July 22nd – Bliksvaer

views of fleinvaer archipelgo

Interesting rock formation



We had bright sun at 4 am but by 8 am it was more overcast although not thick cloud  - all was very calm. We decided to explore the Fleinvaer archipelago a little more before going to Bliksvaer – the first island we visited when C, J,I, & A were with us.

Not far from last night’s anchorage we found a guest pontoon but it was rather shallow and we decided the islands in general looked less interesting than the Bliksvaer archipelago.

return to Bliksvaer

We had a light wind but inevitably it was on the nose so we motored to Bliksvaer, the sun coming out on the way. The pontoon was full but we rafted up to a large motorboat. We have since been told this is fine, last weekend they had a festival and boats were rafted up 7 deep.

In Sorfugloy the gallery owner’s husband had told us there was an interesting museum in Bliksvaer and we should ask for Mr Thomasen. We duly did as suggested and were introduced to Mr Thomasen when he was collecting visitors from the ferry, which arrived shortly after us.  He arranged for his wife and daughter to show us the museum at 8pm. It proved to be fascinating, small & not yet completed , but dedicated to HMS Effingham, a British destroyer which hit an uncharted rock while going through a small passage just off Bliksvaer in May 1940. She was leading a small fleet of about 6 ships through the channel and had chosen the route as they were less likely to encounter German submarines. She was carrying 700 men of the Welsh Borderers as well as her own crew of 600 and despite the ship sinking quite quickly they got everyone off without loss of life. She was ordered to be sunk in deep water but was carried by the tide onto a reef and there was a fascinating description of the captain destroying papers and secret information before abandoning ship -  a intriguing bit of WWII history which we must research further when we get back.

Two small dolphins came past the jetty jumping and diving and also some geese plus all the usual birds

View from top of hill behind pontoon



We plan to leave in good time tomorrow in order to get back to Bodo to restock in preparation for Hermione, John, Sam, Joe, & Zac who arrive on Sunday evening.

We will post this week’s blog in Bodo but are unlikely to be able to post  anything next week while Hermione & Co are with us. After that we will be leaving Norway as soon as we have a good weather window and will probably not get a Wifi connection until we get to Shetland.

July 20th & 21st Sorflugen & Fleinvaer

views of walk round island

old harbour with very narrow entrance

wheelbarrows and trollies near jetty where ferry arrives

Yesterday evening there was a torrential thunderstorm with a magnificent rainbow and then intermittent rain throughout the night. In the morning we woke to thick fog which came and went but at times we could not see across the harbour. There seemed little point in moving so C changed the filters on the generator which had failed  and which we diagnosed correctly as a blocked filter.

Near the end of the pontoon we had seen a sign for a ‘Gallerei and Kafe´ which opened in the middle of the day. When we got to the little hut in which it was held they were just closing but they kindly stayed open and served us coffee, hotdogs and delicious waffles. We bought a pretty patchwork quilted mat for Larry which had been made by one of the people who owned the gallery and from whom we learnt more about the island.

A lot of people arrived on the ferry which called later in the day and another family came to chat. There were originally about 5 families on the island fishing and farming. The inhabitants now are mostly the descendants of those families and come in the summer. The mole which makes the harbour was built in the 70s and before that they had a very shallow little harbour (only accessible at high tides) some distance from the village or they had to beach the boats on the sand or pull them up on the rocks. The ferry calls on request and we also saw a little working boat calling both days we were there delivering building supplies. On the island there are a number of quad bikes or mini tractors with trailers, lots of trolleys and wheelbarrows (we saw 10 by the end of our jetty) and numerous bikes.

The day remained grey and foggy with intermittent drizzle .

July 21^st Zac’s birthday

No wind and grey but at least the fog had gone and once again we could see all the surrounding islands.

We had a lovely walk out to the southern end of the island which consists of large flat rocks, a small lake, some boggy ponds and sand dunes. It was low tide which enabled us to explore further – many wild flowers and lots of birds.

We were just getting ready to leave when the gallery owner and her husband, who spoke very good English, came round so we gave them coffee and rock cakes and had a most interesting chat - A lovely friendly island.

Sunset at Fleinvaer 

Very little wind so we motored over to Fleinvaer (67⁰10.2N 13⁰48.2E) and anchored in another delightful little anchorage in the middle of this group of skerries. Just as we were entering we saw a seal but unfortunately it did not return. This is a very peaceful spot particularly in these light winds we can see one or two houses in the distance but nothing immediately around this anchorage.





July 18th & 19 th Rosoysund & Sandviken, Sorfugloy

wreck at different states of the tide!

We left Bodo about 8.30 am with a favourable but light wind and got all the sails up and then, since winds were too light to sail properly, put a reef in the main in order to have Larry ready for the next strong winds!

 We made good time sailing and motor sailing and had intended to go to Sorfugloy but a sudden easterly wind made Rosoysund (67⁰03.5N 13⁰57.2E) more appropriate.  We got into this very calm but quite small anchorage just before high tide to find a small stick just poking out of the water which showed us where there was a wreck, marked on the chart, but not mentioned in our pilot book. The combination of this and various buoys and pontoons reduced the available anchoring space. We re-anchored twice to try to get a better position and had a lovely afternoon in the sun watching the tide fall, which gradually revealed the full extent of the wreck! It was so calm that we were not only able to see where the anchor lay, but also to calibrate our depth finder, which is over reading by 5 inches. The range of the tide was larger than guessed and we swung round so that we nearly touched bottom.  Then a NE wind got up which was pushing us further inward so, at about 10.30p.m, we decided to move to another anchorage about 300m away in a neighbouring cove sheltered from the NE.  

2nd anchorage

view of 1st anchorage on leaving the 2nd



During the night there was a lot of rain and we woke to find as expected quite a strong South Westerly – not ideal for our anchorage but given a wet and windy forecast we had just decided to stay put when a sudden strong blast from the South caused the anchor alarm to go off  - we were not dragging but were being forced back uncomfortably close to the shore so we decided to move.

It was only 5 miles across to Sandviken, Sorfugloy (67⁰03.1N 13⁰46.5E) and we motored here quite quickly in a SW Force 5. This is a lovely little harbour where we were lucky enough to find a space on the small pontoon. There is quite a large village of very prosperous and well preserved looking houses, lovely sandy beaches and a very big mountain behind. Much of the island is a nature reserve and we have seen puffins as well as arctic tern and gulls in the harbour, which is very well protected.  The SW wind has dropped but there has been a curious bank of fog coming and going all day – when out of the fog it is beautifully warm and sunny. Tomorrow light northerlies and drizzle are forecast!

goods being delivered by small ferry

a view of the village

view from Larry in the fog!

torrential downpour arriving

July 17th - Bodo

We continued exploring the countryside leaving the main E6 to take a more roundabout route which took us across the bridge over the saltstraumen, which is well-known for its whirlpools and 7 or 8 knot current at certain stages of the tide. When we crossed there was considerable turbulence, which we saw a tourist rib navigating with skill.

Once back in Bodo we returned the hire car, updated the blog and decided to leave the following morning  to explore various islands and skerries south of Bodo.

July 16th – nr Storvolleng 25km ENE Mo i Ranna

Sweden

The hire car

Norway

We left our excellent overnight spot around 8 am and got to the LPG gas refilling station about noon, which was good as it closed at 2 pm. The refilling took only a few minutes and then we were on our way back! But now we had the time to do a bit of exploring so we diverted first to a single track but very well maintained side road through a national forest and then by more main roads into Sweden and then back to the main north south E6 route. The countryside is very varied with in some places quite large and lush looking farms growing mainly grass but also potatoes and in some of the southerly places barley and oats. Much of the area particularly in Sweden was a high plateau covered in forests and lots of huge lakes. There were a few small boats but mostly the lakes were just beautiful open expanses of water. Part of the route  near the sign for the Arctic circle was over a  bare and rugged,  rock strewn treeless plateau  just below the snow-line, which reminded us of the train journey across Rannock Moor – particularly as there is a single track railway running beside the road.

We slept in the car again this time up a single-track side road not quite so close to a stream but with beautiful mountain views. There were quite a lot of houses in the surrounding woods but none in view.

July 15th – E6 en route to Steinkjer (circa 64⁰N 11⁰30E)!

Needless to say after yesterday’s storm the day dawned sunny and calm. We had a bit of a lie in assisted by Granpa reading stories in bed to teh children and then C & J packed up. Their flight was 12.30 from Bodo and we walked there with them.

While at the airport we enquired about car hire and got the best deal from Hertz. We always knew that replenishing the calor gas in Norway was going to be difficult because they have different fittings from the UK ones. However both Svolvaer and Harstad had places reasonably close that would refill our containers. We started this year with all 4 containers full and had hoped this might last us but after the first container was finished we have got through 2 containers  each in about 2 days so we are now on the 4^th container. We think the fault lies with our port connection which may be leaking. Fortunately all gas containers are stored on deck so this is not dangerous and can probably be circumvented for the rest of the trip by using only the starboard connection. However refilling the containers before Hermione and co arrive is clearly vital. We had fully expected that there would be a depot to refill in Bodo but no such luck. We could have sailed over to Svolvaer but by midday we had yet another strong northerly and did not fancy 70 miles of motoring in a boat so decided to take a break from the boat and drive south by the inland E6 route to Steinkjer  and see a bit of the country we have not yet seen. There is one other depot about 40 km north of Steinkjer but it is not open on Saturdays!

We took our sleeping bags and set forth about 5.30p.m. in a very smart virtually brand new Nissan Juke – it is black and a bit like a mini-tank but very comfortable with all mod cons including Satnav and fully reclining front seats.  Inevitably we had some amusing moments in a new car with all the instructions in Norwegian! For instance within minutes of driving it away we needed to reverse out of our parking spot – there are 6 forward gears but the technique for getting into reverse was not immediately obvious and the words used in the instruction manual were not in my dictionary!

We drove until midnight with occasional stops and parked in a lovely little off road spot by a fast flowing stream and slept in the car to the noise of tumbling water.

July 14th - Bodo

We did decide to leave the island of Landegode after supper last night and it was definitely the right decision.  The wind was quite strong south westerly and we had a rather bumpy passage motoring but it took less than 3 hours and the children fell asleep quite quickly. There were a lot of boats in Bodo as we were clearly not the only people who had anticipated bad weather. We were being blown off but managed to raft up to a very helpful Dutchman in a large steel boat.

The weather in the morning was blowing Force 7 with frequent very heavy downpours of rain. The wind  eased a bit in the afternoon and the showers were less frequent and heavy but it was a good day to be in harbour. We made use of the showers and washing machines, played Happy Families and then visited the town museum which was small but very  interestingly laid out showing something of Sami  and Viking life and the history of Bodo .It also had an excellent children’s play area. Finished the day with a visit to Pepe’s Pizza place which as well as serving delicious pizzas also had a play area.

July 13th - Sor-Landego

C sailing Little Larry in squally conditions

It blew a bit and was quite wet in the night and soon after breakfast there was heavy rain and the forecast 5/6 winds. It cleared up by midmorning and C, J I & A made an expediton ashore using the Tinker tramp as a rowing boat. C & I moved Larry forward a little as the wind was blowing us back hard and we were getting quite close to another boat which had come in after us last night and was on a mooring.

Christopher then went out for a sail in Little Larry. Shortly after he started there was a squall with heavy rain and quite strong winds. The sun came out shortly thereafter but the wind dropped so it took him sometime to get back. The new sail with its ‘window’ is a great improvement but we need a slightly longer sprit to replace the broken one with an extra piece of wood lashed on.

The shore party returned for a latish lunch. The weather forecast for tomorrow looks very wet and windy so we are contemplating returning to Bodo this evening after the children go to bed.

Charlo entertaining the children below decks

July 11th – Sorvaeroy, Helligvaer

James fishing while we were creeping out of Bliksvaer - sadly no success!

It rained a little in the night and we woke to a rather grey and colder day. In the morning we went on a long walk to the other side of the island and ended up at a sandy beach having passed a number of very well-kept houses and a little church. We were told that one couple live on the island all year round and as he is 78 the summer residents are a bit concerned about what will happen when he leaves. Currently the ferry calls every day to deliver the paper if nothing else!

We had lunch back on Larry and then set forth for Sorvaeroy, Helligvaer (67⁰24.5N 13⁰54.5E), the largest and most populated of the Helligvaer islands – a group of skerries just to the west of Landegode.

The exit was rather longer and narrower than the way in but had the merit of being deeper, which, since it was once again near low tide, was an advantage! As soon as we got into the more open sea it was quite bumpy but fortunately Charlo had managed to lull the children into an after lunch nap and we were able to motor quite fast.

Sorvaeroy is almost a town in comparison with Bliksvaer and we were able to go alongside a very convenient little pontoon with a hookup and water (NOK 75 for a night with hook-up). The Coop was very close to the end of the pier. C & J took the children off to explore the village while C and I sorted out the dinghies. We had opted to tow Little Larry and the Tinker Tramp but by the time we got there Little Larry was very low in the water. I bailed for quite a long time. C assured me I was making headway but towards the end I could see water bubbling in almost as fast as I bailed out – it turned out the new bung had disappeared from the drain-hole – luckily we are carrying a spare so C was able to replace it and we decided not to tow the dinghies again if going any distance.

A chilly evening so we had the fire on and were very snug. 2 other boats came in to the otherside of the pontoon and a little local ferry came and went from our side .

July 12th – Sor-Landego, Landegode

Larry on the pontoon at Sorvaeroy, Helligvaer

Drying cod

exit from Helligvaer - Landegode in the distance

exit route not obvious!

anchorage in Sor-Landego - a fine evening but no luck!

Again a grey and rather chilly day and the weather forecast is not good for Wednesday and Thursday so we decided to walk as usual in the morning and then go to Sor-Landego , Landegode (67⁰23.4N 14⁰15E).

We had a good walk across the island with a dirt track and no traffic. At the end a scramble up a slight hillock gave a good view of all the skerries, where we were yesterday and Landegode and Bodo.

The shop was a useful place to restock although it would not take my foreign mastercard so had to pay in cash. When we got back to the boat the wind had dropped a bit and the sky was clearing so James went out for a quick sail in the Tinker Tramp.

As we were leaving, after lunch, the sun came out and made the 2 ½ mile rock-hop through very narrow passages very beautiful. After that it was a straightforward  6 mile motorsail to Sor-Landego. This is a beautiful anchorage entirely surrounded by low rocky islands from east through to north. In the north-east is one of the tall mountains of Landegode but as we only expect south westerlies this should not be a problem with downdrafts.

C, J, I & A  went for a row and a quick shore trip to a sandy beach – of which there are plenty here. The bottom is clearly mostly sand and we are anchored in 16  - 20m. It was lovely in the late evening sun.