Brattholmen

The old guesthouse location in Brattholmen on the east side of Litlesotra, was probably established in the first half of the 1700s. A list from 1748 mentions that the place “for some years has been inhabited by an Enrolled Sailor by the name of Peder Michelsen”. As was the case for most other military hosts, he was exempt from paying income tax.

Knarrevik

Having passed well over the bridge across to Sotra you pass an industrial plant surrounded by a budding community; the mineral mill of A/S Norwegian Talc. Some of the buildings seem to have been erected in the early part of the 20th century. They are remnants of a grand industrial plant from the former boom time in the country – the economic upswing after WWI.

Langøy

Up to 1842 it was necessary to have a royal letter of privilege in order to carry out trade. According to the law only city dwellers were allowed to obtain such a privilege, and in Hordaland it was thus the citizens of Bergen who owned and ran the trading centres. In 1842, following a liberalisation of the trading legislation, the privilege arrangement was abandoned and anyone could apply to the municipal council for permission to carry out trading activity. Landøy is one of the places that were established in this period.

Vatlestraumen

There are coal bits hidden in the sand under Vatlestraumen. These remains from a geological layer from the Jurassic Period were discovered when the undersea Bjorøy Tunnel was built in 1994. Oil- and gas reservoirs in the Troll Field in the sea west of Hordaland are from the same time. It is, nonetheless, quite surprising to find bedrock from dinosaur time inside of the outer islands of western Norway. On the Scandinavian mainland north of Denmark, there are only a very few places where one f inds rock from this time in earth history.

Godøysund

The old hostelry centres were strategically placed with good harbours and anchoring conditions where people travelled. GODØYSUND, or Gøysundet, as it was called, was in the middle of Tysnes Parish, with easy access from the sea, also for the local population. Gøysundet is amongst the oldest hostelries in Sunnhordland.

Hovdanes

Klinkholmen

Kubbervik, or Vikjo as it was known colloquially, must have been established as a trading post under the farm of Håland some time around 1600. The reason for this was probably the thriving trade on Scotland. Every year ships from the islands in the west came to buy lumber in Bårsund. Vikjo was the harbour in use, as the place is ideally situated on the route through Bårsund, the sound between Reksteren and Tysnesøy.

Neshamn

Neshamn must be an ancient place for meeting and spending the night for travellers. The place blossomed in connection with the times of economic expansion in the 1500s, which to a large extent was linked to the Scottish trade at this time. Neshamn was a loading place for Scottish ships for two hundred years, up to the middle of the 1700s.

Årbakka- The trading center

Kvalesund