Norway – Page 4 – ToBatheOrNotToBathe

Jøa

North-west of Namsos municipality is the island of Jøa. About 400 wonderful people live here spread over 55 km². The island is shaped like a triangle with charming crags in the northern and central parts, and a flatter, more marshy landscape in the southeast. The name comes from Norse ‘jóð‘ = ‘that which is separated from‘.

The Norwegian author Olav Duun grew up on Jøa, and although he lived for many years in Holmestrand (southern Norway), all his books were set on this island. More about him in another post.

‘Dun’ church with a view north towards Brakstad on the right.

The legacy of Duun is well maintained on Jøa, and every two years they make a ‘Duun Festival‘ in June. We wanted to go there! Tobatheornottobathe had missed Hildegunn Eggen’s farewell performance at Trøndelag Teater, the monologue ‘Juvikfolket’. A play that in 3 hours brings out the essence of Olav Duun’s masterpiece in 6 volumes. So when we heard that there would be an absolutely last chance at the Olav Duun Festival 2023, it was easy to decide to go. It takes some hours to drive to Jøa from Trondheim, but it was well worth it, and Friday after work we went straight to the ‘book bath‘ (a moderated talk with book writers) at Brakstad, by the northwestern coast of the island.

The orange tent at Brakstad. Some partying here as well, although it is a little different from the Roskilde festival in Denmark.

We didn’t just do book bathing, of course. At Brakstad, nature is so fantastic, with sea and islands and islets and sun up and down, that we had to swim several times. And humming a little to DDE’s summer song ‘Lange Late Daga‘ (Long Lazy Days), which actually mentions Pøbben (The Pub) in Brakstad. Pøbben has this motto: ‘When good people serve, good people can drink‘. However, the DDE text is a bit illogical, so Knut forced himself to switch to Ulf Lundell’s ‘Öppna landskap‘ (Open Landscapes) after a while, another song that feels just right at Brakstadsundet.

You will have to search hard to find a sunset more stunning than Brakstad in June!

Pøbben at Brakstad often serve shrimps, which are fished in the sea you can see from there. And although they were not so big, the taste was really great! To have an excuse to order some ‘Gammel Dansk‘ at the bar, we had to take a night bath first.

We had rented a Transit from ‘Bilkollektivet‘, which we were going to use as a mobile home. It was unfortunately a bit demanding, with cool dew at night and strong heat in the morning as soon as the sun rised.

All the more tempting with a fresh morning bath, as we in Tobatheornottobathe like to see it!

Knut is considering the possibility for a morning bath…

…but the decision was in practice already taken!

A book bath or any type of bath is just right at Brakstad Hamn!

A very wet venture to Vøra

Southwards from Sandefjord, two long peninsulas run between the Sandefjord fjord and the outer Oslofjord, inspiredly named Østerøya (the Easter Island) and Vesterøya (the Western Island). 1000 years ago these were real islands, and you could sail inland from Oslofjord via Tønsberg to Sandefjord.

Vøra was at the bottom of the sea some 1,000 years ago.

When digging a cable trench on Auve, above Vøra on Vesterøya, a number of antiquities were found in 1972, and a Stone Age settlement was later archaeologically excavated. Of the finds, no less than 71 pieces of amber and a whopping 41,021 pieces of pottery have been counted. Much of this was extremely well preserved, as it lay in a sand dune formed by flying sand between 2000-2500 BC.

We were at Vøra to meet Knut’s sister Brit and her husband Stein, who have built a beautiful house on the old seabed. Brit is planning to start winter swimming, so it was a brilliant idea to start the swimming season in April together with Tobatheornottobathe!

It turned out to be a great beach bath (the house has its own beach line), with the Master of the Masters’ House (season 2022) in the background, but without hard competitions this time. Next time maybe we will be competing sitting in 90 degrees?

Some resisted the temptation. Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø

The Grave Headland

In the summer of 2019, Idun’s older sister Jorunn had another big birthday to celebrate. The celebration was a cruise with ‘Hurtigruten’ from Longyearbyen to the island of Moffen, 80 degrees north.

The Lønnech glacier seen from the ship ‘Nordstjernen’ (the North Star).

On day 2 of the cruise, we entered the Magdalene fjord north of Ny-Ålesund. Here it is wild and beautiful, and you can admire glaciers surrounded by pointed mountains.

Presumably this is where the name ‘Spitsbergen’ comes from. The fjord’s name is from the 18th century, named after the biblical Mary Magdalene.

Gully bay. Can nature be more beautiful than this?

On the south side of the Magdalene fjord is a headland with a fine sandy beach, one of the few places in the area where it is possible to a) disembark
b) bury corpses
c) have a bath

An English whaling station was built here in the 17th century.

One of four blubber oven foundations at Magdalenefjorden.

During 200 years of whaling, many people were buried here, and the place is today called Gravneset (the Grave Headland) with Gravnesodden at the end. 130 graves have been found, many of them long after the whale station itself had closed down. The sailors preferred to bury the dead here, where it was possible to dig holes for bodies, instead of throwing the corpses into the sea. The graves are English, Dutch, but also many Basques are buried at Gravneset, they were skilled whalers. In the 1970s, you could still find bone remains in the area, dug up by foxes, polar bears and souvenir-chasing tourists. Today, Gravneset is protected, and large parts are fenced off to avoid wear and tear of the cultural heritage.

The guides had insisted for two days, that it was compulsory to have a bath at Gravnesodden, imaging that maybe 2-3 people would take the bait and actually have a dip. But that was a severe underestimation of the Løwø family. We ended up with 17 bathers from the ‘Birthday group’ – a new record!

This is how it looks like when 17 people go swimming at 79°33′ north. Photo: Berner Hestø

And the bath itself? Absolutely gorgeous! A white sandy beach, crystal clear water decorated by ice cubes – and 3 degrees celsius.

Swimming in the Magdalena Fjord, perhaps the most beautiful fjord in the world. Photo: Karina Løwø.

In addition to the buried people, there was also an arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) who wanted to see us leave Gravneset:

… so then we did. And as ice bathers on a cruise, this time we got physical proof of the bathing madness:

Kings Bay

The Kings Bay (Kongsfjord) in the northwestern part of Spitsbergen is one of the most beautiful fjords in Svalbard. On the south side of the fjord you will find the researcher town Ny-Ålesund with the previous coal producing ‘Kings Bay Kull Company’, and on the north side you find ‘Ny-London’, a disused marble mining village.

Blomstrandøya. ‘Nothing less than an island made of pure marble’ (quote: Ernest Mansfield).

The marble deposits on Blomstrandøya were discovered in 1906. Development of the site began in 1911 and was carried out by the English company ‘Northern Exploration Company Ltd’. The head of the project was Ernest Mansfield. Of the buildings that were erected here (they were supposed to house 70 men), some have been moved to Ny-Ålesund where they are still in use. But some houses remain, partly deserted and partly in use as cabins for the researchers in Ny-Ålesund.

New London in Kongsfjorden, also called Camp Mansfield.

The appetite for investments in the early 20th century was sky high. The best of the technical devices of the time were installed, including railways, steam engines, marble cutting machines and cranes.

Nicely riveted processing plant from the early 20th century.

Mobile crane manufactured by Taylor & Hubbard, Leicester.

The appetite for investments was continuously increasing throughout the First World War, and the share capital rose to over a million pounds. There were many people who made good money during WWI, and they needed something to spend their money on. The adventure in New London ended in the world’s first stock market bubble, which burst in 1920. Large amounts of money had been invested – without anybody knowing what the marble was actually worth.

Yes, marble can be very valuable, as blocks. But as gravel?

When the first small cargo of marble arrived in England, 1912, it turned out that the large, beautiful marble blocks had been transformed into marble gravel due to frost bursting. There was no value whatsoever in the marble from Kongsfjorden. However, this did not stop the investments! Expectations of quick returns overshadowed common sense. Mansfield was fired, and the growth continued. The value was NOK 18 million in 1919. The following year it was 0, and the plant was abandoned.

After so much history teaching, time was just right for a bath, and in New London the bathing conditions are chilly, but excellent!

Our bathing beach east of the old unloading facility, 78°58′ north.

Here we found just the perfect type of sand, and not too shallow, either.

Nice drive south towards Ny Ålesund! Arne and Kjerstin were tobatheornottobathe standins for Knut on this trip.

If we swam far? No, we did not swim across Kongsfjorden.

Pyramid Bath

In the summer of 2017, we traveled to Svalbard. The purpose of the trip was for Knut’s mother to experience her daughter-in-law Idun’s place of upbringing.

The ‘Million City’ in Lia circa 1968. Idun grew up in house number two from the left. Photographer: Unknown.

After a few days in Longyearbyen, we booked a boat trip to the Russian ghost town of Pyramiden, which is located by Billefjorden, a fjord branch in the innermost part of the bigger Isfjorden.

The Pyramid Mountain, not at it’s most splendid.

The Pyramid City is named after the pyramid-shaped mountain of the same name. The town was founded by Sweden in 1910. Test drilling revealed coal deposits, but also difficult conditions due to faults in the bedrock. The Swedes therefore chose to concentrate on the Svea mine, and Pyramiden City was sold to the Soviet Union in 1927.

During the Soviet era, the town was developed into a model community with most facilities: Cultural center, swimming pool, library, school, kindergarten and cinema. Pyramiden also had both barns and greenhouses. At the most, some 1,000 people lived here.

The houses in Pyramiden were built with a desire for good aesthetics. The buildings (both wooden and brick houses) have nice details both outside and inside.

Idun thinks that she has probably played solo accordion on a cultural exchange trip to Pyramiden around 1980. But for sure? … no.

Pyramiden was suddenly abandoned in 1998. This happened during a period of economic downturn in Russia. But it was also connected to the aftermath of the plane crash in Mount Opera near Longyearbyen in 1996, where 141 people died. Many of these were Ukrainian miners working in Pyramiden.

Today, Pyramiden again has a permanent settlement, but the population is slightly reduced – to around 10 people. Hotel Tulipan started up in 2015, and guided tours are organized from Longyearbyen by boat in the summer and snowmobile during winter time.

And the bath? Knut grabbed the chance to do his northernmost bath to date: 78°39′ north. In order not to stress the guide unnecessarily, it was a dip in the harbour. When Pyramiden was built, a distinction was made between the technical installations and the housing. The bath in the harbor therefore did not take place in an idyllic Soviet living- and bathing area.

Cold and blurry, but certainly refreshing water!

And after the bath? Then it was just a matter of standing in line to enter the gangway.

Knut in classic sightseeing outfit 78°39′ north.

The highlight of the return trip was the visit in front of the Nordenskiöld glacier, and the many beluga whales that were swimming in the foreground.

Belugas in front of the Nordenskiöld glacier.

With this sight, it doesn’t matter if the weather is foggy!

Kapp Laila

In 1999, Idun’s older sister Jorunn celebrated her birthday at Spitsbergen, where the 5 ‘Løwø Children’ grew up.

The first part of the program was a guided bus tour in Longyearbyen, where the guides were ‘The Løwø children’ themselves.

The Løwø Children anno 1999. Photo: Svalbardposten

The birthday dinner took place at ‘Huset’, and the following day we went to the cabin at Kapp Laila. For many years our mum Kari and dad Fridtjof had a cabin in Adventdalen (below Operafjellet), but it was inaccessible all summer because of the big rivers. In 1982, they took over a working barrack from Birger Pedersen, and this was to become the new cabin – at Kapp Laila, midway between Longyearbyen and Barentsburg. The cabin was therefore ok. But how to move it from Longyearbyen to Kapp Laila?

Cabin on the move in ‘Isfjorden’, 1982. Photographer: Unknown.

The answer was: On a raft! After all, they had a 16-foot boat called ‘Hårek’ with a 50-horsepower engine in the back. No problem, right? Extra muscle power was hired via their youngest son, Frode. However, he was tired after working double shift in mine 3, and needed rest. And he got that – on the coach in the cabin while it was on tour. The towing took 24 hours. Conveniently enough, there was a wood stove in the cabin, so they could even make coffee on the way.

Kapp Laila is accessible both summer and winter, but there is a ‘but’ during summer season. The cabin is located by a lagoon, which is so shallow that you have to plan arrival and departure times according to the tides.

The Kapp Laila lagoon at high tide. The dog club’s cabin in the background.

We stayed and celebrated our sister at Kapp Laila for a whole week, and it was splendid weather every single day. So we rigged some driftwood as benches, and barbecued by the sea every afternoon. Fabulous! The first night we were so many guests that there wasn’t room for everyone indoors (Jorunn had also rented two neighboring cabins). Idun and Knut therefore slept in tents outside, as Idun’s eldest brother Asgaut also did. ‘What about the polar bear risk?‘ Knut asked. ‘There’s no risk‘, Idun replied: ‘The Løwø family never sees any polar bear‘. And with some red wine in the body, it was easy to fall asleep in the midnight sun… and just as suddenly wake up the next morning to outside noises. Idun jumped up and picked up the rifle that was hidden under the sleeping bag. Was it actually a polar bear? The zipper in the tent was carefully pulled down, and Idun looked out: ‘What’s going on?‘ It was Asgaut who had crawled out of his tent: ‘I don’t know if I’m most afraid of polar bears or lying on top of a gun – there will be no more sleep anyway!‘ The next night we moved into ‘Bikkjebu’, the dog club’s cabin , and felt safe there.

Polar bear visit by the Kapp Laila neighbours 2021. Photographer: Svenn Are Johansen

One night after playing ‘Mattis’ (card game) for hours (in traditional student way, the looser (‘Mattis’) from the previous round had to wear a funny headgear, read: a sleeping bag cover), we found out that time was just right to swim in the lagoon. It was a wonderful midnight sun night. What could go wrong? Well, the tide could obviously be of the wrong type… This night water was definitely low, and we realized that at low tide the lagoon consisted of equal parts (15 cm / 15 cm) water and mud. We had a dip, but this bath is not really recommended by ‘Tobatheornottobathe’. But sunbathing in the midnight sun? Yes, that is something we will recommend! Doesn’t do much for the tan, though…

And the polar bear? A bear mother with two cubs attacked the fridge (= a tub with food under the balcony at the north wall) one week later. Tobatheornottobathe had left Svalbard by then, but those relatives remaining are still talking about the incident.

Bear flap made by the polar bear itself (but not in 1999). Photo: Svenn Are Johansen

Depending on the mood, it doesn’t need a door either, the polar bear can just as well punch itself through the wall. And why does it do that? In search of food, of course. The polar bears are very fond of chocolate, but not all kinds of food are appreciated, as you can see in the next photo (also from the cabin at Kapp Laila, but not in 1999).

Uncooked rice or pasta isn’t the first choise for polar bears. Photo: Svenn Are Johansen

In 1999 the three bears broke into cabin after cabin, but were shot as they arrived Barentsburg. The Russians don’t let the bears rule their lives.

Jorunn’s birthday celebration some 20 years later. The lagoon in the back left.

Skjækerfossen

Verdalselva is quiet and calm and got its name from that fact. But you don’t have to go very much further up the valley before there are bigger heights and waterfalls. We wanted more fun, and drove up Helgådalen (the Holy River Valley) in search of a suitable waterfall or two. Then suddenly we saw this:

The river Ulvilla is a tributary to Helgåa river.

… and that took us back to the heavy duty parties at the Trøndelag countryside in the 80’s, when the song ‘Ulvillavisa‘ was often in the repertoire: ‘Får æ’tj ei pøls, så hoppe æ i ælva, i Ølvilla.‘ (“If I don’t get a sausage, I’ll jump into the river, into Ulvilla!”) Funny! Maybe we could even bathe in Ulvilla, as the song suggests?

Ulvilla power plant. Constructed back in the days (1917), when the power plants were as beautiful as any church.

It remained a thought. The lower part of Ulvilla was just not very tempting, so we dropped the bath. But not without protests.

And it’s certainly not a crisis if you skip a bathing place or two in Verdalen. There are plenty to choose from, not least a large number of waterfalls in the rivers Inna, Helgåa and Skjævra. Our next attempt was Granfossen in Helgåa, but it was a bit difficult to access the waterfall with the footwear we had, so we went on to Skjækerfossen.

What a place! The waterfall is 22.5 m high, wide and beautiful. And this is historical ground. There used to be furnaces for nickel ore from the Dyråa mines in Skjækerdalen: ‘Værdalens Nikkel og Kobberværk’. The ore was transported to Skjækerfossen by horse in winter, since Dyråa river doesn’t have enough slope to run the smelter cabin’s bellows. The sulfur was removed by burning charcoal, resulting in emissions causing forest death in a 50 m wide area every year. Dead trees were cut to firewood for the smelting process. The nickel was transported by horse carriages to the fjord (at Skånes), a transport that was more expensive than the Skånes-England transport, and therefore greatly contributed to the Verdal nickel industry lasting only 10 years.

Skjækerfossen anno 1917. To the right you can see remains after a mill, sawmill and a smelting furnace. Photo: Gunnar Holmsen/Verdalsbilder.no

There is also a memorial by the waterfall, honoring the border refugee guides, who saved many lives during WWII. It is estimated that 7-800 people fled to Sweden through Helgådalen during the 5 years of war. None of these routes were ever revealed. The stone was unveiled in 2006.

A tent camp was set up at Skjækerfossen in the spring of 1945, as they were looking for 25 members of the Rinnan gang, who tried to flee to Sweden after the peace treaty. Magne Solheim from Målselv arrested Henry Oliver Rinnan at Flyvollen farm on the 14/5-1945. Rinnan was convicted and executed by a firing squad at the Festningen Fortress in Trondheim 1/2-47. Rinnan assisted in the torture of at least 1,000 people, the murder of more than 80, and he was convicted of murdering 13 people.

There was a bit of climbing to Skjækerfossen.

However, we didn’t need a tent – to get a bath. On the other hand, there was a bit of climbing in rough terrain, and as usual we laughed at the idiocy of carrying swimwear in bags instead of backpacks.

Skjækerfossen was wearing winter clothes in the form of an ice curtain.

But swimming in Skjækerfossen? No, it was too scary for Idun. The waterfall is deep, and Idun was afraid she wouldn’t be able to drag herself back onto the ice. It was therefore only Knut who bathed.

… with subsequent intense discussions about how to solve this problem. What we needed was a ladder, but it is not particularly practical to bring a ladder into the car. The solution: Laider, of course. And we actually had one at home, in Trondheim, which the children got from grandpa and once used in a tree in the garden.

It was great! An absolutely splendid bath. No dangerous incidents of the type of ice falling down (we didn’t swim tight up to the waterfall).

However, the ice is sharp, so a little blood on the knees must be expected. Otherwise, like the Icelanders, we say: ‘Everything was just fine!‘

It is quite fabulous to have a bath in Skjækerfossen. Also mid-winter! But of course; the water flow is most likely more impressive in spring and summer.

Verdal

North in Trøndelag, shaped like a triangle, between the inner Trondheimsfjord and the Swedish border, is Verdal municipality located. Here, ‘the border between municipalities’ was set a very long time ago, and there have been only 3 changes in historical time (!). The first change occurred when the border river against Levanger (Rinnelva) changed its way, while the second occurred shortly after The Black Death, when the farms at Leksdalsvannet were abandoned. The third boundary change came in 1917, when a new school was needed in Feren, Meråker municipality. And, actually, Verdal did get away with no changes in the much debated municipal reform in 2020.

Verdal has 15,000 inhabitants, of which more than half live in the administrative center Verdalsøra. Humans have lived here for a long time! There are a number of ancient monuments in the municipality, especially many burial mounds, but otherwise Verdal is perhaps best known for the site Stiklestad Battlefield (called “Stekstad” by the locals).

15 km upwards from the fjord, the two rivers Helgåa and Inna run together to form Verdalselva. The name comes from the old word ‘Ver’, which means quiet, calm. This sounded perfect for a swimming adventure. We wanted to swim there!

The Old Bridge. Verdalselva is beautiful, quiet and calm.

But this January evening was very dark. We became aware that ‘how to climb into the river’ was not very clear. And Knut had that bad prolapse back. Actually, this bath turned into a ‘not’.

… at first attempt, that is. The next day, in daylight, we went a little further upstream. And just downstream ‘Nybrua’ (the New Bridge), we found Bjarnebukta (Bjarne Bay). This seemed to be a great place to swim!

The water was still and beautiful. And the ducks swam to meet us. Bjarne, however, we didn’t see. Is it Bjarne who owns the place? Or has there been a bear (“Bjørn” in Norwegian) here a long, long time ago? Please notify us if you know!

The equipment for ‘Øras dager’ is ready by Nybrua (the New Bridge).

Well… The bath itself was nice, but the swimwear didn’t quite have any deliciuos scent afterwards. Perhaps Verdalselva will not be our favorite bathing place after all? It seems that Verdal municipality never takes any quality check of bathing spots. So bathing is at your own risk.

It was almost right to swim in Bjarnebukta January 2023.

After a bath in Verdal, it is a good idea to go to the theatre. Verdal Teaterlag is a very active institution, while we are optimistic and chose the musical ‘Otpimist’ with music by Jahn Teigen.

Christmas at Persaunet

Hurray! Finally Christmas! The children were home again and Christmas holidays had almost started. THEN corona revision 2 struck, and Idun fell to the ground, voiceless. Or, no, it’s not called ‘the ground’ but ‘the sofa’.

Idun tried to lift the mood with an ugly christmas dress, but it didn’t help much. Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø

Christmas Bath 2022 became a split session, where the corona patient and the French delegation dropped any cold baths. U1 and Knut, on the other hand, went to Sjøbadet to swim at the great facilities there.

But no sauna, we missed that because of the tradition of Cinderella movie watching. And the 24th of December was a fabulous day to take a walk in Trondheim.

Once at home, Knut just had to get bathing again. CovIdun also wanted a Christmas bath!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Tobatheornottobathe!

Tjuvholmen

From Aker Brygge you get to Tjuvholmen (the Thief Islet) via a footbridge.

Tjuvholmen was originally a long, narrow headland. Thieves used to be executed here in old times (court documents have been preserved), hence the name. The headland was later converted into a quay, but the really big development took place between 2005 and 2014. Tjuvholmen today consists of 3 parts: Odden (the Headland), which is landlocked, Holmen (the Islet) and Skjæret (the Reef). The area consists of many apartment blocks, offices, a hotel, restaurants, shops, an art museum and several galleries. In total, we are talking about 950 apartments and 1,500 workplaces.

Some upgrading has taken place since the area consisted of warehouses and quays. When the last apartments were sold, it was almost a doubling of the price at Oslo’s otherwise most expensive area, Frogner: NOK 90,000 against NOK 56,000/m2.

And of course, the same thing has happened here as in Grilstad Marina outside Trondheim: After an excellent, public swimming area is built close to celeber apartment buildings – almost immediately the residents start complaining about noise and garbage, trying to forbid others from using the place. You haven’t bought an expensive apartment to hear other people make noise, have you?

On Tjuvholmen, it went so far that the residents hired security guards, who sent away about 2,000 people during the summer of 2019. In a letter to the municipality, complaints were made about ‘urinating’, ‘fighting with chains’, ‘sex on the lawn’, and the Tjuvholmers referred to the whole situation as an invasion. After this, signs were put up explaining where it is allowed to swim and where it is forbidden (just as at Grilstad, they refer to the bathers’ safety in order to introduce a bathing ban).

The beach at ‘Skjæret’. Swimming allowed!

And the bath itself?

A fabulous bath in the dark, water temperature 5-6 degrees Celsius. Fresh and salt water even though it is in the city center.

We dropped the chains and behaved quite well. No guards in sight.

After a swim at Tjuvholmen, some food is just right.

… and if you choose ‘The Thief’ restaurant, you probably understand that the price level reflects the apartment prices in the area. Maybe you even have to beg a little to cover the expenses?

Anyway, a bath at Tjuvholmen is always right!