Day 22 - One Day in the Life of ….

The drive in steady rain this morning wended downhill till we reached a main road, 3, then we turned off to take the route for Roros, one of the oldest towns of wooden buildings in Europe and a UNESCO world heritage site. The prettily painted houses date back to the 1700s and 1800s. This location was used for the film of Pippa Longstocking, (#1 daughter had the children’s books by Astrid Lindgren).

Roros sits in the interior at a mere 620m in altitude yet is one of the coldest places in Europe during winter. The coldest temperature measured in Røros is -50, 4°C on 13 January 1914. No wonder it was used as a location for the filming of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - it looked suitably atmospheric in the overcast sky as we approached, although I had not expected the surrounding trees. I had imagined the tundra-type landscape we had a couple of days ago. Of course they have re-forested since the area was left denuded of trees which were needed for the fires to make the stone brittle to extract the copper. They also needed wood to make charcoal for smelting. (Roros came into existence in 1644, after the first copper discovery in the area. Over the years, it became one of the most important mining towns in Norway until it was no longer viable and closed in 1973.) It was disappointing that Olaf’s Mine was not open for visits as that would have been fascinating. However the museum was excellent and we were able to get an audio guide in English. We spent over 2 hours there. They had scale models explaining the history of the mine and how the copper was extracted. There was an exhibition upstairs of sculptures by artist Per Sverre Dahl, telling the story of children working at the mines from age 7. Another room had an exhibition relating to the Southern Sami and a further one was an exhibition of exquisite clothing from christening bags and caps to adult wear.

Before our museum visit we’d gone to the old church. Just as we approached it, a tour party was exiting so we stood back. Before we could enter, the door was slammed shut. We had a wander around the pretty streets but then we saw another tour group approach the church. Just as we caught up with them, the last person entered and again the door was slammed shut. The interior was reputed to be theatrical so I determined to wait till it opened for them to exit then nip in - the information on my phone said it was open between 11-1 on Tuesdays. After 30 minutes we gave up and walked down to the museum where we were told as it was no longer the tourist season (2 buses, one with Americans and one Polish, as well as numerous campervans!) the church only opened on Saturdays for 2 hours, unless by prior arrangement.

Although disappointing not to get a visit down the copper mine or even see the church interior, it had certainly been an interesting day and we were glad we’d had the detour to get here. We took a walk up the slag heaps from where I took the blip.

I had noticed that on our way south we would go quite close to Jutulhogget, written up as Northern Europe's largest canyon, which was formed during the last Ice Age. Needless to say Mr C decided to take the scary route from the 30 up a single unpaved track with scary z bends for 6 miles, instead of going down the main road 3 and driving up a few 100 yards. I imagined a viewpoint like at a mini Grand Canyon - a wide open space, lots of concrete, safely barriers and a few buses parked up. No. We are parked on a small gravel area in the trees. A little rocky muddy path enters the wood and suddenly comes to a halt at the edge of the canyon. I looked down, squeaked a bit and that was it.

Apparently there are no suitable night stops nearby on the 3 so we are staying the night here. I’m saying NOTHING - MORE - ABOUT - IT.