Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 43km | Time 9.5hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m

The guesthouse threw in a free breakfast for me so I was well filled for the mornings paddling by the time I started paddling around 1030. In contrast to yesterday it was a beautiful day with just about no wind and that was coming from the north. The tide was completely out so I would have a negligible tide against me.

I pushed the nose of the kayak through some kelp and weaved my way through a line of skerries where there was some big surf breaking. The swell was still there from yesterday at about 2 to 2.5 metres but it was gentle until it hit the skerries.

Once through the skerries I paddled out to the headland which was exposed. There were no protecting islets of skerries to the north of this headland and the swell was piling in and crashing on the rocks. I gave it a wide berth and paddled across the next bay to Haugneset. The village of Hustad lay hidden in this bay.

As I was half way across I saw an old square sail. It was on a boat which was hardy moving on this calm day. I was almost on my path so I went over to investigate. There were about 6 younger people on board and I chatted with them. The boat was a femboring and it was a traditional boat from Trondelag. It looked quite similar to the Nordlands boat but not quite a graceful. It even had the small shelter on the back which is sometimes removable.

From the village of Hustad all the way down do the end of the peninsula at the small town of Bud were many small skerries and a few islets. There was some swell here and there, but out to sea perhaps a kilometer off shore was a line of skerries where the swell was breaking. It was almost a reef covered in surf. So these 7-8 km of relatively sheltered and did not contain the exposure I had heard about. I stopped briefly on one islet when I saw it had a beach.

Just as I reached the tip of the peninsula the protective reefs and islets ceased and there was an exposed km to get round the point. Here and there a submerged shallow would lie quiet while 9 swells went over it and then suddenly cause the 10th swell to rear up in a great wall which toppled over. I chose my route after observing it for a while and went between an islet and the mainland to enter the calmer waters south of Bud.

Hustadvika has something of a reputation. It is ill deserved. The entire coast is perhaps some 30 km and there are just really two exposed headlands to the east of Farstad and Hustad respectively and the final headland before Bud. Each of these is a km at the most. Otherwise there are plenty of landing spots and protection. While one might have to pause while going down this coast for better weather, as I did, it is not possible to get caught out by a sudden deterioration in the weather without the chance to land, as one finds on the Osthavet coast in Finnmark.

Bud seemed a nice small town but the wind was now behind me and the waves small, so I decided to head straight over to the island of Gossen at once heading for the north west tip. It was only 6-7 km and it was a fast crossing. There were a few islands in this bay to skirt round and explore.

Out to the west of my crossing was the village of Bjornsund. It seemed quite large with about 200 houses. Probably most of them were leisure homes now but Bjornsund must have still have had a good resident population. It really was a community in the sea on its small island surrounded by the Atlantic.

I stopped just after the island of Rinderoy of the north west of Gossen. There were a series of rocky islets ringed with seaweed where I was hoping for a beach. None the less it was easy to land as this whole bay was really an extensive basin with islets far into the ocean, even beyond my limited horizon, taking the pounding from the Atlantic swell. The waves generated in the basin had a limited fetch.

After this break I set my sights on the north west tip of Otroy. Unlike the flat Gossen I was just leaving Otroy had mountains. Indeed everything to the south and west was a mass of mountains. Beyond the coastal mountains were some of the most impressive mountains in Europe in Romsdal and Sunnmore areas but I could not see them. The light was poor for photography as is was getting grey.

On the crossing over I kept hearing a thump like crack. I wondered if it was sometime to do with the kayak. After about 10 of these over half and hour I saw a small school of porpoises in front of me. They were an energetic bunch and occasionally one would almost leave the surface and crash into the sea again. There were only about a metre long.

As I reached Tangen the rain started. There were no beaches here so I continued south to the causeway out to the island of Mageroy. Luckily there was a bridge in this causeway. Sometimes there is not despite the map indicating there is and I have to detour out around the island. Just beyond this bridge was a small marina and about 5 houses, a farm, and many boatsheds on the south side of the island.

In the pouring rain I found a good camp spot, levered the 90 kg of kayak and baggage onto the pontoon and set up the tent. The kayak is a strong boat and one of the few fiberglass boats on the market where I could do this. Most would bend and crack along the hull. In my drysuit I was completely oblivious to the heavy rain. I managed to get everything inside and sorted out before taking the drysuit off and crawling in.

There were three seagull chicks on the jetty area outside. Their parents were perched on shed tops and posts around them and me. There were extremely noisy all night and had I known I would have camped elsewhere.

After supper I tried to write but it was already 2200 and I felt drowsy so packed it up and fell asleep.

It had been a very good day. It was certainly one of the best after leaving Helgelandskyst a fortnight ago.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 11:21 am 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.