Ever since I used to be a toddler, I’ve wished to go to Norway. It was these shiny black-and-white pictures of fjords and fishing boats that caught my creativeness.
And the Norwegians, as non-members of the EU, have now grow to be politically fascinating.
Who may have anticipated that? And do you know that the nation has a dish known as sod?
Gone fishing: John Sergeant (proper) and his son Will (left) finally caught a whopper salmon
For my lengthy overdue journey to this sweeping nation, I had wonderful companions — my spouse, Mary, and considered one of my grown-up sons, Will.
We had a transparent purpose. Earlier than the week was out, we needed to catch an infinite fish: the wildest and most lovely Atlantic salmon.
The one drawback was an virtually complete lack of expertise. However sod that – we have been decided to have a great time.
After round a two-hour flight from Gatwick, we arrived at Trondheim simply earlier than midnight, however you wouldn’t have guessed it. Through the summer time, the times are lengthy. In a spooky manoeuvre, the solar solely simply dips under the horizon.
Wanting down, we may see the darkish fields alongside the coast after which adopted our gaze method out throughout the silvery sea. These shiny pictures I had seen in school have been coming alive.
Trondheim is the nation’s third metropolis. Tons of of years in the past, it was the capital, and it nonetheless has a royal residence and an historical cathedral, which give the previous half an air of historical past and significance.
Picturesque: Mr Sergeant fulfilled a lifelong dream when he visited the Trondheim area
It’s a fairly place and the persons are not solely pleasant, they’ve an alarming potential to talk English.
My infantile need to ask whether or not sod — which is made by cooking meatballs in broth — is as boring because it sounds needed to be restrained.
Norwegians are famend for being wise and open-minded.
At lunch, I had determined to love no matter we have been supplied and, having tasted the chilly sausage containing horsemeat, I declared it was out of this world. For dinner, I used to be glad to accept a nourishing portion of stewed reindeer.
The wild flowers bloom and the salmon make their hazardous journey from the Atlantic to their spawning grounds up river
One of many results of being out of the EU is that alcohol and different imported items will be costly. Wine and whisky entice import duties and even the native beers are closely taxed.
However, as we headed for the good salmon-hunting grounds of the Gaula River, I used to be eager to focus on the non-alcoholic glories of the countryside. And wonderful it was.
The summer time in Norway lasts three months, from June to August.
The countryside springs to life, the wild flowers bloom and the salmon make their hazardous journey from the Atlantic to their spawning grounds up river.
What they didn’t know was that Will and I might be ready with our rods and touchdown nets on the prepared.
In my case, there was little for them to worry. Will, nonetheless, has acquired the fishing bug and, with a younger British angler, George Howard, he has shortly learnt the methods of the commerce.
Father and son spent glad days fly-fishing on the salmon-hunting grounds of the Gaula River
We stayed at a fishing lodge owned by an Anglo-Norwegian couple, Matt Hayes and his spouse Anne-Marit Winsnes. The lodge is named Winsnes, a part of a small farm at Singsas, only a few hundred yards from the River Gaula.
Amazingly, Anne’s household can hint its ancestry again to the seventeenth century. With their three babies and her dad and mom, they proceed to welcome anglers from all around the world, as they’ve since 1882, the date on the porch of the lodge.
We spent a marvellous 5 days with them, fishing and speaking — in my case, I’m afraid, primarily speaking.
Younger aristocrats, who had discovered their fly-fishing expertise in Scotland, got here right here within the nineteenth century to catch salmon by the bucketload.
The fish had survived and our vacation had led to triumph
The Norwegians could have invented snowboarding, however the British taught them how thrilling it was to persuade a salmon a man-made fly may very well be an attractive morsel.
Matt, who usually seems as an skilled on fishing programmes on TV, and his keen helper George have been our good instructors. Their experience was largely wasted on me. Will, although, was casting from power to power; first trout after which, absolutely, he should catch a salmon.
However these fish had been strengthening for a few years within the Atlantic and weren’t seemingly to surrender simply inside just a few miles of the place they have been born.
After a number of journeys to the river, it appeared we might not obtain my childhood dream of catching a salmon in Norway.
However then, in the previous couple of minutes earlier than we needed to depart, Will hooked a giant one. It weighed about 7kg.
It might need been tempting to dispatch our mighty foe, however the calls for of conservation held us again. Following Matt’s rule of catch-and-release, it was gently returned to the river.
Having safely accomplished its spawning duties, let’s hope this lovely fish was quickly again within the Atlantic, the place it belongs. Everyone gained. The fish had survived and our vacation had led to triumph.
By the use of celebration, Anne-Marit’s mom even served us with a steaming pot of sod — and I used to be completely satisfied it tasted much better than a uncommon salmon caught within the wild.
