June 24 – Sandefjord Area

We awoke to a lovely sunny day. The ocean was very calm and our first main activity was a dip by the ‘elders’ in the 18.1C degree water. It was lovely to be able to warm up on the rocks after the plunge! Brunch was enjoyed outside sitting in the sun with lots of good conversation over coffee.

In the early afternoon, we headed back to the Tonsberg area to meet Ragnhild’s brother, Arne, his wife, Wenche, and one of their daughters, Marianne. We had heard a lot about them so it was really good to have a chance to meet them. Wenche guided us on a drive to Verdens Ende, translated the ‘End of the World‘, which is out on one of the islands at the mouth of the Tonsberg Fjorden. It is quite beautiful with islands of granitic rock smoothed by the glaciers and the ocean over the years. Some of the islands are joined by foot bridges. This area is obviously a popular destination on sunny days for the local folk. There is a lot of history here as we have seen elsewhere. There was an old light cairn (an early form of a ‘lighthouse‘) on a height of rock which was neat to see.

Next we stopped at Arne’s and Wenche’s home which is the house where Ragnhild and her brother grew up. It was fun to hear about some of the memories and stories from here. Wenche and Marinanne had prepared a marvellous spread of food…coffee, anise buns with goat cheese, Norwegian waffles with a red currant/banana/sugar spread and a delicious cheese cake. It was lovely.

Anders and Tonje and her friends and Are all headed back to Oslo from Tonsberg. We returned with Ragnhild to the hytte via Sandefjord. We stopped by a very interesting fountain/sculpture near the harbour that was built to celebrate the men on land and sea who made the whaling industry of the past such a success. It is amazing as the whole large sculpture slowly rotates. We thought our eyes were playing tricks on us at first!

And then, a lovely quiet evening at the hytte to end an interesting day.