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![Bergesfjellet](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/bo_31.jpg?itok=i9o6PSWe)
![Brandasund Sound, Bømlo](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/1/kvh_218-1_brandasundfly218.jpg?itok=pjloM95Z)
Brandasund
On Gisøya Island, on the west side of Brandasund Sound, there is a very privileged trading post and traveller's Inn from the 1600s, with the North Sea as its nearest neighbour. In 1991 a road was built over Bømlo out to these islands, but for thousands of years the sheltered harbour here was a main stopping place along the outer coast. During the great herring period of the 1700s and 1800s, Brandasund was a centre for the herring fisheries on the Sørafeltet fishing grounds. Today, the area belongs to the municipality of Bømlo.
![Espevær around 1915, at “Biekronå”.](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/1/kvh_204-1.jpg?itok=Nv-R-Syf)
Espevær- the Trading Post
In the sea west of Bømlo lies Espevær, half an hour’s rowing trip across the sound from Vespestadvågen. This is a well-run and well-maintained local community, established on the back of the rich herring fisheries in the 1850s. It is fishermen, skippers and the tradesmen who have made their mark on the culture in Espevær, with their contacts to the south towards Haugesund and across the North Sea to the British Isles.
![The captain's farm at Fet in Uskedalen](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/kvh_195-1.jpg?itok=7AcmSR3a)
![Finnås and Finnåsvika](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/bo_10.jpg?itok=NqIpTrFN)
Finnås
At Flintaneset by Finnåsvika, in the centre of the municipality, we find the most beautiful and best preserved igneous rocks in western Norway. We must go to Hawaii or Island to find as fine structures as at Bømlo.
![The rectory at Finnes](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/190/kvh_203_finnas_1_150.jpg?itok=MjLf1y2s)
![Gildrehola](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/awfawf.jpg?itok=2AAfbxlk)
![Elias Fiigenschoug’s painting of Halsnøy monastery , 1656](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/kvh_192-1.jpg?itok=9VO9I-NR)
Halsnøy Monastery
Halsnøy Monastery is situated in the midst of the lush fjord country in Sunnhordland, on one of the old spits, or “necks”, that has given name to the island. Gently sloping fields lead down to the sea on both sides, in the south towards the Kloster Fjord, to the north towards the sheltered Klostervågen.
![Hiskholmen around 1900](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/kvh_204-3.jpg?itok=auLrXoCL)
![Kjelstraumen today](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/190/kvh_305_kjelstraumen_150.jpg?itok=5jwimkOE)
Kjelstraumen
If you take the sea route north you have several options. The various routes have been dealt with in history, and through the Middle Ages the traffic increased as well as the trading with Nordland in fish and herring, feather and down. One of the central routes passes through Kjelstraumen, in the sound between Ulvøy and Bakkøy. This has been a place for a guesthouse since 1610, with Royal Letter of Privilege, part of the large network of trading post and guesthouse locations along the coast.