The Sheep Trail August 20, 2006
We left the rorbu this morning about 8:30 and drove to Unstad and the trailhead where we were to start the hike to Eggum, a small village 9km up the coast. We have been told this is a very scenic trail, but have also been warned that it can be muddy and slippery in places. We plan to hike to Eggum and then turn around and hike back to Unstad. Both are small remote villages and the trip by road is about 25 km so short of hitch hiking the out and back (A-B-A) route is our best option. The Norse weather gods smiled on us and the sun shown brightly. This was the first sunny day we have had since being in Lofoten and it made the already stunning scenery even better. The temperature was around 50ﾟ F and with a good breeze blowing feels like 40-45. Perfect hiking weather.
We located the trailhead and studied the info board that had a very un-detailed map of the trail, but with the courage of the naive and uninformed we plunged ahead. The first part of trail was a gravel road that ran along the beach and then started climbing toward the headland that forms the north side of the bay at Unstad. About a third of the way up we went through a stock gate and the road became a trail. Another 100 meters or so and the trail became a sheep path hugging the 60ﾟ slope which became a 75-80ﾟslope during the next 20-30 minutes. To complete this picture the trail was just slightly wider than one of my feet, consisted mainly of damp earth and mud, the rocks and ocean were 50-100 meters below and did I mention that the trail was covered with sheep droppings? From the time we passed through the stock gate until we got to Eggum sheep were one of the main features of this trail. The trail is actually a conglomeration of sheep trails that criss-cross the slopes. The slopes themselves are covered with thick green grass which the sure footed sheep try to keep trimmed like a well manicured lawn.
When we encountered them the sheep would usually gives us a “what the heck do you want” look and then move ahead of us on the trail, but at last moving off to one side or the other once they decided we were not going away. The second group we met consisted of one ewe and two yearlings that refused to get off the trail. They stayed 10-15 meters ahead of us and would periodically turn and complain in a loud baa before moving along the trail. They were joined by a young ram that came charging down the hill and put himself between us and the “flock”. When at last we came to a wide spot at a navigational beacon that had been placed on the slope, the sheep moved over and let us by. This didn’t satisfy the young ram and he continued to baa at us as we moved on. Not one to be outdone or runoff I fired back a few baa’s myself. This went on for 3-4 minutes when Holly suddenly said shut-up he’s following us. I turned and sure enough the young ram was only a few meters behind Holly with his chest stuck out and a “you want some of me” look all over his face. Sizing up the situation (this means looking at the narrow trail and how far it was to the rocks below and that the sheep had a decided advantage in the balance / stability department) I did what I believe was the correct thing which was to shut-up.
The trail dropped close to the waters edge after a while at which time we got to play “walking on the rocks”. There were boulder sized rocks and there were pumpkin sized rocks. There were sharp jagged rocks and there were smooth round or egg shaped rocks. There were just no rocks that were easy to walk on. My knee started acting up on this stretch of the trail because of the ankle twisting terrain but we finally made it through to a section that leveled and became more even. We walked on toward Eggum and made it to a picnic area on the edge of the village in three hours from our start.
After lunch we explored a WWII gun emplacement made from granite stones that sits on high ground above the beach at Eggum. That done we turned our sights south and started back toward Unstad. We made the return trip in two and a half hours mainly because we didn’t stop to take as many pictures or get harassed by any young rams.
When we got back to the car we drove to Leknes, a town just south on E10, to find a grocery store for chili fixings. Holly had developed the urge while hiking and I sure didn’t want to get in the way of her happiness. The store had quite a few different packets for making sauces, gravies etc (all in Norwegian of course) and one that looked like chili that was conspicuously close to the taco / fajita ingredients. We decided to give it a try after asking several of our fellow shoppers if they knew if this was chili mix. Oddly enough none of them spoke English. When we got back to our rorbu Holly whipped up another of her famous MacGyver concoctions and we christened it Norwegian Fisherman’s Chili, a little tomatoey and a little sweet but good just the same.
Tomorrow we head back north toward Narvik, arrive on Tuesday, where we will be on a marathon travel leg involving busses and trains with our next destination being Trondheim, but not before we take a cruise up the famous Troll fjord tomorrow.
We located the trailhead and studied the info board that had a very un-detailed map of the trail, but with the courage of the naive and uninformed we plunged ahead. The first part of trail was a gravel road that ran along the beach and then started climbing toward the headland that forms the north side of the bay at Unstad. About a third of the way up we went through a stock gate and the road became a trail. Another 100 meters or so and the trail became a sheep path hugging the 60ﾟ slope which became a 75-80ﾟslope during the next 20-30 minutes. To complete this picture the trail was just slightly wider than one of my feet, consisted mainly of damp earth and mud, the rocks and ocean were 50-100 meters below and did I mention that the trail was covered with sheep droppings? From the time we passed through the stock gate until we got to Eggum sheep were one of the main features of this trail. The trail is actually a conglomeration of sheep trails that criss-cross the slopes. The slopes themselves are covered with thick green grass which the sure footed sheep try to keep trimmed like a well manicured lawn.
When we encountered them the sheep would usually gives us a “what the heck do you want” look and then move ahead of us on the trail, but at last moving off to one side or the other once they decided we were not going away. The second group we met consisted of one ewe and two yearlings that refused to get off the trail. They stayed 10-15 meters ahead of us and would periodically turn and complain in a loud baa before moving along the trail. They were joined by a young ram that came charging down the hill and put himself between us and the “flock”. When at last we came to a wide spot at a navigational beacon that had been placed on the slope, the sheep moved over and let us by. This didn’t satisfy the young ram and he continued to baa at us as we moved on. Not one to be outdone or runoff I fired back a few baa’s myself. This went on for 3-4 minutes when Holly suddenly said shut-up he’s following us. I turned and sure enough the young ram was only a few meters behind Holly with his chest stuck out and a “you want some of me” look all over his face. Sizing up the situation (this means looking at the narrow trail and how far it was to the rocks below and that the sheep had a decided advantage in the balance / stability department) I did what I believe was the correct thing which was to shut-up.
The trail dropped close to the waters edge after a while at which time we got to play “walking on the rocks”. There were boulder sized rocks and there were pumpkin sized rocks. There were sharp jagged rocks and there were smooth round or egg shaped rocks. There were just no rocks that were easy to walk on. My knee started acting up on this stretch of the trail because of the ankle twisting terrain but we finally made it through to a section that leveled and became more even. We walked on toward Eggum and made it to a picnic area on the edge of the village in three hours from our start.
After lunch we explored a WWII gun emplacement made from granite stones that sits on high ground above the beach at Eggum. That done we turned our sights south and started back toward Unstad. We made the return trip in two and a half hours mainly because we didn’t stop to take as many pictures or get harassed by any young rams.
When we got back to the car we drove to Leknes, a town just south on E10, to find a grocery store for chili fixings. Holly had developed the urge while hiking and I sure didn’t want to get in the way of her happiness. The store had quite a few different packets for making sauces, gravies etc (all in Norwegian of course) and one that looked like chili that was conspicuously close to the taco / fajita ingredients. We decided to give it a try after asking several of our fellow shoppers if they knew if this was chili mix. Oddly enough none of them spoke English. When we got back to our rorbu Holly whipped up another of her famous MacGyver concoctions and we christened it Norwegian Fisherman’s Chili, a little tomatoey and a little sweet but good just the same.
Tomorrow we head back north toward Narvik, arrive on Tuesday, where we will be on a marathon travel leg involving busses and trains with our next destination being Trondheim, but not before we take a cruise up the famous Troll fjord tomorrow.
posted by Gary and Holly Davis @ 10:12 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home