Winter '97/'98.  We did our local "around the village" walk every day.  However, when we felt like a longer one, we'd take off for the backside of the island and the UFO Ring.  This walk was more arduous and challenging, so we needed to "want" to go there to undertake it.  Rumor had it that a UFO landed on the backside of the island several years before.  It even got media coverage at the time, but nothing came of it.  To keep the story alive, the local residents would walk the ring every time they hiked there to keep the impression intact.  We did our bit, too.  The walk and the Ring location--all beautiful and so the day always made us feel so fortunate to have stumbled onto Espev​ær.

Winter '97/'98  Salmon Farming was a going concern on Espevær.  Visiting the plant was a part of our daily walk.  The controversy over farmed vs. wild salmon was a concern even back then.  The fear was two-fold.  One, escaped farmed salmon breeding with wild salmon, and two, the spread of disease between the farmed and wild when those farmed salmon escaped into the wild.  Those two issue still exist and regulations are getting stricter, making this commercial enterprise more challenging.  BUT, we loved exploring the farm as we did our morning walk.