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Täljsten adventures Day Three
Last night I finshed typing up the day's report just after 21:00, but, when I tried getting on line to post it, it didn't work. We had had some Internet connection earlier, so perhaps the wind and rain were a problem. Either way, I just went to sleep. Before I slept I noticed a slight pain in my eyes, probably from typing on the phone so much before bed. Around 12:30 I woke up and noticed that the discomfort had graduated to a mild headache, so I spent some time listening to the wind and occasional rain as I massaged my forehead, eyes and neck and clenched and relaxed my feet and poked at pressure points in my hands, etc. Around 01:30 I noticed that it wasn't raining, so I took advantage of the chance to go out of the tent to pee. It was still really windy, but the sky at that time was filled with stars, with enough light to see the lake and the rocks of the cliffs around it. Truely beautiful!
Then I went back to bed and slept till 06:45, at which point I no longer had any sign of headache. We broke camp and I did a quick 15 minute walk around the lake while Carola prepared her breakfast, during which I confirm my suspicion that there is no accessible soapstone in this quarry--The tocks on the hills surrounding the lake are all much harder metamorphic rocks. There might be some left under the water, but I wasn't inclined to try looking for it.
We left camp at 08:20, hoping that since the gate had been shut and locked the night before around 18:00 that they might come back early in the morning. So we tried the other gate, also locked, and a third side road (a dead end).
At one of the intersections there was a portable office like thingie on a trailer, which gave the name of the timber compay, but no phone number. We googled the name (internet worked on the cloud free morning, which is why last night's report was posted this morning) but couldn't find a number for it.
We drove back to one of the gates (still closed), and tried googleing the name of the forest (Rømskog), which gave the name of the municipality, which got me a phone number for the municipality, so I called them, explained that we were on the wrong side of a locked gate (and gave her the name of the side road leading off from highway 21). She talked with o e of her colleagues, they couldn't find a number for the property owner either, but decided she would try calling the fire department, as they need to always be able to get anywhere, so they may have a copy of the key.
She said she would call me back, so we relaxed and I worked on my sewing project. She called at at 10:15 to say that a guy was on the way with a key that might work, but that it would take him half an hour to get there from town. We were good with that, and I thanked her profusely
His key did work. He refused my offer of cookies in thanks, and we started driving at 10:40, noting as we passed it that the other gate was still locked, so it was worth calling for help.
We arrived at Stop 12: Västra Abborrtjärn (59.998714, 12.621210) at 12:28. That is one with a mark on the map showing the location of a former quarry on the hill.
Sadly, the hill is now so over grown with young trees that we have no idea if we found the quarry site or not. We did see a fair few pinkish orange rocks with easily scratched exteriors, which made me hopeful, since many of the museum soapstone artifacts are pinkish orange. However, when I break these open the interiors are hard, black and sparkly, so I suspect it isn't what I am looking for. However, I didn't see anything else useful, so I took a sample of that and we got back on the road at 13:35
The next drive was a long one, so we stopped for petrol at 14:20 and then stopped at a store to replace things like cheese and yoghurt (and I got an avacado and spinach to eat with my naan), finally getting back on the road at 15:17.
We were aiming at Stop #13, but the last road we were to turn down had a shut and locked gate, and the destination is a few kilometres more. It was already 18:20, and the sun was getting low, so we decided to camp by the gate. If someone opens it in the morning we can ask if it is safe to drive closer (the road's closest point is still 650 meters from the site), but if not we can start the day with a hike. This puts us only one stop behind schedule, as we had planned to camp at Stop #13. There are only 17 stops total, so even though the next set are further apart than those of the first couple of days, it should be possible to get to them all before Sunday evening when I train home.
It was a long day of mostly driving, sometimes through forest, sometimes past beautiful lakes or cute farm houses, rarely through a town. The highlight of the day was seeing the fox happily running through a field, of grass or grain just short enough to get a good view of it
Then I went back to bed and slept till 06:45, at which point I no longer had any sign of headache. We broke camp and I did a quick 15 minute walk around the lake while Carola prepared her breakfast, during which I confirm my suspicion that there is no accessible soapstone in this quarry--The tocks on the hills surrounding the lake are all much harder metamorphic rocks. There might be some left under the water, but I wasn't inclined to try looking for it.
We left camp at 08:20, hoping that since the gate had been shut and locked the night before around 18:00 that they might come back early in the morning. So we tried the other gate, also locked, and a third side road (a dead end).
At one of the intersections there was a portable office like thingie on a trailer, which gave the name of the timber compay, but no phone number. We googled the name (internet worked on the cloud free morning, which is why last night's report was posted this morning) but couldn't find a number for it.
We drove back to one of the gates (still closed), and tried googleing the name of the forest (Rømskog), which gave the name of the municipality, which got me a phone number for the municipality, so I called them, explained that we were on the wrong side of a locked gate (and gave her the name of the side road leading off from highway 21). She talked with o e of her colleagues, they couldn't find a number for the property owner either, but decided she would try calling the fire department, as they need to always be able to get anywhere, so they may have a copy of the key.
She said she would call me back, so we relaxed and I worked on my sewing project. She called at at 10:15 to say that a guy was on the way with a key that might work, but that it would take him half an hour to get there from town. We were good with that, and I thanked her profusely
His key did work. He refused my offer of cookies in thanks, and we started driving at 10:40, noting as we passed it that the other gate was still locked, so it was worth calling for help.
We arrived at Stop 12: Västra Abborrtjärn (59.998714, 12.621210) at 12:28. That is one with a mark on the map showing the location of a former quarry on the hill.
Sadly, the hill is now so over grown with young trees that we have no idea if we found the quarry site or not. We did see a fair few pinkish orange rocks with easily scratched exteriors, which made me hopeful, since many of the museum soapstone artifacts are pinkish orange. However, when I break these open the interiors are hard, black and sparkly, so I suspect it isn't what I am looking for. However, I didn't see anything else useful, so I took a sample of that and we got back on the road at 13:35
The next drive was a long one, so we stopped for petrol at 14:20 and then stopped at a store to replace things like cheese and yoghurt (and I got an avacado and spinach to eat with my naan), finally getting back on the road at 15:17.
We were aiming at Stop #13, but the last road we were to turn down had a shut and locked gate, and the destination is a few kilometres more. It was already 18:20, and the sun was getting low, so we decided to camp by the gate. If someone opens it in the morning we can ask if it is safe to drive closer (the road's closest point is still 650 meters from the site), but if not we can start the day with a hike. This puts us only one stop behind schedule, as we had planned to camp at Stop #13. There are only 17 stops total, so even though the next set are further apart than those of the first couple of days, it should be possible to get to them all before Sunday evening when I train home.
It was a long day of mostly driving, sometimes through forest, sometimes past beautiful lakes or cute farm houses, rarely through a town. The highlight of the day was seeing the fox happily running through a field, of grass or grain just short enough to get a good view of it