Exploring the Real World

We've taken some time off in the last few days to explore the out-of-doors. On Sunday we drove around the Lyngen peninsula to its northernmost point. Not quite the northernmost point in continental Europe, but pretty damn close. It was quite cold and blustery on the other side of the peninsula. The FabLab is built on Pollseidet, a little hummock on the east side of the peninsula. It's warmer than the rest of the area year-round, and has been inhabited since the last Ice Age. Apparently, the warmth of the Gulf Stream melted the ice on Pollseidet while the rest of Europe was still covered.

This fishing village hosts a small shrimp fleet and a couple of whale hunters (blue boats on the left). Norway is one of the few countries in the world that still hunts for whale (minke whales are the only whales allowed to be taken).

Sod roofs are very traditional in this part of Norway. They add quite a bit of thermal mass to the roof, which functions as a big solar collector.

This contemporary sod-roofed house occupies a pretty little hideout on the coast. I got up close to look at the roof system; it's got a standard corrugated plastic roof membrane (just like we use for green roofs), then they lay a layer of sod with the roots facing up, then a wire mesh screen, and finally a layer of sod roots-down. The roots bind together through the mesh and form a solid mat.

The end of the road, just NW of Lyngseidet. The northernmost point of the peninsula is around the corner, but the terrain is too steep for building a road, so we had to go around the other way.

Stockfish (dried cod) are a staple of the traditional Norwegian diet. The fish are gutted and strung up in little drying huts all along the coast.

Yesterday evening we took a pre-supper jaunt up the mountain behind the lab to this waterfall, which is one of the falls I can see from my cabin.

This is the view looking back toward the lab, which is approximately in the middle of the picture. Lots of nice farmland for sheep and goat famers, and some lovely mountains. We got pretty high up, which involved a bit of scrambling on loose rock.

These are a couple of Jorgen's sheep, who were trying to hide from us. Once they figured out we had seen them, they took off to join the rest of the flock.

The flock is heading off into the hills, for some reason.

I have to say, when I started thinking about visiting the FabLab this summer, I had no idea that the setting would be this spectacular. I need to spend a bit more time once this Boot Camp is over exploring the area. Haakon has a fleet of bikes for his guests that I promised to do a little maintenance on; I'll adopt one of those as my own for the rest of my trip and get out and about.