Day 6: I'm packing my sleigh for the last part of the journey. It is a strange mixture of sadness and excitement that marks this day. In Røros the Market and festivities begin in the same moment our journey is over, the moment we enter the opening ceremony.
Our track towards Røros this morning is meandering through a landscape of frozen lakes and small islands, windbattered mountainbirch scratches against the sleigh and falling snow cover the furs we keep over us. A bit outside Røros we stop to start a fire and make some coffee. We are waiting for other teams of forbønder traveling to the market. When I can hear bells from the other sleighs my heart beats a little faster. It is one of my favourite moments when familiar faces and fury hats turn up behind steamy horses. This is a moment we have all to ourselves without audience and cermonies. The coffee is hot and we've managed to bring a cake for the occasion beside the pork and dried meat we usually share.
When we continue it's only a few kilometers left before we reach our destination Røros. We line up behind a fenced area not visiable to the crowd waiting. Since our sleighteam were the first to revive these journeys in 1981 we are waiting to drive in first of about 85 horse-equipages carrying almost 300 forbönder that has made it to the market this year.
It is overwelming to see the thousands of people that has gathered to see us enter the cermony.
All horses and forbönder stop to meet with eachother and enthusiastic visitors a bit further up. We are served warm lunch out in the open before we head down to our accommodations for the coming week. The commerse and activities on behalf of our Sleighteam will take place in the backyard of an old farm located in one of the mainstreets of the city, -Rasmusgården. Furs and casted sleighbells are some of the commodities we've brought to trade and sell. There will also be food, drinks and music to entertain all visitors. Tonight all 300 of us are invited to dinner at Røros Quality hotel by the market committee followed by dancing and singing until early morning hours... at least for those who haven't taken it all out on the way there...