Swapping the Woodland Trails for the Tarmac Jungle

When people ask what is my skillset it seems sometimes slightly farcical to say “walking”.

However after 13.5 years I feel quite qualified to give it as an answer.

Saturday night it was put to the test.

The wife of one of my best friends had organized a surprise 40th birthday drinks for him, down in Oslo city centre by the Oslofjord.

A good selection of old friends who have not caught up for many years due to the arrival of a multitude of children.

After much joviality the evening was drawing to a close and as I peered at my watch I saw that I had missed my last metro train home.

No fear I thought, I would just take the night bus and walk 10 to 15 minutes back to where I live.

Crossing the city centre, I arrived at my Night Bus Stop to see that it would not arrive for another 15 minutes.

I am not a big fan of staying put or standing still, therefore I did what I always do, and started walking from bus stop to bus stop in the direction of home. When the bus would catch up with me, I would board and ride out the rest of the journey.

The problem being that as I’m such a good Walker that the bus was actually not catching me up that quickly.

It got to the critical point, where actually jumping on a bus and being driven 10 to 15 minutes from home was actually no longer an advantage, compared to my direct walking route.

It would only take a few more minutes for me to walk the entire way home from the Fjord to where I live at Kringsjå.

So that is exactly what I did in the very early hours of Sunday.

Feeling like an urban version of David Attenborough, I experienced quite a lot of strange sights. Downtown Oslo on a Saturday night is certainly a fascinating cultural blend.

After my cheeky 7.5km kilometre uphill pursuit I had the immense pleasure of being met by an eager border collie who I then took out into the woods for 20 minutes of relative silence.

It would seem that my impatience and inability to stay put only cost me 5 minutes or so of extra time and yet gave me a wonderful amble.

So next time you see that your bus is delayed maybe just opt to walk the entire journey instead.

Doggies: Balto, Haraka, Bandido and Isak