Day 21 - Lom stavkyrkje

After yesterday’s excitement we decided to have a more relaxed day. My left ribs at the back and sides hurt - possibly from pulling myself up using the handrail over the rocks back from the waterfall yesterday. The rain started as we left our lovely wild camp amidst the autumn colours. We lost a lot of height on our way down to the valley floor.

We soon reached the village of Fossbergom where I wanted to see Lom stave church, built around 1170. There were no smoking signs all round the outside - it’s surprising the church has lasted so long. It was beautiful, with a quirky shape, reminding me of one of the churches we visited in Kyrgyzstan. The roof had many gables and was tiled. Flowers were planted round all the gravestones.

We had a wander over one bridge to look at the reconstruction of a log one, which was a common type in the 18th century. There was a short zip wire going under both bridges and above the rapidly flowing turquoise glacial river Bovre. I love going on a zip wire but this wasn’t operating, the season being over I suppose.

The village had several points of interest, including an old cowshed, and Storstabburet, built in 1613, the biggest storehouse in Norway. We also viewed a water roost, erected on 1985. It illustrates how water was led down from the mountains with the help of wooden irrigation channels. We also saw a memorial rock to poet Tor Jonsson who grew up in Lom.

I found some lingonberry jam in a shop - I like a bit of jam with Brie on a sandwich.

Our route, the E6, towards Roros, where we intend reaching tomorrow, took us through some lovely countryside - the autumn colours are striking in this area, especially beside the rivers and lakes. Then we climbed to over 3000ft to reach a plateau similar to where we spent last night. It’s very tundra-like and the wind was biting. While parked up in an area with black waste disposal facilities, I wandered about taking photos of the lovely mosses, lichens and golden-russet shrubs. Soon after we turned off the E6 onto 29 and followed it down to a river where we have found a pretty place off the road for the night. The rain is steady but there’s no wind here.