Breeding bird survey in Norway: day 11

Route 1924 Lyngen

After the rest the new route with a number 1924 looked much easier. We were really worried looking at the steep hillside but after the rest it is a different story. The beginning of the route was fairly easy walking wise. It was flat going across some farms and house backyards. We still needed to go around some bogs and climb over some fences now and then but I assumed they were mainly for the animals and local people will have no problem with that although it is a private area. At 3 at night we didn’t meet anyone to say something anyway ;)

After the first 8 point counts we had to do the steep bit. Luckily the route was done by someone before me who had given good advice and coordinates of a point to be used as a direction. This was really helpful otherwise I was doomed in and perhaps I would not have managed going across the steep hill. Slowly and gradually we took less than an hour to walk about 2 km whereas if you remember it took us 1 hour to do a 300 m section during one of the routes. Soon we were at the top of a rocky plateau with another lovely view over the valley.

There was still quite some snow and a lot of water from its melting. Nevertheless it was a plateau so walking wasn’t difficult. There weren’t many birds if we don’t count the Rock Ptarmigan on the way up before the first plot on the top. Soon we finished with the bird survey and had to go down. This was the next challenging bit since everything seemed pretty rocky and no track was visible.

We gradually descended across a meadow and decided to follow the ridge hoping to see a trail. At certain point some sort of unnatural plastic tubes started to turn up here and there. This looked like a marking. We started following them and in half an hour we were already down from the hill. Quite a peculiar looking house was there. It looked like a house of Trolls J What was impressing was that in front of it there were some kind of Ikea chairs for relaxing J These people definitely know how to do it. We were very brave to look into the house but curiosity took over and we opened the door to the house. It looked pretty practical and comfy. Around a stove was set a wooden shelf where people can sit and put their meals.

the troll house 

the route from some distance. we had to go all along the bottom and the top

In a short while we arrived by the car. We changed quickly and off we went to the next plot.

We arrived in a nice area and quickly managed to find the plot which didn’t look far from the road. Soon we started searching for a place to put up a tent which proved very difficult after the last night adventure with the lady coming over at ‘night’. Nevertheless we decided to have a drink on the shore which was superb. Really pleasant after the hard day! Finally we managed to find a place which was fairly remote but at least with no proximity to private areas. It was pretty open though. The Sun was up all night. At the previous place the guys from the hostel are suggesting that we need to go to the top of the mountain to enjoy the midnight sun. Here it was fairly easy to ‘enjoy’ or rather witness the Sun in the middle of the night.

We woke up at 3 a.m. and the Sun was up. Moreover it was so hot that it didn’t let us sleep. Anyway it was time for a new route.