In my neighbourhood: Straumøya

Last weekend my dad was down here visiting, as he was going to his brother to collect some moose meat from this year's hunt. I joined him on a little road trip, and perhaps the side tracks were as interesting as the main purpose of the trip in the end?

Here we are about to cross the Saltstraumen strait, which is where the world's strongest tidal current runs through four times a day. My dad grew up here and even learned swimming in the sea, obviously under what was then considered relatively safe conditions. Today people hardly believe it if I tell them, though it's true. The wind was pretty strong, but not enough to have the bridge closed. Good for us!

This house lies on an island called Straumøya, which lies on one side of the current just mentioned. My grandparents lived in this house in the period 1948-51 or so, while they were waiting for their own house to be built and finished. Back then the island was a quite remote place as there were no bridges; people depended on a local boat route when they wanted to go anywhere. And the boat had to adjust its sailing schedule to the times of the tides. If the currents were too strong you simply had to wait it out. I remember the boat rides from my childhood too; only in 1979 or 1980 were the two bridges replacing the old triangular boat route finished. Anyway, this house was very old and when I saw it a few years back it looked as if it were about to fall down. Lately, however, a guy has started refurbishing it and in return he gets to use it as a weekend home for as long as he wants to. I am very glad they're keeping it, though it's strange to be unable to recognise what was once there.

There is a long and beautiful beach on the northern shores of Straumøya island. The mountains you see and the land on the opposite side are all on the mainland. This beach has an excellent location for lazy summer days, however, since the water here is in a fjord where heaps of water wash in and out every day I suspect the water may be a bit cold even in summer. The distance from the vast [Atlantic] ocean to this sport is unfortunately too short for temperatures to build up. I'll go back in the summer to check, just to be sure :) And as you can see; fishermen regularly use this as a point of departure when heading out to catch some fish.

I found this claw lying in the sand on the beach. I thought perhaps it comes from a king crab (Kamchatcka crab, Russian origin), but my dad disagreed and meant that it comes from a regular crab that was just very large... I also wondered if perhaps it may come from a lobster, though lobsters don't really come this far north. I am not sure, but it was massive! And detatched from whichever body it has belonged to, sadly. Though to be fair; if it had still been 'alive' I would not have dared touch it! :-D

The Børvasstindan mountain range lies on the mainland but is very visible from the Straumøya island too. Many of the peaks here reach more than 1,000 metres a.s.l. There are trails leading to the top of several of them, as well as hiking trails in the vally between them and in the areas leading up to them. I have hiked a trail that comes from the south and ends up on 'this' side of the range after passing through the valley between the two rows of peaks, and it was Absolutely Awesome. Next summer I will do it again, this year I arrived too late for it to be a safe activity.

You'll just have to wait and see - I'll share the piccies one day :)