Hiekkarantaa ja lintuvuori - Ekreija eli Ekkerøy

Ekreija Vesisaaresta 12 km itään on aina ollut meidän lapsiperheen suosikkikohde. Kyseessä on pieni kylä saarella, joka on kasvanut kiinni mantereeseen. Pitkät hiekkarannat kapean kannaksen molemmin puolin ovat taanneet vesileikit ja aina on jompi kumpi ranta ollut suojainen. Ranta on matala ja siinä näkee vuoroveden liikkeen selvästi, mikä on aina jaksanut hämmästyttää meitä kaikkia. Hietikkoa paljastuu laskuveden aikana montakymmentä metriä!

Matkurilla yövyimme kannaksen levennyksellä, mikä on mielestäni todellinen karavaanarin unelmapaikka, ja ihmeeksemme koskaan emme tavanneet muita yöpyjiä. Mietin vieläkin, että haluavatko kaikki todellakin yöpyä leirintäalueilla kylki kyljessä ilman maisemia ja vielä maksaa siitä reilusti vai mistä on kyse. Ei kai täällä mitään pelättävää ole, hyvänen aika! Ja jokainenhan on jo maksanut kaalliisti saadakseen oman pienen keittiön ja vessan, joten niidenkään käyttöä ei tarvitse "ostaa" uudelleen... (Tietenkin, aika ajoin suihku tekee terää, jollei uimavesille uskaltaudu, ja pitkään reissatessa tulee vastaan pyykinpesukin...)

Ekreijalla on omat kotisivutkin, norjaksi ja englanniksi :  http://www.ekkeroy.no/

Tässä lainauksia sivuilta:

Welcome to Ekkerøy

Ekkerøy is a traditional fishing village on the northern shore of the Varanger fjord in Eastern Finnmark, Norway. The village is situated 15 km east of the town of Vadsø, a short detour from the main road to Vardø and Hamningberg.

The suffix -øy in Ekkerøy means island in Norwegian, and in old times it was a true island and not as today: a peninsula. Then, when the sea had its low water, the villagers could walk dryshod over to the mainland. Gradually, the nature made a broad tongue of land and a fine sand beach on each side of it.

You are able to see huge fish drying racks, where earlier the codfish was hung to make the very best quality of dried fish. Dried fish is still popular for the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese kitchen, to cook bacalao.

Ekkeroy is one of the eldest fishing villages in the county of Finnmark. While elsewhere in the Varanger fjord there were typical old Lappish settlements, Ekkeroy was one of the Norwegian villages. The villagers' means of support was a combination of fishing and farming. There are about forty inhabitants in Ekkeroy today.

As the name reveals the place was originally an island, but gradually it was possible to go dryshod by low tide to the mainland. The nature itself has created a tongue of land with nice sand beaches on each side.

Bird watching

Amongst bird watchers the Varanger fjord is rather well known for having a rich bird life with a great variety in different species. Some are rare birds for the arctic region. Here you can see the King Eider on the picture to the left and purple sandpiper to the right. The King Eiders are mostly here during the winter months and into the months of March and April, then they travel further east, together with the Steller's Eiders. The purple sandpiper is loyal to Ekkerøy and you may find it running on the beaches all year round. The Ekkerøy bird rock is close to the village and has some 40.000 kittiwakes.

You may observe a lot of different ducks, like goosander, hairy crown, long-tailed duck; razor-billed auk, common guillemot and Brünnich's guillemot, puffin and diffrent kinds of cormorants. Also wading birds like curlew, triell, bar-tailed godwit and birds from the sandpiper family. The sea eagles also live here and if you are patient you may observe some owls like snowy owl and Tengman's owl. From March/April and onwards the days are long and in May the midnight sun is here, making the bird watching to a very special and unique happening.