Do you know what a via ferrata is?

Saturday was pretty much a day to relax. We were parked in a quiet, beautiful spot and we didn't have anywhere we needed to be, so we decided to just stay there and enjoy the day. Besides, it was a Saturday and to move just for the sake of moving and then have to find another spot didn't make any sense.

Of course we didn't just do nothing all day... we did get out for a 6 km (3.7 mile) walk.

Not on a trail... just the gravel road beside where we were parked...

Max likes his spot here.

GPS 59.785084, 7.416048

We made sure to get out before lunch, because the weather after lunch was supposed to turn miserable.

This is a dammed lake, but the water level is low.

They even have a boat launch way up here.

Sure is a pretty spot though.

As I said, the weather is turning. We've been really quite lucky since we got here on June 1st because typical weather for Norway in this area is cool and showers. So, the clouds and showers moved in after lunch and this Sunday morning it is raining steadily.

Which is too bad, because we've got quite the excursion planned for Monday. We booked it well in advance because it's a popular tour. 

We wanted to hike to Trolltunga. That's the famous rock that juts out high above a fjord and is a popular photo spot. But it's a tough hike... 28 kms (17.4 miles) return. And from what we've read, it's not really the best hike in Norway, and that there are quite a few monotonous stretches until you get to the views of the fjord and the tongue. So I started looking at other options, and I found that there is a via ferrata route up to Trolltunga.

A via ferrata is a series of cables, metal steps, and ladders fixed to the rock to enable non-expert climbers to reach high altitudes in a safe way, using minimal equipment.

Here is an example of a via ferrata route in Italy...

Via ferrata... with harness, helmet, and safety cable.

There are a lot of via ferrata routes in Europe, and I've always wanted to try one. Anyhow, doing Trolltunga the via ferrata route means that you arrive at the rock earlier than the crowds, and you only have to hike one way when you are going back down the normal hiking route.

It's expensive, but then we're in an expensive country so that's to be expected. It's also a good route to learn via ferrata techniques with an experienced mountain certified guide so that if we want to do another one on our own sometime, we only need to rent the equipment. 

We asked our friends Ryan and Marti if they were interested, and they jumped at the chance so all four of us are signed up to do this tour tomorrow. Ruth is a little unsure, but she's willing to give it a try!

Except the weather doesn't look good. We don't know exactly how bad it has to be for them to cancel, but we're hoping to be able to put it off to Tuesday or maybe even Wednesday when the weather forecast looks better. But as I've said before, the weather is very changeable and the longer term forecasts really don't mean much.

We're going for an orientation meeting with them this evening, so we probably won't find out for sure until then.

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Men's Leather Wallet.