Blog – ToBatheOrNotToBathe

Svalbath

Half of Tobatheornottobathe was born and raised in Svalbard, and as a member of a large family, there are always new opportunities for festivities at 78° North. In recent years, there have been several confirmations, since Idun’s older sister Jorunn has two daughters who live in Svalbard with their families. Thank you very much for the invitations, Mona and Ingrid!

‘*The Løwø Kids*‘ at Longyear glacier Easter 2023. Photo: Berner Hestø

For those of us who grew up in Longyearbyen in the 60s and 70s, it’s nice, but strange, to come back for a visit. The mountains are the same, even though some of the debris (read: cultural relics in the form of coal mining remains) have been demolished or fallen down. The glaciers at the bottom of the valley, however, are much smaller now than they were 50 years ago.

And the city itself! Today, most of the housing construction takes place in Lia, Elvesletta (The River Border) or in Advent Valley – there were no houses in those districts some 60 years ago. Idun grew up in one of the first four houses built in Lia, the so-called ‘Million City’.

In 1968, the entire settlement in Lia consisted of only 4 houses. Photo: Unknown

The name ‘Million City‘ came from the price (in NOK). It was shocking that the management spent so much money building single-family homes for themselves. As a mining engineer, Idun’s father was not part of the top management at SNSK, but since he had as many as 5 children, he was given one of the 2 largest houses at his disposal anyway.

U2 on their way to confirmation Palm Sunday 2025. Easter is so much fun in Svalbard! Idun’s childhood home is barely visible in brown to the right of our daughters.

From 1916, Longyearbyen was a so-called ‘Company Town’, where the mining company ‘Store Norske Spitsbergen Kullkompani‘ (SNSK) was responsible for all housing construction, logistics, infrastructure and communications. The vast majority of residents were men, who lived in barracks and ate in the cantine. Family apartments were in short supply, so only white-collar workers could have their families with them. In Idun’s childhood, there was only one shop in Longyearbyen, which sold clothes, toiletries and souvenirs, but no groceries.

Seal (self) service and groceries at the Svalbard Store 2025. Very strange, indeed. Illustrator: Unknown (AI perhaps?)

The groceries were ordered from the Provision Store once a month. The housewife therefore had to have a clear idea of what the familiy should eat the following month when she filled out the order list. No wonder then, that Idun’s mother made a minor mistake when she was ordering laurel leaves for her Christmas preparations in 1954. She needed several kilos of both flour and sugar, so 1 kg of laurel leaves was ordered at the same time. ‘Kari Løwø has ordered 1 kilo of laurel leaves! She shall definitely get it!‘… said the guys at the Provision Store. There were no laurel leaves left for the other wives that winter…

Another thing that makes life in Longyearbyen 2025 very different from the 1960s and 70s is that the fjord no longer freezes. When Idun was a kid, SNSK organized a fall festival in November, as the last boat had left Isfjorden. After that, there was no possibility of traveling down to the mainland or getting visitors from Norway before the first boat arrived – in May. What was in Longyearbyen stayed there, and nothing new was added – except a few newborns. In the winter of 1965/66, 5 children were born in Longyearbyen, and Idun was one of them.

No new viruses would enter either. Flu epidemics in January were cancelled! But let’s not dwell in the past any more. We consider development a necessary task, and have to realize that there is (at least) one practical advantage of the fjord not freezing during winter: Bathing is much, much easier in open water!

The ice bathing trend has reached Longyearbyen.

As happy winter bathers, we just had to rent the Svalbad Sauna, as at least half of the Tobathers are also extremely fond of saunas.

And so much fun, with ice on the water around the Svalbad Sauna! The power plant to the left in the picture now runs on diesel and not coal. Is that really progress?

We were hoping for a big turnout from the family, but many didn’t have time amidst all the confirmation preparations. The attendance was just Hilde and Vegard – but they went ‘all in‘, and it was a really great experience!

Despite many warning signs, we (unfortunately?) were not visited by neither walrus nor polar bear.

The temperature was minus 18 degrees Celsius in the air (April 12^th), and maybe minus 2 in the water? In the absence of large animals, Idun and Knut tried with varying success to pretend to be seals on the ice. We had lots of splendid baths!

Sooner or later, you need to return. Photo: Vegard Herje Løwø

Conclusion: Svalbaths are great fun, even without encountering large animals. But it turns bloody when you try to pretend to be a seal with your thin human skin.

This is how happy you get when ice bathing!

The Svalbad sauna is surrounded by industry buildings. But the view from inside is beautiful towards Hiorthamn. Photo: Hilde Jensen

Coles Bath

On the south side of Isfjorden, between Longyearbyen and Barentsburg, lies a large and wide bay called Coles Bay (Colesbukta).

Coles Bay is more than 4 km wide. View southwards. Coles Bay shipping port to the left (east) and Cape Laila to the right. The mountain peaks in the middle are called Vesuvius and Little Vesuvius.

The bay was named as early as 1630, when an (English?) explorer reported that this was a good place for hunting reindeer. Coles Bay is named after Cole Park in Wiltshire, England. Later, when coal mining started up in Isfjorden, the name was misinterpreted as Coal Bay.

Coles Bay 2025. Most of the houses are either falling into disrepair or demolished, but occasionally the place is still inhabited – by Russian scientists.

The Russian coal mining town of Grumant, located between Coles Bay and Longyearbyen, was bombed during World War II. Due to difficult port conditions, it was decided to build a new coal shipping port in Coles Bay when reconstruction began after the war.

Coles Bay shipping port, July 1960 (one year before decommissioning). Photo: Carl A. Wendt / DigitaltMuseum

A 40 cm wide (narrow gauge) and 10 km long railway was built between Grumant and Coles Bay for coal transportation. The railway was partly tunnelled and otherwise built-in. The wharves are made of timber, and parts of them are still standing, some 60 years later.

We wanted to go swimming in Coles Bay! Luckily, we were assisted by Jorunn and Nina, who helped us as photographers and polar bear guards.

The bathing assistants at work. In the background: Alkhornet mountain in bright sunshine.

Then we just had to get started, we even had a wardrobe.

Knut inspects the locker room in Coles Bay.

It was a really nice swim. Quays like this are not built in shallow waters, and we didn’t have to go far before we could swim. There were no hints of slush this time, water temperature about 0 degrees Celsius, and minus 15 degrees in the air. The beach, like all the Svalbard beaches we have tested so far, consisted of fine-grained gravel (or possibly coarse-grained sand), which means you don’t have to worry about sand getting inside all your clothes. Three black guillemots swam around right next to us, and a reindeer grazed nearby. Add to that the splendid view, and you have our recommendation: A swim in Coles Bay can be fabulous!

NB! There were no Russians in Coles Bay during our visit, and we didn’t disturb anyone.

The most splendid bathing view ever? Photo: Nina Hestø

Bath Laila

The events in the Løwø family are endless, and in 2025 there were two confirmations in Longyearbyen, at Palm Sunday. We like that! And a visit to Svalbard also includes a trip to the family cabin at Cape Laila. Thank you very much for the invitation, Jorunn!

Coles Bay, looking westwards. Lailadalen (The Laila Valley) to the left and Cape Laila to the right. The mountains Vesuvius and Little Vesuvius in the background.

The names Lailadalen and Cape Laila come from the name of one of the motor cutters (Laila of Tromsø) used on Gunnar Isachsen’s Svalbard expedition in 1910. Isachsen was a topographer (topographic maps describe the terrain in the area), and as the expedition leader you can come up with names for unknown places, right?

Cape Laila. View north towards Alkhornet. It can’t get more beautiful than that!

Sweden invested heavily in Arctic exploration towards the end of the 19^th century, primarily driven by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, who proposed that Svalbard should belong to Norway. After Nansen’s successful expeditions, interest also increased in Norway, and after we left the union with Sweden there were no problems with funding any more. ‘Stortinget‘ (The Norwegian Parliament) allocated money for the ‘Spitsbergen Expedition‘, for exploration of Svalbard’s topography, geology and hydrography for many years. However, the work of finding a solution to the ‘No Man’s Land Problem‘ (Svalbard was called Terra Nullius) was completed as a result of the legal settlement after the First World War, in the form of the ‘Svalbard Treaty‘.

Isachsen’s personal copy of the Svalbard Treaty from 1920. Photo: Beate Kjørslevik / Norwegian Maritime Museum

Signed in Paris, 1920, the Svalbard Treaty gives Norway sovereignty over Svalbard, Hopen, Jan Mayen and Bjørnøya. The treaty came into force in 1925. All countries that have signed the treaty have equal rights to the resources, but it is Norway’s laws that apply. Military activity is prohibited on or near the islands, (Germany didn’t really care about that during World War II), which Russia has used as an argument when they have protested that Norwegian coast guard ships patrol Svalbard. Russia signed the agreement in 1935 (they first had to end a civil war and regroup themselves to the Soviet Union). China signed the Svalbard Treaty already in 1925 (according to Wikipedia), so that can’t be why Chinese people are not allowed to drive snowmobiles in Longyearbyen. Anyone who knows?

For the 100 years anniversary of the Svalbard Treaty, Tobatheornottobathe thought that a bath at Kapp Laila could be a good idea. We have tried to swim there before (Kapp Laila), but that doesn’t stop us at all! If it’s terribly shallow in the lagoon, then you can swim a little further away from Løwøhytta, right? We chose ‘The whale bone‘ as our starting point, it is located west of the neighboring cabin ‘Bikkjebu‘ (The Dog’s Cabin).

The whalebone. There is not much left of the whale skeleton at Cape Laila, but one vertebra is clearly visible.

What could possible go wrong at Kapp Laila in winter? Well, first of all, ‘Landkallen‘ means trouble. Above the high tide boarder on Svalbard’s beaches, there is an ice edge during winter time, and it often grows to 1-2 meters height. It’s not easy to climb up there with frozen fingers after swimming. ‘Better bring a ladder!‘, we thought.

Well-equipped with a ladder, bath photographers and polar bear guards, there was little stress with a Lailabath in winter. Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø

But then there was this thing with the tides. Again. We had inspected the place earlier the same day, at high tide. When we went there to swim, it was low tide, and we had a long way to walk before it was deep enough to swim. Conclusion for the second time: Cape Laila is not the best swimming spot, it is actually pretty bad at low tide, despite the crystal clear water.

Bathing at Kapp Laila, 17th of April 2025. Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø

Minus 13 degrees celcius, clear and beautiful ‘slush water’ (which means approximately minus 2 degrees in the water), a veeery shallow beach, but we absolutely did not regret it! We had the world’s most beautiful view of Isfjorden, a bath is always energizing, and after the bath Idun’s sister Jorunn and her husband Berner treated us with a sip of the ‘Svalbard Aquavit‘. Thank you!

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Svalbard Treaty with lots of snow, aquavit and the midnight sun. Congratulations!

Ref:
https://polarhistorie.no/

Strangford Lough

In the eastern part of the island of Ireland there is a lake (or a fjord with a narrow outlet) called Strangford Lough. The name Strangford has Old Norse origins ‘Strangfjörður’ = ‘Fjord of the strong current‘ (reflecting the inlet in the south, and the conditions there), so there is no doubt: the Vikings were here. The eastern side of the lake is limited by a peninsula, The Ards Peninsula, from the Irish-Gaelic Aird Uladh (the peninsula of the Ulstermen), where the southernmost part (by the outlet) is called ‘Upper Ards’ and the northernmost part ‘Lower Ards’. During the Middle Ages, the peninsula was part of the Irish-Gaelic kingdom of Uladh, but was invaded by the Anglo-Normans in the 12^th century to become ‘The Earldom of Ulster‘. In the 17^th century Hugh Montgomery initiated the immigration of English royalist protestants to The Lower Ards (The Plantation of Ulster), and the area is today part of Northern Ireland.

This 150 km² loch is sheltered from the elements, and the area, with shallow sand and mud flats it is an eldorado for seabirds. Up to 70,000 birds spend their winter in Strongford Lough. In addition to the birds, tourists also come here to enjoy water sports and fishing, but this is mostly during summer time.

Strangford Lough and the Ards. Grey colour indicates areas that are drained at low tide. Image from information board.

Tobatheornottobathe had found a home exchange in Donaghadee (The Lower Ards), and most fantastic of all: Our host, Allan, had put us in touch with the Donaghadee Chunky Dunkers (DCD). We were going to swim! But then it turned out that swimming in Donaghadee harbour was impossible on day 3, because a triathlon was to be held there that day, and swimming can only be done for a few hours each day, at high tide. Good advice was in deep need! An obvious option for Knut was to join the triathlon, which he does every year, but it turned out to be difficult to borrow a bike. Fortunately, an even easier option came up, joining DCD’s swimming in Strangford Lough, 15 km southwest of Donaghadee – DCD won’t be stopped by the harbour being busy, of course.

The swim took place at the very nice Cunningburn Picnic Area. Large, flat stones were placed on the shore and into the water, so you actually didn’t have to step on pebbles. That’s the way we like it!

It was a great swim! A bit shallow, but easy to walk along the flat stones, nice weather, happy people. An Australian, who was on the run-in part of the preparations for his 35 km ‘North Channel Swim’, also joined in – he swam a little further than we did. We don’t know if he made the channel swim or not, though.

Left picture on the way out, right picture on the way in 20 minutes later. There were clearly some tidal water differences!

Winter Challenge 35 km – check!

On November 1^st, 2024, the Donaghadee Chunky Dunkers (DCD) Winter Challenge 2024/25 began: To swim alone, or as a team, a total of 35 km in open water, without a wetsuit or other aids by March 31^st, 2025. We never doubted that we could do this!

35 km is the distance between Donaghadee in Northern Ireland and Portpatrick in Scotland. How hard could it be? Picture slightly manipulated by HI (Human Intelligence), since AI failed to do the job.

It turned out to be a challenge, indeed. The first week there was a storm, and we only swam 50 (!) meters at a time. When the weather calmed down, we managed a little longer trip, but when we swam 435 m in 7 degree celsius water on the 8^th of November, it was really nail-biting, and Idun turned somewhat hesitant about whether this was a joyful hobby in the long run.

Progress reporting is an important motivator! We struggled in both November and December, but at the end of January things loosened up a bit, and we were able to swim 500 m without the nails biting too bad.

Research has confirmed that the human body adapts to the stresses of repeated cold swimming, including by converting some fat into so-called brown fat, which can easily be converted into heat when needed. After 3 months of effort, we began to feel that we tolerated the cold better, and now we swim nearly 600 meters without much trouble. But we get shaky! It’s not easy to talk after these swims!

After the last swim we thought an Irish whiskey made with Scotch whiskey would be just right. Tartan: Hamilton Grey.

We did it! It turned out to become a rather tough run-in. Knut was unwell for a week, and Idun was in Mumbai the week after (yes, she swam at Yuhu Beach, but fully clothed like they do it there, and DCD runs channel rules: Skin Only, i.e. only a swimming cap, swimsuit/pants and swimming goggles). In a couple of weeks we expect 2 badges to arrive by mail. The entry fee was 10 pounds per person, and we are happy to pay. The profit goes, as mentioned in a previous post, to charity. In total, there were 140 people registered from all over the world for this challenge. Maybe we drew a shorter straw than those who swam in Australia during the same period, but still.

DCD’s badge for 2024/25. We can’t wait to sew them on our beach bags! Photo: Martin Strain

Overall a great challenge, even though we almost gave up along the way. It took a lot of time to fulfill! But we haven’t regretted it, maybe with the exception of that one worst nail-biting swim. But now that we did it – no no, no regrets at all!

The best thing about outdoor swimming is to be in the nature! We have swum in rain and slush water, fog, wind, moonlight, sun and sunsets. Absolutely splendid!

Warm Pout in Cold Water

In Eyafjörður, a little north of Akureyri, there are some very special formations that ‘grow’ up from the seabed: Strýtur = pouts or vents. These are geothermal ‘chimneys’ (Hydrothermal vents) made of silicates (not biological structures). Ystuvikurstrýtur is the highest, standing 60 meters above the seabed. The water inside is measured to be 72 degrees Celsius. 100 liters of water come out of Ysturvikurstrýtur per second. Arnarnessstrýtur is wider, but shorter, shallower and has an internal temperature of 78 degrees. The vents are over 10,000 years old, they were formed just after the last ice age. The Strýturs were discovered some 100 years ago, but they disappeared from the map again because no one noticed them anymore. But then, in 1997, the pouts in Eyafjörður were rediscovered by Erlendur Bogason and Árni Halldórsson. See the episode “The Moth and the Flame” from the BBC-series “Forces of Nature” for the story of how they rediscovered them.

A pat under the chin and a broken mussel, and ‘Its all fine’, as they say in Iceland (Allt fint!).

Some experts believe that life on Earth originated in shallow thermal structures in the ocean, like here. The Eyafjörður therminal vents are the only ones in the world that can be reached with regular scuba diving equipment, the others are located at depths of several thousand meters. They typically occur in the spreading zones between continental plates, such as in Iceland, where there’s a short distance to high temperatures from the Earth’s interior. Erlendur Bogason has developed a diving center around the vents existence. A diving trip here includes a visit to both Ystuvikurstrýtur and Arnarnessstrýtur. You can see the water coming out, and lots and lots of fish surround them. A very special experience! AND – you get to say hello to Erlendur’s two friends: The tame catfish!

Erlendur feeds them mussels – and if he doesn’t, they look back and forth between him and the food with saddened eyes, until he breaks them and offers the catfish a well-prepared meal.

A diving trip to Strýtur is just perfect, at least for Knut, who has a diving certificate.

P.S.: Always learn to know your photo equipment before going on a special dive! Due to not being aquainted with the new GoPro, we don’t have any pictures of the Stryturs themselves. But you can easily find that by a little internet search.

Hauganes

Eyjafjörður is one of Iceland’s longest fjords, 60 km long and 25 km wide at its widest. The fjord is located in the middle of northern Iceland. Compared to the rest of Iceland, the Eyjafjörður area, with its 25,000 inhabitants, is densely populated, the second highest population density after the Capital Region.

Northwest in Eyjafjörður (the fjord is named after the island of Hrisey), lies Hauganes (in the former municipality Árskógströnd). This small place with about 100 inhabitants does some tourism, including a campsite and whale watching. As expected, there are also opportunities for hot baths here, and Hauganes Hot Pot is a little gem! A simple arrangement, yes, the showers don’t always work, but the price is just right – you actually don’t need to buy a ticket to use the facility! However, there is a payment box where you are asked to donate an appropriate amount of money. Do this right away – in case the landlord suddenly appears, because he does! – and make your conscience feel good.

The facility consists of 4 plastic tubs with different temperatures, one is made for children and is shaped like a boat, it is actually a small boat. Everything is located on a beautiful, black beach, where you can refresh yourself in the not very warm fjord. Expect crystal clear water! Maybe some hikers in warm jackets will appear while you swim in the sea… In short, an absolutely splendid place, and nice people too! Hauganes Hot Pot is co-located with the campsite, and there is a charming restaurant nearby, with good food – Baccalá Bar.

Both hot and cold baths are just right at Hauganes.

From the bath you can see the mountain Kátlufjall, where the hideous woman Þorkatla is buried (Kátluhóll), but we will not cover her story here. Below the mountain, north of Hauganes, there is a place called Kálfskinni. Here, the Norwegian King Rørek of Hedmark was buried (in Icelandic called Hrærekur), the only Norwegian king buried in Iceland. Rørek fought against King Olav Haraldsson (later to become Saint Olav), when Olav in the year 1021 fought 5 kings before breakfast, ref Flatøybok volume 3:

The kings had no guards to resist, they were all captured and brought before the king. Rørek was a far-sighted man and hard-hearted. King Olav thought he could not be trusted, even though he made peace with him. He had Rørek blinded in both eyes and took him with him, for he feared his wisdom if he was unharmed, but still did not want to kill him for the sake of his brother, Øymund. Øymund was Olav’s foster brother.

The Oppland Kings. Illustration from Flatøybok, volume 3.

This was the King Olav Trondheim choose to name it’s major hospital after! But of course: if people go around mutilating others, the hospital gets more customers, so maybe there is a logic here…

King Olav kept Rørek with him after this, and during the high mass on Ascension Day, the blind Rørek attacked the king:

And when the mass was in progress, the king stood up with raised hands and bowed to the altar. Then Rørek jumped up, quickly and violently. He stabbed King Olav with a kind of scissor knife they call a ‘ryting’. The stab hit the overcoat in the folds he had let fall. The clothes were cut into many pieces, but the king was not wounded.

In the library at Flatey in Breidafjörður there is a facsimile of Flatøybok.

The king then asked Torarin Nevjolvsson to take Rørek with him and give him to Leif Eiriksson in Greenland. The wind was poor during the trip, and he did not get further than Iceland, where Rørek lived for three winters before dying by sickness. Rørek was known for his unhappiness, but when you have lost your kingship, your kingdom, your sight and your country, it is okay to be a little irritated. In the end, there seems to have been a kind of reconciliation with his life situation:

Then Gudmund (from Mödruvellir) gave him lodging at a small farm called Kalvskinn (in Árskógströnd). There Rørek spent his third winter. There were few servants. Rørek said that since he had lost his kingdom, he had not liked any place as much as there. Here he was highly regarded by all the people.

To beer or not to bathe

Northeast of Akureyri, you can indulge yourself decadently in warm beer! The place is called Bjórböðin (The Beer Baths) and opened in 2017. The facility is located close to the sea with a fabulous view. There is a fjord, there are mountains and in the middle is Hrisey (Bush Island). It can’t get any more beautiful than that!

Hrisey in Eyjafjörður (it is the island that gave the name to the fjord).

From Akureyri to Bjórböðin it is a 35 km drive. If you for obvious reasons don’t want to drive there, you can sign up for a minibus transport there and back, which we did – and it worked very well, you quickly get to know each other on the road. We hadn’t talked for long before the people in front of us turned around and asked if we were Norwegians. When this was confirmed, they continued: ‘Norway is so exotic to us, you really live a rich man’s life there, it’s not like that in Iceland.’ (they were referring to the Norwegian TV series Exit…). But a fun travel companion we had, that’s for sure!

Sunset in Eyjafjörður. Hrisey to the right.

We had some time to wait for our turn when we arrived, and were encouraged to take a bath in one of their two hot tubs. It was incredibly beautiful! Outside, a little above the sea, with the sun on the snow-capped mountains. A nice warm-up before the actual beer bath.

The beer bath took place indoors, in a separate small pool made from half a beer barrel filled with warm, fresh, newly fermented beer. It smelled good and foamed a lot – and tasted like grass. Next to it was a tap – you could drink as much beer as you wanted for the half hour that was allotted to you. But we are talking about only half an hour.

After the beer bath you are led up a white plush staircase to the attic. There you are wrapped in blankets and can lie down and relax. Knut thought it was a waste of time, because he was in party mood. The alternative is to return to the hot tubs outside or to go to the restaurant. We went to the restaurant first. The fried cheese is delicious.

We felt decadent, but others took it even further as they were transported by helicopter.
A bath or three in Bjórböðin is a good idea, even for those of us who don’t otherwise live the Exit life.

Austrått

We brought our bikes on the local boat, and this is a Sunday trip we can really recommend:

Take the boat from Trondheim at noon, cycle to Austråttborgen (with a swim around Bruholmen, as we wrote about in the previous blog post), swim in Jektvika on the way back and visit the Hannah Ryggen exhibition before the boat returns a little before seven in the evening. Definitely, this would have been a slightly better plan in the summer – when the sites are open…

Anyway, the bike trail is really great. And you will always know where you’re going – the tower profile of Austråttborgen is visible on the signposts!

Bicycle path sign with historical significance.

You ride along the fjord and wetlands, and partly inside a forest with lichen covered trees.

On the way you will pass 3 bridges, and there are benches and birdwatching sheds along the way.

1000 years ago, Finn Arnesson (a liegeman for Olav Haraldsson) owned Austrått. Finn fought side by side with Olav the (soon to be) Saint in the battle of Stiklestad. His brother, Kalv, however, was on the opposite side, in the peasant army, and Kalv even became one of the saint Olav’s executioners. I wonder how interesting the family reunions at Austrått were in ancient times!

The most famous owner of Austrått is probably Ingerd Ottesdatter (Mrs. Inger of Austrått). She was a large landowner and held several regions in the mid-northern part of Norway. Mrs. Inger was in a long-standing feud with the last Archbishop of Nidaros: Olav Engelbrektsson. It was Mrs. Inger’s great-great-grandson Ove Bjelke who built the castle as we see it today. You can see the castle tower from the center of Brekstad, a fairytale castle!

Austrått, from Old Norse “aust” = east and ‘ätt’ = “direction” or perhaps property, was a center of power already in the Viking Age.

Around 1200, a private chapel was built at Austrått. This church had a large, strong tower. The church with tower was part of the castle complex that Ove Bjelke had built between 1654 and 1656. In the main building’s portal you can see the names and family coats of arms of the previous owners carved in soapstone.

When we visited the facility in October 2021, it was closed for the winter, and also under renovation (they were replacing the roof). We therefore do not mention here the arcades inside the courtyard with their caryatids (columns sculpted as female figures – named after the basket-shaped headdresses worn by women from the city of Karyai in Laconia). And definitely not that the caryatids at Austrått depict the story of the wise and the foolish virgins, who respectively had and did not have enough oil for their lamps.

No, instead we let history be history and get ready for swimming. At Austrått it is incredibly right to swim in Jektvika, as we had heard, a pearl of a beach, which Ørland Municipality has upgraded with white shell sand. But where was this beach? We cycled to Austrått harbour and found a bay by the campsite, yes, we did. But it wasn’t that fantastic. Knut asked Google for help:

Don’t always settle for the first and best bay. Maybe it’s not the best at all.

Aha! There is a bay, Jektvika, a little further west. And yes – it is a very beautiful place!

There is a sand volleyball court and benches at the site, too. Add crystal clear water:

… then there’s not much more to say (other than that a grill would be nice). And in October: Not a hint of a queue on the beach. Actually, completely empty. Strange thing, this wet, gray Sunday.

Another weird thing was the access platform on the east side of the bay. What is that? Balconies for theater performances in the water? Fishing spots? We definitely don’t recommend diving from here, it way too shallow:

Does anyone know what these devices are for? Not diving boards, apparently. Stage maybe?

But swimming in Jektvika? Yes indeed!

Turning home at dusk. Surely, we made it back to the boat in time.

Brekstad

We tried to escape the rain in Trondheim this Sunday in October. And by going to Ørlandet we did – almost. Ørland municipality is a short boat ride from Trondheim – just north of the mouth of the Trondheimsfjord. Bjugn and Ørland were merged in 2020 and the municipal center is divided between the Bjugn village and the town of Brekstad. The population is just over 10,000 – the fluctuations follow the activity at Ørland airport. From Brekstad you can take a ferry to the south side of the Trondheimsfjord (Agdenes).

The ferry to Agdenes seen from ‘the Field of Gravel’. Yes, it’s flat on Ørlandet.

The name Ørland comes from Norse ‘yrjar’ = gravel. The municipality consists of a peninsula with large gravel plains and otherwise a slightly hilly landscape with many islands, islets and skerries. Most of the Ørlandet peninsula is lowland, and will struggle hard if/when the sea rises. It is windy here! So much so that the ‘Ørlanders‘ are often referred to as leaning forward – it takes a lot to stand up against the wind.

On our way through the city center, we came across ‘Meieriparken‘ = the dairy playground. There is a lot of funny stuff in the old dairy, including this challenge: How to get through the barn without stepping on the floor?

This is fun for both children and adults!

Knut couldn’t resist and had to try. Here he is swinging, elegant as always. Idun had a sore back at the time, and didn’t join the game.

Following a tip from Idun’s colleague Anita, we brought bicycles on the express boat. From Brekstad city center, there is a great bike path northeast towards Austrått. Try it!

One kilometer from Brekstad harbor lies Bruholmen (the Bridge islet). It floats freely at high tide, but is landlocked at low tide (is it called Bruholmen because there is a “bridge” out there at low tide?):

We arrived at Bruholmen at high tide and decided to swim around it. The seaweed soup was kind of awful:

Seaweed soup is not among our favorites.

But the water further out was crystal clear (12 degrees). Absolutely beautiful! We could even see the rocks on the bottom.

Beyond Bruholmen there are wetlands all the way, a bird paradise! The area is a Ramsar site. This means that Norway has signed an agreement in the city of Ramsar (in Iran) that this wetland is protected.

We saw hundreds of geese ready to depart south. And a flock of crows: as the text does not say in the norwegian children crow song: ‘There were 10 crows sitting on the fence crowing’.

We were in doubt when we saw the use of road sticks by the trail. What is the point here (normally they are meant to tell the snow plowers at winter time where the road is)? Do they tell us that the trail does not go through the bushes? If there is a concern about ending up in the wetland, perhaps the sticks should have been placed on the other side of the trail? Does anyone know? The band of black dots in the photo below are geese.

We continued later to Austrått of course and had another swim, but we’ll save that for the next blog post.

On the way back we took a picture of Bruholmen at low tide:

On the way back we took the opportunity to pick sea buckthorn close to the trail. Sea buckthorn is a pioneer plant, which thrives in sand by rivers and coasts. The berries are orange, so beautiful colored that Idun just had to swing her bike in front of them.

In addition to the splendid color, the berries are full of antioxidants and they taste good. So now we have sea buckthorn liqueur aging for Christmas. Although not in very large quantities (50 g of berries to be exact – it was more important to reach the boat back, they are not so easy to pick).