Per's New Expedition

On July 1st. '09, Per sent me this exciting email:


Hi Tom,

My sister's husband, maybe another friend and I have agreed on a new travel up north in August. We will use the same vessel or company, Hurtigruten, and look for floats in the areas that I didn't have time to visit on my last expedition.
We will visit the area were I got information and contacts while on the vessel. They are the people with the huge oval floats. Remember I told you earlier and was not able to get in contact with her on my phone?
Anyway, we are planning a new expedition into the area were the first fishery districts were situated and some still are.
The friend who may go with us, was born in Vesteraalen-the famous Trollfjorden which is the small Raftsundet area. His mom still lives in that area. I visited that area and his family on my first expedition a few years ago, remember?
I hope we can do a deep research in that area, because I didn't find enough last time, and it is an amazing area with plenty of old tiny boat/fishery district houses. It was very interesting to hear about the story of the area from our friend, who knows this area better than his own wallet!
I am very exited about this travel/expedition, and I'm really looking forward to being onboard the vessel with unknown float areas and history. Of course, we will have plenty of fun going fishing and having a drink or two as good buddies' always do.

My sister's husband was my travelling companion earlier, if you remember the Bremanger area where we found plenty of egg floats and a knobbed egg. He was my traveling partner on that expedition, and we had plenty of fun. He is also looking for interesting floats, teardrops for decoration in his new bar.

Take good care my friend!
Per

After writing Per back, a second email soon followed:

During my planned stay from mid-august up north, we will use the cabin in pictures added, as our base for 14 days. The cabin comes with a boat with outboard motor. It's 16 feet long, and good for short distance runs in the area. We will use ferries and my SUV for my meetings with a few contacts made on my last expedition.
A few very old oval floats, heavy ones and very, very old are possible.

Just a few hours ago, I had a very interesting phone conversation with a woman from the area we will visit. She told me about a very rare long and huge oval float hanging in their boathouse. Her brother is now the main keeper of those old buildings and fishing floats. She also told me about other interesting areas and old fishery districts (boathouses), and will contact the owners to arrange meetings when we arrive.

I'm glad to hear that you will add information and pictures from my expedition into your blog. Hopefully something interesting and a few funny pictures will come along!

We will take plenty of fishing gear on this expedition, and maybe a few fishing nets too, since we have a boat available at the cabin. Hopefully some great pictures from our catches too.

I'm glad the cabin has a freezer for us to keep all the fish. We can add deep-frozen fish into closed boxes filled with ice ready for transport to Bergen ;-) together with a float or ten!

We can look for floats, and send pictures from my Iphone to your email adress from this expedition. I don't think there is computer network near the cabin, but I will use my cellphone with 3G network to keep in touch with you and my family etc.

Start date for this expedition wil be on 08.08.2009. The ending date is not set yet but will be approx 24.08.2009.

We will drive on highways from my hometown Bergen across several mountains. Stop for a night in Trondheim area, and drive the next day to our destination. The
total nonstop driving time in my SUV is approx 16 hours. The distance in 1064 KM.
We will use a few vehicle ferries for short distances before we reach our destination.

After arriving, we will use many ferries to research the outlying areas. We will need to get up early in the morning on the float hunt days, so we can reach the last ferry back to base. Open air camping far out in the north is not the best!

Will keep you updated when we are driving north, or if anything shows early in the expedition.

Thank you for the meal receipes, we will try and ask for help when we are cooking fish meals at the cabin.

Per

When Per was talking about catching and eating fresh fish from their boat, my mind conjured up fresh Cod and Halibut on the table. I asked Per if he ever cooked fish in beer. He had not, and asked me to send him the receipes. Here they are:

I like to filet my fish-no bones, just good fish in the mouth-every bite. Once the fish are cleaned, I salt and pepper them, dip them in a thick batter made from: egg mixed into milk or beer, additional salt and pepper, and flour. If using bread crumbs, dip them in milk, then cover with Italian-seasoned bread crumbs to which I add grated dry parmesian cheese. Once the fillets are breaded or battered, into the pot they go. I like battering the fillets in beer batter, then frying in extra virgin olive oil, the best. There is another great receipe with beer.

Cut the filets into 1-1.5 inch wide strips, salt and pepper them, skewer them onto tooth picks, dip them into the batter, and boil them in a pot of beer until done. Washed down with a cold one, there are few better meals! Man! I'd sure would like to be with Per for some fishing, fresh Cod for breakfast, lunch or dinner, cool libations in the evening and float hunting.

Oh Boy! Per's going on another adventure, and we are going to try to do another expedition diary. As soon as Per sends me anything, I will do my best to post the events right away. For the next 5 days, my daughter and the grandchildren are with us, hundreds of Clematis have to be planted, etc., but I will do whatever I have to do to post. What will he find this time? Don't forget to click on the photos to view them better.