Blog – Page 14 – ToBatheOrNotToBathe

Lago di Albano

After an intense search for our kind of bathing places in central Rome, we just had to capitulate. There are none, NONE! Of course there are spas and swimming pools, but no lakes, rivers or old thermes. Big disappointment. Big!

Technically there is a river, The Tiber, in the heart of Rome. It just wasn’t very tempting

The temptations did exist, in the form of Rome’s many large and beautiful fountains with crystal clear water. Don’t do it! It is strictly prohibited, and suddenly you have got a 450 Euro fine. So we didn’t swim in the Fontana di Trevi (Fountain of the Three Roads). It is simply too expensive. And certainly you will get a troublesome and bad day with a lot of yelling.

The Trevi Fountain: Just don’t bathe! This bath is a DON’T.

On the other hand, it’s not very far to go from the center of Rome to have a nice swim. What about a volcanic lake? 20 km southeast of Rome there is a 36,000-year-old volcano, and inside it two collapsed magma chambers, which today appear as the lakes Nemi and Albano.

Ingrid, Knut and Giulio in front of Lago di Albano. View from Castel Gandolfo.

The name Albano has been much discussed and comes either from ‘alp’ = ‘high’ or from ‘alba’ which means white (the hills around the lakes consist of, among other things, light grey tuff). The volcano still emits gases, and in 1999 29 cows died of CO2 poisoning. In some places in the area, it is therefore not recommended to have bedrooms on the ground floor.

Lake Albano. Castel Gandolfo to the back right.

Rich people have spent their summer holidays by Lago di Albano for thousands of years. For example, Emperor Titus built a villa by Lake Albano around 100 AD. The summer here is peaceful and the air is fresh and relatively cool. On a hill above the lake lies the town of Castel Gandolfo, which has just below 9,000 inhabitants. The palace ‘Palazzo Apostolico di Castel Gandolfo’ has been the property of the Vatican since 1596, and was for many years the Pope’s summer residence. This was to the great delight of the inhabitants, as it attracted many visitors to the town. However, today’s Pope, Francis, has stated that traveling to the countryside in the summer is something the rich people do, and he is not (!) rich. So now there is put an end to this tradition, and the Castilians despair: ‘It is possible that you are not rich, but the fact that you do not come here in the summer any more, makes us poor!‘. To ease the situation, the palace has been converted into a museum, and tourists are arriving here again. But life in Castel Gandolfo is not as it used to be.

Palazzo Apostolico di Castel Gandolfo. Not very crowded at Piazza della Libertà.

Lago di Albano experienced very varying water levels in ancient times, partly due to the CO2 production, which is known to have led to flooding at least once, as the gas lifted the water. Therefore, around 395 BC, a drain was carved out at one end – through the Albano Hill. The tunnel is 1,600 meter long, 1.2 meter wide and 2 meter high, and this is how the flooding problem was solved once and for all.

Knut’s cousin Ingrid has lived near Lake Albano for over 30 years, and she told us that the water level has been dropping steadily all these years. The ruins in the picture above were previously under water. This was the old harbour, and close by were several Roman villas.

And the bath? How was it? Great! Easy to get into the water, there is fine, grey sand on the beach, and the water is clear and fresh. Here you can both have a bath and do some swimming exercise. During the Summer Olympics in 1960, all the competitions for rowing and paddling were performed in Lake Albano. ‘The Albano Buoy System’ set a standard for lane marking which is still in use, and the buoys can be seen at the eastern end of the lake.

A swimming trip to Lago di Albano is just fine! And after? If possible – take the train back to Rome and go to a concert in Circo Massimo! We saw ‘Måneskin’ together with 70,000 others a few days before, and it was a great experience. After our Albano bath on the other hand, there was a family dinner at Knut’s cousin’s. Very good for us, but not possible for everyone of course.

Amager Beach

Denmark is lovely! And maybe Copenhagen is extra lovely for strict Norwegians? Nevermind, after a day or two in the city center, a bathing excursion is just right. We strike a blow for Amager Strand (Beach)! It’s a good idea to go bicycling there. Rental bikes (without electricity) are only an app download away. Idun even found a ‘Comrade’, which ‘The Julekalender’ sang about in ‘Spikk a Bitte Little’.

Before you start cycling in the Copenhagen traffic, there are a few things to think about. First: The cycle roads have two lanes that are used as if you were a car. This means that you keep to the right until you pass someone, only then do you go to the the left part of the bicycle lane. NB – Keep right, there is ALWAYS someone cycling faster than you! Secondly, it is expected that you warn with your hands whether you intend to turn left or right – in addition to one hand up, which means that you are going to stop. If you ride together in a group, everyone (especially the last one!) must show stop signs.

The bike ride to Amager Strand is a flat and nice ride that takes about half an hour from Copenhagen city center. Amager is a flat island in the sound of just under 100 km2, with approximately 200,000 inhabitants. The island is known in written sources from the year 1100. The first part of the name can possibly be explained as an old name on the strait between Sjælland and Amager. The second part might come from Old Danish ‘haki’ = garden. From 1898 until 1970, Copenhageners dumped their latrines here, and the island got the nickname ‘Lorteøen’ = ‘Shit Island’. The population is jokingly called Amagerkanere.

Wind mills and beaches north at Amager Strand.

The shit is thankfully gone now! Amager Strand is a 2 km long sandbank connected to Amager island with 4 bridges. This is an eldorado for all kinds of water activities, and it is well invested.

Map of Amager Strand. North to the left.

At the northern end (Helgoland Søbadeanstalt) there is a disabled-friendly access to the sea. However, we were not overwhelmingly impressed by this solution:

What is the idea? Should the wheelchair user be thrown into the water? Knut was so excited by this sight that he wanted to make a film that shows what happens if you try to go by wheelchair out into the sea from here. But that surely was not easy without a wheelchair. However, our grins had to be thoroughly wiped off when we found the wheelchair lift inside the facility. It’s super!

Wheelchair lift directly into the sea – this is great!

If the timing is right, maybe you can join for winter swimming here? We saw a sign: ‘Det Kolde Gys, Helgoland’ with reference to ‘The cold horror’. Inside the Amager beach there is a 400 m wide and sheltered lagoon, great for SUP, OWS, kayaking and swimming for those who want to avoid waves. There are beaches and sand on all sides of Amager Strand. Along the small island, there is a beautiful promenade, popular for joggers, wheelchair users, roller skaters and walkers – basically everyone.

South of Amager Strand, Kastrup Søbad has set up a facility they call ‘Sneglen’ = the Snail. This is a beautiful, spiral-shaped wooden construction with benches, fresh water showers, diving tower and many stairs down to the sea.

And here we finally found it – a working wheelchair ramp. It was not crowded by bicycles, either.

We swam around the Snail, and discovered to our excitement that the underside is a densely populated Martin bird area. Great!

Swimming outside the Snail. The Øresund Bridge at the back to the left.

There are a lot of different activities around Amager beach. This guy had dropped surf kiting in favor of skateboard kiting, he thought it was more social.

Easier to get in touch on land

On the way back to the city center, a waffle fits well. And waffels can be bought in the Norwegian Seamen’s Church. It was a positive surprise for us to find it, since Knut was baptized here.

The Norwegian Seamen’s church in Copenhagen.

Here they are just very happy to get visitors – you are not many seconds indoors before someone has made contact. Lovely atmosphere here too!

If delicious water sports – and Norwegian waffles – have refreshed you sufficiently – maybe it’s also just right to do a bike ride on dressin? The Amager Train’s Friends rent out bicycle dressins. The track is 1.2 km long, and this gave Knut an idea: Maybe this is the solution to the ‘Train problem’ in Knut’s project ‘To go to work in different ways by his own engine’? The future will show…

The Merman

We were in Copenhagen at the end of june. Where we could witness the celebration of ‘Studenten’. While in Norway we have “russefeiring” which lasts a long time, this is supposedly a one day celebration (although we saw students partying all the weekend). The class hires one car where they can stand on the truck bed and party and drive around to all parents. All these cars stop on Højbro Plads. Accidents happen – some got the party cut short.

End of mandatory school is celebrated in Denmark as well. Some blood was spilled, though, and the fire department took the cleaning job.

Strangely enough, we heard no one singing ‘Tri smi kinisiri pi Hibri plids’, but there was enough noise without that. The stork fountain was foaming, so someone had had fun with dish washing detergent.

Our photographer didn’t sing at Højbro Plads. Neither did we.

At Højbro (High Bridge) there has been a bridge over to Slotsholmen since the middle ages. Todays bridge is from 1878 and drawn by Vilhelm Dahlerup. But we can’t really say it is very high. At Højbro you can meet The Merman in a sculpture of Suste Bonnén. Under water, of course.

This work of art was given to Copenhagen City in 1992, promising the city would maintain it. And they have – the sculpture was newly renovated.

The statues can be seen from the bridge. Sculptor: Suste Bonnén

For this bathing adventure we needed a photographer, our daughter Une volunteered (under pressure). An easy job when the models are as photogenic as this!

Photogenic tobathe-models. Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø

We first planned to jump from the quay for the sightseeing boats, right next to the statues. But there was a sign forbidding anyone not going on a cruise to be there (nothing against bathing). While we were contemplating this, a boat actually came and we realized this was a bad idea. The solution was to use one of the ladders on the other side of Højbro bridge. Idun was a little scared we would be “saved”. But there was nothing to worry about. Hardly anyone took notice of us undressing, climbing down the ladder and going into the water. Only smiling faces and waving hands from the passing boats. And the sculpture? Great!

Big grief in the ocean. The smallest boy on daddy’s arm. Sculptor: Suste Bonnén

The fairytale about Agnete and the Merman is rooted in middle age ballads, but is a 1800’s folk song. The song tells about Agnete, who falls in love with a merman and follows him to the bottom of the ocean. She lives with him for eight years and bears him seven sons.

One day, when she hears the church bells ring, she asks for permission to go back to the humans world. And she is allowed, but the Merman reminds her that her children will miss her deeply if she doesn’t return. When Agnete meets her mother, she renounces her children and never returns to the ocean (in the most common version, there are many versions of the story and in some of them she does go back).

Her not returning brings great grief under water, and this we think Bonnén really has shown in these bronce statues.

Hans Christian Andersen actually wrote a theater play about Agnete, which became a flop. His later story about “The Little Mermaid”, however, was a hit. It is a plot twist of Agnete’s story. While the human girl Agnete was lured into the ocean by a merman, The Little Mermaid went onto land drawn towards a human man. Andersen dropped the kid part, but also has a really tragic ending (very different from Disney’s version). Outside of Denmark, Agnete isn’t much known and The Little Mermaid is by most people thought to be completely H.C.Andersen’s own idea.

A similar motive we can find in old stories about getting “taken into the mountains”. You could e.g. listen to Gåte’s song about Margit Hjukse. Who takes a quite different choice from Agnete.

So it was time to swim back to the human world again. It was definitely a good time to take a bath with The Merman. The water was clean and clear. Until a boat passed, which had a diesel leak, so we could see stripes floating from it. Not that they seemed to bother much when we told them.

Low swimming under the high bridge? Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø

What to do in Copenhagen after a nice bath? We found Tivoli to be a good choice!

After a bath it can be just the right time for Tivoli.

The Little Mermaid

Copenhagen, or ‘Merchants’ Harbor’, has been inhabited since the ninth century, and was probably only called ‘Harbor’ in the beginning. The city is strategically located nearby the boat traffic in and out of the Baltic Sea. As we were planning the Copenhagen trip, the proposal to swim by The Little Mermaid came up almost immediately.

Knut was a bit busy, so Idun and Une made a survey the first day. On the map, there seemed to be bathing opportunities at the Citadel, which is located between the city center and the Mermaid. Idun had a good feeling, and wanted to surprise Knut with a bathing place he had not thought of. And yes, there is water at the Citadel. But was it really tempting?

Moat at one of the gates of the Citadel.

The rules of order at Copenhagen Citadel.

It was not forbidden to swim, strangely enough (a ban on fishing is one of the rules, though). On closer inspection, this was completely understandable. The water was not tempting at all, probably like the vast, vast, vast majority of moat waters out there in the world.

But The Little Mermaid, what about her? Would a bath be right by her? Well, it actually is just right to have a bath with The Little Mermaid. BUT – at low tide there is not much water around her, so a bit of planning with regard to the tide is necessary.

Mermaid at low tide. Sculptor: Edvard Eriksen

The statue of The Little Mermaid was erected in 1913, and is made by Edvard Eriksen. It was the brewer Carl Jacobsen who donated the sculpture to the city, because he wanted to honor the fairy tale writer H. C. Andersen. The fairy tale about The Little Mermaid was published in 1837 together with ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. The mermaid’s infatuation with a human prince was impossible love. Both the fairy tale and the statue describes a great sorrow, which reflects H. C. Andersen’s own unhappy love life. The statue has been heavily exposed to vandalism, and its head has disappeared several times. The statue was painted red in 2017, in protest against the Faroe Islands’ hunt for humpback whales (!). Fortunately, Eriksen’s family owns a couple of plaster versions, which are very helpful in reconstructions. When we visited the lady, her lips were painted very red.

We were in Copenhagen to watch the end of Ulvhild’s one year study at AFUK. It was a very nice experience! Great circus shows with a broad variety. Idun remembered to take pictures during the first piece, but afterwards it was just glancing, so the small taste for Tobatheornottobathe will only be the picture shown below (Ulvhild in the pink bucket, with violin). Between the shows, it was possible to dine in the courtyard.

The opening number for the Artist Class’ Show ‘No no no, but I am taking a detour’.

After the performance, Tobatheornottobathe went on a bathing trip to The Little Mermaid while the youths were left for the final party. The timing was perfect, as we cycled to the Mermaid at high tide, straight from the circus show. There are considerably fewer people gathered in the port of Copenhagen in the evening. And there is absolutely no one who raises an eyelid neither over ongoing bathing nor being asked to take a picture. So then it was just to swim to the Mermaid and say hello, and this was both beautiful and nice, as the Danes say (deijligt and skønt).

Luckily enough, nobody ran away with Knut’s cell phone, either. Isn’t that great? Just finishing dressing after the bath, this suddenly happened! What a luck!

It was midsummer and fireworks at 23:00 in Copenhagen. Awesome! A little less hectic than fireworks often are, but with many really grandiose solutions. Absolutely superb! A midsummer bath in Copenhagen is just right! And to swim with the Mermaid, it’s just right, too.

Sletringen Lighthouse

On October 13^th 1899, the port of Titran was full of fishing boats. Lots of herring had arrived, and fishermen from all of Mid-Norway hoped to make good money. This was at a turning point between the old and the new times. There were many traditional fishing boats built for sails and oars, but also some larger ships with steam engines.

Titran anno 2022. No fishing boats in sight.

Many were those who had a bad feeling before they left for sea. Friday the 13^th made them feel insecure, in addition to a falling barometer pressure. But the desire for profit, how to handle that? Nobody wanted to stay ashore and watch the other fishermen go to sea and collect boatloads of the ‘silver of the sea’. By six o’clock in the afternoon, most of the fishing teams had placed the nets in the sea. Years later quite a lot of the survivors said that they had seen a warning, a ‘Merman’ who got up from the sea and looked towards them, but they did not take notice of it.

Titran. Here you could cross the bay on foot in the old days, when herring fishing was at its peak.

At about two o’clock after midnight, the fishing fleet was attacked by a storm. A survivor, from one of the steamships, later told that he was thrown out of bed, because the wind came so suddenly. The sky cracked with icy rain, hail and gusts of wind that tore sails and rudder to pieces. The smaller boats tried to find their way back to Titran, but it was impossible. The night was dark, no visibility in such rain and wind. 31 boats went down, and 140 fishermen lost their lives. Of those who survived, many were aboard the larger ships that stayed at ocean all night in the storm, instead of trying to find a harbor. During the whole night they were waiting for the wind to reduce and the sun to rise. This is how they avoided the dangerous waters off Frøya in the gloom and darkness of the night.

Old Sletringen Lighthouse. From the Information board by Høynesveien, Titran.

After the accident, a nationwide fundraising campaign was launched for the bereaved. There were many widows who were left alone, crying with their flock of children. The collection was very successful, it raised over a million NOK. Idun’s grandfather, Emil Herje, interviewed survivors and widows, and has written about the Titran Accident. These are strong stories. In many families, all the adult men disappeared that very night. Fathers, sons and brothers often fished from the same boat. According to tradition, many men took care of the money in the family and kept it with them at all times. Therefore all the family savings disappeared into the sea together with the man.

‘*When will he return?’* Memorial to the Titran Accident, by Kristoffer Leirdal. Unveiled at the 50^th anniversary in 1949.

When the accident occurred, Sletringen lighthouse outside Titran was brand new. This led to a lot of criticism. The lighthouse, with its 20 m was too low, and the light did not go far enough. It was decided to build a new and taller lighthouse, and the result was a new cast iron lighthouse which, with it’s 46 meters is Norway’s tallest lighthouse. The name comes from the island where it is placed, which is ‘slett’ (plain). The old timber house was moved to Sandstad by Hitra island, where it still makes use as a lighthouse (Terningen).

Sletringen lighthouse is now the landmark it was supposed to be.

Between Titran and Sletringen there is an infinity of islets and reefs. Could it be a good idea to swim to Sletringen? After some study of maps, we came to the conclusion that we had to do a variation of the sport known as ‘Swim-Run’, if the Tobatheornottobathe-people were to reach Sletringen without motorized help. The speed of some of the participants is not very impressive, so it is tempting to translate Swim-Run to ‘Walk-Swim’ in this case. For the occasion, we dragged with us a not insignificant amount of luggage, including an inflatable boat. We did not stress the time schedule, the most important thing was to come home without any accidents.

From Høynesvegen we went northwest as far as we could, and then started swimming. We wore wet suits, gloves, wet socks and fins. We crossed three narrow ‘channels’ on the way outwards. At first we changed from regular shoes to wet socks/fins and back again, but after a few times we got tired of it. Knut managed well, he had also a pair of wet shoes in his luggage, but Idun’s wet socks did not survive the trip. In advance, we had thought a bit about this thing with high or low tide, but on closer thought, it was not very important. Actually, we could spend a whole day on the trip if necessary. And the tour turned out quite exciting (but not dangerous!). Especially when crossing a small channel, where the current was so strong that it felt like crossing a flooded river instead of the ocean.

After passing three channels and as many islands, we were ready for ‘The big crossing’ over to the lighthouse. It is about 250 meters open water to Sletringen. The weather was fantastic, no wind or waves. But still – the swells really broke against the shears on each side of the lighthouse. Idun was very thoughtful. “I reserve the right to turn back as soon as I notice there is too much current!” Idun said. And then we set off. There was no current! Not scary at all, this absolutely beautiful day. Once there, it was a bit awkward to get up on the rock. The swells pull you down as soon as you think you are ashore. You have to grab the rocks while the sea recedes, waiting for the next wave to push you ashore. It went well!

However, Idun had to admit that the new, beautiful bathing cap she had received as a Christmas present was too cold for this type of expedition, so on the way back she switched to a warmer hood. But what a marvelous place Sletringen island is! A fantastic landscape! A beautiful lighthouse! Though, it must have been harsch to live out here in the stormy winters. Sletringen is not a big island. In bad weather, the waves cross it all. The lighthouse was vacated in 1999. Frøya municipality has started a project to make the lighthouse accessible to the public. We really hope this will actually happen. Imagine spending the night at Sletringen lighthouse!

Sletringen lighthouse is tall and beautiful.

The return was just as nice as the way out. This time the sea was ‘flooding’, and we felt that we were pulled inwards. We swam past the first island – but with the tide the islands had become more numerous, so we ended up with 4 crossings back as well. All in all, a brilliant day. It’s great to swim and walk to Sletringen lighthouse! But we want to point out that good wetsuits, exceptionally calm weather and sufficient experience / adaptation to cold water is needed if this kind of expedition shall be successful. You are hereby warned!

Sources:
‘Titranulykka’, Edited by Hans A Grønskag ISBN: 82-993698-1-9
‘Stormhav’, Leo Oterhals, ISBN: 82-90757-1-23

Daugava beach

In the western part of Russia, about midway between Novgorod and Moscow, there are some heights called the Valdaj heights. There you can find the source of three big rivers: Volga, Dnepr and Daugava (also called Eastern Dvina).

Read and white are the colors of Latvia.

Daugava is over 1000km long and flows through Russia, Belarus and Latvia before ending in the Riga Bay in the Baltic Sea. There are three power plants in the river. Construction of a fourth has been stopped after massive protests.

The railroad bridge over Daugava. Riga’s old town to the right (east).

The most important Latvian town was always at the river. Previously it was Ikšķile, 50km further upstream of Riga. The city Riga was founded in 1201, as the capitol of Livland, belonging to the german order. German was the city’s only official language until 1891.

Daugava. The TV-tower in the background.

We were in Riga for Knut’s last filming days of the movie ‘Sulis’. So of course we had to ask if Riga has any good places for a bath? The access to water obviously wasn’t any problem. The question was if it really was suited for bathing. We got rather diverging answers to that question. Most people simply said: ‘No! It’s too cold!’. Some recommended nearby lakes. But the tourist office could inform us: Yes, there are bathing places at Daugava – which you can use in the summer (the month of may probably not included as “summer” in her mind). So off we went. As should be obvious, water temperature is no concern og ours if we want a bath.

Plenty of space for people and bicycles on the bridge Salu Tilts.

From the old city there is a nice promenade along the river, ever so often with warning signs of ‘No swimming’. We crossed the Daugava on the bridge Salu Tilts. This has a nice concept: Pedestrians and bicyclists have their own level underneath the bridge, separated from the cars. That gives a very relaxed space, although with view only in one direction.

After crossing another small branch of the river, we arrived at Peldvieta Lucavsalas līcis. This is a nice bathing spot with golden sand. Not too crowded at this time of year, either. We spotted one fisherman and one homeless guy as we arrived.

One of several bathing spots along the Daugava.

It was a great bath. Sunny, no wind and the water seemed very nice for a river that runs through one of the largest cities in Northern Europe.

There was some company in the water as well.

This was definitely a good time for a bath in Daugava!

After the bath is a good time for dinner. We can recommend the restaurant ‘The Good Father’, in the old city.

The old city in Riga is very nice – and on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

In ‘The Good Father’ you will find good food and lot of fun stuff to play with. Not for the faint hearted, though, be warned!

The hunt for Lady Kathleen

The big internet had spoken: The search for “Lady Kathleen” showed lots of pictures of the wreckage of “Lady Cotlin”, about 2 km from the lighthouse Mangaļsalas bāka, that gives the way into the river Daugava. The wreck is actually visible in Google maps if you zoom enough!

This just had to be the same Lady? Further searches showed articles with different name varieties, dates and years (both 1951 and 1954 are mentioned) together with wild theories about who owned the ship and why she stranded.

As far as we know, this is what really happened:

The Norway registered ship Lady Kathleen stranded thursday 29/11-1951 at 20:30 after loosing steering speed while trying to connect with the pilot boat in awful weather.

Lady Kathleen at the quay. Photo: Søren Thorsøe (from ISBN 82-91258-10-4)

The only woman on board, the telegraphist Kari Herje, 23 years old, sent SOS and hoped they would be saved. Riga in 1951 was in the middle of the cold war. All western people where considered capitalists and potential spies. Would the Sovjet coast guard even try to save them? If they heard the emergency call at all?

After sending SOS a while without response, Kari put the telegraph aside and tried the radio instead. Maybe a radio station would receive her call? There were several stations that used to respond, once she even received a proposal from a radio friend.

Yes! She received an answer: “What’s going on, Kari, are you in distress at sea? Do you want to call your mom?”. Well, yes, that seemed like a good idea, so Kari got to call her mother Margit Herje while the ship was rocking on the sandbank in the Riga Bay.

That is why the local newspaper Adresseavisa in Trondheim knew about the happening before the shipping company! The dramatic events produced a lot of newspaper articles: “Trondheim woman in distress at sea!”, “23 year old lady sent SOS while the ship was sinking!”, and “The wrecking didn’t scare her. Goes out to sea again.” were some of the headlines going around the country towards the end of 1951.

The dramatic wrecking made it’s way to Norwegian newspapers.

In the meantime, the rest of the crew reacted in a typical Norwegian fashion: They got drunk! There are at least two reasons to get drunk on a sinking ship:

1) It calms the nerves if you think you might be going to die
2) If the ship goes down, there is no point wasting all the alcohol

But yes! They were saved. The Sovjet guards sent a rescue vessel and saved the whole crew. Because of their condition, rumours soon started flying, about the ship beeing stranded because the seamen where drunk. The crew were lodged in a hotel, all on the same floor. And in the hallway: A lady on a chair, making sure no one left the place. That was OK for the first days. The crew needed to sleep things off and they got served food. But they weren’t allowed to leave the building. Norwegians were enemies in the cold war.

The third day one of the seamen got enough of this: “I’m going to town. NOW!”, “With or without that damned woman!”. Then all of a sudden they had arranged sightseeing in Riga with a bus. How thrilling! But as they passed the railroad station, Kari started to wonder. Something felt wrong. The mood. Lots of people, but no joy. A lot of luggage with kitchen utensils and everything. Where were all these people going? “They are going on vacation!”, was the answer they got. Many years later Kari understood that these people were being transported to working camps in Siberia.

Now that we knew the wreckage of Lady Kathleen still exists, we just had to take a new trip to Riga Bay, this time to the east of the river Daugava. The plan was to take the train to Vecāķi, but we missed the station and departed in Kalingale instead.

Kalingale – a charming railroad station in the middle of the pine forests.

At this point we started to feel that our vacation was a little off the beaten tourist track. Idun wanted to use the expression ‘off-pist’, but Knut insisted that since there were tracks, we were: ‘off-road’, not ‘off-pist’.

After 20 minutes of walking in a high high pine forest, we finally found the ocean. And yes! There are miles and miles of beaches on this side of Daugava as well. We walked along the beach about an hour. The Baltic sea isn’t really crowded at the end of may, but we did meet a few souls. Some walking their dog, some training with or without music in their backpacks, and a few treasure hunters with sticks: Looking for shells or amber.

After about half an hour (about where we would have been had we departed on the right train station), we saw a big rock in the ocean. Could it be the Lady? Is she really still there, after such a long time?

The wreckage of Lady Kathleen is the only “island” for miles around.

Yes! The remains of Lady Kathleen are still visible, 72 years after she stranded. She is getting a bit worn out, but still hanging in there.

Time to start swimming! Lady Kathleen is popular among the birds, but the comorans left the ship long before we arrived. The only life we saw where lots of sand flies. The water was very dark and we couldn’t see anything below the surface. But we got to touch the wreck. This was a strong moment for Idun. With another outcome of this event, none of Kari’s five children had been born.

Of course we swam around as well.

More wreckage is visible in the left part of the picture.

Back on shore we were colder than we had expected. There were 230m to the wreck and the water temperature was around 12 degrees Celsius. Both felt cold in the beginning of the swim, but then we got used to it, and everything felt OK until we started getting dressed again. Then we realized the fingers were rather stiff!

So we warmed ourselves with another toast to the memory of Kari.

A toast for Kari – and the Sovjet coast guard.

Since there were many varieties of the story online, Knut relieved his inner detective and started searching for the truth. Which brought him to this building in the forest at Sognsvann in Oslo:

The binder was ordered online and waiting when he arrived:

Aside the official wreckage report, there was a lot of correspondence around who was going to pay for the crew staying in Riga and the transport home. Kari described the train to Finland as rather simple – type cattle wagons. One danish crew member “went berserk while drunk” and destroyed everything in his hotel room. The Sovjets sent a demand of 11 113 rubles for ruined inventory, which the shipping company didn’t feel responsible for. According to Kari, several of the crew members went rather crazy, pooped in the stairs and harassed the personnel. Maybe the demand wasn’t too high anyway?

Strangely enough, the official wreckage report mentions both Friday 28/11 and Friday 30/11. From other documents we are quite sure that the Lady stranded Thursday 29/11 and that the crew were saved on Friday 30/11.

We have really enjoyed this process, both finding the wreck and the papers telling the history of what happened. Never too late to do research about Lady Kathleen!

Lady Kathleen’s destiny

Late autumn 1951, November 29th, a full storm hit the Baltic sea. The 2400-ton ship “Lady Kathleen” was on it’s way to Riga with ballast, to load up with salt. With low visibility and high waves the captain lost steering speed while meeting the pilot boat, the Lady stranded on a sandbank and broke in two parts. This was where the river Daugava goes into Riga Bay, only 250 m from land. Lady Kathleen was made in 1943, of armed concrete, due to the severe lack of iron during the second world war. She had water proof bulkheads and couldn’t sink – according to the producer.

Did you ever hear the same claim before, that a ship can’t sink? A general rule might be this: If you build a ship of materials which has higher density than water – she can sink. And concrete has much higher density than water!

Lady Kathleen. Source: digitalarkivet.no

In the chaos of the storm, panic was growing aboard. “We are sinking! Everyone to the life boats!”, one seaman yelled. “No!”, the captain shouted back: “No one goes into the life boats, they will be crushed against the ship’s side!”. “But we are sinking, we must try!”, the seaman insisted. Thus the captain gave orders to release an empty (!) life boat.

The crew lined up, ready to enter if things went well. Kari said: “Women and children first!”. She was the only woman aboard, working as a telegraphist. Suddenly she felt the captains hand on her shoulder: “The telegraphist and captain last – you have to go in and send SOS!”. So she did. In the meantime the captain was proven right, one empty life boat was smashed against the ship and the seamen just had to wait for the weather to calm down.

Female telegraphists were still uncommon in 1951.

Among the panic struck crew there was one who kept a clear head. He had been a nervous wreck for six years, having survived torpedo attacks three times during the second world war. It’s hard to understand how he survived at all! But here he was, in Riga Bay 1951 in a full storm on a broken ship. All these years after the war he had been waiting for the next torpedo. Always on guard, always with his suitcase packed, always nervous – surely it was only a matter of time before the next attack. When catastrophy was a fact and the other seamen panicked, he found peace for the first time in years. This was exactly what he had been waiting for! His suitcase was ready – he grabbed it and asked: “Where are the life boats?”.

The telegraphist and the chief engineer at Lady Kathleen.

Inspired by these dramatic events, we wanted to go north of Riga (since we were there anyway, to finish the last filming of “Sulis”) and take a bath in memory of Kari Herje – Idun’s mother, who experienced this shipwrecking. It takes about half an hour with train from Riga to Riga Bay. We went to Jurmala, which is a highly recommendable beach paradise!

“Jurmala” means “By the beach”, quite suitable. The town has a population of about 50 000 and around 33 km beach. Quite a lovely village, with lots of villas made of wood or stone. Some of the houses have towers of different sizes, almost like small castles. There are also spa hotels, which we didn’t visit this time.

There are many beautiful villas in Jurmala.

Between the town and the beach there are high forests with pines and birches. We can’t remember having seen such high birches anywhere!

Riga Bay consists of kilometer upon kilometer of golden beaches, and once in a while, but not too often, a beach bar. In the times of the Sovjet Union, Jurmala was one of the favourite places of Leonid Bresjnev and Nikita Krustsjov (no, we didn’t find his shoe anywhere).

Riga bay: Beaches as far as the eye can see.

In Jurmala it’s obviously a good time for a bath! Swimming exercise is also possible, just keep a suitable distance from the beach.

No homage to Kari would be complete without a sharp drink. This time not her favorite Lysholm Linie Akevitt, but the more local Riga Balsam.

The train trip home was a good time for googling – maybe the ‘O grand internet’ could magically dig up more information about Lady Kathleen? These searches gave plentiful of interesting results! To be continued…

Everyone hates Johan

When reading about how countries/cities/towns should make things easy for movie makers, there is much talk about all the tourists who would come to the places where a movie is shot. In that way, the location should earn money, even if the movie is sponsored for selecting that particular location. If this really happens, is debatable. Especially when e.g. the Norwegian “Prekestolen” (close to Stavanger) in “Mission Impossible” is presented as being in India!

Few might have thought that the movie “Everyone hates Johan”, shot in Titran on the island Frøya, would bring any tourists. But we can confirm it now has happened! Knut was an extra in the movie and was one day on Frøya recording a while ago. When the movie finally came to the movie theaters, he didn’t see himself until his name was in the credits. That’s what can happen when you are an extra!

No matter, we liked the movie very much and suspect it is closer to the truth of how it is to live on Titran than the natives would care to admit. So we just had to take a bath in Johan’s foot steps.

What we had planned, was a bath in the sound right below Johan’s house, where his parents lost their lives. This is right west of Titran and is called Svalbalen beach (originally Svalbar, from “Sval”, meaning chilly). What we hadn’t considered, was the tide. We arrived Titran friday evening and went straight to the beach, but quickly realized that at low tide it looks quite different than in the movie. So we went back the next day on high tide instead and then it looked just right.

The houses of Johan and his childhood sweetheart Solvor, whom he happened to blow up a little, are close to the beach, just as the movie depicts it.

Johan’s house to the right, Solvor’s in the middle.

At the beach there is now a house for bird watching. Very nice and very new, but maybe a little too far from the beach for misusing it to change before bathing.

You can watch birds outside the house as well, but many days the indoor option might be preferrable.

Without knowing for sure, we suspect that this house has a direct correlation to the movie, since it was brand new. Maybe financed by money someone got for renting out their house for filming? Actually it was so new that we were the first to sign in the guest book! Which was a first for us.

One thing we hadn’t thought about, is that there are other central elements in the movie to see around! E.g. these bars where Johan showed his strength.

No chance for Knut to beat Johan in this game…

Also Sletringen lighthouse was in the movie, but that’s another story. Our conclusion is that a bath in “Johan’s bay” is just right.

Titran

On the western tip of the Island Frøya you will find the fishing village Titran. The name has an unknown meaning, but it is an old fishing village, mentioned by the Nidaros’ Archbishop Aslak Bolt in 1433, when he gathered “The Titrom fishermen” for a meeting. They agreed to pay all the fees that the Christian court ordered. That means, at Titran, there were both people and money at the time, and the fishermen were even willing to give some extra fish out of pure goodwill. Before 1430, all the Norwegian fishing villages were free to settle.

The grand old days were in the 16th century: Of Frøya’s 49 households, 15 were on Titran and 15 on Sula. During the fisheries, there could be hundreds of fishermen out here in the ocean gap, with a safe port and a short way out to sea. Today, the number of inhabitants is less than 100 people.

On the south side of Titran we find the peninsula Stabben, where the Germans built a coastal fortress, Stabben, during the WWII. The work started in 1941 and was part of the Atlantic embankment. Serbian and Russian prisoners of war dug out more than 20 bunkers and hundreds of meters of underground passages.

View from Stabben towards Sletringen lighthouse.

The fortress was opened to the public in 1990, so Stabben fortress you just have to come and visit!

Well prepared in the bunkers inside Stabben fortress.

The fortress was equipped with 3 Krupp canons (150 mm K 16), with a range of 22 km. The purpose was to hit allied ships. The construction of Stabben fortress turned out to be a mistake. Very few ships passed by Frøya. The shipping lane goes inside the neighbouring island Hitra, sheltered from wind and waves!

During the WWII, shots were fired from the Stabben canons only once – at their own: German minesweepers who had misunderstood the signals from the fortress.

The Germans left Stabben in 1944, and the families could move back to their houses. The Germans had occupied all the houses on the Stabben peninsula for 3 years.

At Titran you will find beautiful bathing places everywhere, it hardly makes sense to recommend one in front of the others. We were accommodated in the Titran old school – it has been converted into apartments – so then it was natural to cross over to Stabben from there. An absolutely beautiful bath in a quiet, marvelous evening.

A night bath on Titran is just right!