Thursday 17/2-2011

Then its here, my last day of this journey. Many have left already and I can feel the sadness sneaking up on me when reality is trying to burst my bubble. I’m listening to a fiddle playing in the backyard and I try to absorb every smile, smell and sound so that I can keep it in storage for some time. There will most likely be another journey next year but it is difficult to imagine at the moment and who knows where I’ll be next year...

Bags are packed and although I haven’t said all my farewells we are walking down to the railwaystation. I’m trying to find some way to stay in the bubble a while longer. A fellow forbonde from one of the other sleighteams joined us on the train which helped a bit. When he left us in Hamar we were only three very exhausted travelers left on the train to Oslo slowly adapting to reality again. On the last stretch to Gothenburg my only company was the intense smell of bonfire from my hair which fortunately disappeared in the shower the following morning but even that was a bit sad.

This morning when I sat down in front of the computer at university something hit the side of the chair. It was the large 18th century iron key to my wooden travel-chest, still dangling from my belt it didn't quite fit in anymore and is now safely tucked away.

Thank you all for your company on this journey and hopefully I'll see you again next year.

Wednesday 16/2-2011

It is morning after another brilliant evening of celebrations and music, this time together with the other sleighteams and the market committee. We are getting ready for a day at the market, taking turns working in the backyard that our sleighteam is responsible for. After lunch it’s time for a small excursion over to Tröndelags sleighteam. Last night at the party they gave us a barrel of salted haring as an anniversary gift and now it's time to pick it up. After some friendly negotiations we also manage to buy an extra barrel to bring back with us. Röros winter fairs first lady, Lillian Sandnes got the honor of tasting the product after some initial skepticism, -she approved and even liked it.

In the evening the winter fair Mass (this year with a wedding) has gathered over 700 people. Blessings of friendship are read in the recently restored church before it is filled with folkmusic and the married couple can dance their way down the aisle. Music and dancing continues throughout the night before it’s time to find our way home.

Tuesday 15/2-2011

Early morning, it’s cloudy windy and cold but everything is good. I’ve forgotten that the journey is over soon and that we have a fantastic day ahead. Packing the sleigh, fetching hay, getting water, drying horseblankets, folding furs, trying to find gloves (constantly)… everything has turned into an simple but peaceful everydaylife and what I normally would call reality has faded away like an old memory. A couple of “original”-forbönder who participated 30 years ago have joined us for this last day and we are hoping they will come with us again next year for the whole journey. Its only a bit below -10*C but over frozen lakes and wetlands there’s no shelter from the wind and for the first time during this journey our furcoats are not able to keep us warm. I can hardly see the first horses ahead because of the snow. Our friends from Tydalen are waiting with their sleighteam behind a sheltering hill. They’ve made a fire and are boiling coffee which smells lovely and we are soon warm again. A bit later the sleighteam from Trøndelag shows up and for a while we are more than 40 horses and 120 people gathered out on the Ice outside Røros. Then it’s time to drive the last few kilometers into Røros and the opening ceremony of the market...

Monday 14/2-2011

It’s such a Luxury to begin the day with a hotelbreakfast at Vauldalen this morning, the horses had their breakfast served at 5 and today our final destination today is a farm called Billehaugen. But our first stop is in the village Brekken where schoolchildren are singing for us and have made a mountain of waffles for us to enjoy. When the rest of us went to bed last night Ole-Peder went out to spend several hours making sure our roads were in order and thanks to him and a few others, they were perfect! Only a few years ago we had to follow the mainroad with lots of traffic from the Swedish boarder most of the way into Røros. Today we were able to travel along the old routes which is part of the extended worldheritage site of Røros. Fantastic thank you!

Sunday 13/2-2011

Time to pack up again, everything is frozen and stiff in the sleigh even our vodka has turned into slush and the temperature has dropped to -38*C , which means it will drop a bit more before sunrise and we will cross the lakes in temperatures around -40*C. There’s hardly any wind so both horses and people are doing fine as long as we are moving and keeping an eye on each other. We are heading for a morning Mass held at Funäsdalens cultural heritage park. We bring the blessings with us and look forward to start the steep climb up the mountainside. Cheeks are glowing, Hair all messy and we’ve had to throw furecoats and hats during the climb. I doubt there will be any problems keeping warm throughout the day. There’s another stretch along the mainroad today but it looks like most of the cars on the road have come to meet us and are driving along for a while. It’s icy and easy for the horses to pull but it’s difficult not to slide over on the wrong side of the road.

It’s a beautiful picture to see the Norwegian mountains in the distance. Thats where we are heading tonight, to Vauldalens hotel on the Swedish Norwegian boarder. Our hosts Jorid and Ole-peder are also celebrating their 30^th anniversary at the hotel so we can prepare for another night of festivities.

Saturday 12/2-2011

This year we have an extra day on the Journey, we started a day earlier and will be staying here in Ljusnedal for two nights. Everybody seems to appreciate the extra time to catch up on their sleep and make some adjustments on the equipment while the horses are taken out for some light exercise. We have been invited to dinner and festivities by the museum in Funäsdalen. I’m spending most of the day catching up on my blogg-obligations… It’s impossible to keap up this year since we are celebrating our 30^th anniversary everybody wants to invite us to one thing and the other. I’m enjoying it all and I'm certainly not complaining in any way but there’s simply no time to write