Kvitsandviken Sågverk

While riding between Lillehammer and Hamar in Norway, I took a random, spur of the moment detour that brought me onto a great gravel road along the waters of lake Mjøsa.

At one point I saw a bay with an interesting looking beach and I decided to  just check it out. The access road was a bit hidden underneath the railway that followed the water.

When I stopped the bike and looked around, it turned out there was a whole complex of abandoned buildings nearby that looked very interesting. What luck!

One of the buildings nearest the entrance and water seemed to be somewhat under conversion to a beach bar (it would have needed a lot more cleanup), but the rest was abandoned and really had quite a lot of things left untouched.

There was a mechanical workshop with a lot of tools and parts still lying around, rusting.

Turns out this was an old sawmill. There were small-gauge railtracks running into the forest for bringing logs down for processing.

The forest around was dotted with buildings and objects left over from the days it was a sawmill. I guess Norway’s sparse population and this place being quite far off the main roads meant it was not disturbed much since it was abandoned. There were some little signs up here and there that indicated there might have been a guided walk here at some point though.

What looked to be the one-time owner’s house, had 3 garages at the bottom. I expected them to be locked or empty, yet really hoped they’d contain an old vehicle of some kind.

While there was no vehicle, the doors were not locked and contained some interesting parts. Too bad the truck or car that door belonged to was not around anymore! I’m no expert so I can’t say what model of vehicle it belonged to.