"The Crazy Viking"

First of all; yes! this guy is Crazy! He looks scary and he is a Viking, for sure!

I prefer to call him "The Crazy Viking", but his name is Joachim and he is actually a really cool dude! Same age as me, born in 1986, but he sure is much wiser!

The ShibbyTraveler aka Joachim

Let's go back to 2019.

I heard some rumors about this guy kayaking from Oslo to Kirkenes, and he had taken a stop here at Leka. People also talked about him walking around barefoot. *HA! Yeah, right! What kind of weird guy is this?! I have to see this with my own eyes!* - yeah, that was my thought🙈

My niece and I decided to play some Pokemon GO, and on my way to pick her up I drove past this one guy walking barefoot on the shoulder of the road. (oh-okay, so this is true?!)

Then, while I was at the local store, this hairy dude came walking in BAREFOOT! (this have to be the guy! - I said "hei" as I always do to tourists).

My niece and I drove around, and had to go down to the harbor to catch some Pokemon's, and I had to go inside the info-centre to use the restroom..
Guess who were sitting in the open area at the info-centre? Did you guess it? I bet you did, cause it was the hairy, barefoot dude.
We started chatting; he told me about other journeys he've had in the past, and I promised I would follow him on his journey. (when I came back to my car, my niece wasn't too happy with me taking so long)

Fast forward 2 years, and for some crazy reason this guy decided to kayak Norway again, but this time: south to north and back south!
One thing was sure: I had to offer him a place to set camp at my family's property.
And when he came closer to Leka, me and my mom got in my car and drove to a bridge(we knew he would pass under it) and stood there waving with the Norwegian flag and welcoming him to Leka. We drove home, and my mom made waffles for me to bring Joachim when he came into camp.I shot some photos of Joachim, and we spoke and laughed a lot before I went up to the house.
The next day I got up early so that I could catch him before he left - luckily we could see his camp from the livingroom so I would be able to see when he started to pack down his camp.
I drove down to his camp to meet him, and we took a short hike around the northern part of my family's property before he continued his journey north.

A few months later, Joachim was south bound, and I told him he could use the same camp site if he wanted.
He would arrive at Leka so early that it didn't make sense to set camp here this time - and I understood. The funny thing is that my mom was supposed to make him pancakes or waffles, but because he texted me that he were getting closer to Leka while my mom, my oldest brother and I was working in the forrest I just had to jump in my car and drive as fast as I could (note: my car's top speed: 45kmh/ 28mph) to the south side of Leka.
I caught up with him at the popular beach at Haug, and had a blast! We were chatting and laughing as if we've known each other for years!

In 2022, Joachim was supposed to kayak from Norway to Spain, but he had to change his plan due to some unexpected issues. He therefor ended up kayaking to Haparanda/Tornio on the Swedish-Finish boarder, but he kayaked around the Danish island "Sjelland" before he changed his route.

Guess what?!
This guy is nuts! (but that's one of the reasons why I'm so happy I can call him my friend) 

On March 1st 2023 he started on another kayaking adventure: Norway from south to north, but also as deep as it is possible to kayak into the 10 longest fjords of Norway! -> Norway 2023

I'm almost counting down nautical miles till I will meet him again! The laughter, and the conversations - I don't know, they just give me so much energy and joy!

Joachim; please, stay safe! See you in camp at Leka! Enjoy your adventure!
BTW, should I meet you with waffles or pancakes this time?

oh, shit! great!

Looks like I've started a new blog without even starting it.

Well, even the thought of writing has been more exhausting since February than it was before... 

I can't push/pull the words out, they got to fall down on their own or else it won't be easy to write what's on my mind. 

Well.... February.. 

what did you do to me?

I can't blame February, but that's when my body really said "STOP! I NEED A BREAK!"

Actually, I think my body tried to tell me already in October 2021 that it was about time to slow down - I just didn't listen. I never have. 

Until February this year. Then I had to listen as I was throwing up before and after work - going to work at a place I've been working for 11 years and loved working at basically just became too much.

A lot of people in my profession have had their body tell them it's been too much, specially after our job became a high risk arena for the C-19 virus to spread fast and we had to rearrange everything.

So going from being on high alert for months to back to normalcy within days - I think my body just hit the breaks and they've been stuck for 8 months now...

I've finally managed to make the doctors listen to me and send me to someone who knows ME/CFS.

I'm also having conversations with a psychologist to work through some old stuff.

One good news is that I got my drivers license back after a year without it; I had an stress-related epileptic seizure last October - which I now believe was my body trying to tell me to slow down.

Anyway...

"Oh, shit! Great"..

How do I explain these things to people, both people I've known for years and people I meet?

How do I explain the fact that I've been on a sick note for 8 months and probably will be for more months?

How do I explain that all I do is relaxing on my bed, making different things/pictures with Hama beads or diamond painting, do little to nothing everyday, but at the same time also feel up to buy a ticket for a theater play and travel to a nearby place to watch my friend act and sing in a play or drive around the island to collect money for the annual NRK-Telethon, Norway's largest informational campaign and fundraising event?

How do I explain that one day I can go to the local store, visit the place I've worked or hang with friends and the next day I'm barely getting my ass out of bed?

I know...

I shouldn't feel like I have to explain, but the stares and the silent questions... the "why the heck is she, when she can't?!"'s... Maybe they're just in my head, but they're still there...

All I know is that..

my body need time to heal

my mind need help to heal

I'm still here, I'm still alive, I'm just learning to live different than I did before.

The Eagle Robbery 1932

Here's a story from 1932! This is a true story, but a lot of people disagree.

Anyway, here it is:

The 5th of June 1932 was supposed to be a nice day for Svanhild (born Hansen) Hartviksen's family – it was the christening of Svanhilds youngest brother so the family went by boat from Horta to Leka to go to church. After church they went to some family members on the island for dinner and after dinner the kids were sent outside to play as the grown ups wanted to rest. Since the weather still was a bit cold Svanhild got a scarf over her head that were crossed on her chest and knitted on her back before they left Horta. 3 year old Svanhild and her older brothers were supposed to play outside of the house, but somehow her brothers left her to go play with a friend and Svanhild either fell asleep or were playing with some shattered glass. When her parents came out she was all gone – they couldn't find her anywhere. They were looking everywhere and soon people from all over the island came to help – more then 200 people were searching. This area was a couple of 100meters from the sea, close to a river and 1700m from a 180m high mountain – so where was the little girl? Some old people though it had been the devil himself that had been up and captured the little girl, but many people decided to walk towards the mountain and after a while they a napkin that belonged to Svanhild and right by the foot of the mountain -in straight airline from the farm and an eagle nest up in the mountain- they found a child's shoe. Everyone saw an eagle flying a bit strange but they thought it was because of the amount of people going under the mountain, but 3 young men saw that the eagle was flying with her legs down and in a circle so they decided to climb up the mountain – and then they started to fear the worst: Was little Svanhild captured by the eagle??

These 3 young men climbed up and after a while they reached the eagle nest and there were no Svanhild there and they decided that they would climb up to a ledge just to see if Svanhild could be there. And when the one of them that climbed up reached the ledge he said "If she's alive, I don't know" but then he tried to wake up the girl and she woke up. The first person they met on their way down was Svanhild's father and they said that the joy in his eyes can't be explained, but after looking for their little girl for 7 hours the joy can't even be imagined.

They called the doctor and he came to the house where they stayed. Svanhild was dressed with 4 layers of clothes and 3 of the layers were ruined, but the inner layer and Svanhilds skin was without scratches. Svanhilds weight was 19 pounds, not kilos as many say.

When they came home to Horta that evening, Svanhilds grandma wonder what took them so long and she got told about the eagle. And when Svanhild was put to bed that night she was terrified because "the big seagull would come capture her again" so her mom hung a black thick blanket in front of the window.

All through Svanhilds life she was terrified of flying and in november 2010 Svanhild past away, 81 years old - "the eagle girl". And the dress she wore that day back in 1932 was given as a gift to Leka Kommune(Leka Municipality) from Svanhilds family after she past away.

Today the mountain is marked with a white plate where the nest is and a red plate where Svanhild was found

Many people also say that this can't happen, the girl must have climbed the mountain herself. Each year people comes to Leka to prove that she must have climbed or prove that she must have been taken by the eagle. I've tried to walk up that mountain with 3 friends when I was 16; my jeans split, my feet got soaked in the marsh, two of my friends climbed up to the nest and there were loose rocks rolling down the mountain for each meter they climbed and they almost got taken by the rocks – so for me, not only because I'm from Leka and my grandparents on dad's side was two of the people searching for Svanhild, little Svanhild must have been captured by the eagle.

If you don't believe that a little girl can be taken by an eagle, come to Leka and try climb that mountain – I dare you to it.

Welcome to my new blog!

So, here I am.

I'm Linda, or LB.

Born way back in 1986 - and I live at the island I was born and raised at: Leka, Norway.

What this blog will be about? Pretty much everything and nothing! I just hope I will keep this blog alive.

I will blog about everyday life; which will include

• my health
• my mood
• my interests
• my creative hobbies
• places I go
• places I've been
• dreams
• people I've met (if they agree to it)

As I am a spinster, my love life is nonexistent so no love stories here!

Other than that, I hope you'll enjoy getting to know me and my life!