Harstad to Lofoten

Friday 10^th June 2011 – Water problems

After the captain and officers of the Fiordkongen (the express ferry – see Tromso Blog) had left, we were still wide awake and in the perpetual daylight here it felt normal to be going down into our ‘deep’ storage, which is under the saloon cabin seats and below our provisions lockers where we have a very large space that is used on these long trips for boxes of seasonal clothes, spare bedding, electricity cables and extra food stuffs etc.  I was running short of milk and needed to get further supplies of milk powder up from the deep storage before breakfast, so we emptied our the provisions locker to be able to lift out the false base to get to the spare provisions only to find when we pulled out our Gilray scaffolding bags (thanks to my Brother-in-law & sister, we have lots of these but they are not waterproof), a lot of our dried food items were wet even though they had been packed into additional plastic bags, however, the cardboard packets of the milk powder and matzo biscuits had soaked up the water and the contents inside further packaging are fine, other items all seem to be useable.  Having emptied the locker James went down and mopped up and we left a fan heater running in the locker for the rest of the night to dry it out and all the food stuffs were strewn around our greenhouse type heater to dry them up.  We assumed the water must have come from when the stern gland was leaking.

Having not gone to bed until about 2 am, we did not rush to leave Harstad early, anyway, all the deep storage had to be repacked followed by the everyday food storage, and then we had to move the boat over to the pier head for water, so it was lunch time by the time we left.  We motored northwest around the top of Hinnoy Island, then south into the Risoysundet, which was a well marked channel as it runs through very shallow waters leading to the Risoyrenna Bridge.  The Red and Green stake buoys were very large and substantial constructions and from a distance I thought I was looking at Anthony Gormley type figures, so we’ve re-named the channel as the Anthony Gormley channel!

At the end of the Risoysundet we turned northwest into the Gavlfjorden, where we started to see puffins.  We chose to spend the night on anchor near the village of Alsvag, on the Island of Langoya, but before we could have supper we had an engine oil change to do (we have to change the oil approximately every 125 hours of motoring).  On opening up the engine compartment we saw that we had quite a lot of water underneath the engine and on checking the stern gland we found that area was dry, so James tracked the leak to our water pump which cools the engine.  We now suspect that this has been leaking for a while and added to the water from the stern gland, helped in creating the water in ‘deep storage’.

The Midnight sun from Alsvag

Saturday 11^th June 2011 - Trollfjord

It is funny how engine problems always seem to happen at weekends!  So on getting up James fired up his computer and connected to the Internet via our Norwegian data card.  He was able to see that one of the two Nanni (make of our engine) Engineers in Norway was at Svolvaer in the Lofotens which was not far away but Monday was a Norwegian holiday for Pentecost, so nothing could be done until Tuesday at the earliest.  We left our anchorage and decided to use northerly wind to sail south for the Lofotens.  We had not been going long when our long suffering engineer – Peter Norris, responded to James’ message and was able to say that there was no problem in using the engine, so we took the sails down and continued north up the Fjord thinking to visit Sto on the north coast where we had read whale spotting trips took place and that we could ask where the whales were.  However, not long after deciding to continue north up the Fjord, James thought to check the weather forecasts for the area, only to discover the wind was due to increase from midday to Beaufort force 5 - 6 and increasing even more for the evening and the following day, so the plans changed again, as a strong northerly wind on to a north coast facing straight out to sea was not appealing and we certainly would not want to go out to sea to look for whales.  So we resumed sailing south and arrived at the famous Trollfjord in the early evening.  It is short narrow fjord with tall mountains on either side, we found an empty pontoon (the only one) to tie up to for the night and whilst there was a succession of boats in and out of the fjord no others stayed the night.

Paddington IV at the Trollfjord

The Hurtigruten Ferry at the entrance to the Fjord

Hurtigruten ferry turning in the Trollfjord

At 23.30 we were awoken by the noise of the north bound Hurtigruten ferry coming into the fjord with all her passengers lining the decks to view the Trollfjord and then she proceed to turn round almost in her own length and go out to let us resume our sleep!

Distance motored / sailed: 50 nm

Sunday 12^th June 2011 – Carol goes mountain climbing and takes a dip!

I had read in our nautical guide books that there was a lake above the Trollfjord from which one had fantastic views.

The pipe bridge & the branch

The instructions were to follow a water pipe line from the old hydro-electric station by which we were moored up until it disappeared in a mountain, then to take the south gully up to the lake.  James knew there was no way he was going up another mountain, so I set off with the hand GPS, handheld radio and mobile telephone.  I almost fell at the first hurdle which was to cross a fast flowing large stream, too wide and deep for me to jump and although I looked up and down the banks I could see no suitable stepping stones, I did find a small branch and put it across a narrow spot but I did not feel it was strong or wide enough to take my weight, so I had to back track down the pipe until I found a spot where I could climb onto the top of the pipe and walk along it to cross the stream, there was another stream but I managed to jump that one.  

View to the top of the pipe line

View looking down the pipe lin

I followed the pipe line up some quite difficult spots until it was going up sheer rock before disappearing.  I found a route up a scree slope and with the aid of my Nordic walking sticks manage to reach the top of that, and then I clambered up rock and spongy sphagnum with small birch trees to hold on to, next to areas of snow.  I got to nearly 700 feet and decided as I had a super view of the Trollfjord I would not continue further up to try and find the lake, particularly as the snow line was thicker, the rocks were getting larger and the marks that had been along the pipeline had petered out sometime before, so I was not totally sure of the route.  I also knew that going back down would be more difficult.  I was able to radio James my GPS position (lat & long) in case I failed to get back!  Having since plotted that position I can see that I got two thirds of the way up towards the lake. 

View from my highest point

 As I expected going down was much worse than climbing up, for starters I could see almost vertically down, I slid down some of the spongy areas and once on the scree slope I very quickly landed on my backside so decided to slide down the first half and on checking my GPS’ altimeter I did 150 feet on my bum!  Once back by the pipe line I decided that on the level and not too steep areas of the pipe I would walk back down it, this certainly saved me from jumping the streams and climbing down one difficult area near a ravine and kept my feet a bit drier and the mosquitoes were not quite such a nuisance.  I was relieved to be back on the boat and because I was very hot I decided to plunge into the 11 degree water – I jumped back out pretty quickly, but I had to do it again for the camera!  Then it was a hot shower on the boat as my kind husband had the engine running to warm the water for me!

After lunch we left and headed south down the Raftsundet and once we were out of the wind shadow of the mountains, we hit the forecasted strong winds, so James had a good sail to Skrova, a small island to the east of Svolvaer, it is well written up as ‘the pearl in the Vestfjord’ (the sea between the mainland and Lofoten).  We were not that impressed, however, it was a free night as the pontoon belonged to the Whaling company and we were told by a local that there was no charge, but they would like us to buy some whale meat which I had been wanting to try but as it was a Sunday followed by a public holiday the fish shop was not open. 

Distance motored / sailed: 20 nm

Monday 13^th June 2011 - Svolvaer

We each had separate walks around Skrova in the opposite direction from the previous afternoon.  You do get a very good view of the ‘Lofoten Wall’, which is a range of mountains that run down the spine of the Lofoten Islands, hence in the south you don’t find many places to see the midnight sun go down and back up, whereas on the north side of the Islands you get a better chance of seeing the sun dip down and back up, provided it is not a cloudy evening

Sea Eagle off Skrova

On leaving Skrova we thought we might head to a fjord a little further north as we had been told that a pod of Orca whales had been seen there, but once we found we had two knots of tide against us we just satisfied ourselves watching the fish eagles before heading into to Svolvaer to be ready for the Nanni engineers to open on Tuesday morning.  Skrova is only about 5 miles from Svolvaer, so we are now into short passages.

Carol & Inger-Lise Kvaale

In the early evening we introduce a Norge: Inger-Lise Kvaale to Pimms, I am not sure that she liked it much!  Inger and her husband were at Skrova on Sunday night and I was really glad of their help taking our warps as we berthed as there was a strong wind blowing us off.  [They had sailed a new yacht from Narvik to Svolvaer via Skrova, where Inger’s family have summer home, for a charter business they have an interest in – so here is the plug, if you want to sail the Lofoten Islands and north Norway do contact Boreal Yachting: www.boreal-yachting.com].  Inger had also rushed around Svolvaer harbour when we arrived to help us moor and warn us about the shallow depths around the pontoon we were going on to and then she kindly came back in the evening to pass on some other information from her husband, who had flown off to Amsterdam for a meeting. 

Fish racks of drying Cod in Svolvaer

Distance motored: 15 nm

Tuesday 14^th June 2011 – the engine water pump is sorted and we have clean clothes!

James was round at the Nanni engineers soon after they opened at 7 am and was pleased when they said they had the necessary new seals for the shaft, so he rushed back to the boat and took the pump off and took it to the engineers who had it ready for us to collect in the afternoon, so hopefully we have now sorted out the leaks.  Whilst the entire engine compartment was open James took the opportunity to tighten fan belts etc.

Svolvaer Guest Harbour

Paddington IV in Svolvaer Harbour

During the day we re-stocked the fridge as there are good supermarkets in Svolvaer as it is the “capital” of Lofoten and we are not sure how well stocked other shops will be on our journey south.  I was able to buy some whale which I was told to grill for just a minute or two on each side and it was just like eating fillet steak very tender and I did not think it had a strong flavour, James opted not to have whale as he remembers eating it on his last visit to Lofoten, when he had it stewed and thought it had an after taste of liver which he hates.  I can’t say I noticed this.

I also had a bit of luck – there was a large British yacht (Trilogy) in the harbour who were doing a lot washing as they had a change of guests, so they had purchased the NOK 60 card to allow them access to the washing machine and drier and had been tipped off that they should leave the door to the laundry room ajar otherwise you are charged each time you open the door, when they had finished their laundry in the late afternoon they passed me the card so I could use the machines, they already had a Norge doing a load, so we now have clean bed linen, towels and clothes, 4 loads of washing!  I did not get it all dry until 1am! 

In the evening we spent nearly an hour viewing some ice sculptures at ‘Magic Ice’ between the visits of the Hurtigruten coastal voyage ships which each spend about an hour in port, so their passengers disembark and as ‘Magic Ice’ is next door to the quay they obviously get a lot of custom from the ships.  The Ice Sculptures’ are very good, you have to wear waterproof lined ponchos for warmth, in fact I need two, and gloves.

Wednesday 15^th June 2011 – Henningsvaer and supper out on Bon Adventure.

Before leaving Svolvaer James gave the boat a good wash, as a seagull had been breaking sea urchins on the deck which made a horrid mess!  We then motored the 3 miles to Kabelvag for a lunch time stop and walk to Vagan Church referred to as “Lofoten Cathedral”, as it can accommodate up to 1200 people.  As is becoming the norm here, the church was not open but we were able to walk around the outside.  We then had drinks and dessert at the café on whose pontoon we had tied up at.

Vagan Church (Lofoten Cathedral) at Kabelvag

Bon Adventure arriving at Henningsvaer

Guest Harbour at Henningsvaer

We then continued on to Henningsvaer, dubbed the “Venice of Lofoten” as it is built around a number of inlets.  It is a very pretty fishing village, with racks of cod drying and lorry loads leaving the village presumably for Spain or Italy where it is very popular.  Because of its excellent quality, “Stockfish from Lofoten” is a geographically protected name in Norway, in the same league as champagne and Parma ham.  Cod is caught from February to April, the head and the body are dried separately, before they are hung out to air dry on the fish racks, the innards are removed, the liver is used in the manufacture of cod-liver oil and the roes are used in Norwegian caviar.  Whilst the dried Stockfish goes to southern Europe the heads are exported to West Africa for use in stews etc.  We bought a small packet of dried fish to try and I am afraid did not like it.   

We had had an email from Bon Adventure, a yacht we had met briefly in Bergen, to say they would be in Henningsvaer for Wednesday night hence our decision to meet them there.  Paul and Liz Jackson arrived with their crew of 3 and came aboard Paddington for Pimms before we were invited to join them for supper of ‘cold fish’ which they had caught that day, Liz cooked them in the oven ‘a la Provencal’ which was delicious.  I volunteered a pudding, so with a quick look at my store cupboard I came up with a cherry and nectarine trifle which went down a treat.  It was a very convivial evening and amazingly not just our two English boats arrived in Henningsvaer but another two as well.  We really are seeing a lot more English yachts here in Norway than we ever met in the eastern Baltic, but I suppose for the Scottish boats this is their back yard, rather like Holland is for the East Anglian sailor.

At 10pm the harbourmaster collecting the mooring fees arrived and tried to charge NOK 210 which includes electricity, however, the notice said NOK 200, so a Norge on board Bon Adventure remonstrated with the man, so we all got to pay last years rate, as the notice board had not been updated.  It also says to pay at a parking meter which is not there but we had been told by a local fisherman that the harbourmaster would come round to collect our dues.  The last English boat arrived after 10 pm so they escaped the mooring fee!  However, had there been an honesty box they would have used it.

Distance motored: 11 nm

Thursday 16^th June 2011 – the midnight sun

We left Henningsvaer in the early afternoon, after a walk around the village and headed north through the Gimsoystraumen, where you have to watch for strong tides at the narrowest parts, particularly under the 30 metre high bridge.  We had planned to anchor in the Sunnlandsfjorden for the night until we picked up a weather forecast indicating strong winds from the north east which was not conducive to anchoring to see the midnight sun, so we continue on to Laukvik which is recommended for fantastic views of the ocean and the midnight sun.  Laukvik offers one visitors pontoon of about 25 metres and just one electricity socket which we plugged into.  Although there was a notice saying the cost was NOK 150 per night including electricity, there was no honesty box and no one around to pay the money to.  The village is predominately fishing and farming, there was a small Coop with limited stocks – not ice creams or sticky buns to entice us to spend money!  Whilst we were having our first wander around the place the large English yacht – Trilogy that we had met in Svolvaer, who had given me the laundry pass, came in and tied up briefly and then we saw them leaving again – was it because we had nicked the only electricity plug in socket?  Or perhaps one look at the fairly dismal surroundings made them decide to move, we’ll probably never know.

Laukvik relections at 1 am

I spent the early evening making pastry (from a packet); a cold wine bottle worked well as a rolling pin and made two quiches.  Then at 11 pm we headed off to watch the midnight sun from the northern breakwater.  At first we were worried that it would be obscured by cloud but in the end we had a good view, the sun never went down any where near the sea before coming up again and quickly moving east.  We stayed watching until 12.30 am before heading back to the boat and bed!

Midnight Sun at Laukvik

Distance motored: 16 nm

Friday 17^th June 2011

Having had a peaceful still night (we could have safely anchored) we again checked the weather forecasts to find that strong winds were still forecast from the north east, so it seemed sensible to re-trace our route down the Gimsoystraumen back to the south side of the Lofotens.  We left as soon as we were up to avoid the tidal stream being against us, at least we are able to sail slowly as the light breeze was from behind, which makes a change.  Trilogy, the big (55’) English yacht appeared from out of the anchorage we had thought to stay in and quickly over took us.  They were last seen heading in the direction of Henningsvaer.  Eventually the tide was stronger than the wind so we had to motor and anchored in a small anchorage above Steine, near Stamsund and are hoping the anchor is bedded in enough to hold if we get the forecast strong winds, though we are quite sheltered here.  However, now at 10pm it is beautifully still with lovely reflections around our almost enclosed anchorage.  We enjoyed supper in the cockpit at 8pm when we still needed sunglasses and hats.  Once the sun disappeared behind a mountain it became chilly.  During supper we had the distance sounds of sheep with bells and the occasional bleating on the hillside behind us.  In front of us three herons fished for their supper and some ducks were diving for theirs, so a beautiful tranquil spot.

Distance motored / sailed: 26 nm