Two headlands and playing tourists from Andalsnes

Saturday 9^th July 2011

We left Grip and had our breakfast on the move heading back around Hustadvika, one of the feared headlands that have to be rounded on this coast that have no shelter.  As we were already 12 miles out to sea at Grip we took the outer route keeping a good distance off the shoals that lie off Hustadvika.  There are inland routes going along past the famous ‘Atlantic Road’ which had we been leaving from Kristiansund we might have tried as it was a calm day, not enough wind to sail and eventually it backed to being a gentle breeze on the nose.

On rounding Hustadvika we made a stop at Bud for 3.5 hours, to have a walk and find the tourist board for information on visiting Geiranger.  The tourist office was found on top of the hill as part of the Ergan Coastal Fort exhibition of events from World War II; we did not pay to go round, but were able to walk on the hillside by the nearby fortifications for good views of the area.

On leaving Bud we headed east in the direction of Molde, stopping to anchor at Svinoya, a bay between some small islands off Elnesvagen, which is dominated by a huge rock crushing plant, luckily it was not in our view which was of islands and the fjord.  It was a pleasant quiet anchorage.

Distance motored: 44 nm

Sunday 10^th July 2011

We decided to have a day of rest and not move from the anchorage, it was a day of sunshine and showers, so we were in and out of the cockpit like jack-in-the-boxes, when it was sunny if was beautifully warm.

Just after James went to bed a fisherman stopped by and offered us some live crabs he did not want, which I gratefully accepted.  As I have never cooked a crab before he gave me some instructions which were to boil them in salt water for 25 minutes.  James said it was kinder to cook them from cold.  A few text messages to my friend Lynn Compson, who I discovered was on holiday in Corfu, elicited surprise at the length of cooking time ……

Monday 11^th July 2011-07-11

Statue of the Rose Girl

View from the top of the Town Hall rose garden

We made a fairly early start from the anchorage to motor the 16 miles around to Molde, know as the ‘City of Roses’ and famous for a Jazz Festival which starts next week.  There were quite a lot of roses to be seen, but the rose garden on top of the Town Hall roof were still mainly buds, the tourist office girl explained that the cold winter had delayed the flowering season this year. 

Reknes visitors harbour plus our travelling Pingu

 We managed the walk through the town centre and did some shopping before the rain began.  Back on the boat at the Reknes visitors harbour, right next to their posh ‘Aker’ football stadium, I thought we would have a lunch of crab, unfortunately, I think Lynn was right the crabs had been boiled to death – there was nothing left inside the shells and we just managed to scraped a couple of small spoonfuls of meat out of the claws to go with our salad!  Had it been a beautiful clear day we might have contemplated the hour long walk to the Varden viewpoint to see the panorama of Molde with its ‘222 partially snow clad peaks’.

[Molde Reknes Visitor Harbour charges: NOK 100 for boats  under 10m, 150 up to 12m and 200 for over 12 m  plus 40 for electricity.  There was water available with good strong pressure – we made use of that!]

As it was raining we decided to move on and make our way towards Andalsnes which offers a free guest harbour.  It is also the town where we can get a bus across the Trollstigen mountain range to Geiranger which is supposed to be very beautiful, we shall have to hope for better weather as the mountains are completely shroud in mist and cloud today.

Distance motored: 37 nm

P.S. to the crab saga, I looked on line for advice in case anyone else offers us a crab and the advice was to kill the crab first (info on how to do this can be found on the internet) and then put into boiling water for 20 minutes.

Tuesday 12^th July 2011 – train ride to Dombas

Having rained all night it continued to rain all morning.  However, it did stop in the mid-afternoon, in time for us to catch the last train of the day to Dombas leaving at 16.16.  The trip is on the Rauma Railway and was written up as one of Norway’s most spectacular train rides, and there are many of those in this country of mountains.  Certainly the first hour to Bjorli (a popular winter ski resort) is pretty amazing; the train runs up the beautiful Romsdalen valley alongside the river Rauma with the Trollveggen wall (Europe’s highest perpendicular mountain wall) towering 1,800 metres above.  The train track has had to be laid in a series of hairpin bends, using both sides of the valley, so the train crosses the river several times, there are 32 bridges on the trip, including the impressive Kylling Bridge and a 1,340 metre tunnel in which the train almost competes a circle inside the mountain before emerging from the tunnel travelling in the opposite direction, 19 metres above the place it entered the tunnel.

After Bjorli the track runs through a fertile farming valley, although the majority of farming seems to be grass based, lots of silage being made, but little sign of cattle but we have since been told that is because they are kept inside even during the summer.  We had a 30 minute stop in Dombas, just time to walk down into the town and buy some supper to eat on the return train journey.  Dombas is the highest point on the railway at 660 metres above sea level; my ears were popping on the journey.

Wednesday 13 July 2011 – The Golden Route to Geiranger

The day dawn sunny and warm, so it was no hardship to be waiting for 08.20 bus to Geiranger, alongside an American family of about 10 – 3 generations of them travelling back to their roots.

Trollstigen Road

Gudbrandsjuvet canyon

View up the Geirangerfjord from Ornesvingen on the Eagle Road

The route took us on the Trollstigen Road said to be Norway’s most popular tourist road, which is normally only open from the end May to the end of October, the road twists through 11 hairpin bends as it climbs 858 metres up to Stigrora including an impressive bridge in natural stone crossing the Stigfossen waterfall.  The road then passes through a mountainous landscape past the Gudbrandsjuvet canyon which is an impressive system of rock pools forming a 5 metre wide and approx 20 metres deep canyon through which the river roars. 
Then on past the strawberry growing village of Valldal, where on the morning journey, pickers were hard at work in the fields.  The coach then had a short ferry crossing from Linge to Eidsdal before continuing on to Geiranger where we had to descend another 11 hairpin bends down the Eagle Road, 620 metres, with a stop at Ornesvingen for a good view over Geiranger and the Geirangerfjord.  Once in Geiranger we had the choice of staying just 55 minutes before the bus returned to Andalsnes or finding something to do for over 6.5 hours until the next bus and the last for the day left, we chose the later. 

View down the Geirangerfjord

Geiranger had two large cruise ships in the bay on our arrival, although one left at lunch time, but it really is just a tourist trap.  We considered a bus trip to Dalsnibba a mountain peak 1,500 m above the fjord, but it was expensive and to be honest James does not enjoy heights or the hairpin bends much and we had had a very good view over the fjord from the Eagle Road, we did not really consider a fjord boat trip – rather coals to Newcastle in our minds – we’ve seen lots of waterfalls on our sailing trip and on the bus trip.  So I walked us up the hill to the Geiranger Fjord Centre where I went round the exhibition and James opted to sit in the sunshine and then the shade for the 2 or so hours that I enjoyed in the exhibition including two sittings of a rather good slide show on 3 big screens.  We then meandered our way back to the Village via various tracks and watched the world go by in the glorious sunshine!  James did say that had he realized in time that he could have hired a canoe, he would have done so.

The return bus journey was a little confusing to start with, as no bus appeared with Andalsnes on it, but luckily we asked one with Alesund shown as the destination, which was waiting at the correct time and were told that we should take that bus to the ferry and we would be met by another bus on the other side and low and behold there was our driver of the morning who returned us to Andalsnes.

Guest Harbour at Andalsnes

Views around Andalsnes

House / boat work still needs doing!

Thursday 14^th July 2011 – The Train Chapel 

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast from the baker opposite the Guest Harbour, before wandering over to see if the ‘Train Chapel’ that we had noticed on Tuesday evening was open, which it was.  We spent a delightful half an hour or so sitting in it, listening to instrumental church music and enjoying the peace and the stain glass window, this we followed with a gentle stroll, in the sunshine, to the end of the harbour and train depot, collecting wild flowers for my vase, which was in need of fresh flowers.  All in all, very good for the soul!

We have enjoyed our sojourn at Andalsnes, somewhere, that had not been on our radar before, made all the more enjoyable by free berthing, electricity, water and free internet access, albeit rather weak, from the book shop opposite.  Also this small town has been carefully planned with pretty flower beds and seating areas and when seen in the sunshine, it is a delight with lots of interesting mountain scenery and of course the charming Train Chapel.  The fact that we could take two memorable trips from the town to areas we would not have seen from the boat made it even more special.

 

Reflection of the countryside in the Train Chapel Stainglass window.

Arrangement of local wildflowers

We left at high tide to take the weak flow back down the Romsdalsfjord, with of course the wind on the nose!  We motored to within 6 miles of Alesund, where we found a small bay to anchor in for the night.  I watched the first deer of the summer come down in the twilight to drink.

Distance motored: 48 nm

Friday 15^th July 2011 – Alesund

We motored into Alesund, which had a boat festival going on, so there was no space on the town harbour pontoons, but we went alongside a large Norge Yacht against a wall but before that we fuelled up, the boat was very thirsty, at least it was one of the cheapest fuel price we have come across so far.

Alesund is famous for its distinctive art nouveau architecture – a multitude of towers, spires and ornamental features catch the eye.  The reason behind the very different look of this town is because in 1904 they had a bad fire which destroyed 850 buildings and because it was a time of economic depression and extensive unemployment in Norway, craftsmen and architects streamed into the town in hope of finding work.  The architects were inspired both by National Romantic impulses, their Norse heritage and by Art Nouveau – the modern building style in Europe at that time.

We made our way through the boat festival and continental market (which included an British section, with a cheese farm – Ivy Bridge from the Dorset Somerset border selling their wares which of course had cheese but also a lot of preserves) to the Tourist Information office for a map and directions for the walk up the town mountain ‘Aksla’ to a viewing point of Fjellstua.  We found our way to the park and then climbed the 418 steps to the top where we certainly had a superb view of the town and surrounding islands. 

On the way back to the boat we stopped for shopping and took a slight detour to town church, which was very ornate and dark but after the train chapel at Andalsnes did nothing to lift the soul!  Near the church I found an elderflower tree full of perfect heads so I picked some to make some elderflower cordial, having laid in a supply of citric acid, lemons and sugar for just such a find.  I am looking forward to straining it off and being able to start drinking it as I have finished the commercial bottles I brought with me!

We left Alesund after lunch in the cockpit and motored and sailed until the wind died, when we were sailing slowly I put out my fishing line but again I have no takers much to James’ delight as he can’t bear the thought of fish flapping around in his cockpit!

We eventually anchored at 20.30 in the harbour of Bringsinghaug on Kvamsoya, a good jumping off point for the trip around the Stat headland.

Motored / sailed: 44 nm

Saturday 16^th July 2011 – Back around Statt and Floro

I was surprised to be woken at 05.30, having got out of the habit of early starts, to leave for the trip round the notorious Statt headland, as it was we had little wind on the journey around and there was just a slight swell, it fact it was so easy I went back to bed at 7.30

for a couple of hours.  When I awoke we were back into the shelter of the islands.

Mountains in the mist, seen during the day

Over the last twenty plus years James has been keeping articles on sailing in Norway that have been published in the yachting magazines and was I given them to read to make notes on places to visit.  One such place for a short stop was Vingen, mentioned in 2000 article by Kevin Seymour as a site of more than 1500 pre-historic rock carvings in an amazing state of preservation and an excellent visitors jetty which when he was there was empty.  So as we were passing the bay I had suggested a brief stop, however, I also noted in the latest edition of Judy Lomax’s Norway pilot guide that one should ring the Floro Tourist Office in advance to view, so I rang them to find that now one has to go on an organised tour, which only happens on Fridays!  Anyway, we wheeled into the bay but there was no sign of jetty.  I then checked the Norwegian Cruising Guide, who just said “Vingen no longer welcomes boats and the jetty is full of trespassers will be prosecuted signs”!

We carried on to Floro where I found the tourist office and the lady said that they are working on preserving the rock carvings at Vingen, but hoped by next year to be able to re-open the jetty.  However, there were some other rock carvings on a farm at Ausevik, not far from Floro where she thought we could moor the boat for a short time, she even tried to ring the owner to check if we could come, but got no answer.  Whilst at Floro we had a quick walk up the hill behind the church for a view over some of the myriad of islands off Floro.  We left Floro after 2.5 hours thinking we would find an anchorage for the night, the one shown nearby proved to be at the back on the town amongst the local industrial area and was distinctly smelly, so we headed out again, I found a route to Ausevik but on looking at the depths the coast we could see no suitable shallow anchorages so instead we have headed further south and found a berth at Svanoyvika on Svanoy, so not a free night but with a nice view, slightly spoilt by sprogs racing around in dinghies, we of course use to ban our kids from using engines after drinks time, rowing is also a much more healthy exercise!

Distance motored: 74 nm.  Cost of a berth here is NOK 100 plus 40 for electric!

Heading South

Sunday 3^rd July 2011 – Leka

We left Vega after breakfast and spent the day motor sailing in sunshine; we rejoined our outward bound route having come in from the north passed Torghatten the mountain with the hole in it.  From the north the immediate view is much better as you come upon the whole hole, whereas from the south the first you see is a small patch of light which just looks as though it is white paint until you proceed further north.

Torghatten, hole through the mountain for the second time!

 We had decided to make the Island of Leka our next stop, as the French boat Tara that we had met in Vaeroy had recommended it, because of its interesting geology and rock colouring and a pub, but I suspect the pub was at the harbour on the north side and we opted for an anchorage on the south opposite our route to Rorvik also it was protected from the northerly wind and we had read a 30 minute walk from some cave paintings, the key to which could be borrowed from the shop.  On anchoring at Solsemsvagen, Leka in the late afternoon, we decided to wait until the morning to pump up the dinghy for the excursion ashore.

Distance motored / sailed: 50 nm

Monday 4^th July 2011 to Bessaker

We awoke to rain, the idea to go ashore and try and find the cave paintings was abandoned!  So a fairly early start was made and James had a good sail down the narrow channel to Rorvik, where we saw an easy refuelling pontoon which took credit cards, so we made the decision to top the tank up which should get us back to Bergen.  Whilst Rorvik offers a couple of museums the Norveg Cultural Centre which is in a modern looking building beside the water with a pontoon and the other including information about the cave paintings on Leka, we decided that neither attracted us enough to stop and look!  It might have been different if we had actually managed to see the cave paintings at Solsemhula!

Our 1st free pontoon, nr. Bessaker

After we left Rorvik the wind died so the motor stayed on and we continued out to sea and down the coast with a very slightly rolly sea, when we decided it was time to find a place for the night, we cut through the skerries and islands to the inside route and immediately the rolling ceased.  We thought that Bessaker looked a suitable spot and there were anchorages nearby.   

On arriving at the bay we had thought to anchor in we saw an empty pontoon on the small island of Boroya just opposite Bessaker, so we tied up there for a free night!  After supper I walked up a track to a farm where the farmer was on his tractor turning the wet cut meadow grass over and then two sheep accompanied me on my walk back!  I stayed up very late hoping to see the south bound Hurtigruten ferry come through the narrow gap by Bessaker, as I had watched the north bound one on AIS take that route during the afternoon.  I gave up at 2.30 am, perhaps they only take the inland route during the day to give their passengers something to see, however, I was reading the latest Wilbur Smith novel ‘Peril on the Sea’ and he is always an exciting read!

Distance motored / sailed: 70 nm

Tuesday 5^th July to an island off Hitra

James woke me up to leave and go across to Bessakar where there is a pontoon by the ICA supermarket; it of course did not open until 9am, so I could have slept for longer!  However, it was nice to have a walk up the small village and collect some more wild flowers for my vase, which I have managed to keep going all trip by collecting fresh wild flowers when I need them.  The supermarket provided us with fresh rolls for breakfast and fruit and veg to replenish our stores.  We had breakfast on the move.

Our 2nd free mooring off the Trondheimsleia water way

We motored all day in the flat calm with no wind and as before when we felt it was time to stop for the night we looked around for an anchorage but again we found a free pontoon at Badstuholmen on the small Island of Vendoya, just off the large island of Hitra.  The 14 metre pontoon was connected by a very nice new gangway and then a decking walkway with hand rail for a couple of hundred metres along the bay, with seating areas built in – a lot of money had been spent, there was a collection of buildings in the distance which I assumed was a farm and a few other houses tucked away.  In the bay, which was quite shallow particularly at low tide, were a selection of mooring buoys.  Luckily we stayed afloat! 

Distance motored / sailed: 62 nm

Wednesday 6^th June 2011 - Smola

Because of the shallowness of bay where we had found a free mooring for then night, we decided we better try and leave 3 hours before low water, so at 7 am in thick fog we motored out into the Trondheimsleia channel, thank goodness for radar, chart plotter and AIS, it makes for a less frightening experience.

I was soon remembering a past trip in fog when the boys (Jeremy and Charles) were quite small, no more than 8 and 5 years respectively, as it was in Paddington II the Jeaneau Attalia which we sold in 2002.  We had been on a 'Cruise in Company’ to St. Katherine’s Docks in London and had come down the Thames the day before to the Medway and had to cross the Thames estuary and sail up the coast to Harwich.  In those days we only had Decca, paper charts and compass etc to help with the navigation.  However, I became more confident to continue the journey as every time James gave me a course and distance to the next mark, it came up absolutely on cue.  We offered the boys a £1 for every ship they spotted before us!

Gradually as the morning wore on the mist lifted until we had a lovely sunny day and good visibility as we entered the difficult winding channel to Straumen on the Island of Smola which is quite a large island but with more than 5,800 small islands, islets and skerries surrounding it!

Straumen: Seating area in front of pontoon and Ambulance Boat

One of the pretty flower boxes

When we arrived at Straumen there was just enough room to berth on the end of the hammer head with the stern hanging off.  However, fairly soon the two motor boats in front of us left so we were able to move up a little.  Just up from the small marina (1 long pontoon with small finger berths and the hammer head on the end) is a very nice seating area of decking and in the middle of the road a further large decked space in the shape of a ship full of picnic tables and pots of flowers, whether anyone uses it is another matter.  We later leant that this had only been completed this year, hence no doubt why it looked so good but the local lady did wonder whether it was a good use of the Municipalities money!  

 Then just a few steps away is the library only open on Monday and Wednesdays and a joker supermarket open from 1000 – 1800 (although we noticed that on the door it actually say 0900 and we certainly found it open before 10am).  We made use of both the supermarket for rolls for lunch and Lily the lady in the library proved very helpful and had lots of tourist leaflets about the area that we could take.  Later on she even invited me to have a cup of tea with her; it was lovely to talk to someone about the area.

Bridge en route to Endoya

It's nice going down!

Edoy Church

In the mid afternoon we cycle the 6 miles to Edoya the island at the south which all the ferries use, a number of small island are all joined together by bridges to form the main route on to Smola.  At Edoy we visited the 800 year old church and then went to the Gurisentret which boasts an outdoor amphitheatre seating up to a 1000, underneath the seating is a café and an exhibit called “Encounters with the Wind”, which the girl in the tourist office in Kristiansund on our way north had rated highly and advised us not to miss if we came to Smola.  I have to say that it was not quite what I had expected – you are issued with headphones and a small receiving machine which you press close to buttons to get the story of Smola throughout time as told by the wind.  Smola is now home to the largest wind farm in Norway, hence the theme of wind at the exhibition.  As James said he found it rather muddling and bitty and I know he was quickly bored – at one point I found him asleep in a chair!  However, one snippet of information caught my attention, which was that witches in the middle ages were often called upon to tie knots to make the wind the required strength – does anyone know whether this is the origin of the word knot to measure wind strength?

Distance motored: 34 nm. 

Thursday 7^th July 2011 – exploring Smola

We decided to take a bus to the north end of Smola to visit the active fishing village of Veiholmen 7 miles off  Smola’s main island, joined by various bridges and causeways from island to island, and then cycle the 20 miles back.  The plan of course was to take the bus into wind and be blown back on the cycles, as so often happens the wind changed direction, so our plan did not work!  We had a lovely sunny morning which deterioated as the day wore on.

The bus did not leave until just before 1 pm, so we were able to have a leisurely morning and do a bit of boat work (i.e. brushing the carpets and washing the decks).  During the morning Lily the nice librarian arrive with a bag of crab claws for James and the offer of a lift to Hopen the main town / village in the north of the Island as she had to visit the library there to exchange some books.  However, we agreed that her car was too small to accommodate the bikes and ourselves, so we stayed with the original plan of going by bus to the north.

The bus took the coastal road to the east which was pretty and went through various fishing villages; the driver also delivers various packages that have arrived on the ferry plus the daily newspapers, some of which are just flung out of the window into bus shelters!  However, in the bus shelter by Straumen medical centre there is a padlocked box into which he put a parcel.  The route the bus took covered 27.5 miles to Veiholmen including a stop at the depot to change drivers.  We had a lady sitting opposite us who had good English and she told us a lot about the Island until she got off and then our second driver told us more.  He had just returned from a week’s holiday in London, of course the Norwegian kronner buys a lot of pounds so it is a cheap destination for the Norges.

Views of Veiholmen

 Veiholmen was certainly a pretty collection of islands with a small central harbour where we watched the two motor boats, who had been in Straumen when we first arrived, tied up and we were able to have a word with them.  We noticed the pontoon beside the hotel was a little more expensive than the one behind the supermarket, both offered showers and washing machines etc.

The cycle ride back took us across one high bridge (I was pleased to make the top without resorting to pushing the bike up as James had to) unfortunately; it had started to drizzle so the good views were obscured.  We cycled as advised through the centre of the island as it was more direct, this took us through the farming area, where the country’s largest producers of carrots and swedes are supposed to be but we only saw one small field of carrots, so I can’t imagine that many root vegetables are locally grown.  The upland heath was a particularly boring undulating road; not even very interesting wild flowers except for small marsh or common spotted orchids, which we have seen a lot of all over Norway, because there is not much cultivation done the land is full of wild flowers and usually rather pretty.  

An orchid, I think!

I had hoped to see eagles on the ride as Smola is supposed to have a lot of them around the wind farm which we could see clearly on a parallel road, but they were obviously out fishing!  I was actually quite surprised to read and have it confirmed that eagles like the flat lands of Smola as I always thought they liked mountains to nest on.

On our return I washed all the clothes we had cycled in, but as soon as I hung them out it started to drizzle, later in the evening James discovered the shower block including the washing machine, so I was able to spin them and dry them in the tumble drier, I just wished I had known earlier about the free washing machine and tumble drier as I would have taken the opportunity to have done more washing – lack of being able to read the language as it was all noted on the notice board!  Whilst the clothes were drying I had a chat to the engineer of the Ambulance Boat, because as he lives on the other side of the Island, when he’s on duty he has to stay on board the boat as they had to be available 24/7.  Whilst Straumen is their home port they serve 2 other communities and their nearest hospitals are Kristiansund or Trondheim.  The crew also includes a skipper and paramedic and when necessary a doctor, nurse or midwife can accompany them.  All expectant mothers are taken by the ambulance boat to Kristiansund and quite often give birth actually on the boat!  The boats top speed is 40 knots. 

On return to the boat I found James showing a Norge couple our boat after he had been on board their Vicknes motor boat, which I was later shown round.  It is built near Bergen and James had seen a number of them on this trip and liked the look of them so he was pleased to look round one and I have to agree it is very well thought out and put together – you see we are always thinking about the next boat or phase of our life, perhaps it will be a motor home, as I can’t really say that James has enjoyed this trip that much and I am only here for the beer!

Straumen harbour details: cost of berthing NOK 75 including electricity or NOK 50 without. Behind the library facing the marina is a shower (10 kr), loo and washing machine and tumble dried (free).  Diesel is obtainable on the quay next to where the ambulance boat moors (also the local tractors all fill up here).  Details are on the notice board by the gangway to the marina, where the honesty box is situated.  Supermarket and library as discussed earlier are both nearby.

Friday 8^th July 2011 - Grip 

We awoke to fog which delayed our departure by two hours, but this did allow us to visit the shop for fresh bread.  Once we had enough visibility to find our way through the rocks we left for Grip which is a tiny island nearly 10 miles out to sea from Kristiansund.  It was once Norway's smallest municipality when it was bought from the landlord and was a big fishing village, where the cod fishermen would stay during the fishing season.  It is now only inhabited in the summer, when there is a twice daily ferry from Kristiansund.  It does not take long to walk around and there are limited berthing opportunities.  However, when we arrived in the tiny harbour we were directed to tie up alongside a fishing boat and promised that it would not leave in the night!  When we tried to pay for the night we were told it was free, in addition the family that had helped us, were boiling crabs and asked it we would like some - James was delighted.   Later in the afternoon a big bag of crab claws were delivered and I was asked if I would like some fish as well, which I accepted with delight and proffered a bottle of wine which was very well received.  I went to the family's house for the fish and discovered three generations on holiday - the Grandmother said her mother had lived on Grip and she had spent all her summers on the Island.  It was this lady who had caught the fish and crab, going out during the night for a couple of hours (whilst the sun does set here it still does not get dark in the summer).  I was given a bag of 14 small fillets and told to dust them in seasoned flour and fry, we have enough for 3 meals.  The family's house is now only used for 6 weeks a year and each year it needs painting, but the family all love it.  Not only was there Granny and Grandad, their two daughters and son-in-laws plus 2 grand daughters, the following day Granny's sister and husband were arriving - a real family get together and even though they have 5 bedrooms it was still going to be a squeeze!

I never thought I liked crab but I must admit these fresh ones were delicious so James did not get them all!  The hint the family passed on to me about hitting the claws with the back of a spoon worked a treat to crack the shell, much better than James' efforts the night before!

Out of the Arctic Circle - Eiderdown!

Wednesday 29^th June 2011 – Out of the Arctic Circle

It was a fairly early start from Rost, as we had the equivalent of North Sea crossing to Belgium to make.  We had enjoyed our time on Rostlandet and although James had been shown the route out through some of the 365 islands, isles and skerries that make up Rost, to pass by the lighthouse and some of the steep towering islands in the southwest, which are “home” for the largest number of nesting birds across Norway, we opted for the safest more direct route out. 

We did not want to become like Pietro Querini, who was a Venetian nobleman who was shipwrecked in the North Sea on a voyage from Crete to Flanders in 1431, he and nine survivors drifted ashore on to a small uninhabited on the south west of Rost and were not found until January 1432, when they were brought to the main island of Rost where they stayed until the spring and then left on ships carrying stockfish to Italy.  On Querini return to Venice he wrote an account of the voyage and his stay on Rost, which has become one of the most important accounts of the lives of ordinary people in Northern Norway during the middle ages.  Querini is a venerable figure on Rost with a restaurant and conference centre / sports hall named after him.

We had a strong north easterly wind on the beam, and for much of the trip up to 2 knots of tide against us, so we motored sailed to keep the SOG (speed over the ground) up at 7 nm per hour.  At times we had very limited visibility, particularly during the heavy rain showers, not that there was anything except mountains to be seen.  We saw a fishing boat as we left Rost and then nothing else came up on either the radar or AIS until we neared Lovund.

We crossed out of the Arctic Circle during the late afternoon, having spent 34 days and travelled 625 nm within the Arctic Circle.  We made landfall on the Island of Lovund, which is famous for its puffin colony, which is ‘home’ to around 200,000 birds.  Puffins have an amazing inbuilt time clock as they return to Lovund on 14^th April each year, to nest.  From the annual puffin day on 14^th April until mid August puffins are the main attraction.

Lovund

We opted to moor at the new harbour, near the salmon processing factory and ferry terminal.  The cost was NOK80 without electric.  The old marina would have been closer to the puffins but more exposed to the strong northerly wind we were experiencing.  The marina has water and electricity available but no other facilities.  The finger berths are quite short.

Distance motored / sailed: 85 nm

Thursday 30^th June 2011 – We come full circle.

Puffins, through the long lens!

 After breakfast we walked to find the puffin colony, a round trip of approximately 3.5 miles. Past the shop and the hotel and left at the cemetery after which the walk becomes a clamber up the hillside and I was grateful for the rope hand rail, as after the recent rain the rocks were quite slippery.  At the main viewing area there were quite a few other tourists.  The puffins nest amongst the rocks on the hillside and there were lots keeping a lookout, guarding their chicks from the rooks and seagulls who were clearly circling for a free meal.  All the time puffins were flying swiftly to and from the sea, however, as they are quite small, even with binoculars it was difficult to see them well and in fact we reckon we have seen them closer to from the boat and they are charming birds to watch.  At the shop where stopped for lunch time rolls on the way back the check out girl said that the best time to see the puffins is between 10 – 11 pm, so we should have come last night!

After leaving Lovund we headed to the reputedly pretty anchorage at Hjartoya opposite the ‘seven sisters (Syv Sostre)’ mountain range on the Island of Alsten, it was just north of here that we came full circle, crossing our track of 5 weeks ago to the day!  When we came past here five weeks ago, the seven mountains where shrouded in mist so I was hoping that on our return we would get a perfect view of them – it was not to be, clouds still clung to the tops.  I wrote of the legend of seven sisters in my blog of Torghatten – the mountain with the hole in it dated 24^th May.

The Seven Sisters Mountains

We sailed most of the way from Lovund to Hjartoya, it was a slow sail averaging 3 – 4 knots, so I got out the fishing rod I had been lent for the trip and tried my hand at fishing, losing one set of weights and feathers (I don’t think my tying on was very good), with the second attempt I tried for an hour with no success and then had to come inside to get warm – it is still jolly cold here and I am almost regretting putting away most of my winter clothes!

Hjartoya Anchoragae

We found the almost enclosed anchorage at Hjartoya, but misunderstandings between the skipper and his crew who was trying to avoid the noted rocks, led us to missing the chance to anchor in some shallower water at one end, as another yacht came in and took that space, so we had to anchor in the middle in 20 metres, which with only 60 metres of chain is barely the minimum scope of 3 times the depth which made James very uncomfortable, luckily it was not a very windy night and boat remained in the middle, though James said the anchor when we got it up was not where he had dropped it!  Not having got the dinghy up and being too lazy to get it up, we did not go ashore to check out the island, however, I did see the inevitable sheep!  We are still looking for our perfect anchorage!

Distance motored / sailed: 32 nm

 Friday 1^st July 2011 – Petter Dass Museum at Alstahaug

We left the Hjartoya anchorage at 9 am and motored the 9.5 nm to Alstahaug, where having checked with the Museum we tied up to some staging (the small floating pontoon was taken up with dinghies).  On reaching the futuristic looking Museum, next to the medieval church and 18^th century parsonage, it certainly is a place of contrasts.  The Museum primarily tells the story of the parson poet Petter Dass (1647 -1707), who lived and worked at Alstahaug from 1689 until his death, he is considered one of the most important poets of the Dano-Norwegian realm of his time.  In an age when few people could read or write but the religious teachings of the church was very strong, Petter Dass wrote poems and catechisms which rhymed and helped people to remember their biblical teachings.  There was a short film with English subtitles about Petter Dass and then one of the staff showed us around the church and gave us its history.  On the way back to the boat we saw an exhibition of photographs and went round the Old Parsonage.  It was a good 2 hour break.

Front Entrance

Petter Dass Museum from seaward

We had lunch on the move and sailed to Igeroya on Vega, where we were grateful for help from a Norwegian boat to tie up as the strong northerly wind was blowing us off.  They also told us that near gale force winds were forecast.  As there was a washing machine and drier here, I took the opportunity to spend the evening doing 3 loads of washing, as always the dryer takes longer that the washing machine.

[The cost here is NOK 150 p.n. including electricity, washing machine and drier at

NOK 20 each per use.  There are showers NOK 10 for 5 minutes and a club room with cooking facilities etc.]

Distance motored / sailed 24 nm

Saturday 2^nd July 2011 – Vega Archipelago UNESCO World Heritage Site

Pontoon at Vega

As expected we awoke to strong winds, so that dictated a day on this Island.  However, it has been a lovely sunny day, just spoilt by the cold wind.  The reason that this Island had caught our eye was the UNESCO listing in relation to the eider duck and man.  Most of the eider down collection is done on outlying islands in the Archipelago which are carefully protected during the nesting season (April to August).  However, on this main island of Vega there is The Eider Duck Museum at Nes which is on the north side of the island, and we are at Igeroya on the east, so it was time to get our bikes out for a cycle ride into the strong northerly wind.  Gladstad in the mid-north of the island is the main / only town (large village) on the Island and all roads seem to lead there.  It was 7 miles to Gladstad where we found the tourist board open and collected a map and directions for Nes, which was a further 3 miles on. 

Harp contraption

The Eider Duck Museum is small but interesting and we watched a short film in Norge about the collecting of eiderdown.  The Vegans make suitable nesting places for the ducks and put dried seaweed ready for the nest, which the ducks line with down from their breasts.  In years gone by the ducks also provided eggs which made a change to the local population’s diet after the long hard winter.  Once the nest is vacated then the down is collected up and picked over to remove debris of various kinds, this is a laborious job done by hand, firstly removing the large items, then on a harp contraption – fishing gut strings over a box with a sort of rolling pin to get the smaller pieces of debris out, the eiderdown has fine hooks which makes it attach to the strings and the rubbish falls to the floor.   The down is so soft and light and its takes a lot of work to collect much down hence the astronomical price of a real eiderdown or quilt.  In the past a kilo of down would cost 30 crowns when the cost of a cow was 40 crowns.

View out of window at the Eider Duck Museum, Nes

On the way back we made a short detour to Kirkoy Harbour, almost joined to Nes and on the way back I found some more wild rhubarb, beginning to get a bit stringy, but it has still made a nice rhubarb crumble.  Once back in Gladstad we stopped at the Spar supermarket, the only one in the area, to replenish supplies and buy some lunch which we ate at the picnic tables provided in the sun and out of the wind.  After tea we had a short cycle ride locally to see what else Igeroy offers – nothing much other than the ferry terminal with two car routes off the island. 

Cycled 22 miles.