the countdown

Many days have passed and blessed my life with new nuances of the outdoor life. Two months of diary written and everything I wanted to achieve has happened. I've made it further than I ever hoped for and my old broken foot is now stronger than the other which still suffer from a weak inflammation. But still, i have open mountainous land in front of me. Need determination when it comes to finishing this adventure. A ticket to Copenhagen on a final date. The key to the last motivation.

How should I finish this trip.. well, with pride and glory I suppose. I keep telling myself "not to give up and give in to the bad weather!"

My considerations
1) Continue north? If yes - how?? I finally found a recipe that just requires a few maps and weather that I can do proper orientation through.
2) Turn around and go south toward Oslo but move through the inland? That requires the will to break my direction and focus on just living the good classic outdoor life.
3) Stop soon because of the inflammation in my left foot and find something else to do? That requires me to be 100% satisfied.

4) hike on the E1 trail up north spending a bit of money on the DNT huts to try to resupply through them? And see how far it takes me?

Hiked with Sandra for a bit. Interesting to meet the lightweighter hiker from france who completed the Pacific crest. The bad weather bothered her enough to choose to travel home up here in Scandinavia though.

got to hike around with this fella, Johan, for some days. He had just started out on his improvised journey when we met. Saw him go through all the same challenges that I went through: walking too aggressively, heavy pack and no real plan.

little storm in the mountains gathered hikers in an emergency hut. Two girls came later who biked almost 40 km soaked all the way through from sleet and wind. One of them had even fallen over during a river crossing.. good company through those tough days :)

weather incoming 

The whole journey has turned upside down weather-wise; it's cold, snowy and rainy with lots of wind. Norway has set new cold records for July and some places they had 40 cm of fresh snow. The terrain ahead of me is much more demanding when it comes to orientation and I plan to do many, many kilometres off-trail in order to be able to get to shops. It will be wild and adventurous. And wet and cold. And so intense when I'm all alone. 

I've finaly decided to switch my pot and burner to a lightweight stove setup. Gear wise I feel it's about time to dedicate a bit more to lightweight and gas seems to be sold even more places than petrol. I've saved much money on not using gas so far but the last three weeks I will use gas as a little treat to myself.

these guys managed to keep up the spirit and that was an inspiration! Nice to meet you :)

up and down the mountains.. just what I've trained for the last two months :)

it doesn't rain all the time. In fact some days it's just rain showers every now and then :)

Okay, my decision is to go as far as Sørli at the northern end of blåfjella skjæker natonalpark. I'm not sure wether I'm able to do it, so I have a plan b and c. Honestly, now I'm just going for it and doing my best to move and keep up the spirit, but I'm ready to stop a little earlier than 1st of August if my foot and position allow me.