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.