The postal farm of Tyssen

On the other side of the fjord is Tyssen farm, one of many postal farms between Oslo and Bergen that were used before there were permanent road and rail connections. The official Norwegian postal service was established in 1647 and the post was distributed from farm to farm until the end of the 19th century. Then as today, the post must be delivered whether that is over windswept fjords, wild rivers or steep sided mountains. It was a struggle to be a postman at that time and the famous poet Nordahl Grieg from Bergen described this in his poem “Posten skal frem” – the post shall be delivered. “Viddens squealing sharp wind Rolls down the slope The postman walks with his broken horse Blinded by the fog, heavy on its feet He stumbles up the path” The post was delivered in stages between the different post farms either with boats on the fjord or by horse along the stone paths, usually once a week. The post road to Bergen is one of many historic postal routes in the country and today many of them are protected and used as hiking trails.