After an arduous 13 hours and getting punched the entire 7 hills on the report card, I reached out for the Marlboro in my Jacket pocket, that I bought the previous evening, for a celebratory smoke, but to my disappointment only found sweat soaked broken pieces of filters, tobacco and paper, that were not fit for lighting. The message was clear ‘No Smoking’ even as a token of celebration. More than half a day ago at around 7 AM, the bus from Marken reached Gravdal. The place where the bus stopped doesn’t look any closer to the hills. Being a new place I got down from the bus, took the time to look around, and to my surprise some people got off the bus and started running. I followed the crowd for over 15 minutes on well laid asphalt road to see the sign ‘7 fjellturen Start’. That’s when the Indian in me kicked in and said ‘That’s poor organizing, can’t they get the bus all the way till the starting point?’ Some more walking on the asphalt led to the trail. The weather was alternating between rain and sun. The rain was good enough to make the soil under turn muddy and slippery. During the first hour, I was trying hard to avoid the swampy areas, but only till few ounce of water got in to my shoes and stopped avoiding the muddy areas before I fell on my bum in to the mud splashing some on the by-walkers, that gave a different color to my pants and jacket and left an impression on the hills. There is nothing to lose and the walk became more fun and less stressful and took one hill at a time. After reaching the summit, I expected to proceed to the next by going up and down some hills but had to come all the way down to the civilization to go up the next one. First four of them are connected to each other only by streets. After getting on top of Ulriken, there was good temptation to take the cable car and get down and go home in time. Then came the an advise from one of the volunteers clipping the cards, and told me that the next 3 won’t take much time. I took the advice and continued walking. At the end of the walk received a Diplom (Certificate), that I have not received in many years now. Probably the last one was my graduation 9 years ago! I also got the T-shirt that looked like a billboard from the sponsors’ logosJ. Apparently there was a badge I forgot to collect. I reached the airport and boarded the flight well in time. I got to use the sitting mat for the first time in the flight to avoid rubbing some of the dirt on the flight seat; well it was of some use finally.
PS: 7-Fjellsturen as it is called is an annual walking event held in Bergen covering 7 hills around the Bergen city. Some 8000 people do this hike every year. I promised myself that I will do this one in 2011 if I am in Norway, when I did the Stavanger 7-Nutsturen last year. Yes, these two events are on the same day on the last Sunday of May. I was very skeptical about completing this 35Km+2400m, but quiet content that it was completed. Next year if I am hanging out in Norway will do this again, after all its good fun and gives a kick!
End Result: A Red T shirt, diplom, Sore legs for couple of days, waxed legs due to sports tape :)
