During the night the temperature in Varberg dropped below zero. It was chilly when Vagn and I got out on the road.
We left our warm and comfy hostel in the Varberg fortress, and headed for the Getterön Nature Reserve. Getterön was an island long time ago. In 1936 the sound between the island and the mainland was filled out and a road was built. Getterön is also the place where the Varberg flying club has its premises. I have indicated the runway 12/30 with a yellow stippled line:
The oldest part of Getterön is the rock that is between 1.6 – 1.7 billion years old, and the youngest – around 1.45 billion years old. It was simply amazing to walk on those beautiful stones…
We reached the westernmost part of Getterön, called Gubbanäsan, jumped around those huge boulders on the coast, and had a small break there – to enjoy the magnificent views. It was warm to sit in the sun; the silence resonated within the rugged landscape and the endless deep blue sea, and we didn’t want to move.
The water was crystal clear, and myriads of moon jellyfish were out enjoying the sunshine:
The scenery was breathtaking. Deep ravines created natural barriers on our way, filled with plants and small trees:
Despite the unusually cold time, there were lots of colourful wild flowers, smiling to us from their green grass beds:
Vagn on a nice wooden bench by a rock:
I admired those rocky landscapes, polished by the winds, and eroded by the rough waters during billions of years… And now we could stand there, breath in the salty ocean air, and listen to the small waves breaking the shoreline…
We got to the harbour, and Vagn heard a motor running – someone was probably repairing a boat. Vagn went there to have a look, and a chat, and I walked around and took pictures.
We left Getterön in the afternoon. Now that we were flying south, we had all the advantages of being on the sunny side – it helped to keep warm:
Before leaving Varberg, Vagn and I wanted to do one more sightseeing – to see the Grimeton Radio Station from air. The antennas (almost invisible on the photo below) are a unique piece of equipment. Grimeton is the only remaining example of an early pre-electronic radio transmitter technology developed after the First World War. The site has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2004.
Grimeton radio station was built in 1924. The station was used to transmit telegram traffic by Morse code, and during the WWII it was Sweden’s only communication link with the rest of the world. The transmitter is still in operational condition. Each year on a day called Alexanderson Day (named after the Swedish radio engineer Ernst Alexanderson), and on a Christmas Eve, the transmitter is started up and it transmits brief Morse code test transmissions, which can be easily received all over Europe.
Our trip continued, and we were on our way to pay a visit to Eslöv flying club:
The city of Halmstad on Nissan river, one of the longest rivers in Sweden (200 km):
We landed in Eslöv, and were warmly welcomed by the club members.
Coffee on the terrace, watching parachute jumpers doing their stunts, and coming down from different directions with their brightly coloured parachutes:
It was time to go home, and we flew back to Denmark via the island of Ven:
In Denmark it was clouded, but the ceiling was high enough for us to safely come back home.
Landing in Kræmmersten wasn’t without a surprise:
In about 1/3 of the runway (which is around 250 m long) there were several pheasants, and they didn’t want to give way… It was about to become too short a landing distance, but Vagn managed it just fine.
In Kræmmersten, Helge was cutting grass in his lawn mover. I gave Vagn a small but thoughtful present – beers brought from the island of Orø.
Vagn and I we talking of visiting that island together for ages, and I finally visited it with another friend. So to compensate, I brought Vagn some beers from Orø. He was supposed to get this present early Friday morning before we went to Sweden, but Vagn was late, we were on a flight plan, and there was no time for gifts.
We finished the day by having a cup of tea; Helge joined us and it was very cosy to sit in our shed and talk about flying.