Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 58km | Time 14.5hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m

I slept well again and got up at 0700. It was another fantastic day in store with clear blues skies and a slight breeze from the south east, from inside the fjord. After breakfast I tidied up the apartment and went down to chat with the fisherman. They were three older characters who practiced small scale fishing of cod, halibut and salmon.

The price of cod is set by a government department rather than the market. However the price set was too high for the international market as cheaper Russian and Icelandic fish have flooded the traditional markets. Nobody is buying the more expensive Norwegian cod at the moment and the Norwegian fish buyers cannot sell the cod they buy from the fishing boats. As a consequence they are not buying from the fishermen. So the fisherman are hanging it to make dried fish which does not fetch the same price but can be stored for a long time until the market improves or the government department lowers its selling price and competes with Russia and Iceland.

Indeed I have seen cod drying everywhere both on a large scale like in Mehamn and on a small scale where individual fisherman dry their own cod and then sell it on keeping some for themselves.

The salmon are not affected by the same regulations and many fishermen are concentrating on them. It seems to be a plentiful year for salmon. These three fishermen catch the salmon in net traps and then sell their fish straight to the public in Tromso at the fish market. The fisherman had all the banter and good humour which comes from being market traders. They were also very kind allowing me to use the loft above the fish processing plant for the night.

I set off at 0900 and paddled out of the harbour. The wind had now increased to a force three and it was still south east and would be from the side. The fishermen said it would diminish over the morning as I paddled out across the fjord, and it did. As I pulled round the protective headland the full vista of the two very spectacular and alpine islands on Arnoy and Kagen appeared in their full glory. It was a magnificent sight. The most impressive of the kayak tour so far.

As I paddled across the Kvaenangen fjord I decided to aim for the middle of the northern island. The wind was pushing me that way and it was a more natural direction. More importantly though was I was now in cruise ship country and two went past. I thought it best to cross this shipping lane perpendicular to it rather than paddle along it. These large boats probably would not see me.

The crossing was easier than I thought and it took just three hours until I reached the middle of Arnoy. It was a hugely spectacular with some cliffs which went up 400 metres and an array of jagged snow cover peaks beyond that. To the east of Arnoy was another island called Laukoya which was no less magnificent with snow covered mountains. Between the two was a wide sound called Lauksund, a fjord with two ends to the sea in a deep and impressive slot.

I paddled into Lauksund and began to paddle south. It seemed the current and winds were now on my side and I was doing nearly 8 km an hour. I paddled past two hamlets on Laukoya at Hellnes and Storelv. The houses here were typical homesteads with a small barn for a score or dozen sheep and a few cows and horse. In addition each house had a boat shed by the shore for all the fishing related activities. The boats were smaller then and could be hauled up the beach. These two hamlets would have been essential self sufficient living off the land and the waters on the sound. However this idyllic but hard life was largely abandoned in the 1960s and 1970s. As I paddled down however I could see that the houses and barns were well maintained and there were still 100 odd sheep grazing. I imagine the sheep are left to fend for themselves for the summer on this predator free island and collected in the autumn.

I crossed the sound and stopped at a small beach at Lauksletta on the opposing island of Arnoya. It was a tremendous setting. There were many more houses on this island on a fertile fringe under the lofty snowfields and sharp peaks. Many waterfalls tumbled down from the high mountains above to the populated fertile strip. It felt there were many people living here permanently and not just in the summer.

After lunch I continued south past a couple of salmon farms in the Lauksund to Kagsund which separated the two alpine islands. Across the sound in the island of Kagen was Kagtind 1228m, a massively impressive and glaciated mountain. It looked magnificent in the sun under blue skies.

I did not want to cross the whole of Lyngenfjord in one go as it meant paddling along a potential but currently quiet shipping lane again. So I paddled over to the small island of Vorteroy. As I paddled out of the Kagsund the island appeared, lying low and green in the fjord. Behind it to the west was one of the most impressive mountain sights in Europe, the Lyngen Alps. These huge mountains form the alpine backbone to the 70 km long Lyngen peninsula. The mountains rise to an impressive 1700-1800 metres or 6000 feet straight out of the fjord in a wall of immense proportions. Unfortunately the camera could not do them justice. Many people consider the Lyngen Alps to be the best mountains in Scandinavia. They are without doubt in the top five.

With this impressive sight before me I paddled to Vorteroy. About half way across the northern wind increased from a gentle force two up to a force five. The sea quickly got up and there were white horses everywhere. The kayak was lurching and bucking as I approached the beach where the metre waves were breaking. I considered capsizing and swimming in to receive the kayak and protect it from the cobble sized stone on the beach but decided to surf in with my legs out and jump up as I approached the stones. As I landed on the shoreline, a man approached.

We chatted and he showed me around his small fishing operation and sheds. He was in the middle of dinner but told me to come up to his house once I was sorted out. I found some lee behind a shed, ate some biscuits and rested for a while in the meadow thick with yellow globe flowers. I fell asleep in the sun and woke after two hours. By then the wind had diminished to a three again. The man reappeared and we chatted for a good half hour before I decided to continue. He gave me some dried halibut he had prepared. His tidy interesting sheds were full of fishing tackle and bundles of dried cod. It was an idyllic setting but he only stayed here for the summer. His parents stayed here all year and his children visited in the holidays. It was the typical demographic shift from country side to urban which Norway has undergone in the last 50 years.

The paddle over Lyngenfjord was slightly more bumpy than I had hoped and occasionally the wind increased to a force four again. I could hear the breaking crests catching me up from behind. Slowly but sure I gained on the tip on the peninsula. At one stage I could look straight down the mountain wall as it plunged into the fjord, each peak separated by a large glacier.

As it approached midnight I eventually rounded the tip called Lyngstuva. Already the wind was dropping again but there were numerous shipwrecks along the rocks here. Even a Hurtigruten ferry “Kong Halfdan” lies near here since 1918. It was crystal clear to the north. This was the first time I could see the midnight sun unadulterated by mountains or cloud.

I paddled round the tip and a few km to a beach and the hamlet of Russelv. I beached the boat here. It was just after midnight and someone was gardening still. She came down to empty the wheelbarrow and chat and said ‘forget the tent I can make up a bed’. I am totally bowled over by the continued hospitality along the coast here.

Her husband came down and helped me up with the full boat. I took the minimum and within 20 minutes I was having coffee in a very comfortable house while a massive omelet was being made. It was a very nice family with many kids most of whom had grown up and left. He was a fisherman and I chatted about the ocean with him. Soon after it was a shower and wonderful cotton sheets.

Today must rank as one of the best. It had everything from scenery, to weather, to exciting seas, to hospitality and more.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 5:44 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.