Gumdal Gård

Today was a short day, but somehow seemed quite tough walking, even though it didn't present any new or unusual challenges. Perhaps my memory of this section had sufficiently faded to make the tough sections a bit of a surprise.

The shortness was a combination of having walked a bit further yesterday, and not being able to get a bed at Svorkmo tonight. I will pay for that tomorrow walking to Skaun.

The day started with a relatively quick downhill walk into Løkken Werk, site of Norway's first mine, and proud of its mining heritage. I had hoped the cafe there might be open, but it was still too early for that, so I bought some things at the supermarket and had a little picnic breakfast in a shelter in the car park.

There followed a long asphalt section along the main road leaving Løkken Werk before the trail could be sent through an short stretch of forest, some houses, more farmland and back across the main road for another uphill leg of griz vei and forest track before descending into Svorkmo. The joy of a downhill run never seems to last all that long!!

The road out of Svorkmo is a steep section of gris vei, and I struggled for some reason. Fortunately, Gumdal wasn't that far up the road.

The herberge here is great. It was built about 18 years ago, and the building I was in has four individual rooms. Not the first place to do this, but it was one if the nicest. I got my laundry done, had a late lunch and then sat outside in the sun for a while before making myself dinner.Read more