Little Canada
A week or so later we learned of some of the detailed planning that went into our move from Strono to the cabin. Einar and his friend Torwald, although appearing to act mainly alone during the Strono to Lønningdal part of the trip on the fjords, were actually supported by many others who were involved in the move from the Strono boathouse to the farm and on to the mountain cabin. Many heavily armed lookouts were posted along our route to make sure everything went according to plan. The members of the Milorg were certainly prepared to fight to ensure our safety.
While we were in the boathouse at Strono some resistance men were hiding in the underbrush close by. When the German patrol arrived to search the three boathouses they gained ready access to two of them, but found out that the third one was padlocked from the outside. The Milorg group overheard the German officer in charge say that we could not possibly be in a locked boathouse so he called his men away from their attempts to pry the lock. We can only surmise what might have happened if that door had not been locked from the outside.
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Google Earth Image of Little Canada topograph
Now that we were all feeling a bit more perky some of us went outside to explore the surroundings. The cabin was situated in a grove of trees high up in the mountains with a wide stream running along side which emptied into a small lake. Some grassy meadow was beside the lake and overall it reminded me very much of the Muskoka region of Ontario. Someone suggested that as the Norwegian Air Force in exile trained at the Toronto Island airport and had called it "Little Norway", we should call the cabin and mountain area surrounding it "Little Canada". The Norwegians today still call that mountain site by that name
Hans, during our stay, not only acted as guard and scout master, but also was the chief cook. Some of the dishes he dreamed up were pretty weird, but overall he did a good job and I for one was very thankful for the food and for his efforts in preparing it. we received our first taste of caviar, however, I didn't care very much for the taste. Apparently a canning factory for the fish egg delicacy was on the outskirts of Bergen. Hot porridge was the mainstay of our diet, but we had a number of ersatz items such as sausages made with dark brown bread.
We were advised not to stray too far from the cabin in case we were spotted by a low flying patrol aircraft. Besides, the cold mountain stream encircled the cabin on three sides [A] with a steep mountain on the other. Although none of us enjoyed a walk through the icy waters, we did use the stream for our morning and evening wash-up, as well as for rinsing our clothes which were beginning to get a little "high".
In order to liven up our spare time we made a deck of playing cards from some scrap cardboard we found in the cabin. We then spent some considerable time gambling away a part of our past and future wages in friendly poker games. Hans, who had never seen the game, became quite interested and although his English was about as good as our Norwegian, he picked up the difference between a "straight" and a "full house" in short order.
One day Gord found a German army hat in the storage area above the door. Thinking he would have a bit of fun at our expense, he went outside for some exercise and then put on the hat and slowly raised his head above the outside window sill. Red was the first to see the top of Gord's head and picking up a German Luger 45mm. pistol he pointed it directly at the window. At the last moment we realized it was cord who was laughing at the reaction of his little prank. Needless to say the air was pretty "blue" around there for the next few minutes as the rest of us took a pretty dim view of the matter.
Hans, during our stay, not only acted as guard and scout master, but also was the chief cook. Some of the dishes he dreamed up were pretty weird, but overall he did a good job and I for one was very thankful for the food and for his efforts in preparing it. we received our first taste of caviar, however, I didn't care very much for the taste. Apparently a canning factory for the fish egg delicacy was on the outskirts of Bergen. Hot porridge was the mainstay of our diet, but we had a number of ersatz items such as sausages made with dark brown bread.
We were advised not to stray too far from the cabin in case we were spotted by a low flying patrol aircraft. Besides, the cold mountain stream encircled the cabin on three sides [A] with a steep mountain on the other. Although none of us enjoyed a walk through the icy waters, we did use the stream for our morning and evening wash-up, as well as for rinsing our clothes which were beginning to get a little "high".
In order to liven up our spare time we made a deck of playing cards from some scrap cardboard we found in the cabin. We then spent some considerable time gambling away a part of our past and future wages in friendly poker games. Hans, who had never seen the game, became quite interested and although his English was about as good as our Norwegian, he picked up the difference between a "straight" and a "full house" in short order.
One day Gord found a German army hat in the storage area above the door. Thinking he would have a bit of fun at our expense, he went outside for some exercise and then put on the hat and slowly raised his head above the outside window sill. Red was the first to see the top of Gord's head and picking up a German Luger 45mm. pistol he pointed it directly at the window. At the last moment we realized it was cord who was laughing at the reaction of his little prank. Needless to say the air was pretty "blue" around there for the next few minutes as the rest of us took a pretty dim view of the matter.