Vrangfoss: through the locks of the Telemark Canal
The Telemark Canal was built during the second half of the 19th Century in order to facilitate travel and shipping through Telemark, a county in the south-east of Norway, to the sea.
The Canal is a striking example of the interplay between the manmade and the natural. Starting from the sea, the first part of the Canal is mostly made up of artificial, closely controlled dams as well as waterfalls tamed by locks. Particularly striking is the place called Vrangfoss. This name directly translates as "difficult waterfall" and refers to the way that timber being floated down the waterfall could be stuck there for several years. Vrangfoss is now the biggest lock installation of the Canal, with as many as five lock chambers. The second part of the Canal is quite different, and consists of peaceful, quiet lakes running through a forested, hilly landscape.
The image below gives a sense of the size of the installation at Vrangfoss, showing the front wall of one lock chamber and the view of the next chamber behind.
The locks are operated by a system of levers on each of the walkways between the lock chambers. How much water to let into the chambers - or out of them, if you're travelling the other way - is carefully controlled, as well as the timing of opening and closing the chamber gates.
Huge forces are unleashed when they begin to let the water into a chamber. There is a lot of water involved. Crewmen are stationed aft and forward on the boat, working ropes tied to the chamber walls to keep the boat under control.
With a big boat like the M/S Victoria, which we were on, the stone walls are close on both sides, so the crewmen need to know what they are doing.
The crewmen communicate with the chamber gate operators, who in their turn pay close attention to the boat. The boat travels a long way up in each chamber; the total elevation in Vrangfoss is as much as 23 metres.
After Vrangfoss, the trip took us through several other lock installations, before reaching the lakes and the final destination of Dalen. Which is another story entirely.
