Day 216. Tansoy in Flora to Askvoll
Posted by: James on August 4, 2009Distance 20km | Time 5.5hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m
I got up at 0800 and was out of biscuits for breakfast so had a pack of chilli nuts. I started packing up the tent around 0900. A number of the sheep grazing in the pine forest nearby came down to investigate and hoped I had some biscuits or salt.
It was an exceptionally nice camp spot with a great view across the bay to the south side of Askrova from the beach on the west of side of the much smaller Tansoy. I set off at 1000 and paddled out of the bay between islands heading south. The islands here had a many copses of pine and spruce on them.
It was a beautiful still morning as I started to head across Stavfjord. It was the outer part of the long and deep Fordefjord which cut inland for some 50 km. As a consequence there was a bit of a tide flowing into the fjord which I noticed.
I was crossing a shipping lane where the occasional catamaran ferry went so I decided to cross it and head to the hamlet of Holevik on the peninsula opposite rather than the tip of the peninsula. About half way across the wind suddenly got up and it was soon a force four. I had to stop and put a jacket on as I was getting soaked in the spray. The last 4 km took well over an hour as I slowly pulled myself towards this hamlet.
There was nowhere to land when I got there so I had to paddle round the tip of the peninsula and then past another hamlet called Stavenes. There were a couple of islands here and just enough depth of water for the kayak to pass through the calm sheltered sunny sounds. I had lunch here before heading down the sound to Askvoll. The tide was definitely going out as I had lunch.
As I set off down the sound the wind returned and I had to put the jacket back on. Curiously I noticed that the tide was now against me heading north. There are so many local variations with the tides it is best to ignore them.
I paddled across Strongfjord with its steep sides and a green mantle along the shore where there were active farms. This fjord cut deep into the high mountain plateau surrounding it for a good 10 km. It was typical green summer fjord landscape and looked off a postcard.
After crossing Strongfjord I was back in the sound between the mainland and the island of Atloy. The wind and current were still against me and when I relaxed and leaned back and paddled less vigourously I was down to about 3 km per hour in the force four against me. When I noticed I sat up and paddled hard for a few minutes but I was soon slouching again.
Eventually I got to the bottom of the sound and headed east to the quiet peaceful town of Askvoll. I needed to stop here to buy the supplies to Bergen. There was someone standing on the jetty so I asked him where the shop was. He spoke perfect Norwegian but was British.
We started chatting. He was an outdoor instructor called Rich Lennox and lived in Bergen 2 weeks and then worked here as the ambulance boat driver for 2 weeks. He had paddled much of Norway’s coast. We chatted for a good half hour at the jetty before I landed the boat to go and shop.
Richard lived beside the jetty so I went for a tea. An hour later I decided that stay in Askvoll and sleep on his balcony overlooking the water. I went to the shop and had a look round the town. It seemed an old traditional town which was quite a sleepy holiday place in the summer.
After shopping I went to have a look round the ambulance boat. There were two of them which served the outlying islands where some 500 people lived. The council paid nearly half a million pounds a year to have these two boats on standby with a crew of two always on call. Each boat had 1600 horse power engines and could even operate in force eleven gales.
In the evening Richard cooked supper while I wrote the blog and then we chatted more. He knew the coast between here and Bergen and beyond to Bomlo like the back of his hand and gave me a lot of good tips about the more scenic and interesting ways to go.
It had been a short day and the headwind disappeared in the late afternoon so I had squandered a good three hours paddling. However it was good to meet Richard hear about his previous outdoor work in Scotland and Bergen and his present job hurtling around the islands here in all weathers at 40 knots.