Siktesoeya, Norway | FreeWillTravel.com

Saturday, June 17, 2006

I arrived in Langesund on the Kystlink ferry from Denmark (about 20 euros?) early in the morning, my jolly good old friend Joergen came to pick me up in his boat....

Joergen, with the ferry in the background.

We went straight out to sea to collect the "cages" (a fishing tool, Norwegian "teiner") that had been set out the night before. We OF COURSE only wanted to catch crabs, as catching threatened LOBSTERS is ILLEGAL! To our SURPRISE and HORROR, a poor LOBSTER had made his way into one of the teiner!! We wanted to wait for another boat nearby, going at a suspiciously slow speed, to pass before lifting the teine into the boat - the people in the other boat might actually see the lobster and think that we INTENDED to catch lobsters, when all we wanted to do was OF COURSE to RELEASE it back into the sea! I lowered the teine in question back down to the bottom and proceeded to hoist up the others - we caught a few crabs. A few minutes later, when the other boat had disappeared, we went back to the first teine... It was a JOYFUL moment when we discovered that the lobster in the mean time had made his own way out of the teine. He'd done the job for us, we wouldn't have to jeapordise our fingers in our quest to RELEASE him. Good luck, little lobster!

This is Joergen's family's hytte (cabin) on the island of Siktesoeya, an absolutely enchanting place. Old and new friends have met up here for a week every summer for as long as I can remember. THE week this summer will be later on in August when I will be somewhere completely different, but I was lucky to come here for at least a weekend... well, a day, more like it.

Badly drawn hytte by myself a few years ago. They politely framed it...

So what is a "hyttetur" ("trip to the cabin")? Joergen and I had a long discussion. You'll find hytter anywhere in Norway, but the most common kinds are the ones in the mountains and the ones by the sea. We both agreed that for a hyttetur to be authentic, the conditions must be basic... such as an outside toilet, no running water etc. The aim of a hyttetur is often to achieve some sort of peaceful state of mind, but how this comes about is highly subjective. Some people spend most of their time fishing or climbing mountains, others work on various building-projects, and others, like myself, are quite content just playing cards, drinking beer, doing nothing.... with a good conscience!

Hyttertur is an important part of Norwegian culture - get yourself invited to one!

Torbjoern the maths genious.

Kristine on the rocks, bottom right; Torbjoern's girlfriend.

Joergen engrossed in the best / worst newspaper in the world: VG. Their headlines are legendary, such as "SLEPT - DIED".

Linn, Joergen's girlfriend, pondering if life can have meaning.

Myself doing nothing - the best part of a hyttetur.

Joergen playing with the food - a king crab. Delicious. I caught it with a shotgun... I wish.

Health

It was time to do a survey of my body after a month of abuse... I got a tick on Vlieland, removed by Jan in Marum. At the same time, I discovered a rash / bunch of spots / bites on my right thigh:

What you can't quite see from the photo is that the whole area around the spots is hairless, with only a bit of stubble. Did someone shave my thigh in my sleep? I later came up with the theory that sitting on dirty coins in my long perforated back pocket, combined with bad hygiene, was the cause. At the time of writing, a few weeks later, it's a bit better but still hairless! (Maybe I will make a fortune on a new hair removal technique?)

Then I discovered the causes of my sore feet... Funghi of many colourful kinds and big blisters. My shoes are actully very good breathable running shoes, but I haven't been good enough at giving my feet airing breaks in between all the abuse. I discovered that canesten can be used for many things, and now it's a lot better! (Joergen's father, Dr. Nilsen, later told me that an alternative to canesten, something ending in "-zoll", does exactly the same thing for half the price... Hear, hear, women of the world!)

How to deal with blisters

Wear good shoes, give your feet a break now and again, make sure they don't get wet, give them plenty of air. If it's already too late, here's one way of doing it:

1. Use a sterilised needle, or failing that a thin knife.

2. Pierce the blister:

3. Drain the blister:

4. Bathe your feet in cold salt water... heavenly!

5. Disinfect it, dry it, don't remove the skin.

6. Use compeed or some other breathable "replacement skin" that lets the skin heal by itself whilst not making matters worse. Even better - don't wear shoes for a week and let them heal naturally!

7. Ask your mum to pay for an appointment with a foot specialist... :-)