Bodø

Having moved from Stott to Burøya for a brief anchor over night amongst the skerries we chased the nice weather to Bodø. 

Bodø is the 12th largest city in Norway. Our guide books suggested the marina had a lot to offer and having watched the harbour webcam through the winter months we decided we must visit it on our way north. 

The town itself tells another tough story, destroyed during the war it had been rebuilt with some interesting architecture. 

Friday night was probably the wrong time to pull in to Bodø marina, the biggest marina in the north of Norway, which only offers a limited number of guest pontoons for such a large town. We did however find space on the 4th guest pontoon after some confusion as to where the guest bearths actually were. 

Unfortunately first impressions can stick and as we were tying up another visiting boats captain came over to tell us we weren't welcome. 

The marina seems to be the centre of crew changes aboard mainly sailing expedition yachts, with good train and plane connections as well as a good choice of shops it offers all that is needed during a crew change. For us through we were made to feel unwelcome, albeit by the visiting yachts, reminding us again as tourists we have a duty to be an ambassador for Britain but also Orkney. 

After a disheartning start we went to see the sights in the town centre, as the night went on the centre became the place to be, with open air music and queuing for the bars. 

The centre was a little unusual, not that we are complaining it was interesting! There were various paintings on walls that were different to say the least, whether these were part of folk stories or not we don't know?! 

There were hundreds of painted bikes around the town that we can only presume to have been an art display and some lovely buildings. 

Cash is far from king in Norway and for everything within Bodø marina from the stay, electricity to showers was paid by card, unfortunately for us paying a card fee per transaction we missed out on showers and electricity. So another swim in the Arctic waters with shampoo is due! 

It was fun to spend a night in a town, it's always a bit of a culture shock to go from secluded anchorages to buzzing towns, but it's nice to do it all. 

This morning we left Bodø going via the fuel bearth to fill up our empty petrol tanks, disappointingly the card machine didn't accept foreign cards so we will have to find somewhere else on route. 

We are now just a few miles north, but it feels like a world away from busy Bodø, anchored between two uninhabited islands. An eagle watched over us as we came in and the only noise we can hear are the oystercatchers and seagulls, a little different to last night's open air concert within a town of 50000! 

We are struggling with some technological problems just now, so check out our Facebook page for the latest photos! 

Melfjord - Renga -Stott

We have been without any Internet for a few days now so we will update as best as possible.
The few nights at anchor in Donna were really lovely exploring the island and also having the opportunity to try out our new anchor in earnest, playing with the option of a stern anchor too. We left anchor and motored our way up the East coast of the island, we noticed in 2014 that the further north we got the scenery became much rougher, the hills and mountains more harsh and barren, something we both quite like actually. We pulled in to pontoon on the island of Onoy, a relatively quiet island from what we gathered despite the fact that at one point there were three ferries fighting over the pier! The clubhouse was very nicely done and the chance of a proper shower after days of showering in the sea and using our pet shower, was too much to resist! As we debated what to do the pontoon got busier, with a restaurant nearby and lovely scenery we can see why, so we untied leaving the space for others and headed 10 minutes away to an anchorage amongst the skerries. The anchorage wasn't suitable in the end but we found an anchorage of our own just nearby and stopped in the shelter of two islands near Rossoya. Heading to the beach for a BBQ before getting an early night with plans to move north in the morning. The anchorage proved sheltered and we fell asleep to the sound of the sheep bells as the sheep grazed near the boat.
Having made the decision to if weather allowed go back to Nordfjord, Melfjord we left Rossoya with a brief anchor at Luroy for a quick shop stop. Luroy proved to be very pretty and had we not made plans we would have liked to spend longer there. Not too long after leaving we could see the Arctic Circle monument through the Minox Binoculars, a little different to approaching it at over 20knots when it surprised us out of nowhere!
When we had arrived back in Papay after the first Norway trip we promised to come back, one of the places we had particularly wanted to come back to was Nordfjord, the northern offshoot of Melfjord, we had spent a few days there and found it absolutely breathtaking. So having made it this close we were keen to return and as we celebrated passing the Arctic Circle we turned in to Melfjord, which briefly took us south of the Arctic Circle again before the few miles further north. Memories of crossing the Arctic Circle and entering Nordfjord just a few hours short of two years to the day came rushing back and we could still feel the excitement at having met our goal back then.
The fjord itself has an intense icy green/blue water,but the temperatures were far from icy, spending a few days there the only comfort in the suns heat we could find was swimming in the bay, which also proved about the only escape from the clouds of midges/horseflys, which were the size of crows, or they certainly felt like it! The scenery within the fjord is astounding, vast fjord sides are difficult to bring in to scale, Svartisen glacier stands high above the mountains in the distance.
In the evenings when the sun had dropped below the mountain peaks and the layers of midge repellent either were working slightly or we were so intoxicated by the chemical stench we explored the hills. Climbing as high as we could above quickstep before being scuppered by steep cliff-like edges, exhausted by the mountaineering and heat in the air, we got a few pictures of the scenery but nothing could do it justice. We stopped to collect berries making a smoothie of cloudberries and blueberries, but were quickly chased out by the uninvited midge swarms!
We spoke to someone in the bay today who says that the midge/horsefly season lasts only 6 weeks but can certainly be full on for those days! We stumbled upon a cabin in the woods owned by an 85 year old man who spends time there in the summer cutting down trees for heating etc, must be a stunning place to have a cabin, closest neighbours Moose!
Today we made the decision to move on from Nordfjord, or else we could have stayed forever! It must surely be one of the most beautiful parts of Norway, or even the world!
Sad to leave we aimed close by just out of the main fjord on a small island called Renga, aiming to anchor for the night we found a pontoon for visiting boats within a scenic little cove. So here we are, again in another stunning part of the world, just getting the boat shipshape before we explore further. There is some poorer weather forecast over the next week so we may stay put, we will see!

Made it to the Arctic

turquoise waters 

Quickstep at anchor, taken from above

Quickstep from afar!

Traditional Norwegian sailing yacht

We wrote this a few days ago but haven't been able to find signal to send. We spent two nights at Renga another favourite stop! The island is no longer inhabitated, but in the few days we were there we did speak to someone whos Grandmother had lived there before the island was abandoned. There are still summer residences on the east of the island, but the pontoon was hidden away in its own little cove on the west. There was a marked walk to "the crux" war remains which hold some very brave stories. We also found loads of blueberries in the hills, lovely!
Now we are on our way north heading roughly towards Stott, which was our furthest North stop in Norway in 2014. When we make it that far north its all new ground, or seas! Exciting times!

Renga

Quickstep at Renga

We are now in Stott! more updates to follow, but we are having internet woes so this may take some time!
Our blog updates might come to a sudden stop unless we can find a more suitable way...
Last night we were exceptionally kindly treated to a delicious fish pasta pie from the pontoon owners, the nicest we have ever had! In the late evening two identical motorboats turned up, they were home builds and looked fantastic! Speaking to the crew aboard they kindly invited us for a wine. Lovely people again.

Quickstep at Stott guest pontoon, the island we reached in 2014

Torghatten - Donna

We arrived as planned near Torghatten, in the same place we stopped in 2014. Torghatten can be seen for miles, a peculiar sight from the distance, especially as you get closer and begin to notice the hole through the centre. We could see Torghatten as we worked our way up the coast, but as we came closer the "mountain with a hole in it" disappeared behind the thickening fog. As we went along we noticed on our depth sounder that there was signs of lots of fish and stopped for moment in the shallows to throw the line over, we caught 5 fish before deciding to carry on. Our plan was to anchor in the inlet but when we came in there was already 3 large yachts at anchor and this would have left limited space for swinging so instead we tied up at the pontoon.

Weather north of Torghatten was to be windier for a few days so we stayed put and walked around the base of Torghatten, it was a lovely walk which took us around the coast. The fog had lifted a bit and so the hole in the hill was easily visible from the pathway.
The next morning we left with thoughts of aiming to Donna, where we had spent a night in 2014 and really enjoyed the secluded anchorage. There were a few possibilities of anchorages we had taken note of and we went north for what we knew would be a long days motoring. The first challenge was to get past Bronnoysund, a city just a short distance above Torghatten, which forms the passageway to the north. The narrow stretch of water has another semi quick current running at certain states of tide, but more tricky for us is the main passageway is used by most boats, pleasure to cargo the narrow bridge sees them all. Meeting many boats at this point can be unavoidable and uncomfortable at 4knots. We took a turn to allow a large cargo ship to pass us and get under the bridge before us. Unfortunately as we followed behind the ship another came from the other direction, but all in all we got through the gap without too much excitement!

The hole which we climbed to in 2014

Torghatten

As we were motoring up the gap we spotter a rather large 21m yacht pulling in, on closer inspection we saw she was British, our first sighting of a British boat so far.

Small island covered in Herons

Traditional boat

We approached a possible sheltered anchorage at the south of Donna but we had been beat to it by two other boats and so carried on. There had been fog lingering all day but not enough to effect navigation but in the early hours the fog dropped and became very thick, with all eyes on watch we carried on and made our way to the anchorage here in Donna. With one other boat in the bay there was plenty of room for us too and we dropped anchor around 3am.
After a good rest we moved further up the bay and reset our anchor before heading on a 10mile walk to the shop to pick up fuel. Donna is a large and pretty island and it was nice to see north by foot, last time only having looked south.

Fog beginning to get lower

Calm pulling in to Donna

We are possibly planning to stay here a few days as there is some stronger winds further north which we can mostly avoid being here and the anchorage here seems quite sheltered, but as we have updates on the weather we will get a clearer picture.
The late evening of the 14th July marked exactly two years since we first arrived in Norway 2014. That seems like a long time ago! If it hadn't been for the incredible welcome we had received back then who knows where we would be now, very thankful to have the opportunity to be here and with Quickstep again too! We are now about 30miles from the Arctic Circle and only around 52miles from our furthest northern point of Stott. After that, its all uncharted territory as far as we're concerned, exciting times! In other news the guys we met in Bessaker with water pump problems have made it to Tromso, well done to them!
Our plan on the way north is to possibly explore a little of Lofoten as we taken a longer route to Harstad, which we plan to be at leaving plenty of time before Daniels mum and sister arrive, in case of bad weather or other unavoidables!

Quickstep at anchor, Donna

Calm for a paddle in the canoes

Tetbukta moving North passing Rorvik

Tetbukta anchorage was stunning. the bay had only one house in view and we spent the time tucked away from the wind, working but also exploring. Part of the reason we had anchored was we had two fairly powerful currents to consider before passing Rorvik. The narrow pathways between the islands and mainland can cause a 4 knot current and if we got it wrong we would be heading backwards! So by chance we had found the anchorage and we are very glad we did. When all jobs were done we explored by dinghy and canoes, walking the shore and also we came across a patch of wild strawberries. Amandas first wild strawberries she was surprised at there size but they certainly were worth taking the time to pick. really delicious!

Calm anchorage

Quickstep at anchor

Wild Strawberries

Having looked in to the appropriate times to pass the various strong current areas we decided to leave Tetbukta to go past Rorvik yesterday evening. The forecast along the way was for very low winds between 1 and 3 m/s. As we made our way between mainland and one of the islands being pushed by about 2knots of current the sea was almost flat calm, just perfect! There is an area of fjord which is totally open to the sea and we had picked the low winds to give us as calm of crossing as possible. As we started to cross the fjord the sea swell was aggravated by an increasing unforecasted wind and we turned to take a wider angle so to avoid a side sea . The fjord crossing, about an hour and a half was certainly the worst sea we have seen so far in Norway and made for an uncomfortable passage. Thankfully as we found shelter on the other side the wind dropped again and we had a much smoother motor. Since 2014 more comfortable with the boat and more accustomed with the topography of Norway we have braved going places that seemed too narrow or close to shore before.

We had found somewhere on the charts that looked like a protected anchorage to stop at just beyond Rorvik and just after the stunning sunset we approached, as we got closer we noticed the bay had been completely cut off with a fish farm and we headed slightly further north to plan b. When we turned in to it there was a boat moored near the centre not leaving us enough room for swinging if the wind changed so further along the same inlet we went to plan c which had buoys and another boat in. The disadvantage of planning to go to anchor is that the area can easily be taken by another boat etc.
Without much option we carried on and found a small marina along the coast near Otteroya, and around 3am we tied up and headed to bed!

Beautiful sunset near Rorvik

Sea eagle on navigational aid

A bit camera shy though!

This morning just a few hours since arriving we left again and are currently making our way north, we have passed Leka where we had stopped in 2014 and Torghatten (the mountain with a hole in it) is in sight. Roughly our chartplotter suggests its just under 100nm to the arctic circle! Amazing to think we went from Lysoysund to the Arctic Circle in one go in 2014, we will likely have a handful of stops yet!
We are in another of the open areas and so it is a rougher journey just now, with several bigger ships around as well as pleasure boats, so we best get back to watching out.

Lovely colours in the sky (and sea!)