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!!
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