Berge

Down by the fjord on the farm Berge in Tørvikbygd, is Stekkavika – a sheltered eastward facing harbour, protected against the fjord by headlands and rocks, even manifest in the name. Here is also a comprehensive milieu of coastal industry, with boathouses and sea-sheds that belong to the farms Berge, Heradstveit and Halleråker. Belonging to the farm Berge there is also a mill-house, circular saw, workshop for sloop building, and – a little further up into the woods – the old water-powered sash-saw.

Espevikpollen

Espevær- lobster park

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.

Fitjarøyane

If we study the group of islands south of Selbjørns Fjord from the air or on a sea map, we will notice that many of the islands are elongated and lie systematically in rows. The islands are divided by long sounds, for example Trollosen, Nuleia and Hjelmosen, which are oriented in a south-southeast to north-northwesterly direction.

Fjøsanger road

Fosnstraumen

At the southern end of the bridge between Radøy and Fosnøy archaeologists found an unusual Stone Age settlement. There was a thick “cultural layer” here with the remains of the waste dumps of a hunting people. The place was called Kotedalen. Here they came, one group after the other, and settled for some weeks, some months, or maybe years before they went on, leaving the settlement deserted. Time after time it happened. At least 16 settlement phases have been identified, stretching over 5,500 years.

Gjønavatnet and Kikedalen

Goltasundet

For generations the land-seine was the most important tool for catching herring and mackerel, and therefore a suitable casting bay was worth its weight in gold. Goltasundet (the Golta sound) on Golta was such a place. Here the herring often drifted in and fantastic casts might be made here.

Haganes

The gneiss landscape west and north of Bergen viewed in profile can remind us of a saw blade of the kind that has long, slanted sides that get broken off shorter transverse sides. It has taken several hundred million years to file this saw blade, an enduring interplay between various geological processes.