Norwegian Odyssey Day 4, Sunday 29 December: Oslo to Savalen

The next morning, we got up around 7.45, and had a lavish breakfast downstairs. They had everything imaginable, but I focused on the porridge and the boiled eggs. A good breakfast, and proper tea in a pot. :-)

We packed up and went downstairs, checked out, and the fully-charged car was waiting for us outside. The roads were thankfully quiet on a Sunday, and we had an easy journey out of the city. We stopped at a service station on the way to the airport to rearrange the car slightly.

Meelis had landed earlier than expected, and was waiting for us when we arrived. We parked in the short-stay car park of the small but shiny airport, and I got out to find him and meet him at arrivals. He had hardly any luggage, and so he fitted in the very full car quite well (apart from his great height). We set off for Savalen.

The clear, major road soon changed to snowy, minor road, and we spotted our first cross-country skiier on a path beside the road. We had our first charging stop at Elverum at 11am. We skated on the icy snow to the shop, and Christian and I got snacks while Meelis got something more substantial to eat.

Another two and a quarter hours, on straight, unchanging roads (with the odd set of moose horns in the trees to keep us amused), and we had our second charging stop at Alvdal. This was little more than a takeaway shop, and as it was about 1.30, we had burgers and fries for lunch.

It was only another 40 or so minutes to Savalen. We turned off the cleared road, and headed vaguely uphill on snowy but safe roads. It was starting to get dark at this point. The village of Savalen was unremarkable, and we headed through it to find our cabin. But we were stopped by a barrier - we had no choice but to pay (around £7) to go through into the national park. We managed to find the cabin, though, and it had room to park.

We found the key safe, got inside, and started warming it up as best we could. We put a heater upstairs, but this tripped the fuse, so we brought it back down and lit a fire. I did my best to pack away all the food, but didn't make any assumptions about rooms until Ali arrived.

Christian drove to Tynset to collect both Ali (6pm) and Alex (8pm) in two trips, and we settled in for the evening, making pesto pasta for dinner. Ali had decided on the upstairs bedroom, so we took the double room off the kitchen, and I unpacked all our things and made the bed. Alex took the sofa upstairs rather than share with Meelis in the bunkroom next to the bathroom. We weren't sure whether all the others would fit in the other cabin, so these were only temporary arrangements as far as we were concerned.

We turned in for the night after big days, all of us.