The coastal path, Frogn

I have been to the hairdresser at Tofte a today. On my way back to Ski, I went to Frogn for a new leg along the coastal path. This area is known for ice cutting, which started around 1850, when Europe, especially England, needed huge iceblocks to keep food cold.

Ice cutting is a winter task of collecting surface ice from lakes and rivers for storage in ice houses and use or sale as a cooling method. Rare today, it was common before the era of widespread mechanical refrigeration and air conditioning technology The work was done as a winter chore by many farmers and as a winter occupation by icem. Kept insulated, the ice was preserved for cold food storage during warm weather, either on the farm or for delivery to residential and commercial customers with ice boxes. A large ice trade existed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, until mechanical refrigeration displaced it.