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.
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| 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 |
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.
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| Steering around Stad |
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.
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| Bob and Arne in the greenhouse |
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.
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| 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 realized that if we continued north we would miss out on visiting time. We had arrived in the 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
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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.
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| Hognes |
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.
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|
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.
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| Anna after a refreshing swim in a mountain lake |
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| Hiking back to the farm with Nils |
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| Tråne |
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| Big Anna's Bridge |
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| 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.
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|
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!
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|
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.
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The first halibut |
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Finn perfecting the “I’m a tough fisherman” look |
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Two ‘almost’ nine-year-olds |
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What could be better than bacon in a tube? Pepperoni in a tube? |
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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.
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