitting in the sun in the lee of the hut. And then I came out and took three steps to the left and was almost blown over by the wind again. But when I started skiing, I was almost flying along.

Friisvegen day trip. 27 km, 437 m of ascent.
Today and tomorrow the Troll Trail leaves civilization for an unmanned DNT hut. From Friisvegen to Vetåbua is a short day of about 20 km, but tomorrow from Vetåbua to Hornsjø is 40 km, which would be the longest I’ve ever skied with a pack. Plus the packs will be heavier because there will be no luggage transport – Vetåbua is not in reach of any roads. And on top of all that, tomorrow is going to have really strong winds.

Both John and I feel hesitant about my ability to do all that tomorrow. Or rather, he’s not sure I can do it, and I’m not sure I would enjoy it. So, plan B: I will stay at Friisvegen for one more night, and have a day of skiing on my own. Transport tomorrow morning to Hornsjø, along with the luggage, followed by more skiing on my own.

I followed the group for the first 7 km. When they turned left towards Vetåbua, I turned right towards the village of Skotten. I did a circuit there (prepared tracks through undulating woodlands all the way) before I headed back for the hotel, and ended up skiing a fair bit more than the rest of the group. On the other hand, I didn’t have to carry water and firewood or cook dinner, unlike them.

Today I had the best snow I’ve seen all week. All the previous days have been quite icy, but the tracks today were relatively freshly groomed so there was actual snow that I could get an actual grip on. And it was quite nice to not have to think about keeping up with the group. I could stop for photos whenever I wanted, and faff with my clothes as often as I wanted.