We have gradually learned (it is possible that we are a little slow), that when a large river flows down a valley, it is not necessarily easy to find great waterfalls to explore. The river Namsen, for example, flows steadily down the Namdalen for miles without producing waterfalls. Of course, there are large quantities of water (and salmon), but kind of tedious, to be honest. The tributaries, however!
Of the tributaries to Namsen, Sanddøla delivers very well on the waterfall front.
Sanddøla is a tributary of Namsen, having its source in Lierne, close to the Swedish border. The river is 64 km long and joins the Namsen by Grong church. Sanddøla holds salmon up to Tømmeråsfossen waterfall, and unlike Namsen, it is protected from power development.
Exciting bathing opportunities in Tømmeråsfossen.
Namsen and its tributaries for many years had an important role in forestry, as a basis for timber floating. All timber from ‘Indre Namdalen’ was sent via Grong on it’s way to Namsos (and the sea). Tømmeråsfossen, together with Fiskumfoss and Formofoss, are Grong municipality’s millennium sites. There was a mill here until 1948. The name Grong comes from Norse ‘Granungar’, meaning spruce. Three green triangles in the Grong municipal’s coat of arms also symbolize the importance of spruce and forestry in the region.
The ancestor of all bathing pools.
The pool below Tømmeråsfossen is fabulously large and beautiful, it is almost like an inland sea, and has a reputation for being one of Norway’s most exotic bathing spots. Badebadadede agrees. It’s just great to have a bath at Tømmeråsfossen!
Idun forgot to watch her feet on the way down the last rapid stream, and hit a rock. But fun anyway!
‘Why do you actually run this blog?‘, Trine asked. We were at a cabin in Fagerlia, Meråker, where we have been a lot. How to answer that? We did always had a bath here and there, didn’t we? But, of course. intensive bathing started with all the trips to Iceland during Corona pandemi. We had decided to have a bath every day, and since each trip started with a 5-day quarantine, there had to be cold outdoor baths every day the first week. ‘Bathing forces us out for new adventures! Through the bathing blog, we get many great experiences, and we visit places we would otherwise never get to see. It’s hard to believe, but there are still regions in Trøndelag none of us have ever visited. Not in 50 years!‘
Sunny morning in Meråker on a day with exceptionally changeable weather, even for Trøndelag. If you see the sun, you just have to run outside immediately! Brush your teeth first? No, then you must be prepared for rain before you reach the door.
Meråker was separated from Øvre Stjørdal municipality in 1874 and consists of the upper Stjørdalen with surrounding forests and mountains. The name is a farm name, from ‘Merr’ = female horse and ‘åker’ = field. Meråker has only one village, Midtbygda, with a common primary school for the entire municipality. Here, however, the advantages of the area in terms of nature and climate have been taken into account, with the focus on sports subjects, especially skiing, at Meråker upper secondary school. In collaboration with NORD University, you can also take higher education in Meråker.
Fagerlia. View eastwards from Kjørkbyfjellet (The Church Village Mountain) with Sylan and Sweden far, far away.
There are many cabins in Meråker, the ratio between the number of inhabitants and the number of cottages is 2:1. For Trine and Knut, cottage life in Fagerlia has lasted for over 40 years. Idun, on the other hand, is in this context a pure novice, with only 32 years’ experience at the cabin (2024). In particular, the many years of the ‘Hut Years Eve‘ were legendary. The sledge competitions are high on the list of funny traditions, not to mention the clothes-changings. Funny, though, that it was always funniest for the boys.
A typical clothes changing situation at New Years Eve.
In summer, swimming was also sometimes out of the question, as the previously mentioned stable unstable weather in Trøndelag was not always in line with the practical challenges of getting the kids packed and ready for bathing on a nice sunny day – before the rain started. But sometimes things happened smoothly, and Trine has at least once managed to get four children into the river all by herself.
Benjamin and Ulvhild at Kråkstadåa around 2010. Photo: Trine Vollan
Bathing in Fagerlia had to take place by old paths by Kråkstadåa river. Old, you said? Neither Idun nor Knut can remember that we have ever visited Kråkstadåa. However, Trine is convinced that, ‘Yes, you must have been there before!‘. As said, so done, and this confirms the claim that we experience more blogging Tobatheornottobathe than we otherwise would. This morning bath would not have happened without the blog!
Children’s swimming paradise, you said? This looked really dangerous!
We are talking April 2024, full spring in addition to the already mentioned weather, alternating between sun and rain. Kråkstadåa in the spring is not at all a suitable place to throw the children into the water, and Idun was very skeptical about entering the river.
The consequences of letting the current take you…
After some debate, we were ready for bathing, and even though the current was strong, it wasn’t scary, since you could touch the bottom of the river all the time. Fun!
A spring bath in Krogstadåa was fun! But don’t throw the kids into the river! Photo: Trine Vollan
After a bath in the adult’s bath tub, time is just right to have both food and a quiz at Kirkebyfjellet pub, right next to the skiing tracks. ‘Fagerlia’s fagreste (beautiful)’ quiz team is not on the top 3 in this spring’s tournament, but despite the few members in the group (for now), we are not at all in a bad position either. Start the Quiz!
P.S.: Rumours in the Fagerlia area say that bathing in Kråkstadåa is not allowed, because it is drinking water for the cabins. We checked this and were told by someone at Meråker municipality that there are no such restrictions.
A brand new bathing beach in Trondheim, imagine that!
The new beach at Grilstad Marina is located on the east side of the artificial ‘Fullriggerøya‘ .
After 12 years of construction, Grilstad Marina is approaching completion (2024). The entire project consists of approximately 800 apartments, 110,000 m2 of commercial space, a marina and recreational areas, all made possible by the stone masses from the road tunnels between Stjørdal and Trondheim. There are swimming opportunities here! So much so, that the residents for a long time have complained about happy, load, youths jumping from piers and bridges, ref our bath ‘Grilstad Marina‘. But this time, the new Fullriggerøya (The Sailship’s Island) was to be visited.
Tobatheornottobathe visited the Sailship’s Beach in new, (old) bathing inspired attire. Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø
The cross-rigged sailing ships must be considered to be the summit of the sailing ship era. These were large, beautiful ships with square sails on all masts, which required a large crew. They did best on long-distance sailing, where speed was crucial, and in the navy. Competition in the merchant fleet was fierce, those who arrived first were paid better for the goods. Tobatheornottobathe has not found the name of any fully square rigged ships built in Trøndelag, but we would like to attach a drawing of one of H.J. Sommer’s beautiful ships, cleared from Trondhjem in 1915.
Mathilde Henriette, cross-rigged in 3 masts. Photo from ‘Norske Seilskuter‘, 6th volume, National Library of Norway.
It is actually a good idea to call the new, artificial, island Fullriggerøya. Why not, when the whole project is built at sea? Apart from the canals, however, there is not much of a maritime feeling in the new buildings at Grilstad. These are apartment buildings, with sometimes large terraces, but they do not resemble piers. And the titles? Bryggetun, what is it? And pier villas? A villa is a house with a garden for one or a few families, inspired by the country estates that the Roman upper class built 2000 years ago, for example by Lake Albano (ref our bath ‘Lago di Albano‘). The villas at Grilstad do not have gardens, and there are 10-15 apartments in each apartment building. A completely wrong use of words! We understand that some estate agents want to ’embellish’ the concepts, but with the architects’ acceptance? We simply do not understand it.
The ‘pier villas’ on Fullriggerøya (left) look neither like piers nor villas.
Interestingly enough, a forest has also been developed on the island, by the name Fullriggerskogen (forest). And yes, 20-30 trees have been planted between the houses, in between childrens playgrounds, paths and lawns. Why not call it all a park? Isn’t a parc good enough?
Very nice parc-to-be at Fullriggerøya. But it’s not a forest!
What we really like about this project is of course the swimming facilities! From the first floor you can throw yourself into the water, but there will be some climbing back up. For us, a dream scenario for retirement, apart from the fact that most of the apartments with direct bathing actually have no view of the fjord other than the canal. But the beach is nice!
Mayor Kent Ranum opened the beach – and Tobatheornottobathe opened the swimming. Photo from Grilstadmarina Instagram.
The Grilstad Beach is the first beach in Trondheim that faces south. Trondheim struggles with having its back facing the sun. 75 lorry loads of fine white sand have been brought here from Denmark, and the beach is relatively steep so that you don’t have to wade very long to swim. However, we were a little surprised by the stone embankment 10 meters from the water’s edge, where it was very shallow, before entering the fjord. We do assume that the stones are supposed to hold the sand in place, and that is fine, just a little surprising during this first bath.
Tobatheornottobathe rushing towards a new bath. Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø
The new beach gets top score from Tobatheornottobathe! A special plus for the sauna (we hope to visit it sometime), along with benches and children’s playground. So now we hope that the beach will reduce the jumping from the canal bridges, so that the poor, irritated residents can have peace on their terraces.
Thank you for the beach!
A new beach is hereby inaugurated. Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø
Húsavík is a community with both great patriotism and great optimism. After the city became known through the ESC film ‘The Story of Fire Saga‘, they have invested heavily in an ESC boom.
A fake bus stop was constructed for the Fire Saga movie, and was taken down afterwards. But now it is rebuilt as a sightseeing spot (the buses don’t pass here).
Now it is possible to book a ‘Fire Saga Guided Tour‘, a ‘Ja Ja Ding Dong Pub‘ has opened, and when the song ‘My Hometown‘ (Húsavík) was nominated for an Oscar as the best soundtrack in 2020, it really escalated. Several funny commercials with the theme ‘Oscar for Húsavík‘ were posted, and when the award evening approached, they even painted 50 meters of the main street red – to have the red carpet ready for Oscar.
Idun on the red carpet in Húsavík.
Icelandic TV followed up and filmed a version of the song at Húsavík harbour, with the church in the background. Girls from Húsavík school were backing vocals, each of them wearing a beautiful Icelandic ‘Peysa‘ (knitted sweater). The song was broadcasted again and again during the Oscar’s commercial breaks.
From the ESC exhibition in Húsavík Höfði Hótel.
There was no Oscar for Húsavík. But the Húsavík children were given a public holiday the next day – everyone knew that they would be awake on this dramatic night anyway.
PCC BakkiSilicon.
After a Fire Saga Guided Tour, a refreshing bath is just right. Drive north to the PCC BakkiSilicon factory, then towards the shore and park below the site.
Skjálfandi Bay – incredibly beautiful.
Walk towards the sea but not right down to the shore, stay on the grass. Follow the coast, and you will find an unknown gem at the very edge: The Húsavík’s mammoth!
Bakkastakkur/Gatanöf, Húsavík’s mammoth.
If you want to stand under the mammoth’s belly – choose low tide. If you want to swim between its legs – choose high tide. The mammoth is just as beautiful as Hvítserkur – and almost completely unknown. If low tide (as at both our visits), there will be no swimming under the mammoth. A good alternative would then be Sundlaugin á Húsavík. An unpretentious, classic public Icelandic bathing facility with a couple of hot tubs and everything you possibly need. One of us went there while the other stayed at home with a cold. But we don’t have pictures, grown up single men with cameras at a pool aren’t always very popular, so the camera also stayed home.
Húsavík is a beautiful place! A rounded mountain behind the town (Húsavíkurfjall) is not so exciting, you might think, but on the other side of the bay of Skjálfandi you can enjoy a spectacular row of mountains starting with Kinnarfjöll, which likes to express itself in winter clothing, all year round. Skjálfandi means trembling and comes from the many earthquakes in the area.
Húsavík harbour, with the characteristic church and the mountain in the background.
The conquest period in Iceland started with a Swede – Garðar Svavarsson, who built a farm in Húsavík. He had heard about the land in the west from the Norwegian Naddoð, who had found it but not wintered there. Garðar left Iceland after only one winter, after having completed an entire round trip and thus being able to establish that Iceland is an island. To honor himself, he named it Garðarshólmur. When Garðar left, one of his men, Náttfari, stayed behind with a slave and a maid. They moved to Reykjadal, where they took up land and lived for many years. Later, a man called Eyvindr appeared in Reykjadal, and gave Náttfari the annoying choice: That he should have Náttfaravík, or no land at all. Náttfari saw no other option, and moved from Reykjadalur. Náttfaravík lies vis a vis Húsavík, in a very hostile environment.
The west side of Skjálfandi is not a warm and friendly place to live.
Finally, in the summer of 1970, Náttfari got his restoration, when they celebrated his conquest 1100 years earlier. This event happend in Húsavík, 4 years before the rest of Iceland honored Ingólfur Arnarson’s conquest.
Check out the blue whale sceleton in the Húsavík whale museum!
Husavik got it’s income from trade, fishing and whaling for many years. Today (2021), Húsavík has switched from whaling to whale watching, and it works very well! There are different whale watching concepts, including by sailboat, where the focus is silence. Before the cruise: Take a trip to the whale museum, where you will find, among other things, an entire skeleton of a blue whale. Yes! That’s impressive stuff! We did a standard whale watching tour, during winter time, although that is not the best time to see whales. The name of the boat? ‘Náttfari‘, of course. Skjálfandi is a large bay, more like a fjord, and we cruised around for over an hour before we saw anything. But finally, a sperm whale (physeter) did appear – to the guide’s great surprise. You don’t come across sperm whales very often, because their dives are deep and long lasting. Our boat crossed behind and to the side of the whale, and we saw it breathe quite closely a few times before it disappeared into the deep. Then we stopped for a while, hoping to see the whale again. And indeed, it did reappear. A great experience!
Sun, mountains and whales – a splendid day!
After an ice cold whale watching trip, a warm bath is the perfect thing to do. In Húsavík there is a wonderful spa, GeoSea, located on the cliffs just north of the town.
Close neighbours: Húsavík lighthouse and GeoSea spa.
Here you will find beautiful design both outside and inside. The site is partially submerged in the terrain. When you arrive, you can see straight through the building and out to the sea. An absolutely fantastic view from the spa (when there is no fog). Lovely!
From time to time some of us start wondering about simple questions such as: ‘What is the direction of a valley?‘ The direction of a river is easier to determine, since it flows a certain way. But the valley? It turns out that the early Norwegians set the direction of a valley as the natural way to enter it. As the glaciers retreated after the last ice age and Norway reappeared, the land (and the valleys) were conquered from the sea, and the direction was from the lowest point upwards. This explains the name of the river Vinstra (The Left River), after which the Vinstradalen in Oppdal municipality is named. When you walk up the valley, you have the river on your left side, plain and simple as that.
View north towards Drivdalen and Oppdal.
Vinstradalen runs southwards from Drivdalen, south of Oppdal center. Standing at the bottom of the valley looking north, you will be able to see the farm ‘Lo’ (meaning lowland fields close to water and forests) on the right side of Drivdalen, where king Håkon Håkonsson built a church and a royal farm around 1250. Nearby is also the farm ‘Rise’ (meaning bushland), where a number of archaeological finds have been made. It is assumed that the permanent settlement in Drivdalen has lasted 2000 years. The large burial ground at Rise (some of the tombs date from the 3rd century A.D.) was located by a track, as was the custom at the time. A bronze angel has been found here, which may have been attached to a reliquary shrine. This figure represents the archangel St. Michael, and was probably made in Ireland in the 6th-7th centuries. A wooden version is to be found in St. Michael’s Chapel in Vinstradalen.
St. Michael from Ireland, wood version.
Vinstradalen is lush, and the soil is rich in nutrients. There are several summer farms in the valley. When you park your car at the Trengen farm, you quickly see that sheep are a source of income here, with sheep sorting facilities (in Icelandic called ‘réttir’), and a cattle grid. But one can wonder how stupid the sheep really are, when you see this one:
Useless cattle grid, it seems.
The summer road up Vinstradalen is an excellent skiing track during winter, which can certainly be recommended (even if we didn’t have skis with us this time). However, at Easter 2024 the snow was hard and quite fine for shoes as well
On the way upwards (direction south) Vinstradalen. And yes, the river was to the left.
A short kilometer into the valley you will find St. Mikael’s Chapel, named after the ‘Rise Angel’. The chapel was inaugurated in 2012 as part of the ‘Pilgrimsleden’. The road through Vinstradalen is one of three old traffic routes northwards from Oslo.
St. Michael’s chapel – exterior.
St. Michael’s Chapel is a gem, built like an amphitheatre, with the Oppdal nature itself as an altarpiece. It was designed by Yngvild Norigard from Drivdalen. Awesome!
St. Michael’s chapel – the interior is characterized by Oppdal slate and wood.
… and if you need some extra help from above, there is a charming Jesus figure in the chapel as well.
We had read in the newspaper ‘Opp‘ about some ladies taking winter baths in Vinstradalen, and our aim for this trip was to find the waterfall where they had their Christmas bath. In the article, the walk from Trengen is described as ‘long and steep’, and we must say that it was quite a good description. Especially the word ‘steep’! Starting from the chapel, we slid down on last year’s half-rotten birch leaves. It was so steep that Idun occasionally sat on her bum and let the back of her trousers take the brunt.
Idun really felt that it was steep enough in the Vinstra riverdale. There were bruises, too.
Despite all difficulties (or maybe even because of?) it turned out to be a really nice visit. Vinstradalen is a canyon, i.e. a steep valley dug out of the river. Here (in the summer, if you’re lucky) you can enjoy the sight of the endangered species Black Curlew (don’t pick it!). In winter, there are other beautiful phenomena to see – made of ice. The sides of the canyon were decorated with an impressive amount of icy waterfalls – both impressive and beautiful!
Cool and gorgious ‘icefalls’ in Vinstradalen canyon.
We’re guessing that these are tiny streams in the summer, not sure if you even notice them at all. But in the winter, when the ice builds up, it’s a magnificent sight!
Rough nature in Vinstradalen. Knut is checking the occurrence of puddles.
Once at the bottom of the valley, we wondered whether we should go up or down to find the bathing pool, but as the valley seemed to be more steep upwards, the choice fell to the right, and it was indeed the correct idea. A bath in Vinstradalen is just right!
After many great experiences with swimming in Iceland, we have suddenly begun to understand that we never ever sought such places around us in the same way. And we didn’t have to look far! Suddenly we saw a post from a friend on Facebook about Storfossen (The Big Waterfall) in Malvik municipality. We took the trip the next day.
It was late before we left home, after a rainy day in Malvik. That gave us the advantage of being alone in the forest , if you don’t count the sheep… We saw one car only in the car park when we arrived, but the owner came walking towards us early in the trip, and thereafter we didn’t see a single person. It was a special feeling to walk alone in a Norwegian ‘rainforest’, the entire forest floor was green and the trees very tall.
Storfossen is located in a narrow gorge caused by a fault in the earth’s crust a long, long time ago. It is very steep close to the river, but there is a path all the way from Hommelvik by the Trondheimsfjord and up to Storfossen (about 6 km to walk from Hommelvik to Storfossen). By parking at the Kringelmyra car park, you enter the path directly above Storfossen and then it is only 0.6 km to walk.
There is a small detour from the main path to a platform where you can see the waterfall in all its glory.
Then it’s just a matter of taking the stairs down to the river itself and rigging the camera.
Before jumping into the fresh water…
Storfossen, here we come!
Fantastic, it was probably 15-16 degrees. It was a bit slippery to get in because of big rocks where we got out. But then there was a nice gravel bottom further out and more than deep enough to swim properly. If you wanted a training session, there is natural swimming against the current when you approach the waterfall.
We had visited both Molovika and Storvika, and were wondering what more fun we could come up with in Stjørdal, since it had already been proven that the beaches in this municipality are top swimming spots. After searching here and there, we noticed that by Gråbrekk there should be both a waterfall and a pond, both excellent targets for swimming adventures. We thought.
The river Gråelva is running fast, but it is both too shallow and too narrow for swimming in our taste.
Gråbrekk has been inhabited since the Stone Age. There is a burial mound on the farm, and stone tools have also been found. In recent times, the place is known for industry, including a mill. The name Gråelva does not come from the colour grå (grey), but from Norse ‘groðr’ = to grow, i.e. a river that sometimes floods, in combination with the word ‘brekka’ for hill.
The first known user of Gråbrekk was Nils Graderbrek in 1520. A modern mill was set up in 1860, and eventually a dam for a water reservoir, called Gråbrekkdammen. In addition to the mill, various industries were started: bone meal and guano factory, machine production, bicycle production and indeed – a puffery! The puffery produced puffed rice (Ping) and puffed wheat (Pang). The puffing took place with a ‘cannon’ that could shoot out 6-8 kilos of rice or wheat every 15 minutes. That explains the brand name ‘Ping and Pang’, which some of us remember from the 70’s. The silos at Gråbrek and Hegra are currently operated by ‘Felleskjøpet’.
Gråbrekk.
There was no bath this afternoon. Gråbrekkdammen is a private area, so we cannot recommend swimming there, even though there is a floating jetty and otherwise fine conditions.
Almost 2 years went before aiming for the next bathing adventure in Stjørdal. What to come up with this time? It is very steep many places in the Trondheimsfjorden area – ‘Perhaps we should try to find a waterfall?‘
So we checked the map for the word ‘waterfall’ (foss), and one of the first to appear was Skuldbørstadfoss.
Skuldbørstadfoss was piped as early as in 1910.
Skuldbørstadfoss power plant utilizes a drop of 23 meters in the river Mælaselva. It is so steep there that it is a bit scary to drive a normal car all the way. The power plant came into operation in 1910, but burnt down in 1972. Operation resumed with a new power plant in 1985.
Skuldbørstadfoss is now a power plant, not a waterfall (quote smaakraft.no).
It’s no good to bathe without neither water or waterfall, so this bath was a definite a ‘not‘.
The day was still not ended, and Tobatheornottbathe had several more names on the list. The trip continued – not too far – to Mælafossen waterfall. This time, aware of possible trouble, Knut checked first, to see if there was a power plant in the waterfall, and yes, Mælafossen has also been developed. But – due to maintenance – the Mælaselva river was supposed to run the overflow channel this summer (2023). It was an exciting project to see how that looked!
Mælafossen power plant.
The Mælafossen hydroelectric power plant utilizes a drop of 38 meters in the Mælaselva. The plant was commissioned in 1918, but shut down in 1979, after a (generator) fire. Following reconstructions, new operation began in 1985.
In the beginning it looked OK, a little magic, like a rainforest.
It turned ut to be a long and difficult wade up the Mælaselva river. Walking in half-rotten matter, over and under fallen trees, wading in mud, surrounded by a strong H2S stench. What a day!
More impractical and muddy further up.
Idun became more and more skeptical, while Knut tried to keep our spirits up: ‘Around the next bend there’s probably a waterfall…‘, ‘…just a little further…‘, etc. We found no waterfall, and finally Idun decided this was it and turned around. That was certainly a good decision, but unfortunately Knut, on the way back, stepped on a rusty tool and had to go to the doctor for a tetanus shot.
The closest we got to a waterfall bath on this trip.
Half a year later, a new Stjørdal trip was under way. We had got hold on tickets for the ‘Skatvalsrevyen’ (local revue in Skatval), and of course it had to be combined with a bath! Holsfossen sounded as an interesting place for us, and this time we couldn’t find any power plant mentioned by that name in Stjørdal. Maybe we could have our waterfall bath this time?
Can you imagine – there is a dam in Holselva too?
Holselva river is located below Forbordfjellet mountain. We found a (fenced) dam there too, but it was empty and we saw water in the river below, so we made an attempt to find a pool below the dam. It was a bit steep, but not too difficult. And we experienced the fun trick of having to climb over a partially demobilized fence to get out of a fenced area (without climbing any fence to get in).
Knut climbs over a fence to get out of the forbidden area.
We didn’t find no pool. No waterfall either. This concluded our attempts for waterfall bathing in Stjørdal this time. But we have received a tip about Strukhauet/Strukfossen, so we will be back!
The waterfalls are somewhat nicer when they are not piped.
When there is no swimming, why not go to a revue instead? We can really recommend the Skatvalsrevy. Great fun even for outsiders! In Norwegian of course.
Stjørdal is Trøndelag’s most densely populated municipality after Trondheim. The name comes from Old Norse ‘Stjórn’ = steering, from the name of the river. The municipal center (Stjørdals-) Halsen is located between the two rivers Gråelva and Stjørdalselva, hence the name (“The neck of Stjørdal”).
Lindworm (Norse name for dragonlike creature) of ice in Stjørdalselva river. Stjørdal’s municipal’s coat of arms is a yellow lindworm on a red background. The motif is found in a letter of praise from 1344, where Saint Margaret of Antioch defeats the devil in the form of a lindworm.
We were on our way north to the ‘Skatvals revue‘ when we saw something fabulous in Stjørdalselva: A number of larger and smaller icebergs/iceflakes were floating in the river. It reminded us of a somewhat problematic bath in Iceland, in Jökulsárlón. This is a lake in front of a glacier where the icebergs are caught and drift around for years before they melt so much that they are able to reach the sea and it is one of Icelands biggest tourist attractions. Check out the post ‘Jökulsárlón‘, Iceland -> Austurland for more info.
And talking about bridges in the area: the old Hell railroad bridge is now a research project, where they are trying to make it brake down over 10 years to find out how much old bridges can handle!
Stjørdalselva with Hell bridge from 1959 in the background.
Stjørdalselva is one of the 10 best salmon rivers in Norway, with a catch of 1,590 salmons in 2023. It is a large and wide river, but it is a river and not a lake, and the mentioned icebergs are made of river water and not glaciers, but anyway. We just had to swim there, in Trøndelags own version of ‘Jökulsárlón‘!
‘Someone’ has fenced off the river bank at Sandfærhus.
We drove past the Sandfærhus car park and walked back along the river bank. Is it ok to fence the river bank, and exclude the access to the river because you have a parking business within? Tobatheornottobathe aren’t completely sure about that.
Varied paths during a walk along the Stjørdalselva river bank.
It was a somehow tedious walk down the river, over ice flakes and between bushes and trees at the river bank. A lot of alder (or ‘ørder‘ as you can hear it pronounced in Trøndelag), with the result that Idun sneezed days afterwards. It turned out to become a kickstart of the pollen season. Alder thrives by streams and rivers and blooms in March. Big mistake!
Always fun to be allergic at springtime!
Small shoes instead of (mountain) boots and bags instead of rucksacks, impractical, to be honest. Our learning is slow, Tobatheornottobathe continues as before.
There might have been some nice pictures from the camera used during the bath, if the photographer had used a setting that made it actually take pictures!
We had a really nice bath in Stjørdalselva. Quite chilly (not unexpected, considering all the ice). The river was shallow, perhaps you should take the tide into account, this close to the Trondheimsfjord outlet, as we didn’t do for this spontaneous swim. The sand was perfect (not so fine that it sticks everywhere), and there was no bad taste in the water. A bath in Stjørdalselva can certainly be recommended.
Alder cones everywhere. We can’t say we weren’t warned….
On the way back we found a route between 2 rows of fences. We were also filmed by CCTV, suddenly feeling simular to Valborg and Kjell (in the ‘Olsenbanden‘ movies), even without trespassing forbidden territory. Maybe, that is.
Parts of Olsenbanden on a bathing trip. More breaking out than breaking in.
However, as always, time was just right for a bath!
In search of new and exciting experiences, we had checked a couple of times in Verdal, whether there could be anything spectacular in the mountains near the Swedish border. And yes, there are lots of things to discover! In Verdal, the ground is made of limestone, making up a typical ‘karst‘ landscape.
Knut hunting for a new bathing adventure.
At Ramstad, there are several gorges, waterfalls and caves, and we were aiming for Svartfossen (The Black Waterfall).
What’s hided in the gill?
It is only a few hundred meters from the car park to the waterfall, and the path is nice. What could go wrong this time? Not much, it turned out – except for lack of water! It was winter and everything was frozen. Correction: Everything was not frozen solid, we heard the water beneath us as we walked on the ice into the gill. But bathing? The conclusion is that Svartfossen does not provide a bathing environment during winter time.
Svartfossen is marvellous in winter clothing. However, it wasn’t possible to have a bath there!
We were disappointed, but tried again six months later.
The entrance looked more promising this time.
Summertime is just the right time for a bath in Svartfossen!
You don’t need a large river to have an impressive waterfall. Ramsåa river is big enough. In summer time, that is!
After a refreshing bath, time was just perfect for an excursion. Knut wanted to see if there was anything to explore upstream the waterfall, and a beautiful path has been made to get there.
Well done, Verdal!
There were several nice pools in the river above Svartfossen. But Idun thought it looked dangerous, so no more bathing this time.
Knut is checking the conditions upstream Svartfossen.
And that was it, you think? Both yes and no. We were a bit curious about the caves, if we could find one of them. A short distance below Svartfossen, after the Ramsåa has split, you will find a small cave entrance to the left of the river, by a 20-year-old logging field.
We did find the entrance to Svartfossgrotta!
No cave exploration was done, even though we found one of the two entrances. We weren’t equipped for that. Wrong clothes, wrong shoes, no light, and no rope. But the Svartfoss bath was so nice, that our mood was still high.
