Battlefield repairs, Bunkers and Big sky's.

After another good sleep and a reasonably early breakfast the boys got out for a play on the swings in the campsite, Logan is always willing to go out regardless of the weather but Callum would sometimes prefer to flop and laze about indoors, he was quickly told that wasn't happening and his jacket was put on and told it was outside or bed. This lets us tidy the van and he gets a bit fresh air. I also decided to carry out a Battlefield repair on an issue that had steadily been getting worse on Bessie, our kitchen tap had become very loose and was spinning in its mounting hole, but I had no idea how it was fixed or how to access where it was fixed, so today was the day. I thought it was just a case of taking off the outside top fridge vent to access the fixing so did this, no, its all sealed there and no way in. Did I need to take the fridge out? Seemed too drastic, so the 3rd possible option was to remove the sink. So this is what I did and hey presto, access to the securing nut, I got this tightened and then had some fun getting the sink to locate back into its big circular seal but we got there in the end.


It was dry this early on,  but not for long, by the time we were ready to leave the campsite it was raining hard. I swithered about just heading straight to Trondheim or whether to take a trip over to Froya, Hitra's neighbouring island. We weren't going to see very much in this very "Scottish" weather but it seemed a shame not to visit and I was keen to see the lighthouse and also the remains of the German wartime bunkers at Stabban. So we headed north along what had been a very busy and noisy bit of road the whole time we were there. There is another deep sea tunnel linking these 2 islands also. It would appear that cycling is popular on Froya, I think they have a Tour de
Froya, there was a huge bicycle pinned to a rock as we made our way onto the island, many colourfully painted bikes pinned to the side of buildings and also lots of writing on the road in Tour de France style.

So, why is this road on 2 small islands so busy, and why have the Norwegian government went to all this length and expense building deep undersea tunnels and bridges to connect them all up. Well the answer lies in the islands Salmon fish farming industries. These 2 islands are seen as the cradle of salmon farming. In 1971, 2 brothers had a "great idea". Ove and Sivert Grøntvedt put 20,000 salmon smolt into what is considered to be the worlds first salmon farm. Now some 48 years later Hitra and Froya have become one of the worlds biggest salmon farming locations, now producing around 260,000 tonnes of salmon per year. The roads in the tunnels and at various other places are showing serious signs of overuse from the heavy HGV's that constantly run along them. I hadn't noticed much wrong on the way too the islands, but on the way back off them the deep rutting that is evident from the heavily laden lorries made the drive back less pleasant. 2 big grooves are being pushed into the tarmac-particularly in the tunnel's, so this will be a big repair when they finally decide to do it. That said, there seems to be no end to upgrading the roads with another huge bridge and tunnel being built to straighten out a detour around a fjord head that is necessary at the moment.

As we headed west on Froya there seemed to be a glimmer of hope in the weather, it looked brighter and soon the rain stopped and the sun came out. Froya is very flat, very like the top end of Lewis in the Hebrides or the far north eastern corner of Scotland. So not a massive amount to see, but it is beautiful in its own unique way, and to bird watchers and fishers I am sure would be a paradise. These were also the worst roads we have seen all trip so I certainly needed to keep an eye on the subsidence and ruts to prevent the contents of all the cupboards from fly
ing. Soon we reached the western tip of Froya, and I braved the wind and went out to get a few pictures of the lighthouse. Sletringen lighthouse is not only the tallest lighthouse in Norway, but it is actually the tallest in all of Scandinavia, it is 45 meters tall and has a cast iron tower built onto a concert base, the present lighthouse dates from 1923. You need a boat to get to it as its actually on a little island just off the coast but this was close enough. The boys were hungry and it was time for lunch.

We moved around to Stabban, the site of a well preserved German wartime fort. It was built by 2500 Russian and Serbian prisoners of war between 1941 and 1944 and served as part of the German Atlantic Wall. Only one shot was ever fired from its guns here and that was due to a miscommunication. It is part of a museum complex and guided tours can be arranged around its hundreds of meters of underground tunnels. There was no tour for us but after lunch we took a wee wander around, some of the tunnels are open and have lights in them, its like a rabbits warren underground and if the lights went out while you were down there it might be tricky and little scary getting back out. There is also a look out tower which is sadly going to collapse unless something is done soon. The original 1940's steel supports are succumbing to the elements and the new props are buckling aswell. We wondered what it must have been like to live and work in these tunnels during the war, pretty horrendous I would imagine. Many of the Russian and Serbian prisoners of war are buried in this far flung corner of Norway. The weather by now was fantastic, the view to the mainland was stunning with the mountains standing proud. And the drive back along the northern side of Froya was beautiful, with all the little inlets and sandy coves lit by the sun. I had really contemplated a trip out to the skerrie's of island's to the north but this mornings weather put paid to that idea, it may have been good after all.

Never mind we were heading for Trondheim, we joined back onto he roads we had travelled onto the islands and soon were back on the E39, which is still going-all this distance from Kristiansand where we first arrived on Norway. We want to spend a couple of days in Trondheim if possible so wanted to be as near as possible tonight. We are about 10km outside in a campsite at a place called Oysandan and I am sitting outside at 11:50pm in my shorts and tea shirt watching the sky turn bright orange just after sunset,  and writing up this blog. Joyce and the boys are sleeping, I have a beer, so life is VERY good.