The peaceful sound of gunfire in the valley

There are summer days and there are summer days. I know, I know what I sound like, but what can I say? It had been a bit depressing till about the middle of last week, and then things got pretty good. But yesterday was in a completely different league :).

It was just a little bit cooler than the few days before, which was perfect for a nice long bike ride. The fact that we were mostly on trails running along a river or around lakes probably helped too. The sun was out, with just enough clouds to keep things interesting.

After hours of semi-aimless wandering in an area none of us had ever cycled to before, (stopping often to eat wild strawberries and raspberries that seemed to be growing just everywhere) we found ourselves high above a wooded valley with the fjord in the distance. You could see Oslo and some of its eastern suburbs, but not hear it :).

What you could hear was the staccato gunfire from the shooting range hidden amongst the trees echoing off the hills. Couldn't see any flying or shattering clay pigeons though. But then we weren't looking too closely either :).

One thing I did discover on the way back was an awesome hidden path running quite a long way. I knew the area, roughly, all residential bits and schools and things. But this seemed like a different world, like we'd gone through a portal in Bekkestua and come out the other end, miraculously transported to Sandvika without actually going through any of the places in between :).

And to top it all off we decided the best way to cool off would be a swim in the lake once we got back. Not my first time in a lake here, believe it or not, but I'm pretty sure it's a mighty short window here, right at the peak of summer where the water gets anywhere close to not freezing, so I'm making the most of it.

It was easier to float around with pretty much no effort out in the fjord on Friday, but the sudden bits of ice cold water getting kicked about by one passing boat or another wasn't fun. So all in all, the lake was a pretty nice way to wrap up the picture perfect summer day :).

Currently: slightly fidgety

Listening to: George Ezra - Budapest