Day 228. Stavanger weather and restday
Posted by: James on August 16, 2009Distance 0km | Time 0hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m
The weather forecast was right and it was indeed another foul day. The rain was torrential and was bouncing back off the garden furniture. In addition the wind was at least as strong as yesterday and the tops of the trees were swaying and whipping in the wind. It was not a day for paddling.
I had the luxury of having very little to do. The writing was up to date. I had done all the tinkering with the website and there was nothing nagging on that topic. Tom had brought some books around and I spent the morning reading through them. One was a book by a Swede called Jim Danielsen who paddled the Norwegian coast some 20 years ago and was perhaps the first to do so. The other was a coffee table type book with masses of aerial photographs from northern Norway and Finnmark in particular.
A little after lunch Tom and his partner, Vivian, came round. While Tom and myself were not talking about the paddling Vivian and myself were talking about working offshore in the North Sea as she worked in that field and was occasionally on the rigs, but as largely based in Stavanger arranging training.
It was apparent that Tom was most taken by Finnmark out of all the sections of the trip. In retrospect Finnmark would probably be the most memorable for me also. It was certainly the most challenging so far. Troms was perhaps the most spectacular and Nordland (Helgelandskyst) the most idyllic.
There was a short pause in the weather so we went for a short walk nearby along the edge of the Hafrsfjord. There was a great battle here in which Harald Harfagre defeated his rivals some 1000 years ago and united Norway under him. He then appointed 12 governors to rule the districts he had collected together.
There was a large monument at the edge of this fjord on a knoll of a broken chain link. This was to commemorate the 130 odd people who lost their life when the 5 legged semi submersible capsized after a chain broke and a leg broke off. This happened in the early days of the North Sea around 1980. There was a list of names. Apparently about half were from the Stavanger region but I counted about 10 Scottish names on it also.
Before the rain returned we headed back to Toms’ brothers house. Tom and Vivian soon had to go but Tom arranged to come and help with the kayak tomorrow and also to meet for a paddle on Tuesday around the Egersund area.
Just before they left Oyvind, Elin and the two nice kids, Lasse and Elena, returned. They had been at a cabin with other members of the extended family. There was more brotherly banter and leg-pulling before Tom finally left.
In the evening Elin treated everyone to a carry out meal and Oyvind showed me how he had transformed the house. He had added another storey virtually by building a new roof over the present one and then removing the original one. The upstairs space created was large and bright. Tom helped him with much of this while a brother-in-law did all the electrics.
After the kids were in bed we chatted for a few hours until after midnight. Oyvind a joiner to trade had an interesting history as a UN peace keeper in Lebanon for a few years.
It was a very sociable day in very good company. I am genuinely sure I will keep in touch with the Amundsens and hope I can repay their superb hospitality in Scotland some day.