Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 39km | Time 9hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m

I slept well again and got up at 0700. After breakfast I tidied up the apartment and was ready to start packing at 0900. I said good bye to the very nice apartment and shop owner and eventually cast off at 1000.

There was a slight wind against me as I paddled across the overcast bay and crossed Bergsfjord to the channel between the low green Maroya island in the south and the rugged Silda island in the north. There was a small rocky islet here with a lot of terns nesting on it. I went to take a photo but the memory card was still in the laptop. I stopped on the islet and unpacked the laptop to get the card. While on the island I went up to look at the nests of the tern colony. The nests were close together and just a simple scratch in the grass. There were either one or two small speckled dark green eggs per nest. As yet nothing had hatched. I left before I caused the birds to be away too long and the eggs cooled down.

The tide should have been with me but I did not notice it. I did notice the force three wind however which was directly against me and kept me pinned at about 4 km per hour. The whole way across Sondre Bergsfjord was a slow pull into the wind as I headed for the hamlet of Bogen. On my east the remote west side of Silda slowly unfolded. Once I reach Bogen I had lunch. It was a slow morning with just 10 km in two and a half hours.

After lunch it was time to leave the shelter of the fjord and head out into the ocean again, namely Lopphavet. I carried on up the coast of the fjord passing a few salmon net traps and then rode a current out of the fjord and into the Lopphavet. The swell was back and was about two and a half metres. Where the current was rushing out of the fjord the swell was steep and breaking. I avoided that area.

Once in the ocean again the kayak started jumping about on the large clapotis caused by the rebounding waves and the current. As I looked down the coast here I could see there was little shelter and the next three hours were going to be bumpy. There was nowhere really to land so I hoped the wind stayed at the force four it now was. I could not really take my hands off the paddle to photograph or even dig out and put on my sun glasses.

Across an open strait to the north was the island of Loppa. It had about 15 houses on it but I am not sure if it is inhabited all year. The north of the island looked wild and remote yet the south where the village was situated was green grass which looked grazed. In front of this green grass was an absolutely stunning and large beach which extended for at least half of the south side of the island.

I slowly pulled myself down the bouncy coast with the force four still against me until I got to Frakkfjord. I had to cross 5 km of large swell to reach the other side. However although the swell was bigger it did not have the unpredictability of the clapotis. There were a few hamlets in this fjord with two of them being connected by a short road which only connected these two hamlets. There were a lot of isolated roads on these peninsulas and islands, where the only way to get to them is by boat.

I considered stopping here as the forecast for the next days is good with a wind at my back also but it was too early. It did not look like there was anything nasty coming in so I left the sheltered bay in the fjord again and ploughed into the swell and wind for another session. This part of the coast was very dramatic but I could not really take my hands of the paddle to get the camera out. It was also very wet with plenty of spray being blown of the clapotis and off the kayaks’ bow.

For two hours I paddled along this bouncy coast passing the aptly named Trollvika bay with it towers of rock at the entrance. It would have been possible to land here in an emergency. At the end of this stretch was another bay with a few houses and some meadows around it. This hamlet was called Andsnes. It was calm in the bay and I could have stopped here but there was just one more headland to round to reach Segelvik in an hour’s time.

This headland was relatively calm compared to the previous sections each side of Frakkfjord and there was also an island called Brynilen which protected me for the second half of this headland. As I passed the island a great view of tomorrows’ journey appeared with the long open crossing of Kvaenangen fjord to the very high alpine islands on the other side. These islands had steep snow covered mountains rising straight out of the sea to nearly 1200 metres.

As I paddled round this final headland Segelvik appeared. It was small community of some 20 houses and 7-8 fishing boats and a short section of isolated road. There was a nice beach and a small harbour behind the breakwater. I paddled to the harbour where there was a fisherman repairing his salmon trap nets.

I chatted with the fisherman and asked about somewhere to stay. He pointed to the wharf and said there was a loft above the processing works. I went to have a look it was perfect. Returning to thank him I unloaded the boat and carried my stuff up. Within half an hour I was showered with a cloths wash on.

I wrote the blog before supper but it was difficult to concentrate as the lurching and surging swell and clapotis had left its legacy and I felt I was still in the kayak. By the time I had finished the wind outside had dropped off to a force two and it had swung round to the north east as predicted. The sun was also out and the crossing tomorrow looked promising.

I had supper at 2230 and then crashed out soon after. I things were in my favour tomorrow I would have an early start and make the crossing in the morning. If the wind was favorable I would see what the afternoon could offer.

It had been a hard day but I had persevered and slowly but surely reached my goal. That was satisfying in itself. I was also very lucky with the continued hospitality along the coast of Finnmark. People here are very kind.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 11:23 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.