Gold Key Goals

Last we left off, we were in Møre and Romsdal and had hiked into Feskarbua. The next day we took a quick hike over to Langdalsbu. Langdalsbu is a serviced cabin and a popular ski destination for kids (or so I've heard). Unfortunately when we visited it was closed.


From what I could see by peeking inside the windows, it would be a place that I would love visit for a waffle (but let's be real, I'd happily eat a waffle almost anywhere).


With the cabin closed there wasn't much for us to see or do and we didn't have too much daylight left so we didn't stay long. Our hike home was uncomfortable because we packed clothes for a ski in -5ºC and we found ourselves hiking in -10ºC. These things can happen when you don't spend enough time planning your trip (one can also find themselves scraping ice off a windshield with a credit card in such circumstances). Thankfully the hike out wasn't too far.
We'll head back in this direction another time time we're in the area to check out Oskarbua, the small cabin beside Feskarbua. What do you want to bet they share a toilet...

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Cabin rating: ★★★★☆
Transport there and back: Car. Parking available a bit past Skaret
More details at ut.no

We were in Møre and Romsdal for a New Year's Eve wedding and thought we'd get in a cabin visit for good measure while we were there. Our plan was to ski into Feskarbua and return home the next day. It had been a bit warm so we weren't sure what the conditions would be like but we were fairly sure skiing would be possible.


We were wrong. Most of the trail had no snow and where there was anything it was mostly ice. We had to leave the skis with the car and hike in. That went just fine and we were there a bit before sun down. The cabin was freezing cold but very small and it started to warm up soon after we got a fire going. By the time we had made dinner it was quite comfortable.


The cabin wasn't as well equipped as the cabins in Oslo but it was clean and had all the necessities. Our stay was uneventful but two things stand out in my mind:

1.  It was 4º in the cabin when we woke up. This wasn't surprising but it was still a shock to the body. 
2. The toilet was a tall bucket with a lid on top. Need I say more?

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Tip: Feskarbua uses a special key that needs to be picked up at Skaret turistsenter. When we got to Skaret it was closed for the holidays and we had to call and make alternative arrangements on the fly. Check the hours for Skaret ahead of time!

Initially we had the cabin to ourselves but after it got dark we thought we heard children's voices nearby. Sure enough, soon we were visited by three little boys. Two dads showed up with Charlie the dog a few minutes later. We ate dinner in our respective kitchens but the boys really wanted to be our friends. We babysat them until their bedtime and spent the rest of the night getting to know their dads, who had met a few years back at baby swimming.


We stayed late the next day to play some games without the kids and were visited by a lone hiker stopping by for lunch around the time we were leaving. It seems this a fairly popular spot because of the ease of access with the gravel road that runs from the bus stop/parking lot all the way up to the cabin. There isn't that much to see or do directly outside the cabin but there is a nearby lake that looked like a great fishing/picnic spot. We probably wouldn't go again given our other options but we had a nice trip!

Cabin number 2, Fjellvang, was just a short few metres from the first cabin we visited, Røverhula, but I took a trip back to make the visit, just to be sure. This time it was a girls' weekend and we left at 5pm. Of course at 5pm in late October it's pitch black outside so we walked to the cabin in the dark.


So there we were, talking about wolves (and unafraid because there is seemingly no large wildlife in Oslo marka) when all of a sudden a loud noise almost right beside us came out of nowhere and scared the bejesus out of us. It sounded like a horse running away but on retrospect was probably an owl or (more likely) an even smaller bird that we scared out of a nearby tree with our lights. Those of us who heard it continued on with an irrational fear of being attacked by something but the rest of the hike in was uneventful.

Fjellvang is great because it's one of few cabins has electricity which means there are overhead lights, a proper oven to cook with, and electric heat. It's a large cabin and the upstairs room is a bunch of side-by-side bunks that are sort of built into the wall. Super cosy, but not great for privacy. Outside there is a nice picnic area.


Before heading home we checked out the goats, chickens and rabbits at Sinober. I would have stayed longer but we had a train to catch. Our plan was to take the train from Sippen station but I may have misread the map so a few of the girls ended up chasing after the train and just missed it (there is a lesson to be learnt here). Instead of waiting 2 hours for the next one, we took a good walk through a mostly residential area to the nearest bus station instead. I got chased by a dog on the way...not ideal, but still an effective way to get back home without getting too cold.

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Cabin rating: ★★★★☆
Transit there: Train from Oslo S to Movatn
Transit back: Train from Snippen to Oslo S...or bus from Sandermosveien
More details at ut.no

It had been raining a lot in the days leading up to our trip to Røverhula so it shouldn't have been a huge surprise to discover that the bridge we needed to cross was flooded and the "lakeside" trail was now a part of said lake.


Past the initial flooding, the blue blazes abruptly departed from the gravel road and we discovered the (mostly uphill) 3.5km hike in had turned into a river of sorts. But it wasn't raining and Røverhula was nicer than we ever could have imagined. It had a couch and a loft and was tiny and warm and perfect! The cabin is private in that you have it to yourself but there is a fair amount of through traffic in this area.


A poster at the nearby Fjellvang indicated that if I could visit just another 99 cabins I too could have a gold key instead of the silver one I used to get us into the cabin. And so it began...

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Cabin rating: ★★★★★
Transport there: Train from Oslo S to Movatn (or Snippen) station
Transport back: Bus from Kjul stop
More details at ut.no