Only take photos and leave footsteps

Left footsteps, took photo!

As the weather today was a far cry from yesterday's rain, I thought it might be a good idea to actually go around and see some stuff. I had of course seen some stuff yesterday, but not much and besides: it rained or snowed most of the time. So, after a nice breakfast of toast, milk and orange juice, I set off down the mountain. Some clouds were coming in, but not many and when I got to the stave church of Heddal (see Sunday's post), I was able to vastly improve on those nice pictures only because it was sunny!

Eidsborg Stave Church

After I had seen that again, I made my way to the next one. It wasn't that far, distance wise, but it takes a long time to get anywhere it seems, because you can't really build up any speed: too many curves in the road. It's a good thing it isn't yet tourist season, because I bet it would have been teeming with traffic in that case. Anyway, I made it to Eidsborg to yet another stave church. It was by no means as nice as the one in Heddal, but the surroundings were! It was beautiful. A little village in a small valley, a smallish lake and then overlooking it all: the church. 

Old barn. They are basically the same now,
including the ramp on the right

Next to the church was a small open air museummy bit: a lot of old buildings from Eidsborg and immediate surroundings had made their way to eternity. Although I don't think all the grass and trees on the roofs were original. In the olden days, people used what was available and in Norway, wood is widely available. So, all houses and barns and sheds were made of wood. The roofing however wasn't for some reason, that was made of turf. The stuff that you've got in the garden. Nowadays, houses and barns and stuff are still made from wood (especially in the countryside), but the roofs are now covered with shingles or roof tiles. 

As I made my way from Eidsborg, I had to go down a very steep hill or mountain probably. A 21% decline and very very narrow hairpin turns. I passed through a lovely town then, that had some notion of Canada to me, probably because of the square outlay of the streets. I also spotted a lovely old Shell sign and had to stop to take a photo. 

This was the gravel road. Told you it wasn't wide!

The rest of the journey back was more hairpins (going up this time), a lot of lakes, part of the Telemark canal (which looks like a big lake to me) and a lovely gravel road. Wide enough for one lorry, it was a two-way road! I actually passed one car during my 12 km on it as well, so I knew it wasn't a one-way system they operated there.