The Fjords
Here is the second half of the voyage that started and finished in Bergen…
Day 4 13th June
We started quite early since we had a long distance to make up heading back west along Sognefjord. First however, we headed north across the fjord to Balestrand, where we poked our nose into Fjaerlandsfjorden to see if we could spot the glacier at its head. Sadly we couldn’t see far enough, and couldn’t really afford the extra time to travel up the fjord, so we settled for a view of the narrow, dark, hills before heading closer to Balestrand.
There is a famous, large, wooden hotel in Balestrand frequented by Kaiser Wilhelm, which while picturesque is somewhat spoiled by a large concrete shoebox lurking behind it – the modern part of the hotel.
Leaving Balestrand we headed back to the main body of Sognefjord and then motored west with the wind on our nose – we couldn’t spare the time to tack along the fjord since it would have nearly doubled the distance we had to go. Thermals made a reappearance since the day become cold and wet.
We anchored at Kråkevåg on Sula, a small harbour where we found some mooring pegs on the rocks. The shore party attached lines, and Gary channelled his inner Thor ‘reconditioning’ the rusty mooring peg with his trusty claw hammer.
There followed a splendid meal of roasted pork belly from head-cook Ash, and a raucous evening of cards.
Day 5 14th June
Another early start as we wanted to make the most of the light breeze and also get into Fedje in time to explore. The sails went up but we weren’t making much progress so the girls were tasked to change the number 2 yankee with the number 1 (with some help from the guys, heavy sails) and we were soon making 6knts again. As we approached Fedje the sun came out and we berthed outside a restaurant in the middle of the harbour.
Fedje is a low lying island surrounded by 125 islands and rocks. A beautiful island full of lagoon like bays. It was traditionally a whaling and peat production island but now who knows what the locals do now!
After a little bit of exploring the main event of the day was the power shower ashore., followed by Nicks 1 bottle of wine spag bol!!
Country and Western in the Fjords – all good things come to an end
Day 6 15th June
Another very early start, up at 0630 (well most of us) and slipped by 0700. Sails up and tacking down towards Radfjord. On reaching the fjord we dropped the sails as it narrowed and need more concentration on the nav. A wet start but by the time we reached Bergen about 1430 again the sun was out! Unfortunately the guest marina was full (Bergfest music festival, we can hear it quite clearly from the yacht!!) and we had to moor back on the commercial dock we left from.
In the evening we had a lovely crew meal in the local micro brewery (smokey bacon larger!!) followed by a few cheap drinks in a questionably but friendly local bar chatting to the locals and listening to a guy playing C&W music. A more lively bar followed with Julie leading everyone on the dance floor! A late but enjoyable night!
