Changes in Latitudes

Carey, Pancho and I took the train from Bergen to Hallingskeid on Saturday after a lot of stress with booking our train tickets. Once we got that part sorted out at the station, we went to the sporting goods store and each bought a pair of snowshoes. The train trip was about 2 hours and 20 minutes, and on Saturday the car that is meant for dogs was fairly empty, and very empty after Voss. We had the whole car to ourselves. I knew Pancho would collect a lot of snowballs in his fur, so I put him in a spandex suit. Even though he looked so ridiculous, it was a really good idea because he could then be dry and warmer when we got to the cabin. The cabin is run by DNT (the Norwegian hiking association - Den Norske Turistforening), and was unlocked. There were 30 beds, 16 of which could be booked in advance. We took the chance of not booking in advance to save some money. The facilities were very nice, including a kitchen, room with dry food for purchase, drying room, lounge and a woodshed...

We rented a VW California from a company called Indie Campers, which had vans of all sizes for a great and flexible road trip, the California being the smallest from their selection. We headed south from Livorno to an area called Castiglione della Pescaia. There were a lot of campgrounds, but we found out that they all closed down in mid-September; information that we did not find online. Still, we camped at a parking lot near one of the beaches and made it work. The van was equipped with some potable water, a propane stove, and the auxiliary battery was charged for us to have light and charge our phones. Plenty of light in the van. Tordelli and prosciutto for dinner When we woke up we took a look at the beach - the water was a bit too cold for a swim, but still warmer than Norwegian waters. So we drove into the town center where there was an open-air market selling clothes and some groceries. Then we decided to keep on moving and head towards some hot springs in Saturnia....

I was sent to Livorno, Italy for an aging workshop on horse mackerel. The goal of the workshop is to calibrate between countries and make sure we are all aging the fish the same way and express any difficulties. We are a total of nine countries: Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland and Norway (me). I arrived on Sunday afternoon after a 12 hour trip from Bergen, via Amsterdam and Florence, that started at 4:30AM using planes, trains and automobiles. The weather was a bit warmer and sunnier than in Bergen, so I was glad I had some time to walk around the city and enjoy the sun before the course started. The other participants said I must have been the one from Norway because I was wearing a t-shirt and sandals, but my name and skin tone confused them as well. The first night I had gnocchi with scampi at my hotel restaurant. It was delicious!! Last night I decide to try the risotto "with cuttlefish ink". It was very rich and I couldn't f...

A very delayed post, but I have been super busy since getting back to work!! So I apologize in advance for a poor post. For the third year in a row I have traveled to Svalbard to start out on a three week tokt in the Barents Sea. This year was my favorite yet because of several reasons (see below), but it makes a HUGE difference to be put on day shift (6AM-12PM, 6PM-12AM) as opposed to night shift. Here are a few highlights... Longyearbyen, Svalbard Research Vessel "Johan Hjort" - home for 23 days We were delayed the start of the tokt, so we enjoyed a night out getting to know our colleagues and crew in Longyearbyen. And when we set out we had some nice views of the landscape... Capelin / Lodde - target species for this leg of the Barents Sea Ecosystem Survey These two were the largest individuals (20cm and 60g) - not very big fish, but a key species. Deep Vision: A camera box attached to the mouth of the trawl which takes pictures of fish ent...

Friday we headed up to Stranda from Oslo and had some great weather. Pancho had torn his toenail on a run last Monday, so we didn't go on any extensive hikes since he decided to limp because he didn't like the bandage on his foot. The views as we got closer to Stranda were full of steep mountains. We stopped by Trollveggen (The Troll Wall) and Trollstigen for some pictures before I checked in for the race and got my kit. Trollveggen "Look at how pitiful I am with my paw wrapped in a bandage. Give me attention" A troll hiding out at Trollstigen Saturday I ran the Stranda Fjord Uphill Race in a part of Norway called "Sunnmørsalpene." The course was originally planned to be a 10 km uphill race ascending 1300 meters; however, due to unexpected bad weather (mainly high winds on the mountains), the course was rerouted to be what they thought was 13 km and still an elevation gain of 1000 meters. The race route and elevation I did n...