The photo immediately above is looking North - next land Spitzbergen and beyond that the North Pole - the mystery "serpent" in the bottom right hand corner is the string on the camera blowing in the wind!
above 2 pictures were taken at 70N and should be earlier in the sequence but as you will have realised I have not yet mastered how to move photos in the blog!
the lyngen alps shrowded in clouds
the final 2 pictures show the delegation of eider ducks who came to visit on arrival and the view from our mooring
Wednesday 22nd
when we woke in the morning the day was still grey but the wind had dropped and the sea had gone down so we set forth driving up Landgsund between Ringvassoy and Reinoy. A very beautiful sound with some very rural scenes including the horses. We made good speed and gradually the sun came out. There were occasional short spells of very strong winds and down drafts always on our nose but no big seas to impede progress. Just before we were reaching the head of the sound we crossed the 70N which had been one of our targets!
We continued through a wide passage round the south of Vannoy island to Kristoffervalen, Vannoy (70 07.9N 19 59.5E) a small sheltered fishing harbour with spectacular mountain views. The harbour has very low lying hills to the north and east and would have been ideal for actually viewing the sun at midnight but guess what: it had clouded over and there was intermittant light drizzle. However it is a very snug mooring and from now on all will be downhill! as we turn south the visit the Lyngen Alps.
During the latter part of the day we saw a couple of squadrons of low-flying puffins and lots of Arctic terns having a feeding frenzy. On arrival a grey heron flew low into the struts under a nearby old wooden quay and we were visited by a group of eider ducks with lots of ducklings. Later we were greeted very noisily by a pair of oyster catchers when we walked too near to the sandy shore where they had two babies scampering along the sand and among the rocks.
This place is truly spectacular and feels like the top of the world which of course it is - well worth the effort of getting here.
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