Day 43 – to Martenses Cultural Museum

Ekkerøy doesn’t have a long history as small town, back only to the 1920s when the community was a fishing one. Previously it had only been used as a winter anchorage for boats. Today there is none.

Driftwood was an industry for a while in the 1950s until the sawmill could no longer afford the regular replacement of blades due to the salt content in the wood.

These days it’s a mixture of tourism and holiday homes. One of the tourist developments is of the sort I have seen on the Isle of Harris and Orkney, cabins constructed almost totally of glass to give views of the ocean and the night sky. It would be tremendous for viewing the aurora borealis in the winter months.

The circuit of the island is a superb walk, taking in the old fort from World War II.

While Norway was occupied by the German Wehrmacht, Vardø and its surrounds were heavily bombed by Allied, mostly Russian forces.

Some employment for local workers was brought in May 2017 with a new electric cable from the Norwegian mainland to the island of Vardø to the north. The additional electricity is needed to power the American-funded GLOBUS space surveillance system, located about 25 miles from Russia’s Kola Peninsula. Though looking rocky, spectacular and wild from here, it is a territory studded with high-security naval bases and restricted military zones. The secrecy surrounding the radar systems has spawned fears that officials are covering up health hazards and other possible dangers. The electromagnetic pulses the current radar system emits interfere with television and radio reception, and some residents have blamed them for a rash of miscarriages and cancer cases in a civilian district next to the fenced-in security zone.

NATO submarines patrol these waters regularly, as do Russian ones. It’s not such a tranquil a picture as it looks.

In the absence of sticks the dog’s quite happy with driftwood..

The birds don’t seem to notice the military threat so close. Many visitors come to watch them, this is birding site of significance. These Eiders are wintering here from Svalbard or Siberia, the information board tells me..

The forecast rain set in just after midday, but we had been out early and beat it. I moved an hour or so south down Varanger Fjord for an afternoon of reading and listening to the Roses cricket from Manchester.

My arts recommendation for the day is a film noir from 1944 that I saw last night, Laura. It’s been digitalised by The Criterion Collection who put out some tremendous stuff. It features a youthful, 30 years old, and handsome Vincent Price in the sort of role I never knew he had played. I grew up with him and his memorable voice in such things as Doctor Phibes, and reading Poe stories on the radio. His careful insertions of humour had a major influence on a lifetime love of horror.