Bergen Dog Walk - School Park

Today on our last dog walk in Bergen, we went to the same place that we went to on our first dog walk in Bergen. We call it School Park. I think it is officially called something like Storetveit parken but whatever. On the way today we saw a couple of gorgeous poppies out playing with the sun. So beautiful. As I was photographing them, one of my favourite creatures in the whole wide world, a bumblebee, flew in. He was so sweet bumbling and buzzing around in there. I couldn't see him after he crawled in, but I could certainly hear him! Busy little bee he was. And no wonder he flew in there! Look at that magnificent eye! The poppy stares back at us. The inside perfectly matches the bumblebee's fluffy body and colours too, a real safe haven with the feel of home :) Heading to School Park takes us past the secret turnoff to Sherwood forest. The dodgy little road takes on a covering of trees for a small section and Mina usually stops to ask/suggest we take the track to Sherwood. Today though, she got the 'not today' answer to her question and we pressed on to the park. On the way, we pass the local church, starting from the cemetary side.

It may sound strange but I actually love the cemetary. I like the reminder of my mortality. It helps me enjoy more of the small beauties of the daily dog walk. I also find this cemetary aesthetically beautiful, in all seasons.

They replant the plants around the gravestones to match the seasons, so that there are always living flowers. In the winter, they light candles in little lanterns so that they are shining in the darkness when we walk on those cold dark mornings. A local friend told me that it is often young school kids, around 16 or so that are hired for the work. She said she did it for a few summers and enjoyed using the lawnmowers and driving the little cart :) There are defintely worse things to do all day than plant flowers and contemplate your feelings on death.

We then go on up past the bell tower... that charming construction that rings at 10.00 and 10.30 on weekends, as well as all over the place on weddings, confirmations, religious celebrations etc. I love listening to them on lazy morning weekends, 10am is right about the time it starts to be okay to have bells ringing I think.

Finally we hit the park! A couple of retirement villages sit at the end near the church and a school lies at the other. Here is the path between the two...


Today being Sunday, people were really out and about. The group of guys on the soccer field in this shot were flying a model stunt airplane, and doing so very well I might add! Lots of tricks and turns and rolls.








They had a captivated audience!
I love that the woman had been picking flowers from the meadows of the park. As you can see, it is left rather wild, but that is for good reason! There is a rather rare bird species that calls this meadow home - so dogs must be leashed and all plants allowed to grow. Today I was lucky enough to see one amidst the daisies.
They make the craziest call when alerting you that their babies are nearby, really like an old school computer game firing sound, pyanng pow, pyang pow pow pow. So cool.













When it is sunny and warm, people in flats use the park as a backyard and heaps lay around with their shirts off in the sun, and why not?

Once we have done a lap around the park, we take the path back to the main road, which I always find most lovely when it is covered in snow...



















Along the main road we pass our vet clinic. The smells are just so intriguing that Moj thinks he would really like to go in! Mina is not so sure though... :)
And that is that - our regular bergen dog walks - school park, sherwood forest, slettsy lake and king's lake. How very appropriate it is that I finish this blog series, on our last walk in Bergen, the day before we leave for Tromsø. How crazy and exciting! J and I are all packed up and are waiting for the removalist to pick up our boxes first thing tomorrow morning. We will then pack the car, do the last run round of cleaning and carpet washing and we are out of here! We are taking 4-5 days to drive the 1800kms up the country. We will have the dogs and our camping gear and plan on taking some of the winding tourist roads along the coast. Personally, I am super excited to our see our new home on a fjord above the arctic cirlce, but also excited to enjoy the whole journey along the way :) Next blog coming to you from Tromsø...xxx

Dog Walk - Sherwood Forest

Today was a perfect day for taking the dogs for a walk in Sherwood Forest.
In reality it is a little, old and largely abandoned side track between two streets in our suburb. It is one of the places nearby where the dogs get to run free range and they love it as much as we do. The only downside with what we affectionately call 'sherwood forest' is that the track gets very muddy in the rain, which in Bergen, is very often. But really, that only makes me extra appreciative of sunny quiet days, like today, when the dogs and I can linger over all the lovely sights and smells of the sherwood forest track.
On our way to the Sherwood track, we go past my favourite house in our neighbourhood. In winter it is covered in snow with red green apples clinging to a bare branched tree in the front yard. In the spring, its lawn becomes a sea of daffodils. In summer, it looks like this!
One of the great things about this track is that its entrace is rather hidden and you really have to be looking for it to find it. Fortunately Mina is very good at finding it! One time she even started running up it again when we passed by on the way back.
You have to kind of scramble up the embankment for a while before you get to trot along a little worn dirt path.
Eventually you reach a high point where it opens up and you get a lovely view of the mountain over cute little grass roofed hut.
Mina loves wiling away the time in this lovely open meadow section.
Mojo, however, leads us down from the meadow back onto the dirt track.
The whole track is littered with small sections of old rock walls. I guess they were from the time when the track was part of one of the large farms that used to occupy the area - the area that is now covered with the houses of our neighbourhood. I think there is something really lovely and precious about moss covered rocks walls set amidst ferns in the shade of a forest.
After a while the dirt track turns into a cobbly stone path.
At the end of the forested part of the track you reach some old farmhouse buildings, with fences and 2 absolutely beautiful old trees. Their branches reach all the way to the ground to form a canopy on one side. Again, that is Mojo's fluffy bum leading the way.


That is the end of the forest track and we then head back out into reality.
We turn for home and here, you can go left and follow the main road back, which I sometimes do in the mornings if I am in a hurry and trying to jog with the dogs, but on lovely days like today we take our time and turn right to go up past the old folks home at the end of the park...
on by a sculptors studio...
and down past our local church.


This then leaves nothing left to do but to walk down

and home. xxx

Bergen Dog Walks - Slettsy Lake

Here is regular dog walk number two, around the other lake in our neighbourhood. The lake is actually called Tveitevannet, but because it is near the Slettebakken shopping centre, J and I call this the walk around Slettsy Lake. In the fabulous early summer weather that we are currently enjoying, the walk starts by going past the gorgeous flowers in our front garden.

For some reason, almost all of the houses in our neighbourhood are taking the opportunity of the great weather to replace their wooden walls and roof tiles, our neighbours included and hence the scaffolding in the picture above. From the end of our driveway we take a right and head up the hill.
Then we sneak under the main road using the pedestrian underpass tunnel...
and pop out at our local bus stop for buses heading into town. You can't see this here but it is actually on the edge of the lake. The older woman in the wheelchair in this picture loved the dogs and had to stop and have a little chat and pat. It is amazing how many of the older people here love the dogs and have to stop and have a chat about them. Luckily my Norwegian is good enough now that I can manage the small talk, but they are always super surprised when I tell them that these particular Norwegian elkhounds actually come from Australia! After a little detour through some streets where private houses own one side of lake, you come out to a beautiful view of it peeking through the trees.
Once you get past the trees, you get an even more beautiful view. This is looking across the lake in the direction of Bergen city.
From the same point but looking a little further to the right, you can just make out the path winding around the lake and the fabulous duck viewing table and and jetty.
Today was a great day for duck viewing because just at the end of the jetty, a mother duck was out with her babies, keeping a very watchful eye on me and the dogs!
The ducklings were soooo cute, nibbling around the edges of the waterlilly pads and ducking under the water like big grown up ducks, little legs waving in the air! When I got a bit too close though, mumma gave them all the super quacks and told them to swim off to safety. She was a good mum and definitely had her wings full trying to control this little gang of cheeky adventurers!
From the duck jetty, we walk pass one of my favourite modern churches in Bergen. I just really love this shining glass sail that stretches above the trees and glints in the sunlight.
A little further along you can look back over the lake towards Lovstakken mountain and the area where our house lies.
The only other man-made structure of note along the walk is this strange enormous vase out in the water. Not sure what it is all about exactly, but I assume it is considered art.
The path around Slettsy lake is very popular, especially on Sundays, which is a kind of traditional day for walking for Norwegians, with almost everyone going out at some point during the day for a good long stroll. Today being Saturday it was not so bad, but there were still people out and about, pushing prams, riding bikes, sitting around and feeding the pidgeons and ducks.

Once we cross the duck feeding bridge, we turn the corner and start heading back in the direction of home.
At the end of this straight stretch is a shell service station, where we often stop and get bread and milk, especially on Sundays when it is the only place open to do so, in accordance with the Norwegian rule that all shops should be closed on sundays so that people can be home spending time with their families. If we don't need the necessesities of bread and milk, I sometimes still stop for lollies, icecreams and/or DVDs. Strangley, the Norwegians are not that into the idea of renting movies. There are some places that do it, but it costs 50kr a night and you can buy the same movies from places like your local servo for 99kr. Needless to say, JJ and I now have a rather enormous DVD collection. While not into renting movies, there are very into the choose your own lollies idea and J and I have also spent a lot of money filling our little paper bags with a great mix of sweet and sour treats. Today though I stopped for icecreams and as always, the dogs were waiting patiently for me when I came out.
From the servo we go back under the underpass and take the same roads home. On the way we pass one of my favourite houses. In the winter it always has the oldstyle street lamp in its front yard on. When it is dark and the ground is covered in snow, I love seeing this little lamp burning, it makes me feel like I am in Narnia and could run into Mr Tumnus at any moment.
Not long after that and we are fluffy bum trotting down the stairs at the side of the house leading into our garden, and that is it, we have arrived back home! xxx.