Drive to Arendal

Trip Start Unknown

Trip End Jun 20, 2006

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Flag of Norway Arendal, Norway
Wednesday, June 14, 2006

I spent a lazy day meandering from Larvig towards Arendal. The geography is a lot more challenging than on the Swedish shore, and although I kept to the coast road I gave up any hope of seeing any of the particular sights (precipices etc) that he mentioned. Not least because the technology of road-building has moved apace and I don't know how much they used explosives to cut roads in those days.

I eventually came to Brevig, where JB had roused the ferryman. First impression - of the modern cement works - were pretty off-outing, but around the corner I found a delightful little waterfront village with a museum (and helpful curator who said she'd try to identify the English-speaking ferryman) where I did at least discover who the mayor had been in 1863.

I looked across from the landing-stage to Stathelle on the other side..

Brevig

. under the shadow of the bridge which made the last ferryman redundant in 1961.

Astrid from the museum told me a sory about an English remittance man living outside Stathelle, and it made me wonder if the "brother of the English Lord ______" in Engleholm had also been in the same position?

I didn't see any Lemmings, and wondered why JB hadn't known about the suicidal tendencies of thses little rodents. The answer was easy to find :

Lemming populations go through rapid growths and subsequent crashes that have achieved an almost legendary status, largely because of the Walt Disney Pictures film, White Wilderness, which was produced in 1958 and reappeared on television at regular intervals for many years afterwards. White Wilderness popularized, using staged footage, the myth that during population booms Norway Lemmings become suicidal and leap en masse off cliffs into the sea. For this reason, the term "lemming" is often used in slang to denote those who mindlessly follow the crowd, even if destruction is the result.

In fact, the behavior of lemmings is much the same as that of many other rodents which have periodic population booms and then disperse in all directions, seeking the food and shelter that their natural habitat cannot provide

Road turn

. (The Australian Long-haired Rat is one example.) The actual reason for their 'suicide' deaths is because these mass migrations may last many months and the lemmings become too tired to avoid cliff edges or swim when they normally could.

Myths about lemmings go back many centuries, and in the 16th and 17th centuries there was much speculation in learned circles that lemmings were in fact spontaneously generated by conditions of the air. This was argued against, successfully, by the natural historian Ole Worm, who provided one of the first published dissections of a lemming. In his investigation, Worm showed that a lemming contained anatomy similar to most other rodents.

So there we are -blame it all on Walt!

The week before I left on this journey I was having lunch with my friend John Roberts, and was boring on about what I was up to.. when "Arendal?" he said " I know very little of Norway but my wife's best friend married a Norwegian and lives in Arendal!" What a small world.

So after checking into the Hotel in Arendal I found my way to the quayside whence I was whisked off to one of the islands where they live on top of the hill with the most spectacular view.

I was treated to a fantastic Norwegian feast, and we had an excellent evening, during which they gave me some very helpful tips, and concluding with a peaceful whiz back across to the water to Arendal proper.