A few days in and around Hagan

For those of you who follow us on our facebook page you might have noticed we tend to be more active on it, we have a higher readership there and it has proved easier to do quick updates there too....

Nonetheless I will try to fill you seasoned blogees in on whats been happening since our last blog update. 

We did manage with heavy hearts to pull ourselves away from Bjarkoy, the crossing back south to Hagan began a little rough. Its difficult some times to justify our forecasted 5 m/s rule when we have seen flat calms and stayed in port. Sometimes though, such as when we left Bjarkoy the forecast has underestimed the wind. So while we might steadfastly refuse to venture out in more than what seems a low 5m/s when the forecasters get it wrong we might find ourselves in much higher. Now if we were to use say 10m/s as a cut off we could if the forecast was underestimating find ourselves in some serious conditions in what is without doubt a small boat. Also we both get seasick... It might seem like a joke, living aboard a boat with seasickness but the few times it has been rough where we are in the marina we have actually gone onshore in the brunt of the winds to settle our stomachs... we have joked that maybe life aboard a boat just isn't for us! 

Gammelhamn, Bjarkoy

Leaving Bjarkoy

On returning to Hagan the first job was to the get the cover back in place, the cover is a pain to get on and off the boat, however it saves a huge amount of snow shoveling and at 3am in a blizzard we definitely would prefer an awkward angled slide aboard than another broken sleep shoveling snow! On top of this the cover does offer extra dry space outside which we can leave jackets and shoes which helps make the limited space feel a little more...spacious! Surely that is the first time we have uttered the word Spacious when describing living aboard Quickstep. Unfortunately the downside of leaving shoes or coats outside under the cover is the fact they are literally frozen in the morning. As we set off on a walk though it is Amanda who is laughing, Amanda has a heated jacket and heated soles for her shoes, so when heading out in the bitter cold Amanda likes to compare it to walking in the Med, Daniel however compares it to, well, walking in the Arctic, I guess he has a point! 

Big icicles!

One cloudless day we decided to do exactly what we love to do in the winter, head out for a BBQ in the snow. Another beautifully calm winters day, we walked to one of the several BBQ shelters in Folkenpark, and after a truly...British... attempt at getting the BBQ going we eventually managed to eat some off cold burgers. Food poisoning avoided it was lovely to sit in the sun, surrounded by snow watching the skiers speed past. We even saw one mother out skiing with their child in tow, a little baby carrier with skis on the bottom, genius. In fact I'm tempted to find an adult one so Daniel can do all the work!! 

BBQ lighting

After having the knowledgeable Arnt helping us aboard one day with some maintenance we decided to go out in the bay and run up the main engine, getting a good 30knots certainly a difference from our usual 4knots!! We had also mentioned to Arnt about our escape artist plate, which on one day as we headed up to wash the dishes decided to take a swim and now sits around 6m below Quickstep. Arnt then came down the next morning with a huge pole with a magnet stuck to the end of it, the perfect metal plate picker upper! Unfortunately the plate is clinging on desperately to the seabed. It was worth a try though! I guess it will be a good dieting tool, only one of us can eat at a time!!

Glenn in Bjarkoy had mentioned to us about some bar music for St Patricks day at a local bar, and on Friday we got ready to go out to it. We almost changed our mind as the snow set in for the night but we persuaded ourselves to dig out the wet weather gear and head on out and we are very glad we did. It was a great night, good music, good company and exactly what we needed. 

Since then the temperature has been a good bit warmer in fact much of the snow on the pavements and roads has begun to melt, making for messy walking with slushy snowy gritty mess around the ankles. This hasn't stopped us and nor has the winds today as we walked in to town via Trondenes Kirk. 

Trondenes Kirk

Now though we are thankful for the heaters aboard and are sheltering from the wind while preparing tea, life is certainly good here in Hagan. 

Island Paradise

We are planning to leave Bjarkoy and head back south to Hagan tomorrow morning if the weather allows. From the beginning of this adventure moving on from places has never come easy, we don't want to sound too clichéd but we definitely fall in love with most places we explore. Several times since the turning of the calendar in to 2017 we have caught ourselves speaking as if the adventure is over, which it is far from. Psychologically the idea we were in Norway until next year was much easier to take than now when we can count in months to our likely departure date. So since we have been feeling the "leaving year" blues we are finding every marina or mooring even more difficult to leave.

This little winter excursion has been an absolute pleasure from the beginning, with Amanda arriving back from the South West, we were eager to get right back in to the swing of life aboard. Something we are so pleased to have been able to do throughout winter is to continue exploring by sea. With the lovely quiet few days in Helloya where we saw only one other boat as it passed, getting to Bjarkoy was a good half way point between the solitude of Helloya and the town life in Hagan. Finding out Bjarkoys population is only around 350 comes as a bit of a surprise to us as on every walk we've been on there are usually several cars or people passing by. A very active island.

There is a second marina in sight of where we are at Gammelhamn, the second is where the speed ferry docks a few times a day and the ambulance boat awaits action. The second marina is also where the isles fuel pumps are. Needing a top up of fuel before our journey south again we debated whether to take our boat over to the pump or to take the trolley loaded with a few cans... on such a lovely day we thought we would just walk the trolley round. While assembling the trolley we noticed the one wheel had a flat tyre and having dug out the bicycle pump we realised there was a bit missing and so we were one wheel short. Not wanting to be defeated we walked the three cans round to the pump, filled them up and started the rather more exhausting walk back. We have obviously been missing our mornings wheetabix as the cans seemed heavier than we had bargained on... About half way back stopping for a breather a local came out of his house, jumped in his car and came to our rescue! Taking us and fuel cans to the marina, very kind!!

Since the early snow falls we have spotted people speeding along roads and pavements on sled like things. It has only since being here and discussing them with a local we found out what they are, Sparks or kicksled. Just the morning after we discussed these we were given the chance to borrow one for a few days, and wow are they fun! Used by everyone old and young they are the perfect Northern Norway winter transport. They are basically a little chair or shelf mounted on long metal runners and they work incredibly effectively for moving along quickly through compacted icy snow. The only feeling we can compare them to is freewheeling on a bicycle, you certainly can pick up a lot of speed downhill. To move them along a flat you just stand on one rail while kicking the ground with your other foot, much faster and more fun than walking. We wish we had known about them in the beginning of winter, we could have been found whizzing through Harstad on them if we had!

The Northern Lights have been phenomenal since we have been here, every night providing a beautiful show, mind you since we arrived there has barely been a cloud in the sky, perfect for seeing them. We have had the pleasure of speaking to several locals who have been very friendly and generous and we enjoyed a nice warming coffee at the well attended café just along the road from here.
All in all as we have said before we don't want to leave! We will be back soon we are sure, but over the next few days we have a few things to do in Hagan. We are also looking forward to seeing around there too, hopefully a few walks around Folk Park and maybe Daniel can show Amanda some of the walks he found too....mind you maybe not the 50km one!!

Another calm Bjarkoy day

Another calm day in Bjarkoy.

Warmth in the sun today too, but still feeling fairly icy in the shade with temperatures still below zero.

We walked the roads to the South East corner of Bjarkoy today which is where the car ferry leaves for Harstad via Grytoya. It is also where the new tunnel joins Bjarkoy to Grytoy, the tunnel has been under construction during our previous visits but is edging closer to completion now.

Lovely hulled fishing boat headed out to the bay in a near flat calm

Bright blue skies

A huge school of fish under Quickstep...we have no idea what kind of fish they are

Really lovely colours in the sky at this time of year

Island life...

We have had a great time at the mooring buoy in Helloya. Last night we were treated to a really impressively bright showing of the northern lights, unfortunately on a swing mooring with strong winds we were going in circles so holding the camera on one place was impossible...hence some blurry photos, but you get the idea!

This morning the wind was still blowing but all of a sudden came to a calm and so we decided to move on from the idyllic mooring to the equally lovely Bjarkoy, mainly the shower was calling! Still haven't braved standing on deck with our pet shower, at minus several we haven't been that desperate!

The cliffs along the southern coast of Helloya are a bird enthusiasts dream, we took shelter in the wheelhouse as we passed in case of any falling "gifts" from the hundreds of passing gulls.

Its lovely to be back In Bjarkoy too where we spent Christmas day. Its a beautiful island and really looks magical under the blanket of snow. So for a few days perhaps we will do more exploring here, there is a small village on the other side of the island which we haven't been to before so hopefully if we wrap up we will get there this time.