Norway 2nd September aka Saturday

By this time, I had grown rather fond of Mefjord Brygge. The view across the fjord included Segla and Hesten and though it wasn't west facing, sunsets were still enjoyable there. The accommodation was similar to Hamn i Senja though a little more basic in execution. My room at Mefjord was up in the eaves of the building and I would bump my head on the ceiling every time I put my trousers on. Still, there was a kitchen, which we used for dinner on Friday night, and a sofa to crash on.

Given how amazing Friday was, and in fact the days prior to that, I didn't really care about Saturday. Honestly I was a little sore from the daily hikes not in body so much as in, er... non-existent soul. So when it looked like an even cloudier day, I was not so fussed. No peak looked to be in the sun that day and it was not clear what to do with our time. But we opted to push off decision making for a while by going to a little fishing village that was meant to be cute (it was actually pretty uninspiring though I bought an excellent chocolate croissant from there).

Alas it didn't help and the clouds were still low and thick. We headed off on a hike anyway in a location where there were multiple options. I wanted to climb Grytetippen ("tipa topp" as the hiking signs would say) but almost immediately when climbing to Daven, a lower mountain, well, hill-top, we lost the trail markers in the fog. I grew nervous about getting lost and asked that we abandon the attempt. So we switched to climb Barden. But the way was hard across boulders and we eventually came to a point where we honestly couldn't see the way. A couple of people with long legs and an alien attractiveness bounded up the lack-of-trail and I still couldn't tell where they had gone. 

Given that the clouds were so thick, we gave up on that trail too.

On the way down, there was a sudden break in clouds and I saw the Gytetippen/Keipen ridge. It was a hallejujah moment. I asked that we go back up and wait again for another cloud break (this one was brief) but Lisa wanted to return to the car (she had recently had an injury and was taking things more gentle than me and Joe but still did a lot even so). I hesitated a bit but the selfish brat in me took over and I left Lisa and Joe and went back up to Daven. I waited there and waited... no break occurred.

I was texting with Joe and he said he had got Lisa to the car and was heading back up to me. I was feeling on the verge of giving up but kept up hope. Once Joe reached me, though we were still shrouded in fog, it did seem like there was a break on the horizon...

It broke. Not suddenly but in a sneaky way where the landscape beyond unobtrusively sidled into view. "What me? I was here all along," it said. We could see down the fjord to Fjordgard where we started the trail up Hesten the previous day and we could see the "sail of Senja" Segla itself. We realised that the peak of Daven was in fact just a couple of minutes away and bounded there and took a million photos to make up for the day in fog.

Just as we were about to leave, a stoat sprang into our company. It really did spring. It was so cute and loved to pose as long as you were quick to get the shot before it boinged into another cute position. Joe declared it to be a lemming and as I said I wasn't 100% sure it was a stoat (but pretty sure... I speculated that it was a different kind of weasel possible), a lemming it became to Joe. When we eventually rejoined Lisa, he told her he saw a lemming. I showed her a photo. "Er... that's not a lemming," she said. "No, it's a stoat," I said, quite firmly.

It was a good end to the day. We took lots of photos of Segla on the way back as the clouds totally lifted. We perhaps should have pushed our luck up Barden or Grytetippen but it didn't really matter. The hiking had made me happy enough just through the exertion and being in nature. In fact, I had had more fun that day taking photos of mushrooms than of the views even when they did emerge. (I was "away with the mushrooms" that day and all Joe had to do was observe that there was a mushroom and I was off bonding with it). I had overcome the lack of interest in hiking I had had that morning. But still, wasn't all that broken hearted that that was our last day on Segla.