When I was little, we bought a small cabin by the sea on the Hvaler Islands about 90 minutes south of Oslo. Growing up this is where I would spend most of my summers, and it quickly became my little piece of paradise. Unfortunately as I have gotten older I have barely had time to go to the cabin, but this summer I had time for a quick trip.
Most of the striations in the “svaberg” are from the ice age
Naust, traditional Norwegian boat houses
Before you get to the Hvaler Islands, you have to drive through Fredrikstad, a laid back town with tons of history. I met up with a friend of mine who lives there, and headed out in the beautiful weather to discover the charming old town. To get to the old town there is a free city ferry that runs every 15 minutes or so. In the old town we ended up walking around, looking at the houses and all the small quirky shops. We also had a lovely lunch which ended with one of the best waffles I have ever tasted! As it was in the middle of summer, there were also all these events taking place, such as story telling and historical workshops, but we did not have time to do any of this.
The charming old town in Fredrikstad
One of many antique stores
To get from Fredrikstad to our cabin you have to pass through several other islands first. It is such a pretty drive and you can see all these little marinas and loads of boats gliding past. Some of the islands you pass are tiny and not even connected to a road. Once we got to the cabin one of the first things we did was to go down to the “svaberg” (the typical naked rocks you find along the coast in this part of Norway) to have a swim. Surprisingly enough the water was not too cold!
Tresteinene, where we used to fish for crab
One of the many beaches
The small puddles are normally filled with water
After dinner we went on one of my favorite walks to see if we could still find the small ship wreck that washed up many years ago. We started off walking by the jetties where I would fish for crabs when I was little. We then headed out to the light house which has always been one of my favorite places! It is perfect for taking photos, or just relaxing and enjoying nature. It is on a cape facing out in to the Oslo fjord. If you go directly south the next land you will reach is Denmark so it can be very windy, but still such an amazing spot.
“Don’t throw rocks in the water, the crabs get scared”
Beautiful and varying coastline
One of my favorite light houses
After the lighthouse you walk over smooth and round morainic rocks and “svaberg” for a while until you reach a tiny beach where you sometimes meet upon cows that are grazing. After this there is more “svaberg” until you reach the spot where the wreck used to be. Speaking to my parents they told me that they had not seen the wreck for a few years so I should not get my hopes up too much. Then, to my surprise the wreck was there – not in exactly the same location. My guess is that the winter storms washed it out to sea a few years ago, and the sea has now washed it back ashore. Next to the wreck there is also a “jettegryte” (similar to a pothole), where a rock was pushed by the ice during the ice age and has created a hole down in the svaberg. Normally this is filled with water, but due to the drought this year, it was empty this time around.
The trail took us through an area where you can often find cows
We found the shipwreck
A smaller red naust
A jettegryte – created during the ice age
When I was younger and did this walk with my parents, we have inished the walk by crossing a field with lots of horses and following the main road back to our cabin. However since this is a really boring route so we decided to walk back the same way we came, along the pretty coast line.
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