Norway

Hello friends! I've just returned from a research trip to Norway, which persuaded me that I should finally get round to starting a newsletter. I’ve met some amazingly knowledgeable and helpful people so far, and they usually want to hear how I get on. It’s been such a great motivator and I don’t want to lose sight of those contacts. So here goes…

Here’s one of my favourite photos from the trip. It’s taken from a workshop platform over one of the old ships in the Midtnorsk wooden boat workshop in Sundnesham. In in the background you can just see the SDS Hansteen, a heritage ship run by Trondheim Maritime museum. I had the amazing privilege of spending three days on Hansteen, in the expert care of Visit Inherred. Hansteen is a similar ship to the SS Ellengowan, the ship at the heart of the Ellengowan project. Apart from being a once-in-a-lifetime experience in itself, it was invaluable to be able to see and touch and smell and explore something so similar to that experienced by the people who sailed in the Ellengowan from 1866 to 1888.

There’s plenty more to tell of course, but part of the challenge of this newsletter will be picking which bits to save for the book!

Now that I’m back, I’m writing up notes and trying to fit all the new information and history I uncovered in Norway into the narrative I’ve been working on so far. It’s not an easy task and may involve a major reshuffle. Suffice to say, I’m a bit daunted.

Thanks for reading, see you next time

Ellie x

Currently reading: The Undercurrents by Kirsty Bell

Just finished: Small Game by Blair Braverman (An amazing read-in-one-sitting novel about a survival TV show gone wrong. But sweet and strangely uplifitng. Read it!)