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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;svessien, post: 4706200, member: 15481&quot;]Two weeks ago, I revisited an old hobby: Sailing.</p><p>It’s been 20 years since last time I sailed with my old bandmate Jørgen. We used to do it a lot, but fell apart when we quit playing together and started working and parenting instead. I was afraid I would get seasick, because we had quite a lot of weather, but it seems that moving in a careening way falls naturally to people from the west coast, if it’s at sea or in town on a Saturday night.</p><p><br /></p><p>I know that few of you are familiar with the geography here, but along our coast, the mountains extend all the way to the sea, creating a dramatic landscape. Outside the coast, there are lots of islands, many of them uninhabited, or inhabited by a very small population. Such an island is Ytre (outer) Sula, a quite large island consisting mainly of grey rock:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1155246[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>After this, you’re in the North Sea. On the eastern side of the island, there is a small village. Very cozy.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1155247[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The day after rediscovering Ytre Sula, we headed for the mainland, to another village called Eivindvik, close to where the first court of the vikings was situated. I’m too lazy to not use wikipedia here:</p><p><i><b>Gulating</b> (<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Norse_language" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Norse_language" rel="nofollow">Old Norse</a>: Gulaþing) was one of the first <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway" rel="nofollow">Norwegian</a> legislative assemblies, or <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing_(assembly)" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing_(assembly)" rel="nofollow">things</a>, and also the name of a present-day <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_court" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_court" rel="nofollow">law court</a> of western Norway.<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulating#cite_note-1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulating#cite_note-1" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> The practice of periodic regional assemblies predates recorded history, and was firmly established at the time of the unification of Norway into a single <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy" rel="nofollow">kingdom</a> (<a href="https://www.cointalk.com/tel:900%E2%80%931030" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/tel:900%E2%80%931030">900–1030</a>). These assemblies or lagþings, were not democratic, but did not merely serve elites either. They functioned as judicial and legislative bodies, resolving disputes and establishing laws.</i></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1155248[/ATTACH] </p><p>At Eivindvik we could look at the early signs of Christianity in Norway around 1000 AD. According to the local historians, this cross in Celtic style was unique:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1155243[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I really got hooked on sailing again. This year the route was pretty easy, and mostly sheltered from the great ocean, but we’re planning to sail to Shetland next summer. That will be an adventure!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This years route:</p><p>[ATTACH]1155259[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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