Midwinter calling, day 32

Laxlanda Inn

This time we are a larger group travelling to Laxlanda, but in the cold damp weather it is not a fun experience. But I better get used to this, since this is my now my life. And it's not that bad inside the coach. Honestly, parts of this journey is kind of beautiful through 'wild' feeling nature, but the journey just take too long for my liking even though it won't actually take that long. We take a couple of breaks along the way to stretch our legs and warm up, and also a break after another ambush exercise. Caecilia suggests a different kind of exercise to keep warm, but I decline her offer.

As we travel, we have conversations about a lot of subjects. We pass a bog, there is talk of bog iron, which Jane was completely unaware existed. But here in this culture and way of life that it is incredibly important and most of the iron actually comes from bogs, so I'm not surprised to hear that there are battles over bogs, and who will inherit a bog. Bog iron is the only truly renewable metal resource in existence, and those who have a good bog to 'harvest' usually divide it into 20 to 30 parts, and harvesting one part each year. It's a very valuable steady income. It's a rather fascinating biological process and the explanation for the common 'oil slick' surface on bogs here in Scandinavia. Somewhere below there is iron forming bacteria. Or someone have actually spilt oil there. Jane and Tom took pictures of that when they were in Norway and when they hike on Hardangervidda. They thought it was tragic that there was environmental damage even in such pristine nature.

Talk of radio also brings up telegraphs, and I really want to try to build a telegraph and solve any problems that will have in the near future. I have solved all the basic problems of telegraphy and can start to build as long as it is over land. Connecting between islands and across the river is a big problem. A hanging copper cable will never last, even if I run it all the way via Tosra and the small islands to the mainland. The longest distance there is something like 300 meter, and the copper wire will simply weight too much in relation to the tensile strength. It need to handle wind, ice and birds. Thicker means heavier, and there will be more ice and wind load. So I am planning to try an underwater cable. I will have to electrically isolate it very well in multiple layers, which will be hard. I can hang the wire down to the harbour, run it under the bridge, and over Big Ackerek. It is about a kilometer from Big Ackerek to the mainland, but I could run the underwater cable via the larger island northeast of my islands and then on to the mainland, because then it will be two stretches of 400 meter or less, which is a better idea. I did check, and Asbjörn owns those islands, and I don't think he has anything against a cable there, and I can probably buy that island from him. Two shorter underwater cables will be better than one long, since it is easier to make and cheaper to replace if something goes wrong. For the future of Telegraphs here in Scandinavia, shorter underwater distances will be absolutely needed, as there are plenty of river to cross, although 400 meter will be about as long as it ever needs to be. The next step up for an underwater cable distance is probably 5-6km, and the next step up after that is more like 15km for routes to the Dae's kingdom and through it. Those will be a huge problem just to manufacture, and will require a special cable laying ship etc. But that is a future issue.

But once ashore on the mainland from my Furstdom, which way should the telegraph go? The obvious destination is of course Borgarsandr, but the way there will probably be to Lysesund and then follow the winding country road across the inland to the river across from Tingshamn, under the river to Tingshamn and further down to Borgarsandr. With a Telegraph station in Tingshamn, each distance should be something like 26-32km. It will be interesting to measure the signal loss over those stretches, and the resistance will be high. With a 2 mm diameter solid copper wire it will be something like 6.5 ohms per kilometer, but that depends on how pure the copper is so it will be slightly higher. So with 8 ohms per kilometer, over those distances there is something like 240 ohms of resistance, which makes it very important how much current the receiving electromagnet at the end draws, and the Telegraph has to work with a fairly big margin because snow, ice and rain can affect it. I need to build it just to gather data about that. It is of course possible to compensate with high voltage or a larger diameter, but the exact details remain to be seen. A 2mm copper wire still weighs 29kg/km and 3mm wire is not only unpleasantly stiff to handle, is more than double the amount and weight, but also half the resistance. Then there will be some kind of capacitor effect. 30km of cable is about 180m² of surface. It's good I don't intend to run high-frequency signals through the wire, because that would probably caused problems. Then I don't know about the difference in the Earth's electrical potential over that distance, and if the Earth's magnetic field affects the system. It may be possible to use just the difference in ground potential to operate the telegraph, but the greatest potential difference should be between north and south, not between east and west. In the end it is just easier to build a test section and found out. One thing I have to test, is to use coherers from the spark gap radio as a receiver in a telegraph. The coherer needs to be adjusted, but it should be more sensitive than an electromagnet, although I suspect there will be interference problems with since the telegraph wire will act as a very long antenna. It might react to all kinds of things and be very very annoying.

For telegraphy to be a success and not just an expensive project and for my amusement and use, other people need to use it, and that means more places need to be tied together, and important places with people who have a reason to send a message to that other place or places. And that is hard since few people even write letters. I'm not sure there will be demand, so my idea is basically to make the system and try to get at least rich people or merchants to use it. So the idea is to build another telegraph line that follow this road from Lysesund to Laxlanda, and build a telegraph station in the Laxlanda Inn. After all, bells can be used to attract attention, and the station won't take much space and can be in the Inn where a combined telegraph operator/maid works. There will simply be too few messages for a dedicated operator. Then another telegraph line up to Elfrhamr and that Inn. Further expansion should go from Borgarsandr and south, and I could put an Inn and station on my property there. People will visit the Inn or pass by, and it might simply be useful to send a message ahead to book a room for the next night or something. Richer people might like that. That I will be able to send a telegraph message to my usual destinations is of course just a lucky coincidence.

All of it means that I might as well start testing on the island, so when we get back I'll have workers erect poles and run telegraph wires. The first section will be from our mansion along the road with a side line to the guest mansion that is being built, and further down to the village. Hopefully I'll be able to replace telegraphs with telephones in the future, but for now it is enough to run 2 wires with space for more, but it is very likely that there will be another line to the Academy. Erecting posts and hanging wire will go quickly, so the question is more the fine details. The telegraph station will be beside the radio, via existing wires to probably the pavilion, and from there down the slope to the road. If I solve the telephone microphone and speaker problems, it shouldn't be impossible to eventually make some kind of pulse-controlled telephone switchboard instead of using plenty of wires and a manual switchboard and operator. In the beginning it might simply be a 'party line' if I get sufficient signal strength, i.e. everyone connected can hear everyone instead of dedicated lines.

So yeah. There will be a small telegraph station beside the radio in the guards day room. Both will use Norse code, and the guards will get practise and quickly become quite good at using both. I need to practise too. Since any future network will require a switchboard and far more wires, I might as well run at least ten wires through the house to a junction box on the outside.

We sent a guard to ride up to Storman Maurr and tell him we are here, but we continue on to the Inn. We need to use the daylight to inspect the Inn and work so far. Jane agrees that Storman Maurrs large mansion is beautiful, and that it reminds her of Edoras. The Inn seems finished as we see them working on the stable and barn behind, and there is thin smoke coming out of one of the chimneys. Åsa is half-panicking as she rush out to meet us with Elin close behind, and the young woman I hired to be a servant comes out behind them.

The Inn is ready for use, and has been so for days. Bresir still lives up on Maurrs mansion, so we are the first guests, and I tell Åsa to relax; just treat us as guests so she can practise it. I take the nice large room with a large double bed with a view of the front and the river. Iselin, Kari, Ciara and Jane take the two double rooms with bunk beds on the short side that have a river view. Caecilia, Elvira and the guards spread out in the other two smaller rooms. Most wealthier guests will not let their guards have their own room, but we have basically filled the Inn with the exception of the small dormitory.

It feels luxurious to be able to take a shower when we are not at home, and then go into a proper bedroom, and the others enjoy it too.

Storman Maurr appears and he has been eagerly awaiting our visit. He has avoided a proper tour of the Inn to have one with us, but of course has heard about it from Bresir who seems to eat with Maurr every night to keep him up to date about all the projects. Together with Maurr and his concubine Lyngheida, plus invited Bresir, the ferryman and our guards and maids, we have a simple but good evening meal in the Inn's common room. The main reason for this visit is to test and inaugurate, and at the same time test that the staff can handle the work and responsibility, and the guards and maids means our meal and evening becomes more informal and a better test. It's a nice evening, and Caecilia uses the instruments to play some music, but Lyngheida is also skilled on a lute and Maurr is surprisingly good on both flute and lute. Apparently he dreamed of becoming a warrior poet and musician when he was young.

It's just very nice to sit by the fireplace and talk, and we grill apples and pears on sticks. Maurr tells us that Jarl Naeswulf was here a week ago and tried the current ferry, and he is definitely impressed with everything. Naeswulf looks forward to a similar construction being made up in Elfrhamr, but apart from the ferry, the inn and sawmill will probably not be built until spring. Jarl Naeswulf will have a shipwright build a ferry with the improvements we have already learned, and see to it that everything else is prepared, and he brought the bronze bells and the block I left for the Elfrhamr ferry back with him.

Maurr loves the ferry and Inn and how much more people there is travelling through here or visiting, and he clearly enjoy this evening and the relaxed atmosphere, and right now he absolutely isn't a Storman and is just Maurr with our guards and maids. From what Bresir and he talks about and how, I think Maurr loves to have guests and be 'one of the guys', and used to be damn bored. They have made their own fly fishing equipment, and Alith have their full attention as she tells about our hunts they have heard rumours about, and Maurr reminds us that he have plenty of forest covered hills and valleys we are welcome to hunt in.

With this location, and from what Maurr have said, I might as well plan an extension of the Inn. I'll keep that extension to a couple of larger rooms or common rooms on the ground floor, and a couple of dormitories on the second. It is no problem to build on the west short side as there is a corridor on the second floor and just a wall in the common room on the ground flood, both with windows in them that can be enlarged to be door holes. I just have to think about adding a couple of chimneys so those rooms will be heated as well. The extension may also need its own toilet and washing facility, because it has to be balanced against the number of guests. With this and other things, I just have to admit I am bad at estimating how much space a building need.