Blog – Page 16 – ToBatheOrNotToBathe

Island hopping and bathing

After some time mostly spent indoors because of bad weather and corona, it was time for a new bathing adventure. The bicycle trip to Ørlandet was a success last time, so we wanted to follow up with the same starting point. What could go wrong? Well, a flat tire before we got to the boat quickly answered that question. Luckily, this time we hadn’t cut the time too sharp, so we still came in time for the boat.

The guy who reached the boat with a flat tire.

It is okay to bring bicycles on the boat, but be warned: Bicycle trailers are specifically not allowed! After arrival Knut got the bike fixed in a bike shop (the repair kit existed only on the packing list, not in the backpack). The repair man wasn’t in, but came after a few minutes anyway, when the problem was explained. Thank you!

From Brekstad there are 10 km to the ferry port of Garten. A nice and flat bicycle trip, but it is in it’s place to point out that Ørlandet is always windy! This time mostly from the side, so not too discouraging for bikers.

The map of Ørlandet shows it laying at the opening of the Trondheimfjord, with a form like the Italian boot, only opposite. The tip of the boot kicks the little island Garten away, but they are kept together by a bridge.

Middle left is Garten, to the right of it Storfosna.

From Garten there is an hourly ferry to the island Storfosna. Storfosna is 11 km² and has approximately 100 inhabitants. They are well used to bicycle tourists on the ferry, but the ferry guy commented that we were the first in 2022. And oddly enough also the first bathing tourists this year…

The name Fosen comes from the Norse word ‘fólgsn’ = hiding place. This reflects the well protected bay between Storfosna and the peninsula Fosenheia, which later gave name to the whole peninsula Fosenhalvøya (The Fosen peninsula).

The bay at Storfosna gave good protection against weather and enemies.

Further south, there is a similar, smaller hiding place: Lille-Fosen. Since 1742 it has been called Kristiansund. The stone age period Fosnakulturen has its name from Lille-Fosen, but is not a topic in today’s article.

Storfosen manor is well known from the 12th century. It is one of the largest in Trøndelag and formerly belonged to the crown. The farm was under Austrått for a long time, and “Lady Inger” lived here from 1524, as a widow.

Storfosna manor has an area of 4440 decare.

Storfosna has plenty of lovely beaches, but in the bay they are mostly very shallow. Idun still wanted a bath in the proper “hiding space”, so we walked down to the water from the chuch. Here we found beautiful, white sand and crystal clear water, but the tide was low and the water too shallow for a swim. So we walked on onto a small peninsula and found a boat house made of stone and concrete, a perfect bath house of the day! It reminded us of the halfway buried turf houses on Iceland.

Well camuflaged boat house on Storfosna.

The boat house shielded us from the wind and was a comfortable place to change for a swim with a view!

A selfie is always required, this time with the manor behind us and the boat house to the left of the picture.

And after the bath the mandatory hot chocolate and some Eddie.

Changing hiding place in the big hiding place.

A great bath! The weather changes quickly in Trøndelag, but Ørlandet this day really outdid itself, the weather never was stable for more than 10 minutes! Back on the bikes after the bath, the hail came horizontally right in our faces.

Knut looks forward to bicycling in the hailstorm.

The bike ride offered lots of bird life: Swans, seagulls, cormorants, eagles… In Ørlandet there are several bird protectorats, so be aware of limited access in the hatching period!

Deer on the road. More precisely right behind the road. And one behind the road sign.

The big population of deer on Storfosna gave us a nice surprise at sunset. Bicycling, island hopping and bathing on Ørlandet is hereby recommended!

Opera Bath in Kristiansund

Kristiansund with its 25,000 enthusiastic inhabitants started its opera tradition in 1928, 32 years before Oslo got it’s opera.

Kristiansund, with the island ‘Innlandet’ to the left.

Every year, in February, the city is filled with small and large events. The whole city is in party mood, and we have joined the festival several years in a row, naturally enough since Idun has worked for a couple of years in Kristiansund. – Try it yourself – this is fun! Tempting bubbles can be found even in the shoe store! Doesn’t get better than that!

We were tempted, indeed. There were free bubbles and not quite as free shoes before noon on a Saturday.

There were no less than 3 generations of Bræin who were behind Kristansund’s development into an opera city: Christian Bræin, Edvard Bræin and Edvard Fliflet Bræin. The larger productions take place in Kristiansund’s main hall ‘Festiviteten’, but during the opera weeks you can experience small and large cultural events almost anywhere: At a café, restaurants, ‘Sundbåten’ or maybe at the library. The small, charming boat ‘Sundbåten’ has been on route between the ‘lands’ (islands) in Kristiansund since 1876.

While waiting: A view of a “seagull stand” (Måsestativ) but no Sundbåt in sight.

In a city consisting of three islands and one peninsula, there are many swimming opportunities of course. This time we promote the simplest alternative for opera bath enthusiasts visiting Kristiansund: The beautiful, tiny beach by the Thon Hotel on the island ‘Innlandet’.

White mini beach at the Innlandet island.

Here we have bathed several times, both with and without hotel booking, and the water has been crystal clear every single time. The reseptionists send somewhat weird looks as we pass the reception on the way in and out, but so be it.

…and after the bath it’s just the right time to party.

Burns’ bath

“Burns’ supper” is celebrated around the world about 25th of January every year. Then it’s time to eat haggis, drink whisky and preferrably recite some poems of Scotlands national poet Robert Burns. He lived in the latter half of the 1700s and wrote about politics, but also everyday life and of course of love, in a way people could understand and relate to.

Best known around the world is probably “Auld Lang Syne”, but his most iconic poem many would say, is “Tam o’ Shanter”. It tells about Tom, who is riding home in a heavy rainstorm and comes across the Devil himself and a gang of witches dancing. It ends with the witch Nannie and the whole lot setting after Tom. Nannie manages to grab a hold of the mare’s tail just as it jumps upon a bridge. And thereby saves Tom and herself, because: “A running stream they dare not cross!”. But back on the riverside, Nannie stands with the mare’s tail in her arms.

To honour Robert Burns, we held a “Burns’ supper”, corona-restricted to just a couple of friends. Next day we went for a photo shoot. Firstly, we needed a horse. After some thinking we checked the market online for rocking horses and soon enough could pick up one almost for free.

As a suitable bridge, we had read about Trondheim’s possibly oldest bridge: Stokkbrua, a nice, vaulted stone bridge. Knut even went to check out the bridge beforehand.

The crossing between “Gamle Jonsvannsveg” and Stokkbekken, as described, was easy to find, but the bridge had lost some of it’s former glory:

… where the construction of the new road had removed the vault. Somewhat disappointing, but right below it, we discovered a small walking bridge that was quite suitable:

… and even a nice bath tub between these two bridges.

So we took our scissors to cut of the mare’s tail and found a describing posture:

While we changed clothes for the bath, a familiy with a small girl came by. Since the horse had served our purpose, we gave it to them and they could continue their Sunday walk happy, but slightly confused, with a rocking horse and a disconnected tail in their hands.

Stokkbekken has a fun bath tub with a natural jacuzzi.

Even though the bathing spot worked nicely, we are not sure we will recommend it. We both thought there was an unpleasant smell in Stokkbekken. Nothing to do with the haggis the previous day!

Afterwards, we have found that we had visited a (nameless?) bridge on what the map says is called “Gamle Jonsvannsveg” today, while Stokkbrua is under what now is a gravel walking path a couple of hundred meters further upstream. This gravel road was an even older version of “Jonsvannsvegen”. And the real Stokkbrua is still intact in all it’s glory! And most likely built during Burns lifetime!

This is the real Stokkbrua, maybe Trondheims oldest bridge!

Happy birthday, Robbie!

Wedding anniversary at Bårdshaug

Our wedding anniversary was approaching and the question was where to go to celebrate such a beautiful, round number as 29? After having been locked in at home office, first because of corona restrictions, then the storm Gyda, we felt an urge to leave our home for a while. We went to the mansion Bårdshaug Herregård in Orkanger, 42 km west of Trondheim. But who was Bård?

Bårdshaug Herregård was built by Christian Thams between 1890 and 1904 and consists of buildings in many styles put together like a fairytale castle. The tower is in Jugend style and has a chandelier that stretches over 2 floors. Classy!

Christian Thams was an architect, founder, business man, minister, consul and mansion owner. He took over the wood processing company Strandheim Brug in 1890 and amongst other things started production of prefabricated houses.

Strandheim Brug made the prefabricated stave church “The Norway building” for the world exhibition in Chicago in 1893. The church, now called the “Thams pavillion”, came back to Orkanger in 2017 after 123 years in the USA. Thanks to local patriots (whom the Norwegian Minister Of Culture with positive intent called “some crazy locals in Orkanger”) in the project group “Home again” (Heimatt), you now can visit this lovely stave church at Bårdshaug:

At the mansion you are welcomed with: ‘Heill ok Sæll’ = Healthy and Happy. Quite suitable for a wedding anniversary at our age?

Knut found a grand piano to play on in the ladies’ after dinner room, which another visitor jumpingly appreciated:

Idun liked the men’s after dinner room better: The library. Most of the books are said to be rather risqué, french literature!

Christians Thams was more than averagely interested in hunting (and ladies…)

Knut found the stairways to be even more interesting:

For the big occation we had reserved the King’s room. The bed was made for the visit of King Oscar II at Bårdshaug in 1902.

The King’s room has since been used by King Leopold II (of Belgium), King Olav V, Crown Prince Håkon Magnus and Crown Princess Mette Marit. YES, it felt royal!

The bath of the day had to be in the river Orkla, which passes right behind Bårdshaug. We had received a tip that there are nice, marked hiking paths both east and west of the river. And yes, the paths where overwhelmingly well marked. Overwhelmingly!

Jumping from Gjølme bridge was supposed to be standard procedure for bold swimmers in Orkanger, but we chickened out from that challenge. The river water was brown after the storm Gyda. We didn’t want to risk “a Birgit” (Norwegian para-athletic who lost use of both legs after jumping into shallow water) by jumping into muddy water without seeing the river bottom.

Well… was it really a good idea to jump from Gjølme bridge?

However, to the west of Orkla, right downstream from Gjølme bru we found this bird box:

With stairs down to the water inside the box!

Strangely enough, there where no benches or lockers for changing. Wasn’t this a bathing house after all? Anyway, for us it became one, even though getting out under it was a little unpractical.

NB! Don’t even think about jumping in from the upper floor! It is veeery shallow here. Except that, a great wedding anniversary bath: Brown, muddy, cold and snow in the wind. Can’t get any better! Or?

Back home the man in the house had done his part for a nice return:

Storsand twilight zone

The winter wonderland of january was supposed to be visited by the extreme weather named Gyda. Getting a nice winter bath before the storm was urgent. We packed our bags early in the morning, so we got time to visit Storsand (the Big Beach) in Malvik after work.

The Storsand farm main house is like a fairytale castle, squeezed in between the old E6 road and the railroad track heading east from Trondheim. The main house is unlike the typical regional “Trønderlåna” houses. New owners, from Trondheim city, wanted the farm to have more of a mansion feeling to it. Quite successful, we think.

Inspiration from Trondheim can also be seen in the railroad bridge on the farms grounds, a copy of “The Old City Bridge” in Trondheim, also called “The portal of happiness”. Nice touch!

Even though the moon was only 3/4, it looks full on the pictures. You need a better camera and a flash to get a nice moon and people in the same picture, it seems.

Storsand Camping is well arranged, with a playing ground, ball playing areas, a barbecue fireplace and most of what you need for a day at the beach with or without kids. The activity in january is rather low, though, we recommend going in season, which at Storsand starts in May.

No campers to be seen here in january – 2022.

There were no paying guests to be seen on the pier. No other guests at all, actually.

The pier on Storsand. Signs say private, only for paying guests.

Thus the population density on the beach this day was something we could live with. Their loss, it was a really nice day! The water in January is clear as glass, the temperature slightly below 4 degrees Celsius and a wide, lovely beach to bathe from. The Big Beach deserves it’s name!

When you go out into the water, it is steep enough that you don’t have to walk miles to be able to swim. If just splashing around gets too boring, you can swim around the pier or out to the tiny island.

We didn’t swim to the island this time, though. Without a boat to follow us, it was too cold and too dark.

We didn’t even swim around or under the Pier. But Knut tested his newest thingy for the GoPro, a big dome, making it easier to get pictures under and over the water at the same time. Cool effect! GoPro in the dark wasn’t too impressive, however, the pictures got blurry while splashing around.

Testing the dome for under/over water pictures

The standing pads were there, as planned. But in the lack of blackcurrant juice, the person in charge of hot drinks tried a 15 year old straight-in-the-cup tomato soup, dug out from the inner corners of our kitchen closets. Not very successful, from a culinary point of view.

Well at home, with the absence of our beloved friend “Eddie” (a liquor called “Gammel Dansk”), the Tindved liquor from the berry picking of our bath trip to Ørlandet was brought forward. It tasted very…eeeh…strong. Maybe just as well we didn’t spend hours picking more than the 50g we brought home.

Tindved liquor in the glass and a fire in the fireplace and you get warm in no time

Winter Waterfall Wonderland

The beginning of 2022 has been a real winter wonderland here in Trøndelag. Now it was time to go back to Malvik, to Næverdalen (“Never” in Norwegian means birch bark, could be the name origin) this time. We had received a tip that the river Nævra has a nice waterfall and we wanted to check it out. The lumberjack we met by the bridge (he was OK…sleeps all night and works all day?) could inform us that we shouldn’t talk about _the_ waterfall, but the waterfalls. There are ten in a row, with the rather prosaic names “One” to “Ten”.

At winter time it’s better to take only one waterfall in one trip, so we made the simple decision of starting with the closest, assuming it was “One”. Or maybe they start numbering from the origin of the river, so this was “Ten”? We hadn’t thought of asking, it seemed so obvious at the time.

There wasn’t really any pathway to the waterfall, so we had to wade in deep snow down through the forest to reach it. Not very crowded here this beautiful winter day, strangely enough, but in summer time this is said to be a popular bathing spot.

Time to take the plunge?

Oh, no, first some research! Knut wanted to see if it was possible to bathe in the waterfall itself, in nature’s own jacuzzi. And it really did look tempting:

But the supervisor of Health and Security pointed out the risk of getting falling ice blocks in the head and raised the veto flag.

So finally a “go” for a swim:

… with the photographer right behind. A great bath! Nice, smooth rocks on the waterbed and no climbing over bigger, unsteady rocks. Not quite even water depth, though.

The photographer left the camera to do it’s thing and also took a bath, of course.

Only seconds after the picture above, we realized there was a rather strong current drawing us towards the main stream. Not that it would have been directly dangerous, but if we were dragged in we would have had to make a big circle going 10-15 m downstream first before we could swim back to our little backwater pool. A couple of strong swim strokes avoided that detour and brought us back the same way we came in.

The changing zone was already prepared when we got up:

We felt like professionals when we took out the hot black current juice and really enjoyed the view.

No trouble this time? Well… except that when we checked the map afterwards, we realized that this was just another dip in the river Homla. The river Nævra runs into Homla slightly higher up than the bridge. Next time…

Green arrow: Homla. Blue arrow: Nævra. Read arrow: our bath tub. Map: Ut.no.

We assume this wasn’t neither the Nævra “One” or “Ten”, but maybe “Homlafossen”? Who knows?

New Years Bath 2022

Suddenly New Year’s eve 2021 had arrived, and we imagined that a bath with fireworks in the background would have been nice. We celebrated the new year at Idun’s big brother Asgaut in Rissa, Fosen. The hospitality included consumption of both wine and aqua vitae with the traditional Norwegian “Pinnekjøtt”, and lead to the conclusion that taking a bath as the year turned to a new number wasn’t really a good idea.

So we postponed the New Year’s Bath to the first day of the new year – there are lots of bathing opportunities between Rissa and Trondheim. But the matter of hospitality came in the way again! The breakfast was suddenly a loooong brunch and we didn’t get going before the sun

was almost down. A sour eastern wind fortified the decision of postponing another day.

On the 2nd of january , however, we received an invitation to reopen the “bathtub” in the ice on Kyvannet again. Our bathing friends Taru and Klas had a plan, and we wanted to join, of course.

The “Bathtub” in Kyvannet is marked with yellow tape and light reflectors.

Before Christmas, the hole was marked with a wall of blocks of ice, frozen in milk containers. Unfortunately, some hilariously funny people had thrown all of them into the hole! We brought some new ones, but it requires quite a lot before it can be called a wall again (se lower left corner of the next picture!). Anyone is welcome to bring some more ice blocks and help build the wall up again. And we dare you to do that without getting “Another brick in the wall” stuck in your brain! Impossible!

The ice was rather thick (10-15 cm) and the hole hadn’t been open for a college of weeks, so it was quite a job reopening it. Taru has a good ice saw, and after using an axe to make a hole first, sawing wasn’t too exhausting. Protecting glasses and water proof clothing might be a good idea if you make the first hole with an axe instead of an ice borer.

The biggest problem turned out to be to get rid of the ice flake that now was floating in the hole. The ice is heavy and it would be quite much extra work if we were to saw the flake in pieces and drag them up. The solution was to push the flake down under the ice. An operation we weren’t really equipped for. No one had boots or anything to grab hold of the ice with. With use of the ladder, coordination and collaborate effort, we managed to do it after a while.

We were totally 7 persons bathing: 3 finnish and 4 norwegians.

Idun used the opportunity to take pictures and was happy with the work distribution: 6 workers and 1 photographer. The ladder was a little short and wobbly and floated up, so it was quite a balancing act to use it. Later it will get weighted down so it gets more sturdy.

Time to throw away the clothes and get in! We are beginning to have control of the planning. Layer upon layer of wool, changing to swim gear before leaving home, and foot pads to stand on for changing after the bath.

Good mood and colorful hats. This can be recommended! Really!

After the bath (we are talking around 1 minute, this time Knut stayed the longest – 90 seconds – it feels much longer, time goes slooow while you are ice bathing!) it is time to get dressed as quickly as possible, no time for fumbling with bras or complicated stuff.

And after the bath: Hot beverages. In Moomin cups, of course, to keep the Finnish “Sisu” spirit. Hyvää uutta vuotta!

Christmas bath in Korsvika

In olden times people knew the perfect spot in the Trondheim fjord to load and unload boats (“lade” in norwegian means to load). In the viking era Lade was the seat of the chief of the “Lade Earls”, a powerful clan which often opposed the norwegian kings. In the middle ages they anchored here to go to church – Lade church. There probably was a cross to mark this place, hence the name “Korsvika”, meaning “Cross bay”.

The plan for Christmas eve was to do the cleansing process in Sjøbadet in Trondheim (the sea bath), where there normally is a social and fun gathering. But corona keeps on bothering us – Christmas-21 was not for being social in big groups! So we went to Korsvika instead. There where 9 degrees Celsisus minus and a rather cold draft, so we almost considered postponing til Christmas day. It was starting to get busy as well – important to get back home in time for the couch, fire in the fireplace, hot chocolate and Cinderella on TV. But when you have managed to persuade 3 youngsters to get up “early” on Christmas Eve to take a cold bath, you have to see it through.

The mood in the car was a bit nervous. Especially the West-African Frenchman, who had never been to Norway before, wasn’t really looking forward to this. Numerous escape attempts like: ‘I can take the pictures’ had been neglected for days already. Despite that – outwards the moods were lively and we felt happy and a bit crazy: ‘At least the beach won’t be crowded today!’ … just to discover a few seconds later that there actually already were other bathers there – seven of them!

Korsvika, including the photo tripod of our prebathers.

This time we were well prepared: Standing pods, wool socks and wool mittens for everyone. Nothing to do but change and get into the water. Mom didn’t want to delay things and went out first. And soon the youngsters did follow.

Mom smiled bravely and tried to pretend it wasn’t cold. It was cold!

A quick dip and that was it. Where did all the youngsters go?

Quote after the Christmas bath 5 years ago: ‘Why do we have such awful traditions in our family?’

A great bath! On the way home we let Edith Piaf sing out our feelings: “Je ne regrette rien”! And my oh my how great to crawl in under the blanket with hot chocolate and see “Three nuts for Cinderella” afterwards. The Czech version, of course, with Knut Risans voiceover, even though 2021 was the year this movie came as a norwegian movie. BUT – then there was this thing about sand. We’re not too fond of sand in general, and sand in the house in particular. A cleansing bath in Korsvika on Christmas eve means another round of removing sand from every room in the house.

The best Christmas gift?

There will be bathing in 2021 as well! With swim cap anno 1955.

And with that we wish all our followers a merry Christmas!

Grythølsfossen

Grythølsfossen, Grythølsfossen, where art thou? After we in our previous post found a waterfall right by the road along Nordelva, we weren’t quite convinced this was Grythølsfossen. We had time and decided to drive a little further. Until the road was not a road any more.

So off we went by foot. After a while we realized there was no waterfall in sight down that way, only small rapids and some quiet side areas. We turned around.

Back at the car we suddenly saw a sign pointing to “Grythølen” (The Cauldron pit)! And just a couple of hundred meters down we found this Eldorado:

But can we take a bath here? The sign says: “Fly fishing only”!

On the other hand: they have put up a nice little shed for changing? So if we pretend to fish flies while we are bathing it must be OK?

Right in front of the shed there was a little bay where the stream didn’t seem too strong, so we decided to try. Veeery careful, but as the picture shows: someone really wanted to just dive in.

In the end, both of us got in:

Not a good bathing spot for families with children!

The discussion whether swimming closer to the waterfall would have been safe, is still ongoing as a theoretical discussion at home. We do not recommend trying! Still a great experience, even with only this little dip. We could feel the powers of the stream!

Finally a little video, showing the flow and powers of the stream:

This was an example of an experience we never had found, if not for our little bathing project! Neither this waterfall, the mini-Dynjandi in the previous article or the road leading down to these are on the map. Asking the locals is often a good idea!

Nordelva (the northern river)

Up north in Indre Fosen municipality, not far from the border to Åfjord, there is a nice little salmon river with it’s own nature reserve: Nordelva (the northern river). We had received a tip about a rough waterfall there, Grythølsfossen (the cauldron pit waterfall), and had to check this out. So when we left Råkvåg, we passed the picturesque houses in Indre Råkvågen and arrived in…No Mans Land. Or rather: The Road To Nowhere.

The road got worse and worse and finally we had to admit: this isn’t a road anymore, it’s a path. Without seeing the slightest hint of a river! Discouraging. So much that we didn’t even take a picture.

Only one thing to do: Turn around and try to find Nordelva from the other end, from Krinsvatn. And yessir, there was a river here! Not any ordinary river, it seems like it must have been King Salomos preferred recreation spot: