On November 1st, 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 31st, 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 swam a little longer, but when we swam 435 m in 7 degree celsius water on the 8th 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. And 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!
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!
Yummy, yummy!
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.
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.
Eyjafjörður and Hrisey.
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.
Hauganes Hot Pots.
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.
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.
A splendid evening at Beer spa.
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.
Beer theme in Bjórböðin.
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.
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.
Atmospheric cycle path at Ørlandet.
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.
Austråttborgen is magnificent!
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!
Fine, white sand in Jektvika.
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.
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.
Splendid bike trail in Ørlandet.
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?):
Bruholmen at high 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.
Clear as crystal.
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’.
Crows crowing on the fence.
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.
No bicycling through the bushes!
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:
Perfect Ramsar land!
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.
Orange is the best color!
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).
Stokkøya is a 17 km2 island in Åfjord municipality in Trøndelag, with 300 inspired inhabitants. The island was connected to land in the year 2000 via the 525 m long Stokksund bridge over the log-straight Stokksundet (stokk means log). At Stokkøya, facing west, lies the magnificent, 400 m long beach Hosnasand.
The pier goes west to Linesøya. In the background Hosnavika and Hosnasand beach.
At Hosnasand you will find Stokkøya Sjøsenter with its very special SUB architecture. Partially buried in the sand, with a dedicated use of color. Constructed by so much concrete it might have felt cold and unappealing, but it was surprisingly cozy. Well worth a visit!
Sea buckthorn (Hippophae) and SUB.
There were also vibrant colors indoors. Orange from hippophae and turquoise color from the sea?
SUB cabin (Sleep-Under-the-Ground) in vibrant colors.
As expected, we went to sea the same evening we arrived. A faboulous bath! The sky was wide, dark and infinitely more stars than we can see in Trondheim. The beach is both long and shallow, so we recommend wet socks to avoid freezing toes.
The next day we went out towards the Linesøy pier to find more suitable water depth. However, the coastline had no easy access this winter day.
Not easy to take a bath from here, obviously.
…but finally we found water.
Plenty of sky and sea on Stokkøya.
Sunday was snorkeling day.
Idun ready for snorkeling.Knut ready for snorkeling.
It took a while to pass the beach, but the water was fantastic; clear and beautiful.
For lunch it was time for a barbecue (the food at Strandbaren is really good). As you can see, we’re not the only ones who take ease on both barbecue and swimming seasons! We think both are equally naturally all year round.
Classic barbecue season at Stokkøya Strandbar.
The “aliens” in the water are just reflections from the window. The lazy photographer stood inside and took a picture of the other photographer…
Before returning home on sunday we took the obligatory little walk via Hosnastrand to Stokkøya Bakeri. On the way we found this special art, sadly enough made by trash from the sea:
Trash art.
And Stokkøya Bakeri? It’s run by a couple of very nice Italians!
Gli italiani si trovano a Stokkøya Bakeri.
At Stokkøya time is always right for cookies and wheat buns! And a bath…
… is a group that swims in Donaghadee Harbour on the east coast of Northern Ireland every day of the year, no matter how cold it is.
The harbour of Donaghadee with the characteristic lighthouse.
It all started with a family that swam daily from 2012, but dozens have since joined in. For the daily swims, 20-30 people can show up, with very different ambitions and – according to their own statement – ‘all possible sizes and shapes‘. As in most cold water societies we know of, women 50+ are the majority. Some take a fairly short dip, others swim calmly breaststroke for 5-15 minutes, while some crawl away over longer distances. But good temper – they all have that! Cold water swimming is said to alleviate depression, and most people are in a very good mood afterwards, you get a hormone and energy boost from it.
Chunky Dunkers has no changing rooms, the boat slip has to do.
‘We wish we had that!’, they said, when we tould them about ‘Sjøbadet‘ in Trondheim and the (cold but good) changing rooms we have there.
There is a big difference between the tides in the Irish Sea, and the swimming times (full tide) are published on Facebook a couple of times a week. After swimming, some ‘Dunkers‘ meet at a café, and the group has become a social meeting place with various parties and gatherings in addition to swimming – and not least a large social commitment in the form of charity. Various challenges and events are constantly being arranged, often with an element of fundraising.
Idun is swimming off at the ‘1K Summer Challenge 2024‘.
When Tobatheornottobathe visited Northern Ireland in 2024, we had the opportunity to join the ‘1K Summer Challenge’. In short, the challenge consisted of swimming 1000 meters continuously in Donaghadee harbour. So simple, so easy. However, Knut was worried that Idun would swim too slowly, so Idun started 10 minutes earlier. With the result that she finished long before him, and no one swam together. The prize for this great achievement was being allowed to buy an overpriced T-shirt with the first names of everyone who had participated during the summer. The money? – for charity, of course.
Over the years, Donaghadee Chunky Dunkers (DCD) has raised several tens of thousands of pounds. The triangle represents a stick where the Dunkers start their swim, seen in the previous picture.
The Donaghadee Chunky Dunkers Facebook group has over 2,600 members, far more than the daily swim group would normally be able to recruit. Why? Britain has a long tradition of channel swimming, with the Dover-Calais crossing being the most famous. However, in 1947, Tom Blower became the first person ever to swim across ‘The North Channel’, i.e. between Ireland and Scotland, a distance of 35 km.
Tom Blower spent 15 hours and 26 minutes to cross ‘The North Channel’ between Ireland and Scotland, a record that stood for 23 years. Mural from the ‘Pier 36’ pub in Donaghadee.
Tom Blower was a decorated hero of World War II, and crossed the English Channel several times, with a personal best of 13 hours and 29 minutes (in 1937). When crossing the Channel, strict rules apply: It is not allowed to touch the escort boat or personnel. The swimmer should not wear a wetsuit, gloves or socks, only a swimming cap and swimsuit/pants. The cold is an important factor, and even more so when it comes to crossing the North Channel. And when crossing the Irish Sea, the Donaghadee-Portpatrick route applies. The incredible number of followers on FB can be attributed to Donaghadee as the starting point, and those who attempt it are expected to sign the Northern Ireland flag before setting off. Tobatheornottobathe were not fit to try channel swimming in 2024!
DCD has launched a new challenge: ‘Dunkers Winter Swim Challenge 2024/25. Ice Ice Baby!‘, …and Tobatheornottobathe is participating as ‘Team Nidrosiensis‘.
The challenge this time is: Alone or as a team, to swim a total of 35 km (from Donaghadee to Portpatrick) during the winter, for the simple sum of £10 per person (the money goes to, well you know…). It may sound easy, but when the water temperature is consistently between 0 and 2 degrees, each swim is not many hundreds of meters, even when you add up for two people. After 14 weeks (out of a possible 22), we have just passed 18 km. Halfway there!
And the price? Well, there have some rumours a hand sewn badge. Still, around 140 persons have paid to participate in this!
With so much cold-water swimming in sight, Knut got exactly what he wanted for Christmas: A pair of home-knitted woolen panties! Nice?
So, that’s how our days are passing by this winter, with 2-4 swims per week. It’s really easy to find reasons not to swim in 0 degree Celsius water! But on the other hand, every swim is a nature experience, you feel happy and refreshed afterwards, and it’s motivating to see that you’re making progress, even if it’s slow.
Without DCD’s ‘Winter Challenge‘, we most likely would not have experienced this beautiful foggy atmosphere at Sjøbadet in Trondheim.
NB! When swimming in cold water, you should NOT warm up again in a sauna or a hot bath tub. Rapid, external heating causes the blood vessels in the skin to open, blood from the core of the body will flow there, to be cooled down and later hit the heart, which can lead to cardiac arrest. This was called ‘The second death’ during World War II, when it was discovered by horror that torpedoed sailors who had been picked up from the sea died during warming up. Hot drinks and activities that cause the muscles to produce heat are best, as they raise the temperature from within.
This problem is not valid for short dunks in the water. We still enjoy taking sauna with a short dunk or two in the cold water.
If you drive 30 km eastwards from Belfast, you will come to the peninsula ‘The Ards‘ and a small town with 7000 inhabitants called Donaghadee. That was a strange name you might think, but special names flourish in the region of County Down, since many of them come from Gaelic language. ‘Domhnach Daoi‘ has two possible meanings, either ‘Daoi’s church‘ after a now unknown saint, or ‘The church on the hill‘. The reason for placing a town here is the good harbour.
The long beach of Donaghadee has been a safe landing place for thousands of years.
The distance to Scotland is 35 km from Donaghadee, and the town has been a transit port for Great Britain and Scotland for centuries. In 1606, Hugh Montgomery settled Scottish Protestants here, which was the start of ‘The Plantation of Ulster’, where the plan was to populate Northern Ireland with Lutheran, royalist, English-speaking inhabitants. Montgomery also developed the port and set up a trade route between Donaghadee and Scotland. Donaghadee was Northern Ireland’s most important port until 1850, more important than Belfast.
The Donaghadee lighthouse was completed in the late 1830s.
The inner part of the Donaghadee harbour is completely dry at low tide, so if you are going to swim there, you must follow the tide tables. Here, in the northern part of the Irish Sea, there is fresh and nice Atlantic water, and a swim is highly recommended. However, you should be a little careful with the tidal currents, at least outside the harbour. There is easy access to the sea, with steps down (many people walk on the beach here at low tide, with or without dogs), or you can use the boat ramp a little further north of the pier.
A splendid swim in Donaghadee harbour.
After a swim in Donaghadee Harbour, food and drinks might be a good idea, and we will recomend ‘Pier 36‘ pub, the setting for ‘The Commodore’ pub in the TV series Hope Street. Why did we get fascinated by this TV series? Firstly, we had already booked a Home Exchange there, before we heard about the TV series. And also, the very first episode starts with a swim race in the harbour, with the chief of police taking part in it. Of course we had to see more!
The Donaghadee pier. ‘Pier 36‘ to the left in the picture.
At Pier 36 there is good food and nice people, although a little less drama behind the counter when we were there than in the series. A new season has been shot and will be released in April 2025. We are looking forward to that!
Pier 36 makes no secret of the fact that they are The Commodore.
A stone’s throw from Oslo Central Station you’ll find the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. Designed by ‘Snøhetta‘ architects, it has become a landmark and place of pilgrimage for all who visit Oslo.
It was not too popular that Carrera marble was chosen for the facade of the Norwegian Opera House, instead of domestic stone. But it is understandable that pink Fauske marble would not have given the same references to the Arctic Ocean or icebergs.
The decision to build a completely new opera house started a long lasting debate at the time, not least the price tag of over 4 billion NOK. As expected, attendance at the opera has increased significantly since the new building opened in 2008, and all shows are normally sold out before the season starts. When you also consider that the ingenious design, including public access on the roof, makes it accessible to everyone regardless of musical preferences, this project can only be labeled a great success.
The opera roof is unattainable in winter conditions. The non-integrated fencing solution is not very stylish, though.
For Tobatheornottobathe, the lack of roof summit climbing was not a big disappointment, as we are always on a bathing tour as well. Just outside the Opera House, you can admire the floating sculpture ‘She Lies’. Her design interacts neatly with the Opera House, constantly turning and moving with the current and wind. Awesome! We wanted to swim there!
It’s been called trash, but Tobatheornottobathe thinks Monica Bonvicini’s ‘She Lies’ is just beautiful. And a great goal to swim to.
‘She Lies‘ is a three-dimensional interpretation in steel and glass of Caspar David Friedrich’s painting ‘Das Eismeer‘ (The Ice Sea) from 1823.
Friedrich didn’t visit the Arctic Ocean himself, but the Arctic was getting popular like never before in the 1820’s. Humanity (the wreck) looses aganst nature (God).
Caspar David Friedrich was born German in Greifswald (Swedish Pomerania) in 1774. He is considered one of the most important painters of the Romantic period. Why did he paint the Arctic Ocean? Art patron Johann Gottlob von Quandt wanted polar images in his private collection as a counterpart to motifs from the lush south, so in this sense it may have been a commissioned work. But it has also been interpreted as an elaboration of a childhood trauma from the age of 12, when he and his brother Christoffer went skating and Friedrich fell through the ice into water. The brother, one year younger, managed to save Friedrich, but drowned himself. The brownish color of the ice might come from domestic rather than arctic ice. Friedrich made many sketches while living in Dresden during the winter 1821, when the river Elbe was completely covered in ice.
‘Eisfie‘. For sure, she’s lying in the water crust. But is she lying too?
As a picture of the feeling when you throw yourself into water below 4 degrees Celsius, ‘She Lies’ is an excellent illustration. Tobatheornottobathe do not combine sauna with ice bathing at the moment, so every bath is cold-cold-cold and not warm-cold-warm (the motive is to become even better accustomed to cold water). She Lies’ location might be a lie, since icebergs do not usually drift into the Oslo fjord. But ice on the fjord is not at all unusual, as the day we enjoyed our swim. Bonvicini is an Italian artist based in Berlin, who likes to use humor in her works. Here, the most striking issue is the tension between the romantic style of Das Eismeer and the pointed, modern style of She Lies, which could perhaps be seen as a kind of lie? However, there are other, more extreme variations on Das Eismeer, the scenography at Theater Basel being the most special? The opera ‘Aus Deutchland‘ was performed in and on real pianos stacked like the ice in the painting.
‘Das Pianomeer‘, Basel 1997.
Our swimming was definitely neither lying down nor lying, in winter it’s all about efficiency! It was a rift in the ice from Operastranda (the Opera Beach) to our destination. Luckily! It would have been too much fuzz if we actually did change clothes and jumped into the water directly from the Opera roof. The Opera Beach is constructed by the use of local stone and sand from the Drammen fjord. It’s lovely! While we changed, a couple of Italians were standing just by, talking loudly on their mobile phones. ‘This is Oslo, we can see the Opera, we can see the Munch Museum, etc.‘. ‘Wow! This will turn out loud when we start swimming!‘, we thought. But the narrator continued in exactly the same voice… There’s clearly nothing special about swimming in the innermost part of the Oslofjord in winter, even not for italians.
A sunny swim in front of the Opera House in January is just right. ‘Havnelageret’ (the port storage) in the background. Tobatheornottobathe in place right in front of She Lies.
After an opera bath, what should we do – except visiting the Opera? If all the performances actually are sold out, mulled wine (gløgg), or ‘vin brûlé‘ as they might call it further south, could be an option. To our disappointment, we had to realize that pub owners in The Tiger City make gløgg only in December, and that is very hard to understand. As we see it, gløgg is a part of winter – and winter just doesn’t end in December!
