Gothenbuorg to Fallbakka
Trip Start
Unknown
1
11
24
Trip End
Jun 20, 2006
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Fjallabakka,
Sweden
Monday, June 12, 2006
A most discouraging sight presented itself, when we got on board the boat. The deck was frozen like glass, and rime frost stood on the cordage and sail; there was no fire, nor indeed any place to make one, except a small contrivance for boiling a kettle in the cabin forward. This cabin was big enough to hold four people, sitting two on each side, with their heads just low enough to escape been kicked by the mariners or passengers on deck. There was a hold, to be sure; but it would not "hold" much. They had put into it sundry casks of fish, and the like, and I placed my hat on one of these for security. It was an unlucky thought, however, for it got trodden on once or twice during the day; and I sat on it myself in the gloom of the evening, in mistake for a barrel-head, whereby it was flattened out into a disk, which it required much time and the application of sea water to restore to an approximation of its original form
Fjallabakka
. As to the stores on board, they were as follows: -a. - A chart of the Skagger Rack, on which at some former period a spark had fallen, and burned a hole as large as a cabbage leaf, through its southern end.
b. - A compass, kept in a sort of tobacco-box.
c. - Four loaves of rye-bread, very heavy and sour, and each surmounted by a little constellation of caraway seeds on the top.
d. - An end of a candle, three inches and a half long; a box of matches; a bowl of rancid salt butter; some herrings; and a pen and ink - all of which were kept in a drawer together.
e. -A keg of water and an axe - kept on deck.
f. - Some brandy - kept in a bottle , and thence transferred to the boatmen's stomachs; as the state of the weather might require.
It was a full half-hour before we started; for there were other passengers besides ourselves.
Fjallabakka view
The crew consisted of to fishermen who owned the boat. The passengers were : -
1st - Captain Kroger, of Arendal.
2nd - His son Jens, a youth about fourteen years of age.
3rd - A young Swedish sailor, who was working his passage. He had coarse features, tow-coloured hair, and rejoiced in the name of Hauge (pronounced How-ga).
4th - A young tailor, from Christiania, who had been having a holiday trip, and was on his way back from it.
5th - The Englishman who gives this narrative for the benefit of the reader, and who now stood shivering by the mast, with the tailor at his side, both watching the movements of the nautical men.
They coiled away bits of rope, put the luggage into the aforesaid "hold", placed some the spars, etc., in order, and then hoisted up a sail, which filling quickly with wind, hit the tailor and myself on the head, and knocked us about a yard from the mast. We glided smoothly down the harbour, the neighbourhood of which is precipitous and grand
Fjallabakka notice
. As we passed some points we saw ice over the salt water, very thin, but still enough to show the sharpness of the cold. Bye-and-by we were out in rough water for a while, and then entered the smooth channel inside the thousands of rocks, which the Swedes call "Skarne" (pronounced nearly as Shay-ar-nay) and in which consists the most striking characteristic of the Swedish coast.A rocky shore in England would afford no idea of it. Here we have a chain of islands, numbering scores of thousands, of all sizes, and forming a good breakwater against the fury of the Skager Rack outside. For the first day of our boating we sailed for forty miles inside this line of rocks. On every portion of our own sea coast, so far as I am aware, we have many plants and sea-weeds to redeem what would otherwise be an utter desolation. But for the whole of these forty miles, I saw nothing green. There were the same black granite cliffs on either hand, desolate beyond imagination; not even a blade of grass, a bit of moss, lichen, or sea-weed was visible upon them. However, in the evening we arrived at an inhabited island, and here some small vegetation prevailed. This was a place called "Gulaholmen" (the Yellow Isle.)
As we approached it, we found a village of some twenty or thirty houses, of timber, and for the most part painted red. Those next to the water's edge were built upon longitudinal beams, which rested on stones placed loosely over each other, like a stack of cheeses. A more convincing proof of the security of these natural harbours could not be given than this - for one blow of a heavy sea would have swept away supports, houses, and all, in an instant! Has to tides, there are none here; and the only thing resembling them is a difference at times in the level of the water of perhaps two feet, caused by a steady westerly wind
1863 Fjallabakka Painting
. I said there was vegetation on Gulaholmen; but it was miserably scanty and bare. I climbed to the summit of the rock above our landing place, and found on my way up sundry tufts of grass in the sheltered crevices; but they were about as hard as pig's bristles. Besides these, there grew little herby-looking affairs, as large over as one's hand, and perhaps half-an-inch high. To my supprise I found they were fir trees, branches, etc., all complete, three of which I brought home to England, packed in a bit of newspaper. An officer of the customs saluted us as we landed; and in reply to our inquiries, introduced us to the wife of a fisherman, who could give us comfortable lodgings for the night.The landing of strangers was a very unusual event in this community, and we made quite a sensation. I found I was the first Englishman who had ever been seen in the island; and was much amused at the close scrutiny I was subjected to on this account. Our hostess made considerable preparation for a grand supper. The custom - house officer was invited to join in the festivity, and he came in his uniform to grace the occasion. A servant laid the cloth in good style; and placed beside the dishes some articles of silver, which, from their appearance, must have been a century or two old. There were probably old family plate. Fish was brought in cooked in several ways - some boiled, and some fried
Fallabakka vista
. The brandy bottle was passed to me to fill my glass from, but I declined it, somewhat to the discomfiture of the hostess; for I heard her ask Captain Kroger, in an under tone: "What's do Englishman drink? Don't they take brandy?" "No," said the captain," they drink milk and such like." In a few minutes, a glass of hot milk was placed before me, and the inhabitants of Gulaholmen learned that the people of the British Isles take no beverage of a more exciting nature! The head of the house was absent, having gone to Gothenburg with the cargo of "Sild", or small herrings. I doubt whether he would confirm this milk theory, after his experience of our countrymen at that much - frequented port. The custom-house officer and Captain Kroger, however, did not drink milk, but smoked cigars together over several glasses of Spiritus Vinto Borealis for the remainder of the evening. I presented the good woman of the house with a packet of Fry's chocolate, which pleased her much; and after she been not shown the be art of mixing it, she locked it up until her husband's return, as a treat for him.All the children of Sweden are taught to read and write; and I tried to get a few hints as to pronunciation when I came into contact with any of them. I made friends with the eldest son of the family, an intelligent boy of twelve years of age, and asked if he had ever seen such a book as "Fritjof's Saga." He immediately went and fetched a copy of it, and its well-thumbed leaves told how popular it was
Guess who is most famous resident?
. Perhaps no book in Sweden, except the Bible, is known widely known than Tegner's "Fritjof's Saga;" for its simple story and exquisitely melodious verse can be understood by the poorest peasant, as readily as by the man of letters. Several translations of it have been made into English; but it seems impossible to re-cast the imagery in a foreign tongue, without destroying the charm imparted to it by the melody of the original.The second day's sail was very much like the first; but its monotony was varied by a call at a small town named Fjallabacka, which is situate up one of the narrow fjords indenting the coast. Let to the reader imagine himself sailing a sort of lake, with perpendicular walls of rock, about one hundred feet in height on either hand, and having a score or two of fishermen's huts and warehouses at its further extremity. Behind these, and literally overhanging some of them, stands a fearful precipice of perhaps three hundred feet. On boatman here sent two or three packages of goods ashore, and we shortly put to sea again. We were to sail as far as we could before dark, and then take our chance of sleeping accommodation. We landed at last at a small rock, whereon stood two houses, at one of which we asked for a lodging - that is, the captain, his son, and myself; for the boatmen, the sailor, and the tailor contrived to sleep on board.
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I gave up the notion of progressing up the coast by boat - some other time perhaps - and set off in the car the next morning. I ended up heading south instead of North, and it took me a full half hour behind the wheel before I was confident that I was leaving Gothenberg in a Northerly direction. Driving in a strange City is best done with a co-driver. Unlike many Brits, I have no problem either driving a left-hand drive car or on the right side of the road. But perhaps now is the right time to admit to one of those stupidities from my youth which one usually just hides.... When I was five or six I first saw a left-hand drive car and learned the expression "left hand drive". I thought this was a car designed for left-handed people, and lived in innocence of my mistake for a year or so before I found out the truth. By this time I had become convinced that all people in North America were left-handed, and it took me quite a few years to work that out of my system!
Anyhow, I headed out of Gothenberg towards Fjallabakka, getting there in time for lunch. I'd thought I'd stay the night in Stromstad, but there was a really nice-looking Hotel and they had a room, so I settled there for the day, looking fiurther around the coast in the afternoon.
The tourist poster suggests a number of places which could have been the place with the "abominable smell of fish".
There are still plenty of houses built over the water as he describes...
A painting by Alfred Wahlberg (1834 - 1906) "Mansken over Fjallabacka" fits JB's description of Fallabakka's towering rock was, I think, slightly exaggerated at "three hundred feet", nevertheless it's sufficiently spectacular that a Swedish artist (almost his exact contemporary) painted it...
Over dinner I got talking to a Norwegian. He told me his name was Carl Schonbeck. Wow, I said, I'm following this trail to Arendal that included a Carl Schonbeck. My family's from Arendal, he said. But MY Carl Schonbeck was from Angelholm! Really set my pulse racing.
All in all, Fjallabakka is a very pretty little place, and no wonder that Ingrid Bergman had her holiday retreat here (and they named a square after her)
