Launch Day

Launch Day has arrived! High tide is around 13:00 and we will go in a little before. We are still debating France versus Spain but most likely we will make the more conservative move and head towards Brest, France.  We arrived here in Crosshaven on August 31, so we are just a day or two short of two months. It has been a lovely stay. We were greeted by this lovely rainbow on our way out this morning, hopefully sending us a little of the ‘Luck O’ the Irish”.

Still in Ireland - Won't be leaving quite yet

Midwatch repairs were, essentially, finished last week. Like much of the past month and a half, this week's weather has been unsettled. We did have one stretch about two weeks ago that, had we been finished, we could have set off for Spain but other than those few days it has been windy and rainy and not a sunny, Sunday sail. We have been watching carefully the past week and a half and up until last night thought we might actually be leaving this week. We awoke this morning to this forecasted storm and have decided that we are ok waiting another week. We will continue to think good thoughts and await the westerlies that my optimistic imagination has told me will follow.

 

This is the first time we have seen a number punched in off the scale. Anna did the math and calculated that this puts some waves above the top of Midwatch's mast.

A Summer in Norway – Part 2

Færøy

As we headed south, we were determined to make the best of the better weather (Comparatively to the northerly journey) and we scoured the guide books and charts, planning a slightly different route with some nice stops while still trying to make good time. On our second day (August 6) we were passed by a flock of geese in perfect V formation and were reminded of how far north we really were and how far we still had to go.  By leaving early on the morning of August 5th, we were able to time our passage to big wide open areas at night and continue without stopping. We hit Hustadvika on the second morning out and Stad on the third.  Both outside passages were uneventful compared to our northerly passage and we arrived in Måløy early enough on the third day to fill our tank with diesel and do a little shopping in town. 

Anna's actual birthdate, August 5, heading south

 

We had been told on our way north that Måløy Havneservice AS had the best diesel prices around and we tied up at the pier against some enormous old tires, set there for holding back vessels much larger than ours. I scrambled up over the tires to get our lines tied, not sure I was going to make it. I barely did. The diesel was self-serve, I was able to select ‘English’ on the self-serve machine but wasn’t able to get my card to work. The credit card systems are a little different in Europe, most notably, the cards have microchips in them so that they are more difficult to use if stolen. The chip is associated with a PIN. I had no PIN so my card could not work. I found the service attendant, who found the boss. Instructions were to pump and we would figure out how to make it work after.

We filled the tank and found the cost not all that unreasonable considering the horror stories we had been told on the cost of EVERYTHING in Norway; we added ‘Diesel’ to the short list (with dockage) of items not too expensive. We joined the attendant in the office and only after a 45 minute conversation with Chase Visa were we able to pay and continue on our way, now outfitted with four complimentary, red, ‘Måløy Havneservice AS’ hats, a floating key chain, a PIN code we could use with our card if stuck in the same pickle again and assurances from Chase that we would not be charged a cash-advance fee if we did. This was the special international card I had obtained just before we departed so that we could avoid the ‘foreign transaction fee’, go figure.

We spent a pleasant evening in Måløy, tempted by the pizza parlor next door. We did not succumb. We caught up on the lost sleep from the previous two evenings en route and Finn and I walked to town, stopping in for Lefse and milk at the supermarket. Lefse is a flat ‘cake’, traditional to Norway. It is different in different parts of the country and Finn had become very fond of the Trondelag version sandwiched with sugar, butter and cinnamon. He now equated going to the grocery store with lefse and we couldn’t stop in without getting some. We stopped harbor side to munch away while a little sparrow caught the crumbs Finn inevitably lets fall. It was one of those special Mom and Son moments. Bob and I subsequently had a long conversation on the similarity of the word ‘lefsa’ to’ lembas’ and decided that this was definitely Tolkien’s elfen journey cakes. I am not sure you can get lefse outside of Norway but I am now armed with the recipe and the Hartshornsalt (leavening agent made from ground deer antler) for some adventurous day in the kitchen. Finn will be pleased.

We headed out the next morning, donning our new red hats. It was late morning, we had slept in after our double overnight voyage. It was a short but very special day as we traversed the most beautiful scenery of the trip. The weather was quite a bit better than our northerly journey and we had a great day, ending at the city guest docks in the City of Florø. Like Måløy, the docks were self-serve and were less than $20 for an overnight. Bob expertly piloted Midwatch into a tight dock space and we set off for a walk around town.

 

Finn and Superman

A  bank window in Florø

When we had arrived in Flatanger, Finn started telling everybody about his ‘floating house’ where he lived with a bunch of three year old boys and eight year old girls. We were puzzled for the two weeks we were there, “Where did this come from?” As we were leaving Florø we passed by this lighthouse perched on a small island with the house taking up the whole footprint of the island, the effect was…a floating house. Finn jumped up and started hollering, “That’s it! My Floating House!”  Mystery solved.  The problem is now he keeps telling us we have to go back to Norway to visit his floating house.

Finn's Floating House






Trailside art? Færøy

On our way north we had read about a small island called Færøy which is known as a ‘farming island’. There was a guest dock listed at a small farm with Jersey cows, homemade butter and a bakery, definitely my kind of place. We passed near there on our way north in the morning so did not stop but rerouted ourselves going south to stop, which occurred midafternoon. We had two different descriptions of the entrance to the harbor but neither was absolutely clear and this was the scariest moment in Norway for depth as we came within two feet of the bottom. But we made it in to the lovely little harbor and tied up.  Unfortunately the bakery was defunct and there was not a Jersey cow in site but the docks were still there, at least most of them. There was no ramp from the dock to the shore but a little leap for Bob and I, a big one for Anna and a transfer of Finn from Mom to Dad got us onto shore. We had a lovely walk into the little village with its 15 permanent residents and we spent a few minutes chatting with some of the locals.  The island is known for its rose stone and we had a good discussion on how different the geology was in different parts of the country, you would think rock was rock J

Seals near Færøy

We settled back into Midwatch for a lovely dinner and sat in the cockpit enjoying a beautiful sunny evening. We kept waiting for someone to come down to collect our money but no one showed. Based on the state of the docks we weren’t sure anyone would show up but I slipped my Kr.100 note through the designated slot on the shed door. Bob believes it is still sitting there. 

Some shots from our journey south: 

The Fast Ferry, which passed us several times per day

It took a while to figure out what was approaching us when we saw this coming.

 

Bomlø Island

After our stay in Færøy we thought we might tuck back in at the Customs Dock in Bergen the next night but our going was slow and we realized too late we would not make it there until the wee hours of the morning. I had sworn after our last over-night that I would not do it again, the nights had become too dark but at midnight we found ourselves still a good distance from Bergen. The area to our south was the stretch we had done when we arrived in Norway in July and is a wide open area, for the most part. The good part about covering an area you have already been is you are able to follow your previous GPS track so we opted to continue. Of course, as always, I was on watch, a squall came through, it was truly dark, we had to majorly change directions and a large ship was bearing down on us, I was definitely DONE with night time traveling now. As it turned out, this was our last stretch in Norway. We were headed to meet a friend, Marion, whom I had spent time with 21 years ago when I was in the south of Norway. She now lives on Bømlo Island, about 40 miles south of Bergen.  We arrived midafternoon at her family’s dock and boat house and enjoyed a wonderful evening of barbecue. The kids were off and playing before we even had everything stowed.  We sat and visited with Marion and her husband and discussed the trip south. We had made up our minds that we were not bringing Midwatch around to Sørlandet, the south coast, given the time restriction. It was a long and outside journey and would take us farther away from Scotland, our next destination after Norway.  The harbor where Marion lives is on the west coast of the Island and it was a long trip just getting out of the inner passage and around to Steinsvåg where we would tie up. I had spent a good bit of the night piloting and decided to spend the afternoon traversing the rolling open ocean bit of the trip, asleep. During that time, Bob had been looking at routes and had calculated that because of Bømlo’s westerly position, any southerly travel along the coast would be taking us east as well and so, technically we were as close to Scotland as we were going to get. Any more travel south seemed unnecessary as long as we could get land transportation from where we were located and we found a safe place to leave Midwatch.

Two Annas

We enquired of Marion and family about a location to leave Midwatch while we went to Sørlandet (the South Land) and they very generously offered to allow us to leave her right where she was. We were thrilled. The only difficulty that remained was trying to find our way south, overland. Poor Marion was sick the following day but we sent IMs back and forth all morning, checking out train and bus ticket prices and then car rentals.  We eventually were able to rent a car at a fair price, for Norway, and we picked it up the following morning about a half hour from the boat. The generosity of this wonderful family was over the top and once again we are so thankful.

There are two routes from the west coast to the south and we decided to take the high road. Our route traversed the inner part of Norway up over the mountains and down the very long Setesdal (Setes Valley), home of those beautiful louse sweaters.  We stopped for lunch at a stave church. Unfortunately not a dramatic one, but we enjoyed walking the cemetery and looking at the names on the stones following a lunch of bread, cheese, salami and lefse, of course.

We continued on our way and arrived early evening at the home of Bitten, my host mother from the third family I had stayed with 21 years ago.  We spent a few quiet days visiting, including a day trip to visit another family in the beautiful mountain town of Åseral.  It was at this point that we started to count the number of nine year old girls we had met along the way and realized we were up to five, apparently 2003/2004 was a busy period.  We had a lovely visit in Åseral with the Engeli family, including their very own nine year old. This was the first family I had stayed with and the farm and family were all just as lovely as I remembered. We returned back to Bitten’s house for a great dinner with her family, of lapskaus, a traditional stew.  At this point in the trip the kids were starting to really pick up some Norwegian. I encouraged them every chance I got to use the words they had learned. At one point during dinner, I leaned over and had Finn say you’re welcome (I don’t remember why.)   I was then promptly informed that Finn’s accent was significantly better than mine. I guess three is really the best age to be learning a foreign language.  We spent most of our time at Bitten’s visiting. I had discussed taking the kids to the great zoo they have nearby but when told what we were thinking, they both moaned “no-oo!”, apparently the playhouse at Bitten’s had a far higher draw than the zoo! Bitten told us of how her octogenarian father had built the playhouse for her grandkids with his brother and how much fun they had had.  The kids spent hours and hours there while the adults relaxed. 

Bitten's playhouse

Bob and I had discussed sod roofs and even asked a Norwegian builder friend what the draw was. Apparently, beyond the desire for something traditional, there are certain regulations which require minimal impact, especially in wild or natural areas, which is where Norwegians build their hyttes, hence the sod roofs on the cabins. The additional structural requirements and materials to prevent infiltration, apparently, do not make economic sense.


After a very pleasant stay with Bitten and her two of her daughters who lived near by, we headed off to visit the sixth of my original six families at a little dairy farm in the hills just north of the south coast. We knew this family had nine-year-old girl number six and Anna was bursting at the seams to get there. The family had taken me to a nearby mineral museum when I had visited 21 years ago and, given Anna’s interest in geology and Finn’s obsession with Superman’s green crystal, we stopped in to take a look. We had a great time and Finn loved all the Superman crystals he found. I had taken a photo of the Three Billy Goats Gruff statue when I was here before and was so excited to get some with the kids. When I was small, I was given a record album for Christmas one year that had a narrated telling of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  I quickly had it memorized and would recruit my Dad to play the troll in my reenactments of the story.  Thirty years after first memorizing the story, it was still in my head. I found when the kids were babies that they would quiet to the sound of my voice and the longest monologue I knew was the Three Billy Goats.  Given Anna’s colic and Finn’s surgeries, I had ample opportunities to tell this simple story and both kids have had it memorized in one form or another over the years. 

 

 

After our visit to the museum, we headed over to the farm for a real down-on-the-farm weekend. There were a pile of kids, beds made up in every corner, loads of food, buckets of rain and long catch-up conversations. It was lovely. 

We talked a lot about the Farm, a very small dairy farm, and some of the efforts made to keep it viable. The family had kept bees for a while until, after two emergency runs, realized bee allergies were a problem. There were strawberries and a new logging truck which was helping. Finn was thrilled to climb up into the big truck and I was very happy to head back to Midwatch with honey and strawberry jam. Along with zucchini pickles from Frosta, potatoes and carrots from Levanger and the jam and honey from Sørlandet, we were truly stocked with the bounty of this northern country.  

Lil Knuten and Anna

 

 

Sundet

We were so sad to leave at the end of the weekend and the whole clan waved goodbye as we traversed the long driveway and headed north again until they were miniature waving specks through our teary eyes.  

We returned by the coastal route to Bømlo Island in the pouring rain. The waterways were flooding and raging in the tight narrow valleys we passed through on our way to the west coast in some of the most violent water power I have ever seen. We finally hit Stavanger on the west coast and turned right to continue north, reaching Bømlo near dark. We had no GPS and no map other than our computers. It took us an embarrassingly long time to find our way back to Midwatch once on the island but we made it, long after sundown. We had a very efficient day the next day including provisioning for the trip back to Scotland, returning the car and checking out with the Politi on the nearby island of Stord.  Marion once again was an angel, driving us around and sitting in the police station with us while the police figured out what they were supposed to do with our passports.  We had a nice dinner on Midwatch with Marion and her kids and planned for a noon departure the next day. Everyone came to say goodbye and we untied and waved until they were no longer in site.

It was hard to believe our Norway trip was done but it was hard to think ‘done’ when we still had more than 7,000 miles to get home. In reality the uncharted territory (new countries with new languages) adventure is still to come.

A Summer in Norway – Part 1

I spent six months in Norway in 1992 and had an absolutely amazing time. I stayed with six different families in two regions of the country. The concept of boating to Norway was actually discussed way back then. It was a moment to remember when, while sitting around the outside fire one evening; my host mother and wonderful friend Borgny leaned over to Bob and said, “Kim said she would come to see us by boat when she was here 20 years ago.” Yes, this concept has been around for a long time. I’ve been teasing Bob for years that he married me for my mooring, perhaps it was the other way around, I married him for his sense of adventure and sailing skills so I could fulfill this long ago promise. In reality, neither of us would have made it to Norway without the skills of the other.

Our original Norway plan was to sail directly to the Lofoten Islands, an archipelago 750 miles north of Scotland and then work our way south, stopping to see my six host families and other friends as we travelled our way south. My original thoughts were that as we travelled south, we would actually extend our stay a little into the autumn, maximizing our visiting time. Our first (eastward bound) trip across the North Sea was a tough one and we bailed out and made landfall in Bergen, almost 500 miles shy of our original destination. In addition, the realization that we needed to be south of the North Sea (and the Bay of Biscay :O) before fall set in, pinched the trip at the other end. We realized as we left Bergen that our whole summer in Norway was now reduced to about 40 days and a week of that would be backtracking. The saving grace of our seriously reduced amount of time in Norway was that the extended daylight allowed us to travel 24 hours per day.

Kids enjoying the scenery

After checking in and one night in Bergen, we cast off from the Bryggen waved goodbye to the rats, drove by the multiple cruise ships jammed into the harbor, including the QEII, and headed north on the ‘inner’ route through fjords, around islands and under stunning sheer cliffs.  It was now Mid-July and it was cold, rainy and foggy. We knew we were cruising through some of the most beautiful scenery in the world but we were only catching occasional glimpses. When the clouds did break, we slowed and tried to see a little more, snap some pictures and imprint the scenery on our memories. We got the kids up on deck as much as possible and took turns napping when the scenery was reduced.



 The route we were travelling is a fairly heavily travelled commercial route and ship traffic was a common hazard both day and night. In reality there was a period when the sun went down for several hours each night but it never really got dark. This darker period got noticeably shorter each night as we were making considerable northerly progress.

The QE II and a coastal tanker

At one point the QE II caught up with us and its sheer size was etched in our minds as a tanker passed by it, toy sized next to its tremendous hulk.  Travelling on the ‘inside’ had it challenges. The good thing about Norway is that most of the water is thousands of feet deep and you are protected from swells and seas by the many islands and skerries.  Most of the time, the depth sounder was flashing ‘4 feet’, meaning it was deeper than 400 feet. The problem is the sea floor has just as much terrain variation as the bits above the sea so shallow spots come up very quickly. It seemed like whenever we were struggling with a little current, a charted shallow spot or some problem on the boat, along came the Hurtigrute, the traditional coastal steamer that makes its way north and south delivering goods and carrying passengers. This departs once daily from Bergen and makes it way north to the Russian border and back again in a 13-day roundtrip. This is a great way to see Norway’s fabulous coast and Bob and I decided we will see the Norwegian coast one more time in our lives from our wheel chairs on the deck of the Hurtigrute. 

 

We travelled north from Bergen for two and a half days and were approaching the Town of Måløy.  We had had little sleep, there was bad weather coming and the next big step took us around the infamous headland called ‘Stad’, translated directly to ‘Place’. This 500 meter high mountain plateau and penninsula is the most feared part of the Norwegian coast and it has many other names other than Stad including ‘The Fist’.  In addition, this is where the Gulf Stream collides into the coast of Norway. North of Stad we would be out of the North Sea and into the Norwegian Sea. The Stad cliffs split the Gulf Stream flow which combines with other coastal currents resulting in a tumultuous and unpredictable mish mash of waves, wind and currents. In addition, there are some submerged rocks in the mix about half way round. There has been talk for years of making a tunnel through Stad for ship traffic and we had several hours of debate on how this would work and whether it would ever become reality. I asked a Norwegian friend if the fear and danger was really a thing of the past given modern ships and instrumentation and he informed me that at least one vessel per year is lost there; the fear and danger is real.
 

Other than docking on the Bryggen at customs in Bergen, we knew little about anchoring or docking in Norway. As we approached Måløy, we started poking our way into charted anchorages and eventually found a marina that looked promising. Two fishermen entering the marina pointed us towards Town, letting us know that the Guest Docks in Town were our best bet. We eventually found the guest docks and tied up. We asked around about the details, “How do we pay?”, “Who do we pay?”, “How long can we stay?” It took us 24 hours before we had all the answers, which were simple. Put your money in the box, bathrooms and laundry facilities are open 8-20. It was easy enough and very affordable, about half the cost of buying a pizza at the parlor next door, and it had free laundry.  This place was great!

 

The weather forecasted was certainly notable and Midwatch heeled over from the blasts through our second night at the dock.  Most of the boats at the dock were heading north like us and they were waiting to make the trip around Stad. We were taken under the wing of a nice older gentleman and Bob was invited aboard a lovely boat for instructions on rounding Stad. We watched the weather carefully through our second whole day and listened, as best we could, to the chatter on the dock. The boats started taking off early evening at the end of our second day and we decided around 7 P.M. to take off ourselves. We believed that some of the boats were headed to a closer anchorage to wait but once we were moving we decided to continue and get by before it got any darker.  Our plan was to continue north on the ‘outside’, past the second ‘big-scary spot’ on the west coast, ‘Hustadvika’.  This would put us close to Trondelag, the region where several of the families we were to visit are located. At this point we were beginning to realize that Trondelag would be the farthest point north we would reach.
 



Steering around Stad

Anna and I bravely stayed on deck through most of the rounding but as it got darker and colder, Anna retreated and I began to feel the effect of being seriously tossed about.  Bob was smart, instead of letting me lean over the rail feeling sorry for myself, he put me on the wheel and we headed for the passage back to the ‘inside’.  This was no easy task, the waves and currents pushed us towards the cliff face and rocks of Stad and Bob kept hollering over the roar of the wind “More to Port, more to port!”. We finally made it into the Fjord and I collapsed in exhaustion.



 I woke several hours later to a dark, rainy day. We knew we were passing some of the most amazing scenery in the world, the famous Geiranger Fjord and the Cities of Molde and Ålesund but we saw little. We pressed on, making better time than we thought we could on this zigzagged route and were approaching Hustadvika late in the afternoon. We had a light breeze and were motor sailing. I was on watch and Bob was trying to sleep. I opened the hatch to go down below and I could suddenly hear an odd noise.  I thought it was something from below because I could hear it suddenly as I pushed open the hatch. Bob was awake enough to realize that it had just started and we turned off the motor and sat in the cockpit discussing our options. Bob turned the motor back on, there was the noise, turned it off and we could hear the thunk, thunk, thunk slowing as the propeller slowed. Definitely a problem. We had a little breeze but the day had been relatively calm so we decided to push on under sail, around Hustadvika.

Hustadvika is the second area between Bergen and Trondheim where you have to go on the outside with no protection from the open sea.  It is a longer crossing (more miles) than Stad but the calm conditions gave it a completely different feel. In the end Bob decided that he was more cautious of Hustadvika, a shallow, rock-strewn and narrow channel, subject to waves from the open ocean. It was basically calm when we were going through but we were under sail. Of course the wind completely died in the middle, it was starting to get dark, fog was thickening to almost zero visibility and along came the Hurtigrute. As always, the scary moments come while I am on watch. I started the thunking motor to get out of the way of the ship but it still passed within about 30 feet of us in the narrow channel.  We made it through and pushed on.
 

We were now making up a route as we went along having thrown our original concept out the window when we ducked into Bergen. Up until this point we were still thinking of heading as far north as we could get and visit on our way south. With our undiagnosed engine trouble, we headed for the closest friendly faces we knew and turned right into Trondheims Fjord.  Under sail we were barely making 2 knots and we could see the peninsula of Frosta by noon time. We passed the City of Trondheim, home of Thomas and Marie, our cruising friends we met in the Bahamas, who visited us in New Hampshire and who we had hoped to meet on our way south, they were still in Newfoundland. We snapped a photo of us with Trondheim in the background to send to them.

 

We continued along, seeming to make no progress. I tried calling our Frosta friends but the internet wasn’t quite good enough for voice so we tried Skype instant messaging which has worked well for us. Before we left I read everything we could find on internet onboard the boat. We had friends who had suggested using an antenna-type system that would allow us to utilize free or open wifi when we could find it. I looked into a satellite system but it was super expensive both to purchase and to use. I read more and realized that the cellular internet we had been using for years may actually be the best option. Our Verizon service was not fantastic for overseas service but the concept was worth exploring. We ended up buying an ‘unlocked’ cellular wifi device on ebay. In each country we have purchased a SIM card with some defined number of prepaid megabytes, insert it into the device and, if the stars align, voila, internet.  This has worked in every country to which we have gone and in some of the most amazing places, the Irish Sea, Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas, Trondheims Fjord. The absolute best deal was in Scotland, £5.5 for three gigabytes of data and it worked all the way to Ireland, until we ran out of data; it was a beautiful thing!
 

Not that we are stingy or anything (I can hear the chuckles from home now) but with limited gigabytes and getting to a store where we can ‘top up’ not always easy, we ARE stingy with our data. Skype instant messaging has been our go-to method of communication since we have left the States. I have also purchased Skype credit which allows us to make calls to telephones. This has worked great as well making both in and out-of-country calling a snap at about $0.02 a minute. Time to rethink our expensive Verizon cellular service at home. Did I ever mention how much I hate telephone companies.

So as we approached Frosta and the wonderful Østerlie family, the internet was sketchy enough to not allow an actual voice conversation so we resorted to Skype IM. It went like this…

[7/17/2013 7:39:18 PM] Ingunn Hyndøy: We can see you from our window!!!! We have a big binocolar!!

[7/17/2013 7:39:43 PM] kim scamman: Hooray!

[7/17/2013 7:40:47 PM] kim scamman: The place we are going is Hydoyvaagen, correct? (forgive  the wrong vowels, can't figure out how to type them in Skype)

[7/17/2013 7:41:08 PM] kim scamman: Hyndoyvaagen

[7/17/2013 7:41:43 PM] Ingunn Hyndøy: Tore will mark the place with a pink scarf. Hyndøyvågen is correct!

[7/17/2013 7:41:57 PM] kim scamman: If we tell everyone in Trondheim to blow I think we will get there faster.

[7/17/2013 7:43:40 PM] Ingunn Hyndøy: If you need help, Tore can drag you in With his boat. He think it can manage it. It’s a 115 hp.

[7/17/2013 7:44:22 PM] Ingunn Hyndøy: I can put on the vacumcleener, and suck you in to frosta!!

[7/17/2013 7:45:26 PM] kim scamman: We are fine. We are just putting the kids to bed. We will start the motor to get to the dock but we don't want to risk 17 miles.... I think I could use that vacuum to clean up after the kids.

[7/17/2013 7:45:44 PM] kim scamman: Bob is going up to try and trim the sails to get a little more speed.

[7/17/2013 7:46:31 PM] Ingunn Hyndøy: God luck!

[7/17/2013 7:47:13 PM] kim scamman: Thanks! See you soon!

[7/17/2013 8:33:31 PM] Ingunn Hyndøy: Hooray! You have speed now! The vacuumcleaner is working!!

Our visit to our old friends was suddenly real. 17 miles to go at two knots was not acceptable. After two years of planning, we could not wait eight more hours. We put out all the sail we have and managed the tip of the penninsula around 10 P.M. Poor Ingunn was home with sleeping kids but Tore was waiting for us and Arne and Liv, Ingunn’s Mom and Dad, were spotted at the end of Frosta, blinking their headlights in our direction. We flashed lights back to them. Near midnight, as we approached the tiny harbor, a small boat was spotted approaching with three figures. It was Tore, Arne and Liv! They drove up beside us and we all stared, could this be real, are we really here in Frosta? All that preparation, training, sailing, this was the ultimate destination. I am sure there were similar thoughts going through their heads, could they really be here, in a sailboat? The silence was finally broken and we followed Tore in his little yellow speedboat into the harbor. We pulled down the sail and started the thunking-engine and held our breath until the boat was tied.
 

We clambered off and gave huge hugs to our waiting friends, touching made it real, big smiles suddenly erupted on faces and chatter started, everyone talking at once. It was now mostly dark and well past midnight; we worked to get the boat settled for the night.  We discussed a schedule for the next day, were offered a car for getting around and we said goodnight to our gracious hosts.

 

Poor Ingunn, who sat at home, missing the fun the night before, arrived the next morning for her own reunion and we had a wonderful morning with muffins, cinnamon for the boys and chocolate for the girls, to a person. The kids hit it off, a nine year old and three year old, they were instant friends.  Bob dove on the propeller and found a loose prop zinc. He had it fixed in a few minutes, breathed a huge sigh of relief and we settled into life in Frosta.

Bob and Arne in the greenhouse

Our days in Frosta passed in a flurry with great dinners at Buset, the farm, and Ingunn and Tores’ modern house on the hill with the telescope, and many hours of great conversation, catching up with these wonderful friends. Buset grew potatoes when I was there 20 years ago and they now focus their energy on greenhouse-grown zucchini. As you can imagine, Bob and Arne have a lot in common and like our past visits with the Østerlies, Bob and Arne could often be found in a corner discussing nutrients or bumble bees or some other greenhouse-related topic.  We hardly saw Anna and Otelie, the big girls, as they were off playing like they had known each other their whole lives and the three year olds (both soon to be four), amazingly still managed to play the same game with each other, one in Norwegian and one in English. I was fascinated with their bilingual play.

Ann Kristin Lie, the daughter of another family we were to meet later in the week, also lives in Frosta with her husband and children and we were able to visit with her while in Frosta. Of course, like most small towns, Ann Kristin and Ingunn, both Moms of nine year old daughters, know each other and we all had a wonderful lunch of prawns at Ann Kristin’s house. The three girls had a great afternoon swimming in the family swimming pool while we caught up on the many years that had passed. We were sad we were not able to catch up with Ann Kristin and her family later in our stay but glad we had at least this short time.

 

It hadn't quite warmed up yet
when we reached the mouth of Trondheims Fjord

Our stay with the Østerlie family ended, as did all our visits to friends that followed, way too soon.  We stayed through Saturday, ending the visit with a small birthday party for Bob on Midwatch and Sunday dawned with a fresh westerly breeze, forecasted to go north soon; we either had to depart now or a week from now when the northerlies might subside. We tacked our way west out of Trondheims Fjord and continued north, up the coast. The area we were entering is known for its many skerries, or rock outcroppings, shallow spots and tiny islands. The weather which had been rotten since we had arrived in Norway was improving almost hourly as we made our away north. We had a beautiful sail and by the next afternoon the sun was shining and the inner route was flat calm. We motored through the morning through some pretty tight spots but were so happy to finally see the sun that all was well. We were greeted in Lauvsnes by host sister and sister to Ann Kristin, Malene and family in their fishing boat and once again were escorted to the dock with many smiles and waves.  They took us to a little marina and once tied, hugs for Malene and introductions of husbands and children.



At this point we had realized that if we continued north we would miss out on visiting time. We had arrived in the KWe had arrived in the small Kommune of Flatanger, in the village of Lauvsnes, which is where the Lie family has their cottages. 

 

 

Many families in Norway have cottages or ‘Hytte’, used all year round for vacation and weekends. Folks enjoy berry picking, skiing, hiking, exploring and many other outdoor activities. Lauvsnes has a beautiful, natural harbor. There are two marinas nearby the family cottages, located just

Midnight moonrise in Lauvsnes AKA “The Love-nest”

two doors down from each other and a short dinghy ride from where we tied up for a two week stay. This location would allow us to visit the Kjølstad family at their Høylandet (Highland) farm and, at the end of our stay, celebrate the big ninth birthday of Anna and Emilie Skei who were born just hours apart back in 2004. A joint birthday party was the one promised and pre-planned event of the summer. We had a wonderful evening meal with Malene and her family and sat on the terrace long into the evening, enjoying the now balmy weather and watching the full moon rise over the hills.
 

We had chosen to make Lauvsnes Midwatch’s furthest point north. I knew if we travelled further we would be a little closer to my most northerly host family but it didn’t look too far, on the map to drive and we would lose two days travelling by boat, we had a good place to leave Midwatch and the bit we still had to sail looked quite challenging. The drive turned out to be much farther then I had guessed on the map, which wasn’t the first time I had made this mistake in Norway, but the Norwegian people are kind and the next day we were shuttled north and east and found ourselves at the Kværnmoen dairy farm, Hognes in the Kommune of Høylandet. 

Hognes

We arrived just in time for summer vacation.  This wonderful farm is tucked in between two mountain ranges and the farm itself extends high into the mountains to the west. The family has two Hyttes, a summer and winter version, about a two-hour hike above the farm. I remember being amazed by this concept of walking out your back door for vacation 21 years ago when I stayed here, and we arrived to find most of the family up the mountain. The family had expanded a bit since I was last here and older sister Hilde was visiting from the south with her three children. Younger sister Anna lives here with her two children. Hilde, Anna and Borgny had walked down the mountain with the two babies to fetch us. It was the first good weather of the summer and we felt terrible we had brought them down. We slept one night at the Farm and then headed up into the mountains.
 



The cottages, both winter and summer, were now brimming with this extended family and we were in the winter cottage with “Big Anna” and her family. We walked each day to the upper or summer cottage, about an hour hike, and shared three wonderful days swimming in the mountain lake (not me!), hiking, visiting, eating and enjoying ‘nature’, as they say in Norway.  



Hiking back ‘home’ Day 2 in the mountains

Bob had wanted to go up in the mountains above Hognes since I told him about it years ago and the stars aligned for our visit. The weather was fantastic. Borgny, unfortunately, had to work during the day but she hiked up each evening to be with us, bringing a pack full of goodies: candy, strawberries and cream. Cottage living is rustic here, no running water, no refrigeration. We had hauled  up a jug of milk (pulled from the bulk tank) for Finn but it only made it a day before it was accidently left out of the cooler and Finn had to learn to go without.  On the third day, Dad Nils had to be back to milk the cows and we hiked down with him, back to the farm, giving Borgny an evening off from the hike.



Anna after a refreshing swim in a mountain lake

Hiking back to the farm with Nils

 



Tråne

I treasured my days with my good friend Borgny. I feel truly at home in this place and the days passed swiftly. We ate, visited and enjoyed farm life. The kids got to watch the cows being milked and took long walks. Bob had spotted some huge birds the day we arrived. These cranes summer here and winter in Africa and Bob swore they were as big as he. On our last day he walked up the hill with the kids to see if they could find the pair that reportedly spent the summer here at the farm. They were successful and brought photos to share. Hilde told us of her first encounter with the Tråne, which sent her careening down the hill to home, frightened of the dinosaur-like creatures on the hill. Their loud, squawking voice reinforced the dinosaur comparison and we were told that it is not much fun at the wee hours in the morning when the tråne are courting.  Speaking of courting, Borgny and Hilde were with me out at Cornell when I first met Bob!



Big Anna's Bridge



Sailing Midwatch with Borgny and family

We were driven all the way back to Midwatch by older son and farmer, Jan Ståle with Borgny and Nils leading the way in a second vehicle and enjoyed a wonderful two hour sail in a light breeze. It was a picture perfect day, as it had been for the past five or six and Borgny wished she could travel with us all the way back to Bergen, I wish she could of, it would have been grand.  We said goodbye tearfully.



 From the moment we left the Bahamas in April, it had taken all our effort to get to this northerly point, a month of preparing the boat in North Carolina, travelling across the Atlantic, and travelling one thousand miles north from Midwatch’s European landfall in Crosshaven, Ireland.  When we arrived in Lauvsnes, Midwatch’s furthest point north, we had finally stopped. Close to four months without a rest. Our stop corresponded with the, reportedly, best weather Norway had seen in six years and we were truly blessed and enjoying this summer vacation immensely.  The Lie family Hyttes are on the sea and after five days in the mountains, we were ready for summer vacation, Part 2.  

After our sail and goodbyes to the Kjølstad family, we were met at the dock by Knut Lie who helped us get the dinghy in the water. We had been invited to stay in the cottages but being able to visit while sleeping in your own bed, a short dinghy ride away, is a lovely feeling. The week with the Lies was filled with parties, fishing trips, hiking, swimming, a sail on Midwatch and loads of fun, each event worthy of a blog post alone. We had long days filled with fun that lasted late into the evening. We would return to Midwatch near midnight each night in the twilight of a Norway summer night with local teenagers waterskiing around us and quiet conversations of older adults stretching across the marina.

One of the most memorable events was an all guys fishing trip. Before departure, Bob sidled up to host sister Malene and told her that this was a trophy run for Halibut and he was wearing his lucky pants; an hour later, I was sitting on the deck and Malene and Knut came strolling out from different directions with stunned looks on their faces. A photo of Bob with a big halibut had arrived via text. The talk all week, in English and Norwegian, included references to the “Lucky Pants.”  (Bob has promised a full telling of the ‘Lucky Pants’ story in a separate blog post.)  This was actually the second halibut of the week and Ingrid Lie, Mom to Malene and Anna Kristin, had arrived to join the fun. Ingrid is from Bergen and seafood is a very important part of the western culture. Ingrid hollered out the door as they were heading to clean the fish to be sure to save the head for Bob and she cooked it special just for him.



The Happiest Norwegian, Terje Skei

 

Along with fish, we were sent on our way at the end of the week with big bags of potatoes and carrots sent up from the farming center of Levanger, home of the Lie family. This made the threat of expensive food in Norway only a minor inconvenience. Thanks to all for filling our larder!

High above Lauvsnes

The end of the week was the one event that was scheduled long before we arrived in Norway, the ninth birthday party of Emilie and Anna. The two girls had a great time all week and were so thrilled to share their birthday party. The gift giving was generous and we all walked away with something special, Legos, books and Bob with his special bacon and cheese in a tube. We gave a few gifts of our own including passing on our Anti-pirate Potato Canon Book to Ulrik Skei, knowing that he was the one person we met in our travels that would build it! Please send photos Ulrik!

Anna received a great book on Norwegian bird songs and was able to play the Tråne dinosaur call for me to hear.



The first halibut

Finn perfecting the “I’m a tough fisherman” look

Two ‘almost’ nine-year-olds

What could be better than bacon in a tube?
Pepperoni in a tube?

Anna’s bird song book

 

We finally pointed our bow south on the morning of August 5 for the long trip south. We will travel 2,500 miles before we make that right turn to take us back to the western side of the Atlantic. The old adage is that you travel south until the butter melts and then turn right. It is not melting yet.

We have travelled the first 1,000 miles and hopefully will be travelling again soon, as soon as the rain stops.