Norway.

Sounds great

Although I did read that as 'mouse meat' initially which as a bit alarming.

Sounds a wonderful place to visit . I know Sweden quite well and would echo your comments on education and the habit of disappearing into the wilds on a Friday (fabulous for star gazing as well)

Would this be an entirely inappropriate place to ask if you all know the difference between a Moose and a Gnu? (Answer: You can't paddle a Moose but you can paddle a Gnu)

Being of Norwegian descent, George already gnu that...

And you can fish with an Otter!

ATB from George

PS: Many pictures will follow once they are developed and scanned! I have some digital ones, but hopefully the old film camera will have caught more of the atmosphere ...

PPS: Just been sharing some Aquavit [and beer] with my friend Pawel, who has bought a snazzy road bike so we tested it with a ride out on my Carlton. And I was able to place my neighbour's unwanted mountain cycle also with Pawel. So we can cycle off for some [to be put back, unfortunately] fishing in UK now. All I need is a rod, and some flies!

George, having worked in Sweden for six months in 1967 as part of my university course, I can relate to the weekends away in the forests, fishing, hiking and drinking. I was based in Orebro and the surrounding area was full of lakes that were so inviting, we must have swum in one, every lunch time when we were out surveying. 

A few years ago we went on a cruise to Norway, Geiranger, Flam, Olden, Bergen and the countryside was so peaceful and beautiful.

I've been to Norway three times now, up to the North Cape in 1976, and the Lofoten Islands in 2010. A wonderful country, with sublime scenery, very much my type of country. The only serious problem with Norway is the cost: Norwegian salaries are high and everything seems very expensive

Next on my list, though, is a cruise to the North with Hurtigruten, whatever the cost...

The digital photos:

Looking South-west from the Cabin yard.

The Cabin, built by my grandmother;s aunt in the 1920s. I slept in the upstairs room of which you can see the window.

From the road [unmade] to Tuva, on the top of the Hardangervidda, where my grandmother's ashes were spread.This is a peak of 150 metres above the general plateau, which itself gives views from Bergen on the Westcoast right into Sweden toward the East.

Looking West towards Bergen. The farthest hills are on the Westcoast.

Looking Northwards to the Harlingskarvet. One of the biggest mountains in Norway, if not the highest.

Coming back down to Skudalen, the Skurdalsvatn is the main water to see, and we have come below the treelione.

 Skurdalsvatn, looking mor or less due South.

Fifty years ago this was  main road! The school children went along it twice a day, ... Now there is s straighter and wider made road ...

From the Northwest end of the water. Skurdalsvatn is just over four kilometres long.

The feeding river for the lake.

 And facing downstream from the 1987 bridge that carries forestry work, hunters and walkers.

The lower bridge, now restored for walkers, almost at the level of the lake.

Warning in two languages ...

 You can boat up to the old bridge off the lake just rowing.

ATB from George.

I have taken three 36 exposure 35 mm films to be developed, and these will be finer than my digital efforts.

Please excuse my amateur photography. and for sure the lack of family photos. I would never publish those ...

George, great pics. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Norway, now on my bucket list!

Hi George

Amazing country...and my wife is of Norwegian descent

Glad you enjoyed it..looks idyllic

Our relatives keep us supplied, but no Aquavit for me tonight...have 50 Kms to cycle in the morning...

Look forward to more pictures...

BR

I brought a one litre Aquavit back and we [my Polish mate and I] scored three shots apiece with beer as a prelude to a done in afternoon for me and for him his wife's bollocking for leaving the house without saying why!

It is a litre so should be the prelude to some good parties! Though it is the weaker export version!

I had Aquavit Linie the night before,[leaving] which would be illegal in the EU! Too strong for non-Norwegians, or Poles, whose Spiritus is version of Wodka that is not exported either. Makes Schnapps seem like beer!

ATB from George

PS: If my old 35 mm rangefinder film camera [fifty years old so I was told by the camera shop today, and one of them really wanted it] has made good photos, then I'll post the best. Scenery, and epic photos always work best ion film rather than digital, and I certainly challenged the camera with what I aimed at! I used 400 film as it can be quite dark at this time of year in Norway. It was full moon on Wednesday evening, and amazing. But this might not work well. The digital camera works nicely only in bright conditions. Two weeks till they are developed in the old style without any digital intervention at all, but the process is no longer quick for the old style film if you want to avoid the digital computer and rather have the efforts of craftsmen.

Thanks for posting those photos George...it is always interesting to see other lands and especially as you were "on the ground floor" so to speak, and not on a touristy excursion.

Dear Dr. Mark,

This is NOT the tourist trail, but the Norway that can be found by turning off the main highway. But the real Norway is not this either. It is a country that despite being poor for centuries is proof that what it does right, such as education and care for the old, paid for by a vision of entrepreneurship that does not fail to account for those who cannot be very good at being well off. is possible even in the modern go get world 

The capitalists of the world would do well to look at the model. It is a form of tamed capitalism, mixed gloriously with a form of of non-totalitarian communism.

Quite extra-ordinary. 

ATB from George

With the help, of course, of North Sea oil and gas - which are far better managed than in other parts of the world.

An idyllic place indeed - let's not forget, however, that far right populist movements are powerful (as they are in Denmark), let's not forget that Norway produced an Anders Breivik. How could that happen...

Thanks for the photographs, the last time I went I also had both a film camera and a digital camera. I'm afraid digital photography has made so much progress that it was the last time I used my (35-year-old) film camera.

Very true, but things were well organised in the 1960s when oil was just a prospect.

Of course, having known relative poorness compared to Sweden for example, the Norwegians fully understood that the oil money was not for the generation it was gained from. the money is in the bank - not spent. and while money in the bank is no guarantee, it does help.

ATB from George

My one cousin's husband shares a given name with Breivik. 

How did that happen? Every culture produces its lunatics, but it has changed attitudes of complacency in Norway. Norway is full of incoming Norwegians, called "New Norwegians", but Breivik shows the problem can start at home. I assume he would have been one who supported the Nazi invasion in 1940.

But that invasion led to an occupation of 3 Million Norwegians by 300,000 Nazis - ten to one - because the main Norwegian population was not co-operative. That kind of involvement of Nazi troops in an unresponsive territory help stop Nazi soldiers fighting in Russia or the Western Front.

Norway did do its parts, fighting tyranny in WWII.

ATB from George

George,

I agree with both your posts - that being said, there is in Norway, as in Denmark and other wealthy nations of the North, a general feeling that "this is our nation, and we're not going to share". Hence the rise of populist parties in those countries, very different from the rise of populist parties in France, Britain, or Southern Europe. That, of course, has nothing to do with Anders Breivik - who was (is) just a lunatic.

I suppose no nation's perfect, some are less imperfect than most, and I would be quite happy to live in Norway.

I suppose no nation's perfect, some are less imperfect than most, and I would be quite happy to live in Norway.

If I won a Lottery ticket then I'd live in Norway.

Quite simple really.

ATB from George

Of course the Scandinavian countries cannot overcome to feed the whole world, but for most of us Scandinavians , I think, it is not a question of "we do not want to share" , but a question of even in the future being the majority in our country, in order to be able to maintain our national culture, the horror scene being the situation where our countries are crowded with foreigners, who want to change our habits and introduce sharia law et.c.

the horror scene being the situation where our countries are crowded with foreigners, who want to change our habits and introduce sharia law et.c.

Isn't that a bit excessive?

Whether you/we like it or not, your/our habits will change, as they have changed in the past. Britain's population today is very different from that of the 1930s: that's what history is about - and history is anything but static.