Long arm of the law stretches...From Norway to Portstewart!Alan Millar reports. February 2006 When Portstewart man Bill Magowan went ice climbing to Norway recently the last thing he wanted was to have the Norwegian Police ringing up his loved ones back home - but unfortunately this is exactly what happened! The seven strong Colmcille Climbing Club trip to Rjukan began well enough but took an unusual turn a few days into the expedition. On the morning of day three as Bill parked the hire car and went down into the gorge he could not have anticipated what would happen next. A few hours later his wife In Portstewart received a phone call from a man with an accent, who told her: "This is the police in Norway are you a relative of William Magowan please?" Bill's wife Karen was naturally shocked - this is not what you want to hear when your husband is on an ice-climbing trip to Norway! She listened with concern as the policeman continued, "You must tell Mr Magowan that he is parked in the wrong place and must move". There was consternation and amusement as the police request arrived back with the squad in Norway, the long way round. "Unbelievable", Bill said afterwards. Bill returned to the van with club member Alan Tees, from Derry, to discover that it was parked illegally at the side of a forestry gateway. The entrance was huge and they were blocking no one, but the Police were having none of it, "We have very big vehicles in Norway", they told them. It turned out that the local skidoo club had reported the car and the police had got Bill's details from the car hire company. And he certainly enjoyed the climbing, "The gorge at Rjukan itself is deep and dark and gloomy but further out it really opens out! It is brilliant for ice climbing absolutely superb, there is masses to do and it is very accessible and it really builds your confidence". The water runs into the gorge and during the winter no direct sunlight gets in so it's frozen from October to March. Ice climbers come from all over Europe to enjoy excellent climbing conditions that are easily accessible from the road. Cheap air flights mean local people can now take advantage of places like this. The Irish climbers spent the first few days climbing with axes and crampons out of the depths of the 100m gorge and going down again to do another climb. However, they have a word of warning for anyone who ends up in Rjuken - if you go there behave yourself on the roads because the arm of the Norwegian traffic cop is an unusually long one! |
