England 40 Years Ago — July 30, 1981

We drove till mid-afternoon to get from Bergen to the mountain hutte (pronounced hoot-a) where we spent two nights. The scenery was spectacular. We started off driving along the edges of several fjords, thoroughly enjoying the breathtaking vistas of water and mountains and opening the windows to hear water hurling itself down rocky gullies.

We climbed higher and higher until there were no trees. High plateaus with out-croppings of rocks were bleak. All along the way were lakes, some huge and some small. It was almost unbelievable that we stopped by the side of the road to play in snow. We actually saw people sunbathing, sitting in snow.

The road was something else again. It was so narrow at times – the widest places were in the tunnels! Riding in our English car, John was sitting on the outer edge of the road, and I was exposed to cars hurtling down the road and much too close for comfort. My left knee was actually tired from the reflexive action of trying to draw in my side of the car.

The mountain hutte loaned to us by a brokerage firm had five bedrooms with enough beds to sleep 12!!! They mainly use it for skiing holidays. Ski racks were in the wide, rough entrance hall. The shower was a bit primitive, but there was a real sauna complete with benches to sit on and a wood burning stove.

We were needing more clean clothes, so I washed by hand and John hung them outside on a line. That line was situated half way up the mountain and is more efficient than an electric English drier! The first set was soon knocked dry by the wind, so we did more. After they dried, we did two pair of jeans.

The kitchen was a bit primitive. There was room to install a sink, but there wasn’t one. The stove was a wood burning thing. The kitchen does have one electric hot plate and three burners that run on bottled gas. The fridge didn’t work. Cold water only ran into a tiny receptacle. We had very simple meals.