Trish – Page 7 – Patricia McLellan's Blog

2021-06-02

Route 755 – Inderøy and Indre Fosen

The start of route 755

Route 755 begins at the E6 intersection in Røra, in the municipality of Inderøy. The E6 is a south-north major highway route through Norway, having started at the southern tip of Sweden, running up the west coast of Sweden and continuing north through Norway and ending at Kirkenes, close to the Russian border.

Route 755 runs east to west from the intersection at Røra to the intersection at Vanvikan with Route 715, which is another south-north route.

When driving from the south on the E6, and you see this building, make the next left-hand turn. This is our local juice and jam factory.

When driving from the south this is the intersection of the E6 and route 755. There is a left-hand turn lane. The 755 goes to Vanvikan about 91 km away.

Coming from the south one makes a left-hand turn. In the years while I was working at Verdal Senior Secondary School, I went through this intersection twice a day. However, this is not how the intersection has always been. When I first started working in Verdal in 1988, there was a level crossing of the train tracks here, which created long line-ups in rush hour traffic as trains go by here at least twice an hour on working days. The current intersection opened in 2005 and everyone was glad when there was a bridge for the train and the road went under the train tracks.

The sign tells us that route 755 will take you to Straumen, Mosvik, Leksvik and Vanvikan. The closest bridge is the train bridge and the farther bridge is for cars and pedestrians. The intersection is a right-hand turn and just past both bridges. Note the farms in the background.

Approaching the intersection of the E6 and route 755 from the north. One makes a right-hand turn. The cars now drive under the railway tracks. The bridge you see is for cars and pedestrians.

Another view of the intersection, taken from the car bridge over the E6.

Røra to Straumen

Røra is a housing area in Inderøy municipality and also features one elementary school quite close to this intersection, one railway station on the railway line from Trondheim to Bodø (called Nordlandsbanen). In addition there are several companies that are located here, including a jam and juice company and several construction companies.

I am standing on a pedestrian/bicycle path beside Route 755, looking westwards.

A note about signs in Norway. The blue sign indicates that pedestrians and cyclists are to use the provided path. The yellow sign tells which route you are on (755) and the distances to major places along the route: Leksvik (62 km), Mosvik (25 km) and Straumen (7 km). The white sign indicates a business, in this case a hotel, Jægtvolden which is 10 km from here.

Route 755 is about 91 kilometers long, but it passes through various types of terrain, including farmland, shoreline on fjords, river valleys and forest-clad hills. The road goes downhill and uphill and rarely has straight sections. (See the Wikipedia article in English for other information.) For me, the importance of this route is that I used it for 30 years as part of my commute to work in Verdal. Now we mostly travel from home to Straumen. Every now and then we travel west of Mosvik. My husband worked in Leksvik for many years and he knew that section of the road a bit too well.

As one drives west from Røra, first the road passes the elementary school and the industrial area. Then it crosses farm fields before it goes downhill to Borgenfjorde, also called Bjørgin. Borgenfjord is tidal seawater and stretches north into Steinkjer municipality and is flanked by farm fields on all sides.

Borgenfjord on a day when the water was very still and gave beautiful reflections. Here the road runs along the edge of the fjord.

When a road runs along the edge of a fjord, it is never straight. It winds this way and that and reduces the speed that one can drive at. Here the speed limit is 70 km an hour, but I usually drive it at 60 kmph or even less when it is covered in snow or ice.

After crossing Straumbrua and the swiftly flowing current under it, one comes to Straumen, the municipal center of Inderøy and 7 km from the start of route 755. Here you find shops, a bank, three levels of schools , an art gallery and a lot of housing, both single family dwellings and apartments. There is also the intersection with a road leading to Steinkjer (route 761).

Straumen is seen in the distance, across Borgenfjord.

Straumbrua – Straumen Bridge built in 1958.

Straumen to Mosvik

Continuing west along route 755 one sees both the new church and the old church and continues between more farms on both sides of the road.

Looking west from the old church in Straumen, This part of the road is one that we have driven hundreds of times in the 32 years we have lived in Inderøy.

From Straumen, route 755 gives good views over Trondheim Fjord as the road follows the curves of the hillside and takes one through the area called Utøy to Skarnsund Bridge. Driving home from work along this road over the years, I watched the clouds discharging their loads, moving in the winds, or reflecting sunlight. It was never a boring route to drive, unless behind a slow moving tractor.

In its first years, Skarnsund Bridge was a toll bridge and we rarely drove over it, though we would walk over it for the exercise. Now that it is free, we drive over it regularly to go to Mosvik.

Skarnsund Bridge is a little over a kilometer long and bridges the gap between the peninsula of Inderøy and Mosvik. There will a separate blog article about the bridge and how it was built.

Once you have crossed the bridge the road mostly hugs the coastline along the fjord until you come to Mosvik.. You can see more about Mosvik in a previous blog.

Mosvik to Leksvik

This impressive mansion lies on the hill overlooking Mosvik. The landowners own a large part of the forest in Mosvik which is used to provide income.

From Mosvik route 755 heads inland, and over the hills, around the lakes and through the forest. There are few farms and a lot of wild areas. The road can be a bit lonely, especially in the winter when it is covered in ice and snow. There isn’t the same amount of traffic on this section of the road as between our home and Straumen.

The barrier in the road is to keep sheep on the far side. In the summer months, one must be prepared to see sheep either wandering along the road, or even sleeping on the warm asphalt. We were lucky that the sheep weren’t out yet.

This is a typical section of the road “over the forest”, as they say in Norwegian. Photo courtesy of Alasdair McLellan while I was driving.

Liatjønna, one of many small lakes along this road. This lake, or tern, has been made accessible for wheelchair users and fishing is allowed, as long as you pay a fee.

Every year this rock, that sticks out a bit in a bend of the road, is repainted by the secondary school graduates of Leksvik. This seems to be from last year’s graduates. Perhaps the pandemic has influenced this year’s graduates. Photo courtesy of Alasdair McLellan, taken while the car was in movement and through the windshield.

One large lake along route 755 is Melting Lake, which is used to provide hydro power.

Eventually the road comes out of the forest and heads downhill through farms to the village of Leksvik which lies on Trondheim fjord. We are now in the neighboring municipality of Indre Fosen.

Coming down from the top of the hill into Leksvik – here the valley opens out and the land is farmed. Facing south, the slope captures a lot of sunshine.

We stopped at the church as it is on the hill before going down into the village. Especially in rural areas, cemeteries are usually located beside the church. Down at the water’s edge, there is an industrial area. Up on the hill is agricultural land.

Leksvik to Vanvikan

As we continue westwards from Leksvik, the road mostly runs along the coastline affording views of Trondheim on the south side of the fjord.

Trondheim Fjord is quite wide at this point. Trondheim is in the center of the picture on the far side of the fjord.

This is looking back from where we came, in other words, looking eastwards. This is a very typical type of road in Norway.

We saw several waterfalls and this one we stopped and walked back to get pictures. Lakes and streams at the top of the hill will still have snow run-off, though there isn’t much snow left now on the tops around here. This stream is called Bjørnåa and the water falls 200 meters to the fjord.

One interesting stop along this route was at Hestdal Hydro Power plant, a small independent electricity production plant.

Here’s the stream that feeds the power plant which is in the red buildings on the right of the stream.

The red building in the center houses the power plant. It was quite noisy beside that building.

I found a dusty window I could get my camera to peek in. It was a beautiful blue turbine at work.

The stream is in the background and the water that has been used to turn the turbine can be seen coming out at the bottom of the picture. There had been lots of rain recently, plus there was still snow on the tops of the hills here, so water was still plentiful.

Vanvikan and the end of route 755

Vanvikan is a very small village of about 700 residents. There are some small industries here and you can get an express passenger boat from here to cross the fjord to Trondheim. We were lucky that one came in just after we had parked to look around.

We were in Vanvikan on a Sunday and there were quite a few people both getting off the boat and also going to Trondheim.. The crossing takes 25 minutes and on a Sunday it goes about every two hours.

I must admit I was impressed at how little space the catamaran needed to turn around before heading out of the small harbor and back to Trondheim. You can see some of the village of Vanvikan to the left of the boat.

Finally we came to the end of route 755.

Route 755 ends in a T-intersection with route 715. If you turn to the left, you can get to a car ferry across the fjord towards Trondheim. You can also continue around the southern tip of this peninsula which is called Fosen. If you turn to the right, you can travel north and find many small villages and eventually make a round trip and get back to Inderøy.

We, of course, had to turn around and drive home again and this was the first sign that indicated the speed limit (60 km per hour) and the route number (755).

The pictures for this blog have been taken on more than one occasion. We took a drive from our house to Vanvikan one Sunday morning, but with all the stops it took a lot longer than I had been expecting. In the end we drove straight home from Vanvikan with no further stops and it took us about 75 minutes.

The pictures of Røra and Straumen were taken on a different occasion and this section of the road I travel quite a lot.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog article. You will find other blog articles about different things along this route, including a walk at Liatjønna, the center of Mosvik, the tidal walk in Straumen and Skarnsund Bridge (to be coming soon).

2021-05-30

Øversvean, Mosvik

Today’s walk took the three of us up quite a steep climb to where there was a large pine tree on the top of a hill, with an elevation of about 120 meters above sea level. The three of us were agreed that it was nice to do the walk once, but it wasn’t interesting enough to do more than once.

One of the things that I appreciate about a walk in the woods, is getting to a place where I can get a good view, preferably over water. We had a lovely sunny day, so there should have been some good views, if there weren’t so many trees.

We parked the car near the main road between Vangshylla and Mosvik and then went into the woods and immediately began to climb up a path which is narrow, but dry.

This is looking back the way we came and on the right you can see the slope that we have zigzagged up.

Looking uphill. My walking companions have already disappeared around the corner.

This section of the trail has less slope, but we are still gently climbing. Note on the tree to the right two different methods of marking trails: the red blotch of paint and the red and white plastic tie.

The forest was very pleasant to walk through on a sunny day, though we did get quite warm on the steep sections.

We headed off to the left to the big pine tree (Storfurua).

I had read in the local newspaper that this trail that we were following today was relatively new and this is the first time that it has been on the list of Inderøy walks. As we climbed higher there were indications of improvements to the trail to make it easier to climb.

Flat stones had been placed strategically to make steps in the hillside. Somebody had done some work here to make access easier.

Then there was a section with a very heavy rope so that one could pull oneself up the slope. I wouldn’t want to do this part of the trail just after a rainfall.

Though one could glimpse Trondheim Fjord through the trees, there wasn’t really much view with such tall trees.

The goal of our walk ended at a large pine tree. But there was no particular view out over the fjord.

The view was looking up at the tree. I have large pine trees in my yard, and though this one might be taller and bigger, I wasn’t impressed at this being the goal of the walk, especially after the very steep climb. But that is my personal likes for a walk.

The information about the walk indicated that one could continue along the marked path and do a circle tour back to one’s car, partially on a road. I didn’t really want to go down the steep parts that we had come up so we continued onwards.

The red plastic stick seemed out of place in the woods. We normally have these along the roads in the winter so that drivers and snow plows know where the edge of the pavement is. However this picture also shows what the vegetation is like in this area.

Here is where the path we have come along, seen straight ahead, meets a gravel road. We went back to the car by going down this road to the right in the picture.

Finally, a view of the fjord, but we are back to the busy paved car road and we were shortly back to our car.

We used about an hour for this walk. It was listed as 3 km, round trip, but when sections were such steep climbs, we don’t walk very quickly. Even the gravel road down to sea level was steep.

We got the exercise we wanted but we were glad to sit down when we got to the car. Next week will be a different walk.

2021-05-25

Kvernhusmuren, Rostad, Inderøy

Rostad is a large property in Utøy in Inderøy. The walk my husband and I took on a holiday Monday was almost all on this large property. Much of the information along the trail has to do with the information about this property. However, in this blog I am only going to describe the walk itself. Another blog will be written about some of the history of this property.

Here is a map of the area we were walking in. We parked at P. We took the right-hand dotted red line down to the water, then went along to the right until we came to Kvernhusmuren, We then continued along the path until we could take a short path to the left, then up the tractor road to the stadium. Then continued along the road back to the car. We used about an hour.

We are 5 km from home, but we drove to the parking area. Walking one way would be fine, I no longer like walks of 10 km.

It was a warm sunny morning and the first part of the trail took us through the woods. The property of Rostad is a farm as well as a school, but there are lots of forested areas.

We have now come to the first intersection. We have come from Rostad and are going in the direction of Undersåker. “Snåpveien” means a short cut and takes you to Rostad Quay.

We continued through the forest, with wild flowers growing in the open areas.

I’m not sure the official name of these flowers. I call them wild violets. They grow in my garden as well. They like a sunny, open area.

At one point we came out into the open and are following a tractor road down to a small beach. In the distance on the right is Mosvik and on the left is the island of Ytterøy.

There was a new boat house and a small boat at the high water mark. We went a few meters back up the road we came along before heading off to the right.

Along this part of the path there was an old elm tree that looked a bit dead, but when one got up close one could see that there was still life in the old trunk with new shoots coming from the trunk. In addition there were many baby trees in the surrounding open area.

Our goal is in sight. There used to be both a sawmill and a grain mill here.

My walking companion is heading down to the small building with the grass roof which is almost on the beach.

Here is the remains of the mills that were here. The wall was built with flat stones without any mortar. The stream that supplied the power to the mill is on the far side.

The stream that would have once powered the sawmill and the grain mill.

We have now continued along the path towards Undersåkerand here is a little bridge that crosses the stream that goes down to the old mill.

This bridge crosses the same stream farther uphill. If one continues straight ahead one would come to Undersåker, but we chose to cross the bridge and go left so that we got back to our car.

The first time I crossed here many years ago, it was just a log bridge that was very slippery. This new bridge with railing was much nicer to use.

We can see some farm fields. We will now follow a tractor road up to the football stadium and our car.

The walking is easy when it is a tractor road that is used constantly to get to the fields.

It’s called a “stadium” in Norwegian and is used for playing soccer, which is called “fotball” in Norwegian. When bantam leagues are playing they can have several games going at once here.

We are back to the main building on the property, but that will be a different blog. Our car is nearby.

The leaves are out on the red beech tree. The leaves on most of the deciduous trees have just come out in the last week or so.

We had a lovely walk on a sunny day. We used about an hour, but I stop a lot to take pictures. I think on this walk I took about 65 pictures. I love having a digital camera on my smart phone so that I don’t have to think about the cost per picture. This is a walk I will do again this summer. I hope you have enjoyed the pictures.

2021-05-22

Næssberget, Straumen

“Næss” is a very common surname in Inderøy. An alternative spelling is “Ness”. One of the major farms in the Straumen area of Inderøy is called Næss and so there are quite a few places with “Næss” in the name, including this forested hill in between different housing areas in Straumen. “Berg” is a mountain or rocky hill.

I regularly go for walks with a girlfriend who lives in Straumen, and we often include climbing this hill on our walks. However, yesterday, I took the walk with my husband and in the opposite direction from what I normally do. That made it a bit more interesting too.

This is the top of Næssberget and from here you can go in three directions from this intersection in the woods. To the left one comes out at a housing area. To the right one comes out to a small harbor on Borgenfjord. If you continue in that direction another 2 km you can get to a farm called Bossnes. We came from Sandvågen which is behind me as I took this picture.

The post box will contain a book to write your name in to say that you have been here. Because of the pandemic, fewer people write their names in these books that are scattered in many popular walking areas.

The information sign is about the vegetation in the area. The map shows the area called Næssberget and we are in the forested area indicated by green. This is a limestone based soil which gives a rich soil and a thick spruce forest. The yellow rectangles are houses and the dotted lines are where the trails go.

In the open areas under the spruce trees, white anemone and ferns grow. Here is a fern just unravelling its fronds.

We started our walk in Sandvågen and the path on the right can be used by wheelchair users, though it only goes part way up the hill. Ahead is a small boat harbor on Borgenfjord and at the right you can see one of the new apartment buildings that have been sprouting up in this part of Straumen.

The trail up the hill from Sandvågen is wide and easy to follow.

We came from the right and are going to continue straight ahead to Røsethavna, half a kilometer of walking away and mostly downhill.

This is old forest with fallen trees and old bird houses. Can you find the bird house in the picture?

At this point the trail downhill gets very steep and there are stairs and a handrail. I usually walk up these stairs which is really quite a climb. It was pleasant to go down them this time.

Half way down the hill there is an information sign about several different types of mosses that are found in this area.

So I turned around and looked at the mosses on the ground behind me. Moss survives very well in shady areas, but like it where it is quite moist. These are on the slope as we went downhill.

Røsethavna, with a small beach and a place to tie up a boat. This is part of Borgenfjord and Steinkjer municipality is in the far background.. It was very quiet and peaceful here on a Friday morning.

Choices, choices and you better know where you actually want to go. “Fjæran” is a beach at low tide. There are a lot of trails in this areas often leading to different housing areas.

The path up from the small harbor to the housing area. Note that the leaves are out on most of the trees now and the grass on the field has just sprouted and showing green. Warmer temperatures and several days of rain encourage plants to get growing.

Næssberget from the northwest. Røsethavna is to the left past all the red buildings.

We walked from Næssberget to the yarn shop and then through the residential area back to our car and so avoided climbing up the hill. This was a very pleasant walk away from the busy shops on a Friday morning.

2021-05-16

Liatjønna, Mosvik

Today’s walk was just a short stretching of our legs on a drive. However this was one of the Inderøy walks this year and we got points for taking it.

“Tjønna” in Norwegian would be best translated as “tern”, or a little lake. Mosvik has a lot of lakes and many of them would be good fishing lakes. This one has been improved with a picnic area and places for people who use wheelchairs to go fishing. If you want to fish in lakes, you have to have a fishing card for the area you want to fish.

Information on one of the signs says that a fishing card for this lake costs NOK 20 and is good for 4 hours. Children up to the age of 15 and the handicapped can fish free.

Entrance to the built up area around the little lake.

This is a short walk of only 400 meters around part of a small lake. There are three places for fishing, otherwise it is quite swampy close to the lake.

There were quite a few picnic benches and several places with roofs.

More seating area, with the mandatory grill place to the left. You can see the little lake in the background.

This is an easy walk and suitable for wheelchairs. It is the North Trøndelag Sports Club that has sponsored the work here.

One of the fishing places, adapted for wheelchair users.

The path has been put far enough away from the lake to be solid.

In several places there were wooden benches to just sit and enjoy the view over the lake.

On the far side of the lake, there is another open grill place with its own picnic bench and supply of firewood. There was still a bit of snow left on the ground. We are at over 200 meters above sea level here.

This is where the water leaves the lake and heads to another larger lake, Meltingvatnet. Note how there is a very sturdy grate in the stream. This is to prevent the fish in the lake from leaving.

The third fishing spot. You can see where we started from on the opposite side of the lake.

Though there were pine and spruce trees near the lake, we are at over 200 meters above sea level, so it is neither warm nor a long growing season here. Many of the trees looked quite stunted.

Back at the parking area, there was a place to put garbage. There are many cabins in the area and this would be where they could deposit their garbage.

Humans too have bodily needs which require the use of the little red building.

2021-05-122021-05-12

Tidevannsstien, Straumen

Tidevannsstien (The tidal water path) was built in 2009 and is on the south side of the sound that connects Trondheimsfjord and Borgenfjord (sometimes called Børgin). Trondheimsfjord is to the west and Borgenfjord is to the east. Borgenfjord is a very large body of tidal sea water about 10 km from north to south and between 1 and 3 km wide, so the amount of water that flows through this sound is considerable. The sound itself has an S-shape and the current will be much stronger on one side than the other in the bends. It is not advisable to take a boat against the tide. Most boat traffic on the sound would be at slack tide, when there isn’t as much current.

The name of the municipal center, Straumen, refers to the strong current that flows between these two bodies of water. There can be up to 1 to 1.5 meters difference in the water level on either side of the sound which creates a very strong current which tries to even out the difference. This is one of the strongest currents in Northern Europe. The water flow changes direction roughly every six hours. The average speed is between 7 to 9 knots (about 14 km an hour), but the top speed can be much faster.

The tidal water path is about 300 meters long and leads to an open area below the housing on the slope. My husband and I took this walk on Monday, the 10th of May after doing an errand in Straumen. The sun was shining and we wanted to have a walk and this one wouldn’t take too much time. We got a slightly longer walk by parking on the north side of the bridge, crossing the bridge and then following the path. We returned to the car the same way that we came. The first picture was taken at 11:22 and the last picture was taken at 11:49, so we used only 27 minutes on the walk.

You can see in the map in the bottom left-hand corner the shape of the sound. Trondheimsfjord is to the left and Borgenfjord to the right. The bridge crosses st the narrowest point and the sound is about 100 meters wide at this point.

The first bridge over the sound was opened in 1861. Before that people had to take a ferry across. The first bridge had to open to allow ships to go through. You can see (though not very clearly) a picture of the old bridge in the information sign above (second picture on the left). In 1958 a second bridge made of steel and concrete was built and in 1987 a pedestrian path was added to the bridge on the western side. In 2007 the bridge was given protected status.

The parking area serves many purposes but this year it is the starting point for two walks. We are going to do post 30, Tidevannsstien.

As we cross the bridge one can see some of the housing of Straumen. The tide is high on this side of the bridge and the water is flowing very swiftly toward me, especially on the right-hand side of the sound The crane on the right-hand side of the picture is where they are building a new nursing home which will be run by the municipality. An old one was torn down and a new modern building is under construction. I may be a resident there at some time in the future, though hopefully not for 15 to 20 years.

The bridge as seen from the south side. The upper railings are painted blue and the under supports are painted white. The bridge is 202 meters in length and the main span is 72 meters. The sailing height is 12 meters.

Information about the bridge can be found on both ends. Built 1958, added to in 1987 and protected in 2007.

Borgenfjord is in the background and extends about 10 km to the left. The top sign, 50, gives the speed limit in kilometers per hour. The middle sign (though it is a bit faded) says that traffic on the bridge has right-of-way at intersections (after the bridge). The lower sign , 755, tells the route number. Road number 755 goes from Røra (east end of the route) to Vanviken (west end of the route) and is the road that goes over Skarnsund Bridge near us. You can also see the current racing under the bridge. High water would be at 11:56 so shortly after this picture was taken.

Anemone nemorosa (“hvitveis” in Norwegian) is a very common flower in Norway. It blooms before the leaves come out on the trees, so that it gets a lot of sunshine. It can carpet large portions of the forest floor in open areas.

Here is a bench and table to sit and enjoy the view. As usual, there is a place to grill. We are looking across the sound to Straumen.

The information sign tells us that we are at “Nessetangen”, so one side of the point that sticks out into the sound. This area of Straumen is called “Sund” (sound), so there is Sund School, Sundsand, Sundsnes and Sundsøya. The birds on the information sign are one type of seagull and the grey heron both of which can be found here.

Looking back towards the bridge. You can see the path that we have been walking along.

A birch tree has a beautiful shape when it grows in the open. This one will be shedding a lot of pollen to bother those (like me) with pollen allergies. It may be another week before the leaves are out. Birch trees require a lot of water, but this one will have access to lots.

The sign “5” means that boat traffic may not go faster than 5 knots. The reason for this low speed has to do with the amount of birds found in the sound. We have a lot of eider ducks that are here year round. We saw only two pairs today and none of them were close enough to get their picture taken. It is soon nesting season. I speculated on how fast the water was travelling, but I’m sure it was doing twice the speed limit for boats.

The goal of our walk, a small shed with picnic tables and benches inside. The inevitable grilling unit on the extreme right of the picture.

There is a large park area here between the houses and the shoreline. There is lots of space to spread out on the grass in warm weather.

This information sign gives information about the park area which has been made by volunteers. The picnic tables and benches have also been made by local volunteers. The bird that is pictured is a cormorant, which can be up to 2-3 kg with a wingspan of 130 – 160 cm. The otter can also been seen here. The fast moving current provides a lot of food for ducks, birds and otters.

The name of the parking area. I didn’t know it had a name before.

We had a sunny morning for our walk. One could make it longer by continuing along the shore and coming to Sundsand, our local sandy beach. However, we just wanted a short half hour walk and returned to the car to head home again.

2021-05-11

Stornesøra in Sandvollan

Størnesøra is a large park area that is used for junior soccer competitions as well as having a lot of picnic tables to encourage people to get out in the nice weather. There are also several paths to encourage people to go for walks. These walks are basically along the seashore and the one we took has no elevation changes.

The symbol at the left of the name on the sign indicates that this area is sponsored by the Sandvollan Sports Club which was founded in 1920. On the right is the municipality’s coat of arms, four flounders. Above the map, the green walking person indicates that the pathways are quite easy. Notice boards like this also have information about the rules to prevent contagion, particularly of Covid-19. In addition the red sign warns of forest fire danger and no open flames are allowed.

Let’s have a closer look at what is indicated on the map.

P = parking. This is where I am standing taking this picture, so there is also a red arrow indicating that this is where you are (“Her står du”).

Solid red lines indicate a pathway suitable for wheelchair users and a dotted red line indicates a gravel or dirt path.

There is also a bathing area (“badeplass”), picnic tables (“benkebord”) and a play area (“lekeplass”). In addition there is a historic site (“severdighet”) which are the remains of old boat houses. We didn’t walk quite that far.

In the bottom right-hand corner there is a caution sign, that you are using this area at your own risk. The phone number for police and ambulance are given, as well as the coordinates of the location (11 degrees 17′ 29″E, 63 degrees, 58′, 26″N).

We are going to follow the path to Ytterøra and continue along the dotted line until we find a boathouse on the shore.

The picnic benches have not been set out yet. The red building has toilets at the back. The bathing area would be behind the clump of trees between the picnic benches and the red buildings.

The sports field on the spit of land called Midtøra. I remember bringing my daughter here to play soccer when she was in elementary school. Because of the pandemic, there has been less sports activities planned for young people.

Signs are in place so we know which posts are accessible from here. We are going to do post 33, Naustet på Stornesøra, which is an easy walk.

First we have to walk around a little bay. It was high tide when we were walking on Sunday, the 9th of May. The area in the background is in the municipality of Steinkjer.

The first part of the path was very easy walking.

We came to an open area where in good weather, and no pandemic, people would congregate.

This is the area called Ytterøra, with a place to grill and benches to sit on. The log benches were getting quite worn, an indication that they have been there for quite a while.

If anything goes wrong, there is a sign with the address and what numbers to call – red is for fire, blue is for police and green is for the ambulance.

With these planned walks for Inderøy Walks, the correct path to take is marked with red and white striped strips, usually hanging in the trees. Written on them is “Miljøhensyn” which means to look after the environment.

Eventually the path led us to the shore and one could choose to continue on a dirt path through the trees or walk along the seashore. We chose to walk along the shore and we came back through the trees.

Our goal and check-in point is at the boathouse on the shore.

There was a newly painted white bench for tired walkers, but that wasn’t us. We returned back to the car.

There was an interesting table beside the boathouse and a solar panel on the wall behind it.

The path through the woods was pleasant but one had to watch out for the roots.

View across the fjord to the municipality of Steinkjer.

This was not a long walk. My son and I are both suffering from pollen allergies, particularly from the birch trees, so our energy levels are low. A walk with no climbs was what suited us today. We used about a half hour on the walk, but we got out of the house, got some fresh air and some exercise. We enjoyed ourselves.

2021-05-10

The areas of Inderøy

Inderøy is a municipality, but it is divided into several areas mostly based on the location of the elementary schools. In some cases the areas reflect municipal boundaries from the 1960s or earlier.

If you look at the shape of Inderøy in the above map, you will see the central part is a large isthmus which is only joined at the top right to the mainland. In fact, the name Inderøy actually means the inner island (in Trondheims Fjord). This isthmus is divided into four main areas – Sandvollan, Straumen, Kjerknesvågen and Utøy. We live in Utøy.

To the left of the isthmus, that is to the west, there are two areas, Mosvik and Framverran which until 2012 were their own municipality. By that time the population had decreased so much that it was no longer viable to provide its own services to its residents. These two areas also have a large number of cabins which are used only part of the year and are not full-time residences.

Mosvik and Framverran are joined to Utøy by a large bridge which is over a kilometer in length. The bridge spans Skarnsund which is a very deep trench between the mountains on either side. The trench is over 100 meters deep and is considered a good area for cold-water corals. It is a protected area from 2020.

Skarnsund Bridge, picture taken 2 January 2016. This bridge was built in 1991.

If you look at the map again, you will see there is one last area of the municipality, Røra, which is connected to Straumen by a bridge. Røra is where Inderøy has its one train station.

Straumbrua joins Straumen and Røra. I was standing on the Røra side when taking this picture. This bridge was built in 1958 and improved in 1987. There is a very strong current under the bridge when the tide is going in or coming out. At the time this picture was taken, the tide was going in, in other words going from left to right under the bridge.

Sandvollan and Røra were their own municipalities until 1962 when they were joined with Inderøy.

Straumen is the administrative center for the municipality and is also the area which has the shops, the bank, the junior high school, the senior high school, the city hall and the medical center. In recent years there have been a considerable number of apartments built in this area.

As Inderøy is an agricultural municipality, there are a lot of farms and open areas between the subdivisions. There is also some forested areas, particularly in Mosvik. So though I mention specific areas of the municipality, there will also be smaller neighborhoods, such as Småland or Venneshamn. Some of these areas will have their own store, but not all of them do.

At the moment, there are just under 7000 residents in Inderøy. If you want to read more about Inderøy, you could read here in English or here in Norwegian.

One of the reasons I decided to write this short article is that the Inderøy Walks for 2021 began yesterday. There are 42 walks where one gets points when one comes to a check-in place. Some give 10 points, many give 20 or 30 points depending on difficulty and length of walk. The most difficult walks give 40 or 50 points. I don’t do all of the walks any more, but I plan to write blog articles about the ones that I do. I thought it might be interesting for my readers (those who do not live locally) to have a better understanding of the different areas that these walks are in.

This year the list of the walks has been divided into these areas: Mosvik, 6 walks; Framverran, 5 walks; Kjerknesvågen, 5 walks; Utøy, 8 walks; Straumen, 7 walks; Sandvollan, 4 walks and Røra, 7 walks. Most of the walks are away from where people live, so you will be able to see some of the different types of landscapes we have in Inderøy.

2021-05-092021-05-09

Finnheimen

On Sunday the second of May, my husband, my son and I went for our first walk of the season in the hills of Røra in Inderøy. As these lie at a higher elevation than we live at, there could still be snow, if we unlucky. It is a half hour drive to the parking area there and on our way it was snowing, sleeting and hailing. Not very good weather, but we decided to continue driving as it looked better where we were heading. The temperature was above zero so there shouldn’t be any particular build up of snow.

There was a map at the parking area at the beginning of the walk. The red lines are the paths. We are parked near the red dot at “1” and are going to walk to the northern end of a lake called Leklemvatnet, to a place called Finnheimen.

We are going to follow part of the old king’s highway (Gamle Kongeveg), then take off to the east. The trails we are following are well marked, plus I have taken many walks here and learned a bit about the area. It is always wise to have copy of the map on one’s telephone in case one needs to find out where a particular trail goes to and where it meets up with other trails. There was one time my husband and I were out walking and wondered if we could take a different way back to the car, but were unsure if we could take a circle route. We took the safe way back, the way we had come, but found out that we had parked right beside the map and should have had a picture with us so we could check things out when out in the terrain. Yes, we could have taken that other path and gotten back to the car by a different route.

One of the advantages of having a smart phone is how it can used in addition to using it as a phone (which I almost never use). When out walking, I have a map on my phone that will tell me where I am using the GPS system. I’ve always liked maps and learned to read them as a Girl Guide in my teens. Now, the map on my phone will also tell me exactly where I am in relation to what is on the map and show me the direction I am going in. One needs to be aware that one can loose coverage, especially in heavily forested areas or deep ravines. The other use of my phone/device is the camera, which for me is its main use. It is important to make sure one’s phone is charged up before leaving home or suddenly one can be out of battery and no map or camera available.

I’m going to divide this blog up into several sections: the trail, the signs, some history of the area and Finnheimen on the lake.

The trail

The trail is about 2 km in one direction and we followed the same trail back to the car. Most of the trail is in the woods and there are a couple of steep climbs so that one gets good exercise.

Here the path crossed a stream and the bridge was very large stone slabs on top of a stone foundation. In the background you can see a log bridge for tractors to get into the fields in the background.

Some parts of the trail are a combination of mud and solid rock. This is part of the king’s highway, so wide enough to drive a carriage on it.

In the summer time there are sheep out on one side of this fence, so a stile has been built so that walkers don’t have to open the gate and thus leave it open. Today there were no sheep out yet, so the gate had been left open.

Here the trail was more rock than mud. We have now turned off the king’s highway and are on a different trail.

But in between the rocky parts of the trail, logs had been put in the muddy bits. It wasn’t very wet while we were walking today, but it could be quite muddy here when it had been raining a lot.

Here it was still muddy as there are swamps on either side of the trail here. Heavy planks have been used to keep walkers out of the mud.

The signs, old and new

Along this trail there are several different types of signs. First of all there are signs telling you what is in a particular direction and how far it is to walk there. I figure that I walk maximum 4 km an hour on relatively easy trails. So 2 km may take 30 to 40 minutes if the trail is a bit uneven.

The other type of sign gives information about the location one is standing in. All these new signs have been sponsored by the Inderøy Museum and History Association.

These signs are all at the parking area. and there are signs both to tell one the direction to walk in and information about the place one is at. We are starting from Lundsaunet and heading to Finnheimen, a walk of about 2 km through the woods. Lundsaunet has been a farm since at least 1559, so this area has been settled for at least 500 years.

These posts have been used to mark the route. The “K” indicates that it is the king’s highway. The red paint makes the posts stand out, at all seasons. In the winter when snow covered the trail it would be quite important there there were posts that stuck up above the trail so one could see where it went.

Salberg Nordre – the north farm at Salberg. This is beside a stream and the information is about the stream which drains the lake which is used for drinking water for Inderøy. In the past the stream has been used for running a sawmill, and once a train line went past farther downhill, the water was used for the steam locomotives.

We turn off the king’s highway at this point. You can see the king’s highway to the right and we headed off to the left. There are other places to walk to if you want a much longer walk.

We are almost there, only 100 meters to go. We have come down the very rough trail this is just to the right of the signs. Note that this is a blue trail, not so difficult, but can be over uneven terrain.

Again, older signs. The important one for me was “Dass” with a heart – a toilet. The symbol for toilets in Norway is often a heart, whether it is an outdoor pit stop or an indoor flushing toilet.

History

I have looked at a bit of the history of “kongeveger” (king’s highways) in Norway (source) and it seems that they were built between 1660 and 1814, when Norway was ruled by the Danish kings. Primarily they indicate the main routes from various parts of the country to the city of Christiania (now Oslo). However, this area here is north of Trondheim and thus on the main route from Trondheim to the north of the country. The king’s highways were part of an improvement in the ability of people, especially the king’s employees, to get around the country and these roads would be use for driving carriages on or for sleds in the winter.

With its long coastline, much of the travel between parts of Norway would have been by boat. Therefore this road that we are following on this walk, is much higher than at sea level. There are indications from the information signs along the walk that this would also have been a post road.

Traditionally, the people who kept reindeer in Norway were often called “Finns”, so the name “Finnheimen” (the home of the Finn) would refer to someone who herded reindeer.

They were in the distance and hard to get a clear picture, but these three animals were reindeer, one of them being all white.

This house was built in 1902 near the mill on the stream. It was later moved to near the train station but was returned to its original location in 2005. It is called “Kvennstu – Eva Moestu”. Its last resident was Eva Moe. Today it is used for meetings and cultural events.

Nordheia – This has been a farm from before 1665. The remains of the foundation can be seen along the trail to Finnheimen. The farm was abandoned in 1870. It is said that there was a post house here in the 1700s, serving Inderøy. One of the roads to Inderøy went westwards from here when the king’s highway was the main road through this area (Innherred). The new road at Koa (i.e. near sea level) came in 1804. In 1865, Nordheia had 2 cows and 4 sheep. They sowed 2 barrels of oats and 4 barrels of potatoes. There were three people living on the farm.

Finnheimen and Leklemsvatnet

The end of the lake. We know there have been Sami in this area from 1668. There were Sami living here from 1840 to 1911. The people who lived here had some reindeer and some goats, and cultivated the land on the slope down to the lake. The lake is now dammed at the far end so there would have been more cultivated land in the past when the level of the water would have been lower.

The goal of our walk – Finnheimen. With a small shelter, picnic tables and a grill place, close to the edge of the lake.

Leklems Lake, which is located partly in Inderøy and partly in Verdal. The far end is dammed and I understand that the lake is a secondary water reserve for Verdal. My estimate is that the lake is about 1.5 kilometers long and perhaps 200 meters at its widest. It was still partly frozen on our visit.

Firewood is available and the usual box with a book inside in which to write your name. These books have been less used during the pandemic.

As we walked back to the car, the weather had improved slightly. There was a view over Inderøy with the fjord in the distance.

2021-05-02

The new Røra train station

The municipality of Inderøy has only one train station. It is located at Røra and is on the train line called Nordlandsbanen that goes from Trondheim to Bodø.

The train station was first opened in 1905 and the old station building was built at that time and has now been protected. However, what was most interesting for me today was the new platform that has been built so that there is better access to the new train sets that will be used from the end of 2021.

Røra train station is located 105 km from Trondheim central train station and lies 51 meters over sea level.

The old train station building is the farthest away. The closer building would be a storage building. The old platform is in the background and is slightly raised. There is enough track here for two trains to pass and a passenger train could stop on platform 2 (at the left) and passengers could cross the tracks to get to the exit (which is at the right). In the picture you can see where the new asphalt indicates the new platform.

When we first lived in Inderøy, the train station had a waiting room available for passengers. At present the station building is unused and is empty.

Looking from the old platform towards the new platform. The platform is 120 meters in length, 76 cm in height and 4 meters in width. The new platform was opened on 2021.03.13, so is about 6 weeks old when I saw it today.

Platform One is off to the right. The yellow sign indicates that we are 105 km from Trondheim central train station.

Taken from the parking area, one sees a small shelter for passengers as well as an information sign as to which train will be next. Sunday afternoon during a pandemic is not the best time to judge if the parking lot is adequate in size. Many people would drive to the train station and park for the day while taking the train to Trondheim. We have made use of the parking here while we have been out of the country for several weeks. Taking the train to an international airport is environmentally friendly as well as pocket-friendly.

A suitable parking area for bicycles has been provided. It is a bit early yet for the landscaping to be finished but there are indications that when it gets warm enough there will be plants and perhaps grass here. In the building in the background is AS Røra Fabrikker which produces primarily jam and juice for the Norwegian Coop.

Garbage must be sorted – green for bottles and cans, blue for paper and black for everything else. The blue sign tells you which train station you are at.

Inside the shelter there is a bench to sit on and information about how to buy tickets – an app on your telephone, of course. There is an extra fee of kr 40, if you want to buy your ticket on the train. No smoking. please.

The letters A, B and C on the platform are where the doors should be. This helps you know where to stand to get on the train most efficiently.

Railway tracks are dangerous places and you should not be crossing them. Though some passenger trains may stop at the station, there will be both long-distance passenger trains and freight trains that do not stop in this station and can be going at considerable speed through the station area.

An example of how many trains would be going through the station on a Sunday afternoon and evening. Melhus and Lundamo are to the south on the other side of Trondheim. Steinkjer is to the north and the end of the line. On a Sunday, there are two hours between trains in the same direction.

For the hearing-impaired, you can turn your hearing aid to T and there is a hearing loop so that you can hear the announcements more easily.

It was rather fun to see the new platform open, but it was over half an hour before a train was due to come in, so we didn’t wait for that. Perhaps another time.