NORWAY: Norway to go!

Aug 28 2008 by Neil Macdonald

The River Nidelva in Trondheim _320

WIPING the rain and mud from my face, I bent my knees further to absorb the bumps and knocks as six huskies pulled my dog cart through the forest at something approaching 25mph.

It was an exhilarating ride and the undoubted high spot of my trip to Norway.

I had handled everything my team could throw at me with a whooping enjoyment, but then …. I watched as the two carts in front of me veered away to the right – to the safer route through a river bed.

I steadied myself and prepared to turn the handlebars on the cart, only for my dogs to run straight ahead, gaining speed.

What was the command to stop? To turn right? Where were we going? Thoughts blurred through my head, none of which I had the answer for, so I had no option but to put my faith in the dogs.

They must know what they are doing I thought, but then I saw the reason the other dogs had gone right, the chasm-like, vertical-sided river bed filled with rocks.

As the other riders in front and behind me screamed for the guide to stop, we plunged into the abyss – it was so deep I disappeared from view - before rattling out of the other side and sliding to a breathless stop.

"Well done," said Stefan, the dog handler. "Normally we only go that way in the winter when it is filled with snow – you’re the first person to do it in the summer."

Great – another first for Liverpool and Great Britain!

My trip to Norway had started two days earlier, with a flight out of Stansted Airport after a relaxing night at the Stansted Hilton.

My fellow travellers and I were heading for two days in the city of Trondheim and two more in Roros, a beautiful village in the breathtaking Norwegian countryside. From the moment we stepped off the plane, my group felt at home as everyone spoke excellent English.

As Lars, our guide in Roros, said: "No-one else speaks Norwegian, so we all speak English, too."

Trondheim, Norway’s former capital and now third city, would seem quite small by our standards, but is full of contrast and curiousity and reminded me a great deal of Liverpool, with its port, river and mixture of old and new architecture.

On a gentle walk in virtually any direction, you can see the brightly-painted wooden houses in the city centre conservation area mingling with the former warehouses that are now bars, flats and restaurants and the modern hotels, including the two we stayed in.