Legends of the Ecotrain - True or False? My Norway Adventure with Gustav.

This is the first part of my story for the 'True or False' challenge as proposed by @eco-alex on the @ecotrain. So you have to be patient to find out whether this story is indeed true or not because I don't know how many parts will follow.

1

It’s my first day at the conservatoire. The new students are nervously entering the concert hall. The director welcomes us all and gives his mandatory speech. My eyes wander over everybody present. A lot of students carry their instruments with them. I’m looking for another classical guitarist. I know that three more have been admitted this year. At the back of the hall I see a tall blond guy holding a guitar case. But with his curly hair and red round face, he looks more like a fisherman.

Later that day I see him again in the canteen. He sits alone at a window and since I don’t know anybody I decide to join him. His name is Gustav. He excuses himself for his poor Dutch. He tells me that he’s half Norwegian and only moved to Holland with his mother a couple of years ago. His parents are divorced and he and his mother moved back to Haarlem, the town where she was born.

Gustav is indeed a classical guitarist and almost instantly we become friends. He tells me that during summer he goes back to Norway and stays with his father who lives in Bergen. He asks me if I have ever been to Norway.
I tell him that I haven’t but that I would love to because I like hiking and enjoyed walking the west-highland way in Scotland.
-You definitely have to go. If you liked Scotland than you’ll love Norway.
-But you better bring a lot of myggolje. He laughs.
-Myggolje? That sounds like ‘muggenolie’ in Dutch.
-Yes, the mosquitos are a nightmare. Do you know that there are a lot of words in Norwegian that are similar in Dutch?
I didn’t know that and he takes out the dictionary that he always carries with him.
-‘forsiktige’ That almost sounds the same as ‘voorzichtig’.
-And here: ‘farlig’ that sounds dangerously similar to ‘gevaarlijk’.

Gustav loves to talk about Norway. He tells me that every year he goes hiking and fishing with his father in the Hardangervidda national park. He says that it’s the biggest national park of Norway and that there are hundreds of lakes and waterfalls.
I hear a lot of stories about his hiking trips that year and I wondered why he decided to move to Holland. He explains that he always gets depressed during winter because of the lack of daylight.
-We lived in Bergen but can you imagine living in Tromsø? It’s nice enough during the summer watching the midnight sun but during winter it’s a nightmare.
-Have you ever been that far up north to watch the midnight sun?
-I’ve been as far up as Olderfjord. We took a plane from Tromsø to Alta. From there we hiked to Stabbursdalen national park. Which is a very desolate and rough terrain but really beautiful and then we hiked to Olderfjord.

Later that week he shows me photographs of his trip to Olderfjord.
-So far north, you can walk for weeks and not meet anybody.
-What do you do for provisions? Do you have to take everything with you?
-Yes, but we fish as well. We always carry a net and our fishing rods when we go hiking. If you ever come to Norway you definitely must try the gravlax.
-Gravlax? What’s that?
-Well, how does the first part of that word sound?
-Grav…grave…graven? Buried fish perhaps?
-Man you’re a genius. It’s buried and salted salmon. But only the Laps in the north still prepare it as such. It’s delicious.

On the train back home, I can’t stop thinking about Norway. I wish that I could come with him that summer but I dare not ask since he always goes with his father. Besides I don’t have the money. Norway is very expensive, according to Gustav.

2

That spring we play a lot of guitar together. We are practising ‘Souvenir de Russie’. A duet by Fernando Sor that we will perform during our final exams that year. I’m studying my part in one of the practise rooms and wonder why Gustav is late that day. He’s always very punctual and we only have a couple of weeks left before the exam.
-Sorry I’m late. He apologises when he enters the room.
-Everything all right? You seem to be upset.
-Everything is fine but I just spoke to my father on the phone and he cannot make it this year.
-What do you mean? Cannot make what?
-He cannot come this summer. He has to go on some bloody business trip and will not be back before the end of the summer.
-Wow, that sucks. What will you do? Will you stay here this summer?
Gustav is silent for a while. He was so excited about his next trip that he even bought a new tent. Super light and super strong, ideal for backpacking he told me. Then his face suddenly clears.
-I know, why don’t you come with me? You like hiking. It will be so much fun.
-I would love to but I’ve no money and I already have different plans for the summer, remember?
-Washing dishes in a retirement home? What kind of holiday is that?
-A holiday that pays the rent. I laugh.
But Gustav’s mind was made up and he persuaded me to come with him.
-We take my car and we buy all the food and everything we need here. It will not be expensive, we have everything that we need already. Backpacks, tent, sleeping bags.

Gustav was right. It would not cost much at all. Only food, gasoline and the trip with the ferry had to be paid for. Camping would be free. Water would be free. We will catch our own fish. I am really looking forward to this adventure.
We decided to leave on the first of July. First we drive to Denmark and stay the night near Aalborg. Then the next day we take the ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand in Norway and from there drive to Stavanger to take another ferry to Tau. From there we would drive to Øvre Eidfjord where we will leave the car and start our hike.

3

-Are you sure that you’re not carrying much more than I do?
I look at everything that’s set out in front of me. My cloths, sleeping bag, cooking gear and my new compass. The pile of Gustav is much bigger. He insists on carrying the tent and the fishing net. He also carries the stove and the gasoline.
-Don’t worry, I’m used to this. I’ve been doing this since I was nine.
-At least give me some more food to carry. My back-pack is as light as feather. I lie.
My back-pack is actually surprisingly heavy with all the provision and I wonder how long I can carry it through this rough terrain.

-The first part of the trip is the heaviest. We have to take this path to climb up to the plateau. From there on it becomes much easier.
Gustav is not joking. The path is steep and rocky and after a short while I start lagging behind. Gustav doesn’t seem to notice and easily jumps from one rock to another. I’m beginning to wonder if I can keep up with his tempo.
Two hours of steady climbing pass. I lost Gustav an hour ago. The landscape is slowly changing. The evergreen trees are becoming more and more sparse. The whole of the plateau is above the tree line and according to Gustav it’s sometimes difficult to get enough fire wood.

I start to get worried. I haven’t seen Gustav for more then an hour now. Why doesn’t he wait?
I look at my watch. It’s eight o’clock in the evening but it feels earlier then that with the sun shining ever so brightly. I’m very hot and I’m soaking with sweat. Finally I see Gustav on the edge of the plateau. He’s sitting on a big rock overviewing the valley underneath smoking a cigarette.

-I could see you most of the time. I was not that far ahead. When climbing it’s best to do so in your own tempo. Except when the climb is dangerous of course.
-I was a bit worried, I didn’t see you at all.
Gustav gives me a cigarette and I light up. From here the path can be clearly seen all the way down into the valley before it disappears under the trees.
-How much further do you want to go today? It’s already past eight and I’m starting to get hungry.
-An hour from here there’s a little lake. It’s called Vallisvatnet. It’s a good place for camping and fishing.
-All-right, let’s go then. I can do with a wee drop of the old scotch as well.

We throw the packs on our backs and continue our hike. Here there are still paths to follow but those will become less and less as we wander further into the park. For no reason I take out my compass. The lake can already been seen and the path is clear.
-It’s good that you brought a compass. Navigating on cloudy days can sometimes be difficult.
-My mother gave it to me. She’s worried that I get lost and break a leg or worse.
-Don’t worry. I know this land as my back garden. Besides, I’ve got my own protection.
He shows me his compass. It’s a cheap plastic one. It looks ridiculously childish hanging on the silver chain around his neck.
-I’ve got it from one of those ‘surprise eggs’. These chocolate eggs with a toy inside. It saved my life as a child when I got lost.
-And you’ve been using it ever since? Tell me.

Gustav tells me that he was on a camping trip with his parents in Folgefonna national park. In the car, on the way over there, his mother gave him a ’surprise egg’.
-I was actually disappointed because I was hoping for a little plane. But my father showed me what a compass was and how it worked. We would use mine the whole trip and not his own.
-So how did you get lost?
-After my initial disappointment I got fascinated with it. My father taught me how to read maps using the compass and recognise the landscape around me.
-So one morning I got up early and sneaked off to go on my own little hiking trip. I was only nine at the time. The morning started sunny and bright but soon the mist rolled in and I could not recognise the landscape anymore. I tried to find our camping site but I could not find it. I was lost.
-Ha, I did these stupid things as a child. I once decided to peddle over a lake in Austria in a small inflatable dingy when I was eight. My parents were not amused.
-I bet they were not. My parents were extremely worried of course. Waking up to find that I was gone. But my father taught me well. “Whenever you get lost walk in the north-west direction until you find the main road. Just wait there and we will find you.”
-And that’s what I did. It took me five hours to find the road and there I waited. It was only after 15 minutes when a car stopped and a complete stranger asked If I was called Gustav? My parents had set up a rescue mission and asked people to keep an eye out for a nine year old curly blond kid called Gustav sitting beside the side of the road. That’s how they found me again.

Gustav continues to tell me that his parents were ever so proud and ever so angry. After looking for him for hours around the campsite, they decided to to go back to the car hoping that Gustav remembered his father’s advice. That same evening they returned to the campsite to continue their holiday.

-We’re almost there. Here is a good place to hang out the fishing net.
-What do we do? Do we have to drag it along the shores?
-No we just hang it in the water. The fish will get stuck with their gills in the net. Here, just hold this end.
Gustav jumps from one stone to the next until he reaches the other shore of the river. The net is made out nylon with lead weights attached to the bottom. He ties it around a rock and returns. The water is clear and icy cold but I see no fish.
-Are you sure there’s fish in these rivers? I don’t see any.
-We'll see. Let’s go a bit further. Can you see these big rocks over there. There the ground is solid and flat. Let’s set up our camp over there.

Gustav sets up the tent while I search for fire-wood. It takes me half an hour to find a small supply barely enough to cook our diner; beans with dried, salted fish. The beautiful scenery makes it taste great.

-Have you ever heard of Roald Amundsen? Gustav asks.
-Isn’t he the one that reached the South Pole first?
-Yes he beat the English expedition lead by Robert Scott. Everybody died on Scott’s expedition. Do you know how he did it? How Amundsen survived? He had his cloths made out of animal skins with the fir on the inside. He didn’t wear any cotton underwear that would get wet with sweat and freeze. His cloths kept him warm and well ventilated. That’s how he did it.

Looking at the stars I try to imagine how hard it must have been in those days to undertake such an expedition. The determination these men must have had, only to plant a flag in the snow where nobody has ever walked before. How miserable Scott and his man must have felt to find out that they failed their mission to be the first. All they found was the Norwegian flag hanging from a ski pole and death on their way back. What a drama.

I felt very comfortable in my sleeping bag that night with no desire for such an adventure.

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This is the end of part one of my ‘true or false’ story. I hope that you enjoyed it so far. I’ve no idea how many parts will follow because this story has just started.

Thanks and much love,

Gardenbsquared