Point to Point

So I set off down the perfect trails.  It was magic.  

Not surprisingly it was a lot quieter than yesterday and the only people I saw looked like they were on a serious training ski, or they were over 70. I can't imagine 70+ year old australians heading out to ski in minus 8 degree weather with no easy way to get help if something goes wrong.  I guess elderly orienteers do it all the time at home (but there are very few of them) and I guess there are always mobile phones and good coverage here. Although speaking of mobile phones it is reassuring to know that mobile phone companies can be just as annoying here as they are in Australia - I originally bought a sim card and credit with NetCom here but I can't re-fill it on the internet using the same credit card I bought it with -it has to be a norwegian credit card. And the message that came up just said 'try again later'. Finally I rang them today and they explained that this was the reason and that there was no problem I could just go to the supermarket and get a much more expensive refill with my australian credit card instead. That was very annoying. So until I mug a Norwegian and steal their credit card to pay for my refill I can only receive texts.

Anyway - back to my trip. It was fantastic of course. Luckily for my navigation on the new trails there were plenty of signboards and arrows along the way. I arrived back at the olympic stadium with 4k to go and watched some serious biathlon training going on - people were finishing and throwing themselves on the ground and rolling about in total exhaustion.  I felt guilty watching them as I snacked comfortably on my chocolate so I continued on down the last hill back to town.

There was a bit of gravel intermixed with the snowy pavements down in town so I had to take off my skis and walk the last 500metres. 

I passed by the school my friend Dorte teaches at, just over the road from home, and to prove my previous story about wacky Norwegian private transport I took these photographs of the sparks locked up at school, and the kids enjoying their short lunch break (they only get 1/2 an hour) on their 'one-foots'..

And then I was home, where Jon was playing with the dog. Well, the dog was playing with Jon, who was trying to get his glove back. You can see here in this sequence of photos  that Jon was in total control of the situation..