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Our route took us to Geilo for two nights, a small ski town in between Oslo and Bergen. We had a pleasant day there but one night would have been enough. The next day we drove over the Hardangervidda to Kinsarvik for a night in a cabin on a campsite. The cabins are basically garden sheds with beds and a stove in and all the campsites seem to offer them. They’re great when it’s sunny but could get claustrophobic if it got too wet.

From Kinsarvik we took our first ferry, over Hardangerfjorden, which was very pleasant, but quite hard work as I had to carry Emma around for the whole journey as Dave was photographing and she couldn’t be trusted to keep away from the edge. At the end of that day we made it Bergen to a very strange guest house. In the intro to the accommodation the guy told us all about the druggies who use the guest house in the winter - not the best way to put your guests at ease! In the end, the accommodation was fine so our intial misgivings were unfounded.

Bergen was very hot so we got out of the city on 2 of the 3 days we were there, heading up on the Floibanen (a furnicular railway) on one day and going out to Lysoen - an island with good swimming and Ole Bull’s house on it - the other day.

Then on to Gudvangen and the Flamsbana (a scenic railway journey) before another ferry along the Naeroyfjord and across Sognefjord, before staying the night at Sogndal, a pretty dull town surrounded by orchards.

Our final cabin was in Lom, a scenic drive over the Jotunheimen from Sogndal. It was a beautifully sunny day when we drove over so we saw the Jotunheimen at its best. Unfortunately, the next two days were wet so the walking we’d planned wasn’t quite as interesting or pleasant as we’d hoped. Not helped by us being too ambitious about what we could achieve with Emma on our backs.

The final night was spent with some friends in their hut in the mountains and was definitely our most luxurious night. We had a lovely time seeing them and their 6 months old daughter and they took us out for  a nice walk this morning.

All in all, a good holiday and I’d recommend Norway as a holiday destination to anyone who’s an outdoors freak as there’s tonnes to do and the scenery is stunning, especially when it’s sunny!

I’ve backtracked and protected a few of the old ones and I’ll be protecting more of the new ones from now on. Anyone who wants the password can send me an e-mail and if I know you I’ll be happy to pass it on
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I was given the evening off on Thursday to go out with Jayne. As we’d failed to find a suitable lake to swim in all day, we headed to Sognsvann first for a quick dip. There weren’t many other people swimming but the water was lovely once we got in and worth the 40 min walk. Even better, the cabin was open and selling waffles, so we could indulge in another Norwegian tradition while waiting for the T-bane into town.

By the time we got into town, the sun seemed to have got a bit lower and a breeze had picked up. We’d hoped to have a drink outside at Aker Brygge but sadly all of the bars and restaurants there are in the shade in the evening so it was far too cold. Instead we ended up in Zahra’s Telt on the main street. Given everything was so expensive, we opted for a cocktail each, which we spun out for the rest of the evening.

Sadly, by the time we got home I was feeling a bit dodgy and I threw up a few times in the middle of the night, which left me confined to the flat for the whole of the next day. I think it was food poisoning but haven’t worked out what was to blame. Luckily no one else seemed to suffer and Jayne was heading off to Bergen that morning so didn’t need entertaining. Dave did some babysitting and is working now to make up for it! I don’t think last week’s marathon was the best preparation for recovering from food poisoning but after a day of eating normally I’m almost feeling back to normal.

Today we headed out to Bygdoy on the bus and ended up at Huk, where there’s a lovely big grassy area, a few small sandy beaches, some rocks and a couple of pontoons to swim out to. There’s also a naturist beach on the side of the headland which we took a detour to initially. I didn’t think the path looked quite how I remembered but thought we ought to be able to cut through. Sadly, after wandering around a bit we realised the fence was a bit high, so the biology lesson had to end there.

The water was pretty warm for this time of year, the sun was bright and there were enough interesting things buried in the sand to keep Emma happy for a while. In fact, there was quite a lot of pumice stone about, which came as a surprise to me as I thought it was usually found around volcanoes, but my geology’s pretty basic.

Today was the day of the marathon I have been training for, on an off, since about January (although it wasn’t until recently I actually picked the Unionsmarathon). I finished in a time of 4 hours 29 minutes and 59 seconds, according to my watch, so just attained my “stretch goal” of breaking 4 and a half hours, although I fear the finish official might not have been as prompt as me in stopping his watch. I was second lady, securing me 500 kronor and a nice blue technical t-shirt that made a nice thank you gift to Dave for all his supporting.

The marathon was small and friendly - there were probably more people manning drinks points than there were actually running it - but pretty tough. I wore Dave’s Garmin watch round and it calculated the climb to be over 1000m, with a lot of that coming on very hot gravel tracks in the second half of the course.

The day dawned bright and sunny - much too sunny for my liking - and it was in the mid 20s by the time we got to the start/finish field. This was next to a beautiful blue lake, which I was going to run most of the way round as part of the course.

I started well but didn’t feel my best. Dave first saw me when I was nearing the end of the lake, at about 10km and I told him I felt rubbish. When I saw him next, I told him my knee hurt and, in typical Dave fashion, he just shrugged. That stopped me complaining and the knee pain seemed to go away a bit later.

As we approached the half marathon start, we moved from road to gravel tracks, and the sun seemed to get hotter and hotter. However, at half way I was on track for under 4 hours so felt I was going pretty well. Over the next few kilometres everything seemed to get a bit tougher. I was running on my own - one of the penalties of a small field - and my mental resolve was getting weaker and weaker. Eventually it cracked, or my body gave in and I had a little walk. There was a pretty big hill so it wasn’t such a disaster.

By 28km I was feeling pretty dreadful and meandered into the drinks station contemplating giving up. Luckily it was manned by a crew of about 6 who had nothing better to do than administer to my every need. I was sat on a chair and fed banana, cola, sports drink and water, while I sponged more water over my head. They offered to get a car to drive me back to the finish but the refreshments and the 5 minutes sat down had perked me up so I said I’d go on, at least until the next drinks station 4km further on.

From then on I managed to jog most of the rest of the way but needed a walking break every so often. My back ached most of all, which I’m blaming on either pregnancy or birth, even though they were over a year ago!

As I neared the lake again the clouds had started to roll in and the wind had got up, making it a bit more pleasant for running. With 2km to go, it started raining and the thunder and lightening had started. I knew that I had to keep going at a reasonable pace to avoid the worst of the downpour and to attempt to beat 4 and a half hours.

I was surprised to see the entrance to the field with 1km to go as it hadn’t seemed big enough to include a 1km loop. This was probably the worst part of the course, as what followed was a pretty convoluted loop around the field with an out and back into some woods, presumably to get us up to the required distance. I think Dave appreciated the advance warning of my approach and he and Emma were waiting for me when I finished, along with a medal, a t-shirt and a 500 kroner note (about £50 and double the entry fee). I think Dave and Emma were the best bit!

Emma seemed to have had a good day and we even made it home in time for her to have a late dinner, ably cooked by Dave while I directed from the sofa!

Don’t expect me to post a fast time - my sole aim at the moment is to finish, with my stretch goal (is that true management speak or have I made it up?) to be under 4 and a half hours. We’ll see what happens. It’s going to be a long day for Emma as well, but I’m trying to leave worrying about her to Dave.

It was a lovely sunny day so the ferry ride was very pleasant, although the railings on deck weren’t all that child friendly so I spent most of the trip inside with Emma. First impressions of the island were good - lots of grass and some nice long beaches. However, having walked across to the longest beach we spotted the geese - a whole large flock of them. Unfortunately, they seemed to have left droppings all over the beach and the grass making looking after Emma pretty difficult. We managed to clear enough space on the beach to keep her happy for about half an hour and then decamped and got the boat back to the city.

Back on dry land, we had lunch under a tree by the castle and then wandered around that and the palace gardens until Emma woke up (far too soon!). Dave and I thought we’d better head back then, leaving Michael to visit the Viking Ships. He has a 3-day Oslo pass and is definitely making the most of it. With the free shrimp lunch and boat tour he’s booked in on tomorrow (normally 355 kroner), the 420 kroner for the pass definitely seems good value for money.

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