Today I temporarily became "Today We" Part 2

Today was a day of firsts for both of us! So when we got to Dale, we had some time before our bus so we grabbed something to eat. After we had lunch we headed to the bus “station.” Turns out the station was just a stop and we were confused on the bus scheduled. I asked a lady walking nearby if she could help us, and she helped us read the schedule. Unfortunately, since it is Saturday, she said there was only one bus that had already left early in the morning. So we were stuck. We tried to see if we could find another bus stop, but it was too close to the time that we were told the bus was. Matt said he would be tempted to hitchhike our way to Lid. I said go for it so while I waited at the bus stop to see if anything would show up, Matt walked out to the main road to hitchhike.

 

About 5 minutes later I saw that car had stopped to talk to him and he waved me over. We were greeted by ET as he called himself (his initials, since his name was too difficult to pronounce), who was traveling past Lid to his own cabin. We got in and he drove us to Lid. Matt so was happy that it only took a few minutes for us to get a ride, and I said “it’s all thanks to that pretty face.” I mean who could say no to that and a British accent? ET was extremely nice and we are extremely grateful to him. He told us that he’s been to both Seattle, and the Isle of Wight near where Matt lives in Southampton. We were both surprised at the coincidence. The ride itself only took 15 minutes and he dropped us off at the trail head. He even tried to look at the bus schedule to help us get back to Dale, but it turns out there aren’t any buses on Sunday either. So he said “I guess you’ll have to find another ET to take you back.” I asked for a photo and he took a selfie with us! We will never forget his kindness.

After getting dropped off we started off toward Høgabu. The trail was pretty easy for us to follow as it was marked with red T’s.

Follow the T's!

The hike, or walk as Matt would call it, was amazing. I’ve never been on a more beautiful hike. I spent most of the hike looking back at where we had come from, and then onward towards the hills we would climb.

 
Overall during our time in Norway, we’ve been super lucky with weather. While it had been raining on and off on our way to Lid, once we got to the trail it cleared up.  The trail it self is well marked and it was easy to follow the T's. Most T's are painted on rocks on little towers, so we just would look to the next towers to see our direction. Also Matt had the map and would check the trail with the T's.

We had great weather for most of the hike and it only started raining on us near the end. After hiking through the Norwegian terrain we finally made it to Høgabu and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was.

The view from outside the cabin

We grabbed the 2 bunk room off of the main area, but the cabin can actually sleep many people in multiple rooms and in a dorm area on the 2nd floor. It had a small kitchen that was well stocked with supplies. This was Matt's first time staying in a place without running water. Speaking of water all of our drinking water came the lake outside the cabin. This was both of our first times just drinking water straight from a lake. The cabin provides you with buckets to go down and get water.

 I mean the fancy Voss water comes from Voss in Norway, just a few cities over from where we are, so the water must be clean. The cabin was lovely, and we were soon joined by other people staying here. After we arrived I fell asleep. I think all of the traveling finally caught up with me and I was exhausted. Really all I did at the cabin was sleep. Later that night however, we began talking with the others sharing the cabin. Two guys there suggested that instead of traveling back to Lid, we should travel to Vaksdal instead and catch a train or bus back to Bergen. They said it is a bit longer maybe 9 km total, but it would ensure we got back to Bergen. We decided to go for it looking forward to new sights, and not having to hitchhike back to Dale. Right before I went to bed I looked out the window one last time and saw stars! I told Matt and we ran outside to look at the sky. My camera couldn't take a good picture of them, but it was amazing! It is probably the only time I wish I had a nice camera with me. Nevertheless it made the experience more special, and I'll never forget the night sky above our cabin in the Norwegian Mountains.

List of Firsts:
Hitchhiking
Staying at a cabin without water
Drinking untreated water
Seeing fjords

Total Step Count: 142,053