Retreat to civilisation

There was a young man from Tewin
Who failed in his porridge chewin
Unfortunately his mates
Wouldn't fill up their plates
So he emptied it down where you pooh in

Today started with an enormous pan of porridge and for whatever reason, this morning I just wasn't hungry.

Also on the menu today was a 15km ski to Billingen where we hoped we could catch a bus to Lom, we were hoping for a friendly bus driver as we knew there wasn't a bus stop in Billingen, but we did know there'd be a bus passing through at 16:10. Our original plan had been to be away from civilisation for three weeks, but with the abandoning of the pulk and the diabolical snow conditions we were retreating back to civilisation for a rest and rethink.

Once again we were plagued by deep snow and trail breaking was hard work and to add to our woes visibility was poor at best and whiteout at worst. Fortunately our route was down a valley and gradually downhill so not too much scope for getting it wrong. We stopped for a break at Terradalshytta and the sun came out! Of course when we set off again it went back into hiding.

Eventually we reached a skidoo track on the outskirts of Billingen, which gave us a fast descent to the road, too fast for all bar Mick & Kath. Rob & I resorted to skins while John chose to walk for a bit.

The bus driver took pity on us and stopped and dropped us in Lom - Mick went off to find a car to hire while Kath & Rob tried to find accommodation. Things weren't looking good when Mick couldn't find a car & the only accommodation we could find seemed unfriendly & expensive. Kath & Rob then came up with the Fossheim Turisthotell where we got an apartment , not cheap, but certainly nice. We had a lovely meal in the hotel and then were further fed at the home of Albert & Elizabeth, Mick & Kath's friends in Lom, who informed us we'd just eaten at one of the top restaurants in Norway - we were all left with the thought of what the bill was going to be - nobody had thought to ask!