Løkke bro
Løkke bro (bridge) was once part of the main road from Oslo to
Drammen (first Drammensveien, later Ringeriksveien and now named
Elias Smith vei). The bridge was made in 1829 at "Bærums verk" and
is the first cast-iron (støpejern) bridge in Norway. It is 5m wide
and 22.8m long. In 1977 the bridge was replaced by a modern
concrete bridge and old bridge was moved up 100m to its current
position. Here it now serves as a pedestrian connection between the
Sandvika secondary school (videregående skole) and the Løkkeparken
park area.
The pictures on the top show (left) Løkke bro 23.12.11, the day
that this cache was placed, and (right) early 1900's when the
bridge was still at its original location. The white house just
behind the bridge on the left side still exists! Now there is nice
footpath along the bank of the river in this area.
In 1978 almost all the wooden houses at
“Løkketangen” were demolished despite massive public
protests. This was the age of new construction and concrete, a
period that has not done much good to Sandvika. The bridge was
moved and the houses torn down to make room for the future
“Løkketangen kjøpesenter”. Later, the value of the past
was more clearly seen so some of the wooden houses were rebuild, as
you can see in the direction of the already mentioned shopping
centre (below left). In more recent times the Løkketangen and
Løkkepark area has seen much improvement. New restaurants and
coffeebars have appeared and the Løkkeparken area is becoming
something of an arts and craft area, much due to the efforts of
Björg Thorhallsdottir. Björg is also the coordinator of the yearly
"Hjertefred" event that draws thousands of people to this area. The
Løkketangen area was also the site of commemoration after the
terrorattacks in Oslo and at Utøya the 22.07.2011. The picture
below rigth shows how the sidewall of the bridge was decorated with
flowers and candles. Note that there are still candles and
watercapsules for roses left in the cracks. Some geocachers have
confused these with what they thought were the remains after
drugaddicts!!
Claude Monet Claude Monet is one of many persons and
painters who have seen the beauty in this bridge. He painted it in
the winter 1895. It froze so hard that he had to borrow his
friend's Frits Taulows wolf fur coat. The coat was so big that it
was known as “the studio”. The picture below shows the
Løkke bro at the original location and seen from the south-west
side towards Kolsåstoppen in the background. The white house in
front of the bridge to the right is the same house as mentioned
earlier and is still there.
The cache is available in winter as well as at night time. It is
a small plastic box that holds a pencil, log book, and several
christmas goodies for the first to find!
It is a sort of continuation of the previous cache
GCM7K4 HH Noose Bridge at this location. The latter cache was a
micro hidden inside the the bridge construction. That cache is now
archived and no longer available. The present cache is a small
plastic box (covered with brown tape, sufficient space for a not
too big TB and normal Geocoin), it is NOT hidden within the cast
iron structure, so do not attempt to climb in the bridge to find
the cache!
Please use stealth and discretion when recovering and placing
the cachebox.