Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 41km | Time 8hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m

It was a stunning morning at 0730 when I woke, with clear skies and a good breeze of force three in my favour. I guessed the tide was also in my favour but looking out onto the sound there seemed to be very little movement.

As I breakfasted in the tent a herd of reindeer came by and one almost put his nose in the tent. The sun was blasting down into the tent and took away any urgency. I eventually had everything packed and cast off at 1000.

It was a glorious morning. The wind pushed me along at a good speed and there must have been some current in my favour also as I was doing 7 km per hour down the sound even more once I passed the entrance to Straumen sound on the north side.

Ahead of me was the island of Seiland, Norway’s seventh biggest island. The mountains of Seiland went up to 1000 metres and there were two large glaciers on the island. I could just make out one on the glaciers as I left Beritsjord.

The island of Seiland also seemed remarkably green. I found out later it had a very broad range of minerals in its rocks and these provided good nutrition to the birch forests. Indeed the island up to 300 metres was covered in the vibrant, invigorating green of fresh spring leaves. There was the odd scattered homested along the coast, which were probably now abandoned.

It was a wonderful fast and sunny paddle down the sound on the south side of Seiland island, called Vargsund. I kept to the mainland side of the sound and cruised past a number of small hamlets with green lush fields and bright green birch forests. The wealth of minerals must have extended over the sound to this side also. It was so refreshing after the harsh moonscape of the Nordkinn and Varanger peninsulas.

After 3 hours paddling I had almost done 20km. I reached a pebble bay with 10 odd houses round it. It was called Saraby. They were all sitting in green pastures with the sun shining on them. Along the shore were fishermen’s sheds. I pulled up beside one where a father and son were launching a boat.

The father had recently been fishing in the fjord and had filled up his cod drying rack with about 100 fish to see him through the year. He explained it was now too late for proper dry fish as the fish would not dehydrate and harden in time to stop the flies laying eggs in it. So he had treated them in some solution and was hanging them for a few weeks to become Boknafisk. I tried Boknafisk in Mehamn and was not taken by it.

I chatted as they waited for the tide to lift the boat from the cradle. It was a very relaxed rural scene in the warm weather. It was really one of the few time this year I have experienced such hot weather. I have gone almost straight from the Nordkinn spring, which would be winter anywhere else, to summer in a week.

After enjoying this tranquil setting I continued down the south side of Vargsund. The birch trees here were getting thicker and thicker and lusher. It was now similar vegetation to only 800 metres in Jotunheimen or Southern Norway.

Across the Vargsund was Seiland island. I needed to cross over to it so aimed for a deep inlet on the craggy shore called Store Bekkarfjord. Most of the interior of the island of Seiland was a National Park. The park also took in some coastal areas and Store Bekkarfjord was one. It was lush and green with wild craggy slopes behind it going up to steep snowfields.

The wind was starting to increase from behind me now up to a force three. The tide was probably turning but in places the waves were steeper and unpredictable. I rode them past rocky headland after headland passing the deep Seibukta bay and then reaching Hakkstabben. It looked like it had about 5 houses. It was after 1800 and I planned to spend the night here.

I beached on the pebble beach and then went up to explore the jetty area. There was a large building on the jetty, which was the post office and an old fashioned and quaint shop. Beside it was a grassy patch were I decided to camp. While I was eating some biscuits before setting the tent up two girls came over. They were running the shop and lived in the nice house with its lovely barn nearby.

They opened the shop for me and then said they had a spare room as their parents were on holiday. Would I like to stay? Just to have some space to move after a few nights in a tent and a table to sit at would have been great, but easy conversation and a great homemade pizza in addition were fantastic. I even had some time to myself later on to write the blog.

This hospitality I am finding along the Finnmark coast is remarkable. I did not find it in the interior of Finnmark when I skied up. I can only compare it to some places on the West coasts or Scotland or Ireland where small communities are both hungry for outside interaction and also are genuinely warm friendly and curious.

It had been a very good day. I had done an easy 41 km, got sunburnt and soaked up the lush green vegetation which made me really enjoy the surroundings rather than being in awe of them. The hospitality at Hakkstabben was also quite special.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 13th, 2009 at 10:07 pm and is filed under Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.