Rock, Paper, Scissors
Elnesvagen - 17th June
Today is our rest day, and fortunately we can do that in Elnesvagen because there is nothing else happening here. Elnesvagen has a population of 2572 (2018) and is located on the Fraenafjord. Apart from agriculture the main industries are; Moxy Engineering (truck production), Hustadmarmor (marble refinery) and Jarlsberg Cheese (available in NZ) we have been eating the mild cheese in Norway, but sadly they don’t appear to do factory tours or have a factory shop.
To avoid cabin fever we went for a small drive. Actually, I’m not sure how we were going to catch cabin fever with the stunning views, warm climate and lovely accommodation we have in the more upmarket end of town.
The first drive was to the factories to find some cheese however, as per above, there was no factory shop.
So we headed to town for lunch, visited the library (yes they have English books) and admired the church from afar and a monument up close.
In the photo above the rock at the bottom weighs 169kg and was a strength test in the olden days to check a person’s capability to work on the land. The rock sits in the main square and is elevated on marble for the public to test their strength.
The town also has hiking trails, why would you when you can sit on the deck and admire them from a distance. So back to the title of this blog ‘rock, paper, scissors’ what has a hand game got to do with Elnesvagen? Well the Hustadmarmor factory makes paper out of rock or marble in this case. They grind the marble or waste marble off cuts into a fine powder which becomes calcium carbonate, that product is then used to make paints, plastics and paper. The calcium can also be used to treat water and fertilise soil. Hustadmarmor exports the refined marble around Europe to manufacturers who combine it with resin and other products to create paper. Using refined marble or calcium carbonate to make paper is more environmentally friendly than other methods because it doesn’t involve killing trees, doesn’t use great quantities of water, nor does it require bleaching and doesn’t create a lot of polluted waste water. Stone-based paper is more durable and is resistant to flame, water and bugs.
Today’s ABBA tribute is one line from ‘that’s me’ (1976) “Things look different in the morning light”, they sure do as you can see in the photos. The two photos above were taken from the same spot, the left one in the morning light and the right one in the evening.
Tomorrow we move on to another town, I plan by checking the weather forecast, Roger by checking which roads are closed due to rock and snowfall.
That’s life in Norway.