Golf courses in Østfold county, Norway (1 leg, 1 hour, 10 courses) v1.0
The fligth
The flight takes you across all the golf courses in the county of Østfold in Norway (now part of Viken) and you also fly into Swedish airspace for a few miles. The landscape is quite flat with many lakes, rivers and seas. Do you find the last course?
The name
The old name of the Oslofjord was Fold; Østfold means ‘the region east of the Fold’ (see also Vestfold). The name was first recorded in 1543; in the Middle Ages the name of the county was Borgarsysla ‘the county/sýsla of the city Borg (now Sarpsborg)’. Later, when Norway was under Danish rule, the Danish king divided the area into many baronies. These were merged into one county (amt) in 1662 – and it was then named Smaalenenes Amt ‘the amt consisting of small len’. The name was changed back to Østfold in 1919.
History
Østfold is among the nation’s oldest inhabited regions, with petroglyphs (rock drawings) and burial mounds throughout the area.
In the Viking Age, the area was part of Vingulmark, which in turn was part of Viken and included Båhuslen (which is now the Swedish province called Bohuslän). It was partly under Danish rule until the time of Harald Fairhair.
Later, when Norway was under Danish rule, the Danish king divided the area into many baronies. The barony of Heggen og Frøland, consisting of the municipalities Askim, Eidsberg and Trøgstad, originally belonged to Akershus – but it was transferred to Østfold in 1768.
In October 2018, Norwegian archaeologists headed by the archaeologist Lars Gustavsen announced the discovery of a buried 20 m (66 ft) long Gjellestad Viking ship. An ancient well-preserved Viking cemetery for more than 1000 years was discovered using ground-penetrating radar. Archaeologists also revealed at least seven other previously unknown burial mounds and the remnants of five longhouses with the help of the radar survey.
Geography
Østfold sits between the Oslo Fjord and Sweden. It is dominated by flat landscape with a lot of woodland in the north and along the Swedish border, a major lake system in the central part, and densely populated lowland area along the coast, with a relatively large archipelago.
Norway’s longest river, the Glomma, flows through the county and out into the Oslo Fjord in Fredrikstad.
