A wedding and some sightseeing - August 2008
Another happy event - Inga Beth and Ståle's wedding - bringing an opportunity to visit friends and family back home in Norway. We planned about 10 days of just fun at and around Rygnestad...
| Visiting Tveitetunet museum | ||
The local chief of police Olav Knutsson Tveiten (1758-1837) lived here. |
The farm was also used as a place of assembly and a temporary lock-up for convicted criminals - now it is just a museum with farming for show. |
Rob checking out one of the famous "hesje", an ancient way of drying hay.... So ancient that Hild and her family spent many many summers making "hesjer" and gaining blisters. |
| Sightseeing hydroelectric dams... | ||
| We went for a day-trip to visit several hydro dams in our area: To Bossvatn and Blåsjøen (blue lake) past Hovden and Haukeligrend to Songavatn dammen pausing for dinner in Rauland and returning home via Åmot and Dalen. There aren't photos of all the dams and scenic stops... just a selected few marked by yellow cicles on the map shown here. |
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Olav explains the story of Bossvatn to Rob. As you can see it is a good year of foxgloves this year (digitalis). |
New powerlines are assembled as part of Otra river hydro electric system - by Agder Energi. We counted at least 13 workers hanging in harnesses in this particular structure. |
We even got to see the helicopter in action. More info on the Agder Energi web site: click here |
The scenery is quite magnificent driving in to Blåsjøen. |
Hild is cold and borrows a fleece jacket for the occasion. |
Yes, the lake is in fact blue as the name indicates... |
... and Hild's toe went blue from the quick "paddle"! |
Rob's "bath" consisted of a hand wash (whimp). |
Janet just watched on - trying to spot reindeer in the distance. |
| No reindeer spotted - only some very lazy goats. |
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After paying the road toll we drove up the narrow winding road to the Songa dam. Good views again... and again looking for reindeer (no luck) |
Checking that the overflow is working - it looks OK to us. |
- although this hole at the bottom of the dam is a bit of a worry. Still, it is probably OK and part of the design! |
We stopped in Rauland to celebrate Olav's 70th birthday (3 months prematurely). |
Olav showing off the gift from us kids and grandkids. |
The gift is two boxes of drill bits and plug cutters - special tools for plugging knot holes during his furniture making... |
| Sightseeing with fjord cruise (Lysebotn - Lauvvik) | ||
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Enjoying a mid-morning snack in the Øygardstølen restaurant overlooking Lysebotn. |
Rob looking down at the harbour in Lysebotn - where we're headed. |
The winding road down to Lysebotn - where we're headed - with 27 hair-pin turns included! |
The overhanging balcony - looking down to Lysebotn. |
Hild looking not-so-happy about standing on the overhanging balcony. |
Olav and Rob enjoying the view. |
Rob looking back up to the Øygardstølen restaurant. |
View from Lysebotn harbour. |
Tourists struggle to control a newly caught fish on the pier at Lysebotn harbour. |
The entrepid tourists ready for departure. (Rob trying to get a wireless connection!!??) |
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Kjeragbolten is known for looking spectacular and for mad people BASE-jumping off the plateau next to it. |
Someone BASE-jumping with guts but with interesting choice of parachute colour (PINK). |
Both jumpers survived this time and landed on the patch of grass at the base of Kjerag. |
The captain kept playing the game of "How close can we get to the side of the fjord?"... and he never hit the bottom, which is hundreds of metres down anyway. |
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At one point we had to use a rickety ladder to pick up additional travellers in the middle of nowhere. |
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The famous Preikestolen square mountain plateau (Preacher's Pulpit) - and with binoculars we could see people sitting on the edge dangling their feet!!! Scary stuff. |
Typical Norwegian view... a bridge going straight into the mountainside - on a bend in the road. Engineering skills needed. |
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A small and isolated community along the fjord. |
And then just a small boat house - nothing else in sight. |
We got off the ferry in Lauvvik just across the fjord from Forsand. Driving home we stopped for delicious more-than-you-can--eat-ribs in Oltedal and only just beat the rain on our way out and back home to Rygnestad. That evening we saw on the news that Oltedal was later submerged in flood waters with roads being washed out!! We obviously escaped just in time. Phew! |
| THE WEDDING | ||
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It was a beautiful wedding and Inga Beth and Ståle did a great job organising it so well.
Inga Beth was in traditional Setesdal wedding costume (although she later changed into something more practical and not so heavy to carry) while Ståle wore his national costume too. Tiril and Eivind, their kids, wore national costumes too. The ceremony was held in historical (and tiny) Bykle Church. It can hold 100 people and we filled it to the rim. The reception was held just up the road at Bykle Hotel. A string of very inventive and artistic guests held numrous speeches including a rap song and multiple PowerPoint presentations!!! We had salmon, deer steak, cloud berries, lots of cakes and soup at around 1 am to keep the party going. |
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Lots of guests wore their national costumes and made it a very colourful event indeed.
(Note: Hild was not seen in her national costume as it mysteriously shrunk over the years!!!) | Birds-eye view of Tiril and Eivind as Flower Girl and Page Boy for their parents. | |
Birds-eye view of the ceremony. Rob and Hild secured seats in the gallery even though - according to tradition - couples should not be seen together up there! |
The bride and groom - welcoming the guests. |
The bride and groom dancing - their speciality. |
| At Rygnestad | ||
Gry Hege on her new cross bike. Very proud and broke (in her own words...) |
Gry Hege and Bjørnar with their bikes. |
Bjørnar on his bike. |
Bjørnar showing off the model war structures he has designed and built himself - in granddad's workshop. |
Bunkers, rivers/lakes, cemeteries... |
Bjørnar working on his model war structures including an advanced watch tower. |
Gry Hege out for a ride. |
Bjørnar suddenly appeared on the roof... as usual... |
Janet's very intricate fountain brings the calming sound of running water to their garden. |
Rob cuddles the sheep. |
Olav feeds the lambs in a contraption that prevents big-headed sheep from stealing the feed. |
Munch, munch, munch. |
Rob & Hild
August 2008