Location: Skien, Norway.
Members: 001, 002, 003, 007.
Type: Ironmine.
Status: Abandoned.
The last stop in the forests west of Skien was the old Langgangen Mine. (Lang = Long). Indeed this mine is narrow and stretches for quite a distance running north-south. During the 1960's the nearby satellite town of Gulset was developed and the local government decided to fill in several of the mines in this area. Langangen was one of these mines, but it is still clearly visible. A lot of the infill has sunk further down into the depths of the mine, so the outlines of it can easily be found.
While we were trotting along the path leading to the mine, some of the cavemen were eating handfulls of wildberries found in the underbrush, while I lead the way, crisscrossing the path, rummaging around the small bushes. I was looking for the site of a small cross carved in the bedrock, located a little north of the mine itself. I am far from certain, but I speculate that crosses like these were made for either measuring the extent of the mines, but again, this is only speculation. Just when the rest of the Cavemen were starting to wonder if this cross was just a product of my own imagination, I found the right spot. I knew it was here, because I had seen it myself some 20 years ago, but now it was covered by earth and moss. It was quite satisfactory to find this and uncover it once again, so that people can see it. It makes me think about how easily history and sites can be forgotten and overgrown.
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| The Cross |
Moving along down to the mine itself, we could clearly see where it had been, due the infill that had sunk into the shafts over the years. But still, narrow passages into the mines below could be seen every now and then.
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| Still Visible |
In an early report I wrote about the need to keep a sharp eye open and pay close attention to where one steps when walking off the paths in this area. I'll give you a few photo examples. During the hundreds of years these mines have been abandoned, trees have fallen inn, along with debris, that in turn has had moss growing on it for decades, maybe centuries. This results in a lot of pits and shafts that aren't clearly visible. Stepping into one could give you a wet experience, or possibly a dangerous fall into the depths below.
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| Moss Covered Pits |
Still other places deep in these forests, there are shafts only 3 feet wide, but deeper than one would like to fall. When walking along in the bush, looking straight ahead, many of these aren't visible until you're a few steps away. In the picture below we came walking in from the right hand side, and while keeping an eye out for them, this one still took us by surprise. Had we been equipped with proper ropes and safety gear this would have been a nice one to explore. Maybe we'll be back one day..
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| A Stretch Of Mineshaft |
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This had been a nice trip to a few of the hundreds of mines in the area. We'll definitely be back to more of these at a later date, but for now, I was off to Oslo.. So keep posted.
-Caveman 001-
