Midnight sun

Lofoten is truly an amazing place. As we make our way through turquoise waters it is almost as if we are flying above the crystal clear ocean. Everywhere you look there are jagged peaks, each wearing a dusting of snow and Widdershins is constantly dwarfed by the sheer cliffs of the fjords. And what excites us most is that the landscape is by no means barren. Fish constantly break the surface in feeding schools and birds of a huge variety dive and swim about us … the anchorage where we lie now also has its own resident seal which gazes at us across the bay. If you’re brave enough to poke your head under the frigid water there are soft corals and what must be a spectacular underwater seascape beneath us. We haven’t been that brave yet, but we are working on our courage (helped along, as it happens, by a bottle of bootleg liquor acquired under the table in one of the rustic bar we dropped in). Perhaps we could squeeze a dive in?

Another great thing about this part of the world is that there is plenty of sunlight . Perhaps too much. Right now our daily rhythm is a little messed up as we frequently sail well into the night, or go on long midnight walks. After a day sailing it is very tempting to anchor and then row to shore for a short walk – but it’s hard to tell when to call it a day when the sun won’t stop shining. There’s always the temptation to kindle a fire on the beach and gaze at the midnight sun or to scale one of the peaks to see the view. All this after-hours exploring leaves you a little weary and it’s sometimes hard to drag yourself out of bed…. Though a look outside the widow is generally enough to make us stir.

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Lofoten

Over the past two days we explored the remote southern islands of Røst and Værøy which form the very tip of the Lofoten Island chain. These rocky outcrops are the last vestiges of land before stone gives way to water and the land slips below turgid waters if the gulf stream. Here puffins, razorbills, kittiwakes, guillemots and sea eagles flock to the nesting cliffs and buzz overhead like bush flies in the Australian outback. People are somewhat less common and the harbours here retain some of the outpost feeling of a fishing town isolated from the rest of the world with not a care except the next catch of cod. And speaking of cod … you can still smell these towns long before you are amongst the picturesque houses – cod hang in endless rows drying on the sun and assuring all approaching that cod is the heart and soul of life in Lofoten. Our first night in the islands was spent tied up a mere ten paces from thousands of cod carcasses gently swaying in the wind … Widdershins is starting to absorb the aroma ….

Right now we have moved on from the southern islands, crossing the ominous Maelstrom with the reputation of a swirling eddy of water with a penchant for dragging boats down to the watery depths. Being the brave seafarers we are, we charged past the Maelstrom a mere hairs breadth from the swirling waters of death … well we could see them anyway … or we could see where it was still … in the distance. Now we sit with the warm sun on our back relaxing with a cup of coffee and recuperating after a steep climb to a mountain overlooking the town of Reine. The view was spectacular with the crystal clear waters of Lofoten lapping against the rugged cliffs below and the jagged snow-capped peaks towering above – it is a landscape that is unique to this fantastic part of the world.

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North of the night

Over the past few days we crossed a lot of water as we wish to spend at least two weeks exploring the beautiful islands of Lofoten. To make quicker progress we decided to do a couple of over-night trips…. well, over-“night” is a bit an exaggeration this far north. In reality it never gets dark at all. Although we have not seen the midnight sun yet (too cloudy), the light dims only a little bit around 1:00 am, before it gets bright again.

As you can imagine sailing 24 hours non-stop can be hard going at times. There is always one person on watch (making sure we don’t run into rocks or miss seeing whales) and in the long night time hours this lasts for about four hours ….  any longer and you find yourself nodding off. Meanwhile the other of us is snug and warm in bed trying to snatch a few hours of rest before once again suiting up and facing the elements.

I had just finished my last watch and blissfully fallen asleep, when at about 3:00 am Patrick banged on the cabin door and announced that he needed me on deck urgently. Sluggishly I peeked out of the cabin only to be greeted by a gush of cold water on my head and a broadly grinning Patrick who declared that this was Neptune’s kiss. After some well-directed curses I grumpily crawled out and he explained that we were just about to cross the Arctic Circle. Before we crossed I promptly secured my revenge in the form of a glass of water on Patricks head (after all, it’s his first crossing on a boat as well), then we raised a toast with some miniature gin bottles. At least we thought it was gin until we downed it. Turns out it was some horrible sweet gin essence probably meant for cooking, yuck!

Our first stop north of the circle was in one of the fjords. While it was once again overcast, the gaps on the cloud allowed tantalising glimpses of jagged peaks and white ice caps descending in an icy turmoil down the steep sides before grinding to a halt only meters above the water. We eagerly climbed up over spectacular rock formations where multi-coloured rock twisted in many layers and bore the scars of the glaciers passage. And only a short distance away the glaciers terminal face rose above us with the mouth of a cave where water relentlessly dropped down to form an impressive waterfall that tumbled down into a crystal-clear lake below.

Now we’re again further north, only a few hours from Bodø, where we will refill our food supplies to prepare ourselves for the journey across the seas to Lofoten. Right now Patrick is cooking his latest catch of fish for a delicious dinner. Seems Neptune appreciated our toast and rewarded us with a beautiful cod (though he did take my lure in payment…).

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Bountiful seas

As we head further North the degrees of latitude steadily increase and the degrees of temperature go sharply the other direction. Previously the steep slopes of the Norwegian fjords plunged to the sea with green foliage born of birches, spruce and pines; now we are seeing barren shores facing the battering of the weather and cold. But this is where things begin to get interesting….

A few days ago in an Arctic fog we were blown towards the shore of the southern-most puffin colony in Norway – the isle of Runde.  At 62°N these islands are at the same latitude of their southern counterparts the South Shetland Islands – adjacent to the Antarctic Peninsula. Here in Runde it is a far cry from the glaciers and extreme conditions of Antarctica but we have still crossed a boundary on the trip North. The south-western coast of Runde in composed of plunging cliffs that hold a startling arrange of nesting sea-bird life. Previously our journey along the Norwegian coast was in the company of gulls, a smattering of terns, the occasional eider duck … suddenly we were surrounded by birds of a dazzling diversity. Gannets, fulmars, kittiwakes, puffins, razorbills, shags and guillemots suddenly soared overhead. Here we climbed to the cliffs and sat and watched the puffins flap furiously through the fog towards their nests amidst the rocks, and craned our necks to see the graceful flight of the Gannets…. But it wasn’t just above that the wildlife had suddenly appeared. As we sailed on (again in mist) occasional schools of fish broke the slick surface, and eventually something bigger emerged from the depths.

With a high pitched squeak long-finned pilot whales where suddenly porpoising all around Widdershins chasing schools of mackerel. A pod of over 20 whales herded fish around us for the better part of an hour, briefly pausing to spy-hop – raising their heads out of the water to peer at these strange intruders to their watery world. Eventually we left them to their feeding, but not before securing some whale left-overs for ourselves…. Mackerel for lunch!

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Sailing back in time

Today was all about history: starting with the search for some early stone age carvings, which were supposed to be on the way to a medieval monastery. The carvings turned out to be quite difficult to find, since we only had a vague description from a lonely planet guide book, which told us which tourist operator could take you there, but gave no directions otherwise. Furthermore we didn’t even know what exactly we were supposed to be looking for. But after about two hours of chugging along the coast and examining every possible rock with the binoculars, we were lucky enough to actually find the carvings! Seems like not too much has changed in Norway over the past few thousand years: We could make out a ship, lots of deer and a few sheep (although the latter might also depict zebras … ).

After a beautiful day we tied up at island of Selja, in front of the ruins of a monastery from the early 12th century. High above the scattered remains of the monastery there was a deep cave, where according to legend a Irish princess took refuge from a band of marauding Vikings. Devine providence proceeded to collapse the cave on head to save her from a fate presumably worse than death. This resulted in her becoming a martyr and a saint. However, we discovered that Vikings were not the only killers in the area – along the steep slope we found a more subtle assassin: Pinguicula vulgaris (no relation to penguins). These little carnivorous plants lure passing insects onto their leaves where they are snared on the sticky surface to be digested at the plants leisure.

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Florø

Today we wake to blue skies in Norway’s most westerly town of Florø. First order of the day is to cook up a batch of pancakes to celebrate the change in weather and then we set sail for Nordfjord to explore another of Norway’s beautiful fjords … in fact as we move further north, the scenery is becoming pretty stunning in every way you look, with sheer cliffs rising in every direction and snow-capped peaks and glaciers peering out from the gaps in the clouds.

All this good weather and scenery is a much needed balm as yesterday everything did not go exactly according to plan. We had a long day pulling up the anchor at 7:30am and not coming to rest until after 10:00pm. We had an ambitious goal ahead of us in terms of distance to travel but the trip was much lengthened by the fact I forgot to top up the day tank with diesel. The result? The engine dried out and I had to spend the better part of an hour bleeding new fuel through the system while hanging upside down in an oily engine space in heavy swell. Of course I lost the required spanner down the dark recesses of the bilge never to be seen again, requiring various appellations to the Norske gods. This seemed to work – she coughed back to life after drifting helplessly on the seas for nearly an hour. Finally, while checking the fuel lines a final time on arrival I managed to break another essential item on the motor (the engine manifold intake – where the air comes in) requiring another quick fix involving wire and tangential thinking …. Rough but strong …..

After all that we finally descended on the town of Florø after midnight passing the welcome lighthouse superimposed against a beautiful orange sky. Thus I staggered into the town line an oil-covered spectre raised from the deep in search of a cheap hamburger at the local fuel station. The horror of this looming creature was somewhat diminished by the daylight still lingering at midnight this far north but I still raised some eyebrows.

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Waking up in Widdershins

So finally I have stolen the keyboard from Patrick and get the chance to put down some of my own reflections of this trip as we head up the coast of Norway and towards the Arctic circle. Patrick always tends to skim over the details of life aboard in favour of adventures (tall tales and big fish), so I thought I’d start with a day in the life ….

Getting started on Widdershins in the morning means first fighting over who gets up first from the the warm and cosy bed to crawl through a narrow tunnel to the main “living room” of the yacht to turn on the heater. Afterwards it’s rushing back through the freezing cold to wait in bed until the temperature become a little friendlier and we can finally both get up. On our old-fashioned kerosene stove we first have to pre-heat the burner with ethanol until its hot enough so that the paraffin can burn cleanly to heat the water foe the essential morning hot chocolate. After a wash and a hot drink we put as many layers on as possible – wind- and waterproof jackets and trousers, gloves and a warm beanie and maybe some heat pads to keep the fingers warm. Even though it’s early summer in Norway and the nights already last only a few hours, the mornings are usually below 10° C, and when standing behind the steering wheel for four hours non-stop in the wind and weather, it can very easily become uncomfortable.

Yesterday we were lucky enough to have a moderately strong wind from the South, and since we are heading north we could pole out the genoa and raise the main sail. Sailing with the wind at your back is very relaxed since you don’t feel the wind very much, but still make good speed. Yesterday we were sometimes flying overs the waves at almost 8 knots! We made quick progress this way and finally crossed 60° N. The equivalent in southern latitudes represents entering Antarctic waters, so 60° N is a big step to the long anticipated Arctic. And it did feel more arctic than the previous days: as we were manoeuvring through the narrow maze of islands we had a fantastic view on snow-capped mountains. And the weather turned more arctic too with cold gusting wind accompanied by heavy rain. Luckily we found very sheltered anchorage in Oksabåsen, a small island a little south of Bergen. It had a beautiful little beach, and although the rain was pouring down like mad we went out to collect a delicious meal of mussels for dinner.

Right now we are in Bergen – the first time in a bigger city for a while. The waterfront is crowded with snap-happy tourists, so while we were pulling up right in front of the famous “Bryggen” (old, colourful wooden merchant buildings) we felt a little bit like a tourist attraction ourselves. For now we are taking advantage of the offerings of this big city (like doing our laundry, drinking beer in a pub and eating Pølse), but all the while we are looking forward to leaving civilization behind once again on the long trip north.

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Water falling from the fjords (and the sky)

Well it’s been a cold wet couple of days with near constant drizzle, albeit with some gaps in the weather allowing us brief moments of respite – one of which luckily allowed us a clear view of the stunning cliffs and waterfalls of Lysefjord in Norway’s south west. After a long journey up the fjord yesterday we were rewarded with clear views to the towering heights of Preikestolen some 900 m vertically up from where Widdershins floated below with two in the blue craning our necks to the summit. As we looked up with binoculars we also managed to see a few small heads gingerly poke over the top to look at us.

A little further along the fjord we sailed close to a waterfall tumbling down the cliff and felt the wind blow water upon our faces … a feeling we were soon to get used to as the rain started up again. We made our way slowly under sail back along the length of the fjord and onwards to our night’s anchorage in a very convoluted piece of water known as Arsvågen. After a long days sail it is quite challenging to wind in amongst the myriad of islands in this wild anchorage and pick out the narrow channels that hold enough water for Widdershins to slip through towards the calm inner bay. But we made it and collapsed into our cot with a feeling of a good day behind and more ahead.

Now we are in Haugesund, a large town to the south of Bergen, having a bit of a relax and planning to see Pirates of the Caribbean IV a little later to look for some swashbuckling inspiration for the onward journey. Savvy?

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Two girls and a guy

Ships are always a female … so you refer to your yacht as a she. This is some consolation when you are sitting at the bow of the ship trying to fix some disaster involving a jammed sail with the waves crashing over your head and the cold water dribbling down your neck … in such instances it feels good to shout the b**ch-word into the screaming wind. But at other times she is a gentle companion that keeps you company on the cold lonely nights … at these moments the female attributes of the yacht are a balm to the hard edges of a grotty yachty alone after several nights at sea without a soul to talk to let alone a shower to wash in. But no longer. Now this grotty yachty is seriously outnumbered with two girls –Widdershins and the whimsical Léonie. As a result this sailor guy has had to clean up his act somewhat and also give Widdershins a bit of a scrub-up to prepare for Léonies arrival.

So no longer is it simply Pat versus the world and Two in the Blue is really on track as we set off on our one month shake-down cruise from the south of Norway to the north.  So some changes? You betcha! To start with this is no longer a solo act, so from now on expect a new view on things as we pass through this wonderful land …. Things like ballet I expect … Léonie just punched me.

After a few days of acclimation (fancy word for feeding the fish and lying prostrate under the table) Leonie is on board and excited to be feeling the wind on our back as we head north. Over the past two days we have left the south of Norway behind us and have truly reached the west coast at last. Stavanger in in our wake and Lysefjord lies ahead with towering 900m vertical cliffs and plunging waterfalls to be our view from the cabin window tomorrow.

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Beyond Sørlandet


View Vallø to Råsvag in a larger map
Yesterday I braved the long trip around Lindesnes and Lista and am now in sheltered waters once again in the tranquil harbour of Råsvag on the isle of Hidra. As expected the offshore crossing around these exposed headlands offered lots of excitement with strong winds, big seas and a constant rain. In fact I was only 50m away from this island before the jagged rocks washed with curling foam and crashing waves emerged from the gloom. Thank god for the GPS!
After some time to recover from nine hours of non-stop sailing, tomorrow I will point the bow further west. But first it is worth noting that this point marks the end of Sørlandet, or the south coast, and the beginning of the west. I’ll be leaving behind the rounded islets and archipelagos and heading towards the land of the fjords and towering cliffs. In just a few days Léonie gets on board in Egersund and together we head around towards Stavanger after which the direction is all north … the first leg towards the Arctic.

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