Far and Away

Getting Used to Sailing in Norway

After meeting up in Bergen, Nico and I joined Far and Away in Strusshamn where he had been staying. We hopped on a ferry and took a bus to the town. Right away, I realized an important characteristic of this country. Norway has thousands of inhabited islands, offering excellent ferry and bus services. Many of the islands are connected with graceful bridges. The infrastructure is impressive!

We left the snug harbor of Strusshamn and headed north. Our goal was to be in Trondheim in time to meet Christian Cheney, the husband of our niece, Eugenie, and his son Brooker. As we headed out, we were immediately stopped by a police boat. Two officers boarded us to make sure all our immigration papers were in order. They were highly impressed that Nico had taken the trouble to go to the airport to take care of everything properly. They said that we were the 1% that did. We had a lovely reach north after that, in rain and sun. We spent the night in a tight, isolated harbor on Hille Island where, during World War II, the resistance hid out in British motor torpedo boats. They would come over from Shetland during the night, hide out with the boats covered in camouflage netting, pop out to strike German ships carrying war materials, and then hightail it back to Shetland.

We were in the inner harbor. The islands right on the ocean are treeless and rocky. It feels like the far north!

The narrow entrance.

We then traveled along, cutting across many entrances to fjords and among islands. We turned down one small fjord (they can be hundreds of miles long), and sailed before the wind about halfway down to some spectacular waterfalls. I'm sure these will be the first of many, but they were impressive! Pictures do not begin to show the immense scale.

We spent the night at a dock in Dale, across from the falls, and walked into town.

Trying to give a little scale to the size of the mountains.

The old ferry slip, before they built the bridge.

Every waterfront has boatsheds, which are usually painted red. I did enjoy the picturesque red buildings, which brightened up the landscape.

This is the typical church architecture for this area.

We next learned about local winds. Although our app that shows wind conditions has been very useful in our travels, it does not take into account the winds that funnel down the fjords or down the cliffs (katabatic winds). The wind increased slowly throughout the next day of our travels, but as we turned down one fjord to reach Maloy, the wind picked up quickly and soon was gusting to 40 knots. We decided not to keep going but ducked down a side fjord to get to a town at the end. On the way, we saw a sheltered spot behind a couple of small islands. We anchored and enjoyed a relaxing dinner. The wind started snaking around one of the islands, so Nico decided to put out a second anchor. As we were maneuvering, we realized something was wrong with the first one - it must have wrapped around a boulder or debris on the bottom. I couldn't raise it and, when I finally did, there was old rope attached to it and lots of kelp. Then we couldn't get it to set again and it was pouring rain. We bailed and motored six miles to the town and tied up at the dock. Safe and secure. We learned that anchoring below a cliff, even if it is protected from the general wind, does not protect the boat from the local severe katabatic winds. The few areas that are shallow enough to anchor in are often taken up by fish farms or have been used for generations and are loaded with debris. (No pictures - we were too busy!)

The next day was calm, so we took advantage of the good weather to get around a notorious cape, Cape Stad. It has caused so much trouble for shipping that the government is digging a ship tunnel at the base of the peninsula! We got around just fine and decided to spend the night in a fascinating harbor just after rounding the cape. It is a harbor of refuge in storms and very well protected.

It was a lovely small community at the very tip of the Cape Stad.

It had a strong seawall protecting the harbor

We haven't seen any seabirds to speak of but we were lucky to pass a gannet colony on one of the cliffs. A few murres, one razorbill, and a couple of puffins are all we have seen other than a few gulls, terns, and oystercatchers. Very disappointing and so unlike Scotland! Why would Norway have fewer birds? We have hardly seen any sheep either - or any livestock to speak of. I've been looking for fjord ponies since I got here.

The community of Midsund. A few years ago, the town brought over a bunch of Sherpas who laid over 2,000 rock steps up a local mountain to promote tourism. We did not climb.

During this time there have been some terribly hot days in Maine. We have NOT been hot. The water temperature is 55 degrees, the air is 53, and it has rained, at least some, every day. I have been using a jar of hot water to keep my hands warm because my gloves keep getting wet, cold, and soggy.

Even this plant has fuzz to keep it warm.

An interesting night was spent on the tiny island of Ringhoven. Since the 1690's cod has been dried on the giant racks. They recently discontinued the practice, and the fish house has been transformed into a restaurant. We are told it is hopping in the summer.

The restaurant was built around the stone navigational marker.

There are saunas everywhere one goes in Norway, even on this tiny island. We need to stay in a place long enough for me to take advantage of one.

The sauna house

I love the sod roofs, especially when they are covered with wildflowers!

Not much soil here, but there were daisies everywhere.

The sheds have been converted to hotel rooms. They don't look like much from the outside, but are lovely inside.

The remains of one of the drying racks.

An aerial shot of the island. The ferries passing by were a hazard because the wakes crashed us against the metal dock. We rolled a tire down for extra protection.

Another business that has been converted into a restaurant was a lovely trading post where we spent the next night. The young people who run it showed me pictures of the place in its heyday. There were posts like these up and down the coast for fishermen to trade their catch for necessary supplies.

I'm not sure what this building was used for. It looks like a school with it's bell, but it has the rat guards seen on farm buildings elsewhere. Perhaps they stored the grain there for trade with the fishermen.