Back on the farm

I know I’ve done a couple of updates already but I figured it was worth doing the whole thing and bringing you up to the present day. After all I’ve been on the farm here in Løland for 2 weeks now! Time really does pass quickly when you’re busy.

So as the title suggests I’m back volunteering on a farm/small holding, in Norway this time. This is the first of 3 volunteer placements I’ve arranged for Norway and as before I’ve used  Helpx click to see helpx website to help me set them up. This time the small holding is really at a start up level. Scott and Emilia,

bought the farm last autumn and after what sounded like a nightmare start over winter (frozen toilet waste pipe anyone) are getting to grips with building their dream.

The small holding is based here click here for map and it’s time for real country Norway. The closest big town is Bergen a good 3 hour drive and a ferry ride away. The other towns are about 2 hours away and there’s a few collections of houses with the obligatory Spar within about 30 mins drive. There are also a couple of farms and few house dotted about, but its hardly social central!

To be honest I’m a little jealous. I’ve always harbored a little dream of my own mini farm and they’ve got almost the perfect set up! To get an idea, this is the view from my bedroom window...

Anyway, the farm is about 5 acres of land around the house/chalet, with about 50 acres of forest. There’s a barn, the remains of the original house...

river frontage and a chalet/summer house which they’re currently living in. There aren’t any animals on the farm at the minute, although there are plans for rabbits, chickens and goats. Well I say there aren’t any animals but Scott and Emilia actually breed Bengal’s so there are currently a male, Odin.

A female, Freya...

and their five hyperactive kittens..

Unsurprisingly being kittens its hard to get them to stay still long enough to get a good photo, but I think you can see the cute factor! I have fallen completely in love with them and am definitely getting a couple of Bengals when I eventually settle down.

Given that there’s a lot to do to get the small holding up and running I’ve been pretty busy these past couple of weeks and I’ve been loving every minute. Just to give you an idea of the kind of things I’ve been doing I thought I’d give you a mini photo example of some my work!

So, take the barn for example, the inside walls downstairs started off looking like this...

pretty but also drafty! So, with a few extra stones, some mortar and my skills in wall building (I once built a brick BBQ and somehow managed to get it straight!) you end up with this...

and after Scott and I got busy with the limewash...

I think it looks quite pretty and the limewash helps reflect the light so its not nearly as dark in there any more.

Then you’ve got the insulation. Now I’m not going to say that I did all the insulation because Emilia did a fair bit before I got there, but I’ve definitely done at least half of the main upstairs room and part of the downstairs in the barn. There’s a bit more to go up in the next couple of days as well. Its not a straightforward job because all of the spaces between rafters are different sizes. Constantly different sizes. Also the insulation is basically made of glass fibres, which get everywhere and are pretty painful when you get them on your skin or in your eyes. Hence the reason I look like some weird mix of ninja and odd job man..

I’ve also found and relocated the strawberry patch...

It’s there honest...

See! It took a few days as there were way more plants than I’d originally thought and I had to deturf (is that a word?) the new beds before we could do anything else.

The bottom bed in that last picture is now filled and the strip of green in between the bottom two, has now been replaced with the last strawberry plants. I’m pretty impressed with myself on this one!

Other than that its been lots of digging up boulders/stones etc and removing them from the  fields, relocating blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes and general land clearance. I think I might actually be acquiring teeny, tiny muscles in my arms too! Still its not all been work, work, work. The area around the farm is excellent for gentle hiking and I’ve seen some beautiful sights. Check these out...

Not bad eh?

The only downside to hiking in this area is the fact that its pretty wet. By that I do actually mean, wet ground, squishy mud and weird boggy areas. Not, that the scenery isn’t up to much! It’s gotten so that I’ve actually been out and bought some wellie boots to give my normal hiking boots a rest. I think they might actually be starting to rot!

I’ve also managed to go swimming in the fjord, which was surprisingly warm! Although now the temperature is starting to drop its not nearly as inviting a prospect.

I’ve also managed to see some lovely sunsets...

and Scott and Emilia took me to see the Bøyabreen Glacier tongue...

which has a beautiful glacier lake at the bottom...

We also went to Huldafossen, which is another good waterfall about an hour and a half from the farm...

and a small ‘village’ museum close by...

I really do love the turf roofs.

So that pretty much brings you up to date. I’m here on the small holding until Wednesday when I head back to Bergen to catch the overnight train to Oslo. Once there I’ll be meeting up with Hui and then heading down to the 2nd farm just outside of Oslo for about 3-4 weeks. I’m also applying for jobs over the winter period so I’ll keep you posted on any good results!

Now my feet are freezing and the sun’s disappearing! I’ll catch you again soon x

Trains, Boats and automobiles...

One of the key things to do when you get this way, is the ‘Norway in a Nutshell Tour’. It’s pretty famous and because it takes whole day I’ve decided to dedicate a whole post to it. The tour takes you though some of the most scenic areas of the Fjords and is well worth doing.

First of all you get the train from Bergen to Myrdal. It’s a 2 hour journey and we spent the first part with crossed fingers as all we’d had for the past couple of days had been cloud and rain.

As you can see by the time we got to Myrdal station the clouds were almost gone

Myrdal station is the start of the Flåm (say Flom) railway and its (as well as this whole trip) is a tourists heaven. It’s a 20km train ride with a gradient of 1 in 18 for a good 80% of the journey (that means bloody steep btw).

Basically the train takes you down to Flåm which is in the Aurlandsfjord, a branch of Sognefjord (the worlds longest fjord). There are covered tunnels that cling to the side of the mountain...

As well as a stop at Kjosfossen, where you get 10 minutes to take photos and listen to a lone trumpet player. I have no idea why they thought it was needed but we scanned the cliffs and can only assume he was hiding or it was weird tourist tape thing to add ‘atmosphere’

You also get to see the 21 hair pin turns on the old road up the steep Myrdalsberget mountain.

and a lot of other waterfalls and areas of avalanche damage.

after about an hour or so you get to Flåm which is populated by a few houses, a dock and the obligatory set of old looking houses/barns housing various cafes and tourist shops. Saying that they do an interesting Lemon Meringue pie in cheesecake form which was well worth it.

Once you’ve had a look around, relaxed on the beach for a bit....

its time to get on the 2 hour boat journey through Aurlandsfjord from Flåm to Gudvangen. It’s a beautiful ride and in the sunshine the fjords look truly stunning...

You also get to see the ‘never failing to amaze me’ sight of various individual farms and communities that perch themselves on virtually inaccessible points around the fjord. This next photo (and I’m not sure if you’ll get to see it properly) has a house perched 3/4’s of the way up the mountain, accessible only by a boat and a tiny trail that winds its way up the mountain.

I’ve recently seen a DVD about remote farms in Scandinavia and I can honestly say that I think they’re a bit nuts. You might not believe it but they transported all the stuff to build the houses by hand and pulleys. Obviously this was in the time before TV’s and helicopters!

Even though I think they’re a bit nuts for doing it, there’s a tiny part of me that looked at this...

and thought what a fantastic idea it would be to live there, I truly could become an eccentric old cat lady then!

Once you get to Gudvangen, you’re picked up by a fleet of tourist buses for the hour journey to Voss. Now the ‘highlight’ of this part of the tour is the 13 steep Stalheimskleivane hairpin bends.

it is pretty impressive that the coaches can make their way down the bends, but after 5 hours of fjords, sunshine and trains, it was a little underwhelming. Especially as the scenery on the way to Voss is pretty but not necessarily outstanding. Once you get back to Voss its another 2 hours on the train back to Bergen. I don’t know about Rachel but I know I missed most of the scenery on the way back through unintentional snoozing.  By the time we got back we were both exhausted! A definite recommendation though, even if you have to share it with other tourists! 

Thanks a lot for taking me Rachel, I had an excellent time x

Bergen Block

Is what it feels like I have. Every time I sit down to write this post I become totally lame and  just stare clueless at the screen... which is strange really as I quite liked Bergen, spent over a week there AND managed to hang out with a good friend of mine too. Maybe because there was so much that we did it’s difficult to know where to start... how about a bit of background? Ok, lets give it a whirl.

Bergen, Norway’s second largest city and with about 250,000 residents. Did you know it’s twinned with Newcastle upon Tyne and Seattle? No? Me neither. Situated on the south-west coast of Norway, Bergen itself is sheltered from the North Sea by 3 large islands. Which means that it escapes the worst of the weather, but unfortunately not the rain...

still at least its pretty in the sunshine.  You can’t really see it from the photo but Bergen is situated in an area known as the seven mountains (although people in Bergen can’t seem to agree which, of the many surrounding Bergen, count as part of the seven). The photo was taken on top of Fløyen after a cute ride on a funicular.

Bergen used to trade extensively with Northern Norway for dried cod. Back in the late 14th century a group known as the Hanseatic Merchants were so successful in this kind of trade, they ended up with their own seperate quarter of town. The quayside of which is now known as Bryggen and its a totally cool (if slowly sinking) group of old wooden warehouses/shops etc.

its a really interesting place to wander around, even if it is populated purely by tourist shops, restaurants and erm... well more tourist shops really. They’re continually repairing the buildings and only use old methods, so no power tools and some pretty funky woodwork. They could probably do with using a plumb line now and again, but then again it’s all part of the charm..

Hmm ok, that wasn’t so hard. Its possible this could be a long post though so put the kettle on!

I think it’s possible that I managed to see pretty much everything there is to see in Bergen. Or at least anything that they thought was worth including in a tour guide, particularly when  Rachel turned up.

The one thing I’d just like to point out to anyone that’s thinking of going to Bergen is, if its in the tourist information brochure, you’d better get up early! 99% of the things you want to see are only open between 10/11am and 4pm. Yup that’s right. It’s a complete pain in the arse, as you really have to get a move on to fit in more than a couple of museums a day.

So here’s my quick guide to the bits I did manage to see (and remembered to take a photo of)..

Håkon’s Hall and the Rosenkrantz Tower.

Rosenkrantz Tower was built in the 1560’s by the governor of Bergen castle. Håkon’s Hall was built in the mid 1200’s by Håkon Håkonsson when Bergen was the political centre of Norway.

You can do these in the same session as they’re right next to each other. Although if you don’t realise the above rule about opening times, you’ll only get to see the outside of one of them! Oh and if you go here they give you a free cup of coffee in their cafe and a ticket that gets you 50% discount off some of the other museums. Bargain.

We managed to see Rosenkrantz Tower and its well worth the visit if you like climbing towers and seeing lots of empty stone walled rooms. Bizzarely that’s one of my favourite things to do so I was a happy bunny.

Domkirken (or Bergen Cathedral)

Bergen Cathedral was something I ended up walking past every day as it was on the way to my hostel. Originally built some time in the late 1100’s and rebuilt a fair few times after being burnt down (Bergen had a huge problem with fires) it’s looked like this...

since about 1650. Apparently it used to have a Rococo interior (think overly ornate, lots of ornamental flourishes) but after a renovation in the late 1880’s they took it back to its medieval origins and now its just looks stark and uninviting. It has however got a pretty cool organ that reminds me of a lego version of Darth Vader...

See?

Nykirken

Ok so I did a little more indulging in my church addiction although Bergen has far more than I took photos of. Nykirken was built in 1621 (according to the blurb). Apparently it was built after many complaints from the people on the far side of the harbour, about the difficult walk to the cathedral. Now modern times aside it couldn’t have taken more than 20 minutes to walk between the churches, take out the modern roads and you’re talking approximately 40 mins ? I thought people with faith were meant to be diligent and patient?

Anyway here you go...

Now although the building was originally there since 1621, its had its fair share of fires, rebuildings and restorations, the latter as late as the 1950’s when they finally added the steeple that had been in the original plans but never built.

Inside it feels like a mix between baroque and some weird 1950’s television show. It’s really bright, open with a weird pulpit mid way down the hall and an angel that descends from the ceiling to baptise children.

Yep, you heard me right. An angel. On an automated pulley system that can descend from the ceiling. Can anyone smell gimmick?

I know that it works because the guy in the church, gave Rachel and I a truly exciting demonstration. Apparently the children are always amazed by it. If only I’d been a child I would have been able to crack a proper smile and not a ‘will he notice if I make a break for the door’ version.

Johanneskirken

Ok, so the last church in my photo album is Johanneskirken (or St John’s Church). The only real cruciform style church we found and a typical gothic revival style. Built in the late 1880’s its not only the largest church in Bergen, but apparently the highest. I’m guessing they’re talking steeple height here and not just because its on a hill overlooking the others!

Annoyingly enough it was also suffering from odd open hours and even though I made it there a few times I still didn’t get a chance to look inside.

The Cube
Now this is probably one of my favourite things in Bergen. It’s a piece of installation art, temporarily on show at Festplassen.

It’s by a guy called Bård Breivik and its actually really hard to find information on it! As far as I know it’s going to  be split into 4 panels and put into the outer walls of the new building for the Institute of Informatics. Apparently the four walls represent 4 types of mathematical equations - Orion's Belt, High C, Doppler Chamber Tone A, and Fractals. I wish I knew which ones were which, but here’s a closer look at them anyway...

Personally I think it works way better as a cube.

Bergen Aquarium

I’ve always had a bit of an internal war I go to Aquarium’s and Zoo’s. Part of me loves being able to see things that I don’t usually or maybe won’t get to see in the wild. The other part of me gets completely depressed at seeing animals in such tiny pens/enclosures with nothing to stimulate them and nothing like their natural environment.  So, even though I went and enjoyed some of the animals I probably wouldn’t recommend Bergen Aquarium. The enclosures are tiny, considering they’re almost on the edge of a peninsula you’d have thought they could have built more imaginative and larger enclosures. Maybe even using the actual bay in some way.

Anyway. I’ll stop bitching and show you some of the animals...

nope they’re not dead, just sleeping. The coolest thing about their enclosure was the chance to see them underwater...

They’re amazingly quick and so much more graceful than you’d think.

Now this one was sleeping (according the blurb I saw later on behaviour). It kept making motions like it was catching fish, very cute if slightly weird to see. There were 3 in the enclosure and personally I thought they looked liked bored extras in a mafia movie...

There were also a lot of crocodiles and alligators, along with a huge variety of fish and the worlds smallest shark tunnel (and possibly the worlds smallest sharks). The lighting however was pretty dark and it was a pain in the ass taking photos. This one I think pretty well sums up how I felt about the Aquarium as a whole though...

Fløyen

You remember earlier when I was saying that the picture I’d taken of Bergen, was taken from the top of Fløyen? The funicular to get to the top is a major attraction in Bergen, however there’s also good reasons to go up and have a good wander around the top. There are easy trails through some lovely woodland, which makes a great change from the  bustle of normal Bergen. You can hang out at one of the many picnic huts or there are loads of BBQ areas that are equally lovely. Failing that, you can be a complete kid and play with the trolls...

and who doesn’t love finding trolls?

Ok, so there are tonnes of other things to do in Bergen, most of which I forgot to take photos of or I’ve taken so many photos that its hard to know what to include!  There are a couple of things that I do want to mention though. Iron Maiden for one. I know who thought they were still touring! Certainly not me, or at least not touring other than festivals. It would  seem however that they have a new album out ‘The Final Frontier’ and have gone to number 1 in the Album charts in quite a few countries. I’m not sure if that’s the metal album charts or just the normal ones. The reason why I mention them is that they were playing in Bergen whilst we were there and we managed to see not only the stage going up (with the number of genuinely fit roadies definitely improving) but we also caught some of their set, for free! Free metal is always good metal in my opinion.

In addition to the above I thought I’d leave you with a couple of other things that I liked in Bergen and some sunset/cloud photos. For no other reason than I think they’re pretty and they make me smile, which is pretty much how I felt about Bergen really.

Next up will be a tourist staple of Norway...
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