Southern-most point in Norway

Today was another adventure for us, planned and executed by Wibecke.

The day started slowly again. Cate and Wibecke were swimming in the pool in the morning and Berndt visited the "Golden Beach" to distribute coffee to the local swimmers. Tim was captured by the internet connection.

We had another lovely breakfast with the whole crew, again largely prepared by Wibecke and involving at least some home-produced items from home-grown ingredients. We are genuinely spoiled for fresh, delicious, local food through our stay in Norway.

We set off in the car again with the intention of visiting Lindesnes, the lighthouse at the southern-most point of Norway. We travelled along the North Sea Road until we met Highway 39, which is the main highway from Kristiansand around the South coast. We headed West to make for Lindesnes but with a couple of stops planned along the way.

Avik township

The first stop was at Avik, a gorgeous little harbour town. Wibecke and Berndt wanted to show us the harbour here where houses and buildings still stood, preserved in the fashion that they were made over five hundred years before. The trip to Avik was through a truly scenic forest road and we came out onto Avik suddenly; it was a surprise and a delight. The area has been a harbour and trade port for all time, though its role has been superseded in recent decades. The houses and buildings along the harbourside are preserved and all lived in to this day.

Panoramic pastiche of the old harbour buildings

We then travelled to Spangereid to see the channel cut through the town to allow small boats to cross from the North Sea into the fjord without having to round the point at Lindesnes, which is a notoriously savage weather area. The channel caused a lot of consternation among the local residents when it was first proposed and when construction commenced, however, it is now widely seen as a "good thing".

The canal in both directions

The next stop in Spangereid was to the "restaurant under the sea" that is being built there. Wibecke explained that this project was several years in the making and hoping to open at the end of winter next year (March - April 2019). The idea is to build a prestige restaurant and then sink it under the harbour waters to allow patrons to have meals inside the natural aquarium. The waters around the harbour are crystal clear (as they appear to be all around the south coast of Norway, and probably all round Scandinavia) so that aspect of the plan is probably going to work. However, the restaurant is a huge concrete box being built on a barge and, frankly, we're all a bit skeptical that this folly will ever come off. Perhaps part of our skepticism comes from it being built beside a hotel that has gone bankrupt a few times now!

Hav Hotel (The Sea Hotel)

Restaurant "Under" from the carpark

Restaurant "Under"

Resaurant "Under", showing presumed windows for sea life viewing

Wandered around this part of Spangereid visiting a locally-famous fish shop run by two women, who also provide catering at the lighthouse we're going to. Tim and Cate did a little souvenir shopping. And we admired the fishing fleet and a "Plymouth Prowler" car that was parked there.

The fishing fleet

A Plymouth Prowler

After visiting Spangereid, we headed on down south (and west) to Lindesnes. All these roads are 'local roads' where the speed limit is rarely as high as 70 km/h and mostly at 50 km/h. The low speed limits are because the roads are typically 1.5 lanes wide with no shoulder and oncoming traffic must be negotiated through careful maneuvering and politeness.

We arrived at Lindesnes about lunchtime to discover that there was a bit of fog lying on the headland. This was unexpected as Berndt had checked the weather forecasts before leaving. Berndt is a widely-renowned local amateur weatherman, running a blog on Norwegian weather that rivals the state bureau of meteorology. He was a bit disappointed that the weather forecast was incorrect.

Restaurant above the lighthouse site where we had lunch

The lighthouse site - Southern-most point in Norway

We decided to have lunch at the local 'restaurant' before venturing out to the lighthouse that we'd come all this way to visit, hoping that the fog might lift. We had a light lunch in a nearly empty restaurant. Apparently, lots of other folks had decided to do the lighthouse before the lunch as the place filled up after we finished. And the fog lifted while we ate!

The lighthouse, looking south

The lighthouse from the climb up

So, we were able to venture up to the lighthouse in relatively quiet crowds and with increasingly good weather. After visiting the gift shop/cafe to acquire tickets and trinkets, Berndt and Tim climbed the "old stairs" to the lighthouse keeper's home and other buildings while Wibecke, Cate and Christina followed the more smoothly rising 'new road'. Unfortunately, the climb to the lighthouse was going to be too much for Cate (more correctly, the climb down would have been having made it to the top), so she waited in the sun while the rest of the crew visited the peak.

Lighthouse keeper' buildings

Some WWII cannon emplacements

The peak of the point is a fascinating place with three historical versions of the lighthouse - one still operational, and manned - and the remains/ruins of World War II military installations, created by the Germans when they occupied Norway. There was much of interest to see, in spite of the stiff wind blowing across the headland. Berndt and Tim climbed up to the observation balcony of the lighthouse.

The two original lighthouses: a large coal braizer and then a rondel of fireplaces

Looking down to the lighthouse keeper's residence
(Cate can just be seen sitting outside the lefthand white house)

Cate and Tim under a famous sign

After seeing the sights and photographing the district, we descended back down to Cate, and then after perusing the little museum there, wandered back to the car. Time was now of the essence as we still had sufficient time to get home, get a glass of bubbles in hand, before the World Cup final commenced. Wibecke managed to get us home in excellent order.

Waiting for us at home was Liev, a long-term friend of Wibecke and Berndt, and a local from Mandal. Liev and Wibecke prepared dinner while the rest of us watched the first half of FRA vs CRO. Dinner was served during the second half, but we saw all the highlights as they unfolded. Vive la France! (It was very amusing to watch the players be given their medals and the Wolrd Cup in the hammering rain, especially to see the French and Croatian presidents standing soaked to the skin while the Russian president was kept [relatively] dry under an umbrella held by a minion.)

Tomorrow will be a quieter day, though we've been promised a boat ride under Christina's captaincy in the morning, if the weather is suitable. Cate and Tim head off to different legs of their journey tomorrow afternoon.