Lighthouse holiday at the mouth of the fjord

The name probably means “windswept channel”. This is where the lighthouse keeper families lived, in both calm and stormy weather, from 1921 until the lighthouse was automated in 1985. As with many other lighthouses along our long, stark coast, Vingleia can also be rented for summertime accommodation.

We and two other families spent a week’s holiday on the Trøndelag coast, and rented Vingleia lighthouse for one night. We got taken out there on a beautiful summer morning. You can’t take anything for granted in this part of Norway. The weather changes fast, so we packed both shorts and long johns. Actually, we had focused so much on keeping warm, we’d forgotten to make sure we had enough food.

So... we had to go fishing! We all went down to the jetty to see what we could get. We tried hard to entice a fish or two onto our hooks. Not a nibble! But then a shoal of coalfish decided to swim into the fjord by the lighthouse.

“I’ve caught one!” A shout from an excited child cuts through the quietness on the small island.

“I’ve got one too! Help! It must be a whale!”

It’s complete chaos, with excited children on the jetty getting their fishing lines all tangled up. Fortunately there are plenty of us parents to untangle children and fishing lines and to haul in the catch from the sea.

I probably don’t need to tell you that we ate the best fish we’d ever tasted that night. Even the children had fish instead of sausages. The youngsters fell asleep quickly after an eventful day. We heard the children happily boasting before they went to sleep.

“Without us, we’d have gone hungry today! We saved everyone!”

Widerøe takes you to Trondheim

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