We arrived in the town of Harstad for the start of a week-long arts festival beginning on midsummer's eve. The festival began with a marching band parading through the streets and to an opening ceremony that was very busy and well attended by locals on a lovely warm sunny afternoon. We had booked tickets to see a metal band performing that evening called Heave Blood and Die. The gig didn’t start until 11pm so we went out about 9.30 looking for the pre-performance revelries. There were none to be found. Some bars were open but virtually empty which seemed odd. We very much enjoyed the gig, which was not particularly well attended, but it was great music performed well. Once we left the gig we discovered that we had just been way too early for the celebrations as the bars were now full of drinkers. We left them to it and retired to our bed.
I was very much looking forward to Tromsø, as it has been nicknamed the Paris of the North. It is definitely a thriving city with museums, restaurants, bars, an old brewery and cruise ships arriving daily. It has an airport and so was the chosen destination for picking up and dropping off Dominic, who visited us for a week. Highlight of our two visits to the city were the brewery, where you could get a sample of eight beers chosen by the bar staff to suit your tastes, two meals out, and the trip up to the town's main park to play golf frisbee This seems to be a very popular pastime here and all the towns have a course in the local park or nature reserve.
After Dominic departed we made the trip up to an island that was above 70° N, for no other reason than to be able to say that we have been above this latitude. Some sailors like to go to Svalbard, an island that begins at 76° N that requires special permits to travel to and others like to go to Nordkapp at 71°N, the most northerly point of mainland Scandinavia, but we were happy just to achieve a round number. 70°N is further north than all of Iceland and Nuuk in Greenland. We anchored in a picturesque bay, enjoyed a beer on the beach and watched the stunning wildlife for a while.
However, time was ticking on and we needed to start heading south. We had planned to head back to Bodø and then leave for the UK from there, but plans changed and instead we decided to hop further down the Norwegian coast before departing back to the UK at the beginning of August. We returned south around the outer western side of Lofoten, spending nights in isolated skerries with just the birds for entertainment. Our chosen route back through the islands was down Raftsund fjord. The scenery on both sides of the fjord was breathtaking. It was assisted by the weather, as summer finally seemed to arrive for us around this time, and the morning sunshine just made the place look magical. We took advantage of this summer weather to get off the boat and walk where ever possible, enjoying walks in Sortland and Gullvika.
One of the things we wanted to do whilst we were in Norway, that we thought we were going to miss, was to visit a glacier. Most of the glaciers up north are inland, and involve a 90 minute car journey just to reach them. The expense of this was looking prohibitive. However, as we chose to head further south before we left for the UK, this opened up a possibility that we jumped at. The glacier is named Svartisen glacier which means “Black Ice” and is the second largest in mainland Europe, covering 370 square km. It can be seen for miles out to sea and is one of the most impressive sights I have ever seen. We were able to anchor at the end of the fjord with a clear view of the glacier, which was stunning and surreal in equal measure. We set off to walk up to the glacier at eleven o'clock in the morning on a blisteringly hot day, proving the old saying that only ‘English people and mad dogs go out in the midday sun’. After a strenuous two hour scramble, in 30°C heat, we made it to the glacier and were rewarded by an icy wind to cool us down. We were able to walk all the way up to the edge of the glacier, reach out and touch it. I was truly awed by the experience.
After this we spent a day or two in this beautiful area, appreciating the landscape and achieving success with domestic chores. One place I went to sort out washing was an old school house that had been restored and converted into a hotel and restaurant. It was packed with period pieces.
We needed to keep heading south but promised ourselves we would be back to investigate Helgaland more in the future. Our plans at this time kept changing as we responded to the weather forecasts. Initially we had planned to go to Ålesund to check out of Norway but the wind was not with us for long enough, and so in the end we checked out in Kristiansund 70 miles further north. However, the forecast was constantly changing resulting in a change in destination, from Shetland to Peterhead, even after we had set off for the UK.
The first thing we noticed about the landscape further down south, was that the mountains were half as tall and that all the snow had gone. It is amazing what you get used to and the lack of snow now felt odd. It is also surprising how quickly your perceptions change as we were still further north than the top of Shetland but it really did feel like “down south”. It was still beautiful though, and on our penultimate night in Norway we were treated to an anchorage with about eight sea eagles hanging around doing their thing.
Norway has been stunning and is definitely a place we will be returning to as we feel that we only just scratched the surface.
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