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.
We have bathed in Orkla before, at the outlet in Orkanger. There, Orkla is flowing peacefully (actually overflowing when we were there, after the storm Gyda’s ravages). Now we wanted to see if the river had other qualities for bathing pleasures. Orkla is Norway’s 11th longest river, 172 km from Orkelsjøen in Oppdal municipality to the Trondheimsfjord. There are 5 power plants in Orkla. Tobatheornottobathe has developed a fascination for waterfall bathing, and before we go for a trip we always check if there are any places on the road with ‘foss’ (waterfall) in their name. And yes, there are waterfalls in Orkla, with scenic names such as Storfossen and Litjfossen (the Big and Small Waterfall).
Storfossdammen.
We stopped by Litjfossen, but it was a bit confusing, all the while the dam there was called Storfossdammen. Big or small waterfall? Where are they, these two? Anyway, this was obviously not a good bathing place for Tobatheornottobathe. Even the salmon must have trouble here, as there wasn’t a drop of water in the salmon ladder. At Nåvårdalen, however!
Unbelievable? This is actually the Orkla river!
It was a both refreshing and relaxing bath in Orkla. Not much reminiscent of the name meaning ‘the digging river‘. Instead it was tempting to call this gem ‘the Little Orkel Sea’.
Nåvårdalen. Swimming shoes may be an idea in Orkla, as the stones are quite sharp.
In Nåvårdalen you will find the beautiful remains of Nåvårdalen’s smeltery, which came into operation in 1653. This was the only smeltery of the Kvikne copper mine that was in operation after the ‘Storofsen‘ flooding in 1789. The purpose of the smeltery was to remove as much sulfur as possible from the copper ore.
Nåvårdalen smeltery. Kvikne Kobberverk started up in 1630 as one of the first, larger copper mines in Norway. The oven in the picture is from the 19th century.
King Christian IV strongly encouraged mining, but for the local farmers it was not necessarily an advantage to report the finding of new ores. Mining meant compulsory labor for the local population, and they could earn more by digging and farming on their own. It is said about the copper ore at Kvikne, that it was discovered by ‘Old Nils’, but that he later forgot where it was…
Remains after Nåvårdalen’s smeltery.
On the other side of Rv 3 we saw a truly beautiful waterfall. Nameless on Google Maps, so we choose to call it Nåvårdalsfossen. We wanted to have a bath there!
Knut inspects the waterfalls’ pools.
But no. The pools were just not deep enough, and a bath just wasn’t right. After all, we run a blog called ‘To bathe or not to bathe’, and not ‘To dip or not to dip’!
Summer in Trøndelag! After weeks of single-digit temperatures (Celsius, in June!) the heat was on, and we needed to cool down. Knut’s cousin Gry arrived in Trøndelag with her bathing suit in her luggage, ready to join a ‘ToBatheOrNotToBathe Adventure‘. What could possibly be a better choice than the river Nævra on a short detour between Værnes Airport and Trondheim?
Even the norse god Odin (carved into the tree trunk) thinks this is a fantastic area for barbecue and outdoor sleeping in hammocks.
We had tried to have a bath in Nævra before, but ended up swimming in Humla, so this time we started a little further upstream. This is a really nice area! ‘Næverhølet‘ was a tantalizing name on the map that we absolutely had to try. Well yes, there was kind of a hole in the river as it meandered quietly and beautifully. But to go bathing there? No, it just seemed too boring.
Tobatheornottobathe in Næverhølet? Not this time, no.
So we went back to the car, and oh yes, that was the right choice. Further downstream there were waterfalls! You can jump, and you can swim in Nævra!
Næver waterfall number 1?
We first tested something that might have been ‘No 1‘. (ref post ‘Winter Waterfall Wonderland‘).
Three in No 1
‘No 2‘ was more like a jacuzzi, but fun, Gry thought.
One in No 2.
‘No 3‘, on the other hand – it was impossible. Despite a good height, there was no free fall, and no pool to swim in either.
When we arrived, there were 3 boys jumping into ‘No 1‘. Fortunately, they stepped back when we arrived, so we didn’t get them in the head. However, we didn’t dive this time. Knut did not want to risk a recurrence of his back problem, and the ladies, unfortunately, just weren’t brave enough.
But as a bathing place! Bathing or jumping in Nævra is just right!
Tobatheornottobathe celebrates 2 years these days. Hooray!
Our youngest daughter, Une, is home from France this summer and helps with practical tasks inside and outside the house: painting, masonry and miscellaneous. That is really good for us. It’s actually very nice to have a longer visit at home, and very satisfying to make progress on the house, which ‘Should have been completely finished at once (10 years ago), not almost-finished like everyone else are doing it!‘ That did not happen of course, we were so tired of house building and fixing, that when the house was good enough to live in, we stopped working and never quite reached the end. The first item on the program that has actually been finished this summer is painting the flagpole (and casting a new foundation, since we suddenly discovered that the old one just crumbled away). It was 10 years since the last time. Yes, we have to do regular maintenance in between activities to finish the house, and then it takes even longer.
Since 2 years of bathing and blogging coincided with the completion of the flagpole, we had to flag. Photo: Une Hunstad Løwø
In the absence of a longer holiday/trip abroad this summer, we wanted to celebrate with something spectacular and different, and so the 2-year’s bath became a SPA in Trondheim’s old mansion: Hotel Britannia.
You are welcome even before you enter. Who is looking forward to the SPA?
Apart from all the hot pots in Iceland, we have had no intention of reviewing water parks in our blog. But we really enjoy to treat ourselves with a little SPA every now and then. And Tospaornottospa was very excited about the wellness lounge in the basement of Britannia. A fun effect in the jacuzzi that didn’t have bubbles was the northern lights in the sky.
Northern lights in a relatively decent color right here, but occasionally it was blue? None of us have ever seen that!
Except that, there was a 12 m pool for swimming and a lot of different saunas, but what is the purpose of all the variants? Who wants to sit in a semi-lukewarm room with 55 degrees Celsius? But the Finnish sauna was absolutely perfect. And we always appreciate the possibility of a cold water dip. Hot and cold alternately, that’s the best! A bowl of ice to rub you with was a fun feature as well.
Idun was absolutely sure when we started the exploration of Trøndelag’s bathing spots: ‘If we put in a little effort, we will easily manage to bathe 2-3 times in all 39 municipalities in Trøndelag in one year!‘ Well, that was a bit optimistic. Not all weekends can be devoted to swimming, and besides, there is also bathing outside Trøndelag from time to time. Now, after 2 years, we are about halfway there. So then it’s just a matter of looking forward to 2 new years? We have to admit that the expenses for the 2-year celebration are not exactly in line with the income of the blog, which is rather precisely at 0. But it’s fun!
On the island Jøa you can travel in time! And that is thanks to Jan Tranaas, who has built an Iron Age house in Storvika.
Storvika (The Big Bay) is located on the west side of Jøa, Namsos. The long house is quite well camouflaged.
People have lived at Storvika/Tranås for at least 2,000 years. Here there are burials from the Iron Age, i.e. before the Viking Era. The finds contain traces of both the houses where people lived and the mounds where they were buried. Remains have been found for a ‘long house’ (more than 50 meters), a home for dozens of people, perhaps up to 50. Finds from Tranås include scissors, a sickle, a knife, parts of a sword and rivets made of iron, a spinning wheel and a baking plate of soapstone as well as a bronze pin. These finds are from around AD 400.
The Iron Age house on Jøa. For the next visit we will be wearing woven woolen clothes!
Building an Iron Age farm has cost Jan 20 years of thinking, 5 years of construction, 5,000 working hours and NOK 2 million. Well spent, both time and money, Tobatheornottobathe thinks, because the result is really fabulous. The new (from 2013) longhouse is 27 meters long and consists of stone, timber and turf. Naturally, we do not know in detail how the houses were built in the Iron Age – apart from the stone wall and the corner logs. Jan justifies his construction partly with findings from Sweden. The house in Storvika is heavy and solid and can withstand a storm or three. And that is needed, because the weather can be harsh at the coast of Trøndelag.
‘Janheim’ is furnished for guilds. Could an Iron Age wedding be something?
Jan’s dream has been to recreate the story of who the people in Namdalen originate from and how their ancestors lived. Today, there is scarce information about the way of life before the Viking Era. He thinks we need more knowledge about the time when the ‘Trønder‘ cleared the land, started cultivating the soil and for the first time built houses for people and cattle. People and animals lived together, the cattle provided warm houses during wintertime. Iron Age Jan has put coins under the logs, with the year when the house was built. So, if someone rediscovers the site in another 1,500 years, they don’t need the hassle of carbon dating to find the age of the house.
Tobatheornottobathe is considering a birthday party at ‘Janheim’! Maybe it is even possible to stay overnight here?
Storvika is an adventurous place, completely sheltered from modern times. We had a splendid bath in amazing surroundings, and a fantastic weather. The November bath will probably look a little different.
Enjoying the view.
Our swimming gear was not quite ironage-ish. Next time perhaps a woolen bikini made by the single-needle knitting technique? Or just nothing at all.
References: – Namdalsavisa 25/11-2013: ‘Jernalder-Jan hadde en drøm’. – Information on site.
In the Middle Ages there were only three churches in Namdalen: Nærøy, Overhalla and Fosnes at northern Jøa. Fosnes parish included, among others; Namsos, Flatanger, Otterøya and Gjæslingan.
Today there is only a chapel at Fosnes, as the church site has been moved to the village of Dun in the middle of the island. On the other side of Fosnesvågen you will find Fosnes Camping.
Early Christianity was good at cultural assimilation. The first churches were often placed on existing worshipping sites (hov), but this did not happen on Jøa. Peculiar! Placement of the church site was a very important decision, and around Jøa they had a dispute about this. A legend tells that in order to reach an agreement, fate (God) was allowed to prevail in the following way: The timber foundations of the church were pushed into the sea from Kirkenesset at Salsnes. The church was then to be erected where the logs drifted ashore. And the logs, they drifted ashore in Fosnesvågen on Jøa. But then no one rescued them before they went out to sea again. Now they ended up at Seierstad (today’s ferry quai) at Jøa. But again they drifted out to sea before being salvaged, and time passed. When the logs ran ashore for the third time, it was once again in Fosnesvågen. The logs were picked up and the church built at Fosnes (this is quite reminiscent of how the conquerers in Iceland let the Norse Gods decide the location of the farm by throwing the high seat logs into the sea and notifying where they drifted ashore).
Fosnes Chapel.
We went from Fosnes to Hov on the east side of Jøa (where the church should have been placed), but there were not much visible left of the old times. Further towards the sea, however, is Rakkavika, and that’s a nice place to have a bath.
Sheep and stones in Rakkavika.
We wondered a little about the name, whether a ‘rakker’ had lived there (the rakker used to be the executioner in Norwegian towns, and also the one who emptied toilets and latrines). However, this far out to sea and in areas so desolate, it is unlikely that anyone at Jøa was employed to empty the toilets or run as executioner. It may seem that the word comes from rakke = a ring where the sail is attached to the mast (the ring protrudes from the sail), and in nature something that sticks out is called a headland. Tobatheornottobathe therefore concludes that the name ‘Rakkavika’ means Oddevik (Headland Bay), a really charming contradiction. Comments are welcome!
Nice trails at Hovsodden.
From Rakkavika, there are beautiful hiking trails in several directions. Because of that, we actually did not bathe there, as we wanted to see where the paths brought us. A well-arranged trail leads out towards the sea, to Hovsodden. Benches and tables, a barbecue and a view map are placed there. A fantastic place with a wonderful view!
Hovsodden. Splendid view towards the ocean.
From the barbecue area, an easier, marked path goes all the way to Jøa’s westernmost point. For small children’s feet, this is a really nice ‘mountain tour’, with the possibility of climbing the ‘Rakkabolt’, Jøa’s ‘Kjeragbolt’.
The Conqueress of Rakkabolten.
Once at the sea, you will find the finest white beach you could wish for. At least if you have small children with you.
Beautiful white sand on the beach at Hovsodden. The interesting, yellow geology is a rock of Styrofoam.
Tobatheornottobathe prefer to bathe from rocks in stead of sand, so we went even further out, to Oksholmen (The Oxen Islet). And yes, it was a really wonderful bath.
The coastal rocks were black of algae, and warm! It was really nice to dry off in the sun. For sure it is just right to swim in Rakkavika, but perhaps even better to have a bath at Hovsodden.
