Every year in the second week of February I pack my sleigh and set out for a weeklong journey over the mountains from Sweden to reach the openingday of Røros winter fair in Norway. In my company I usually have 10-15 horses and 30-40 men and women who travel together. It is amazing, truly magical in so many aspects. My only regret has been how few people that are able to share the experience with me. This blogg is an attempt to give you all a glipse of magic and perhaps one day some of you will feel the urge to set out on a journey of your own... (Anette was kind enough to keep the entries of 2012 when I could not join)


Sunday, February 20, 2011

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...

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About Me

Home is often, too often perhaps, defined by where my backpack last was unpacked and part of the year home is in a sleigh somewhere in the mountains between Norway and Sweden...