July 5th & 6th - Bodo

July 5^th – Bodo

We woke in our perfect anchorage to a completely calm day, overcast where we were, but sun on the distant mountains and this is the way it stayed most of the day. We left mid-morning for the 20+ miles to Bodo. Motoring on a calm sea we made good progress and took the opportunity to view,  from about ½ mile off shore,  two of the possible anchorages which we may visit next week with C,J,I & A; both looked good with potential for sandy beaches and scrambling walks.

We got to Bodo (67⁰17’N 14⁰22’E) early afternoon, which was lucky as after some looking around we could only find one space big enough for us despite the fact that it is quite a large harbour and there are 4 pontoons for guests – 3 are small and on the town quay and the 4^th, where we are, forms the outer pontoon of the leisure boat area. We are in a great position to view the comings and goings of the many ferries and other boats which use Bodo. There is electricity and water immediately next to us and  the only snag is that it is about a 5 minute walk to the showers and washing machines and 10 minutes to the nearest supermarket. We are also within 15 minutes walk of the airport.

July 6^th – Bodo

Today has been beautifully sunny with very few clouds but the north easterly wind has been building all day. Hard to say inside the harbour what the wind strength is but a knowledgeable Norwegian neighbour says the forecast was for 12m/s (Force 6) this pm and probably a gale tonight but in Norway gales start at Force 7. As one would expect quite a number of boats have come in and very few have left so we are pleased to have secured our place yesterday even though this pontoon is a little rolly as we are exposed to the NE.

We have spent the day on domestic things like washing , re-stocking with food and drink, and various bits of maintenance. The whole system of payment for showers and washing machines as well as payment for our space and electricity is completely credit card based and dependent on pressing the right buttons – all very efficient except that despite a number of visits to the ‘port hostess’ we have been unable to pay for our electricity – not a huge problem as we are connected anyway and are currently using what someone else has left in the meter!

Domestic chores and mainentance don't make very interesting blogs and we won't have much time for blogging when the grandchildren are aboard so unless something dramatic happens in the next couple of days there will be no more blogs for about 10 days.