Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 36km | Time 8hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m

I got up very early at 0400 and packed up the kayak in the still morning. I had never noticed midges, or knot, before in Norway but they were out in force this morning rising from the grass. They were nothing in comparison to the numbers found in Scotland but irritating none the less.

As I packed the kayak an otter shuffled along the beach just in front of me. Its gait seemed awkward on land compared to the grace otter’s display in the water. It had gone before I got to the camera.

I pushed off at 0600 and had only taken a few strokes when I noticed a sea eagle just 100 yards away. It had seen me and was unusually confident. Normally they fly off at once. This one flew off but just to another skerry on the other side some 100 yards away also. I watched it, and it watched me, for a good 10 minutes.

Initially I had to cross the fjord to the west end of Meloy island. It was called a fjord on the map, but it was not the classic strip of water between steep sided mountains but rather an open basin studded with many flat rocky islands and islets. One of the clusters of islands was Gasvaer and it had a house on it. These archipelagoes were a paradise for ducks and there were many rafts of a few mothers looking after a collective batch of small ducklings.

I passed Meloy and continued to the west end of the island south of it which was Amoya. Again there were masses of small islands. These islands were rockier and more ice scraped than I had imagined. There were also numerous bays with white beaches and tall green grass growing in the sand above the high tide mark. I had lunch on one of them as the tide came in and a curlew circled above sounding a wide variety of calls with its long curved beak.

To the east of these flattish archipelagos was the dramatic mainland with its steep mountains rising up from the more classic fjords. In most places these mountains rose very steeply for some 1000 metres.

South of Amoya I looked towards the mainland and noticed a vast glacier, more of an icecap really with glaciers descending from this smooth white dome. This was Svartisen on of the largest icecaps in Norway. Some of the glaciers descending from this ice cap nearly reached the sea at the end of the fjords, and 250 years ago during the mini ice age probably did.

I paddled over to the next peninsula southwards and then crossed over the open Rodoyfjord to Rodoy island. There was a slight tide against me and a small wind from the side so I made slow time in crossing over to Rosoya on the north east tip of Rodoy.

There were a few quiet channels between Rosoya and Rodoy with many rocky shorelines but also the occasional beach. This continued all the way down the east side of Rodoy until I got to the village at the south end of the island.

There was a large beach here with great camping above it. It also looked quite central so I made for it. The beach was called Prestegardsfjaere. Around the beach the grass was cut and there were some large mature deciduous trees. Among the trees was a large, traditional, old white house which must have been the priests once. There were already a couple of ladies camping on this beach.

I landed at 1400 and had the tent up soon afterwards. I then went for a walk around the village. There were 180 people who lived on the island, mostly in the village. There was also a shop and a small café/pub. In addition to this some 2 km out of the village was a beautiful old farm building converted to a guest house called Klokkegarden. There was a band playing here practicing for a festival soon on a neighboring island of Traena.

Rodoy had a very relaxed, artistic rural vibe to it. The few holiday makers who came here would come to relax and think rather than seek excitement.

In the evening on the way back to the tent I stopped and had a look in the church. It was being repaired. The interior was light and simple. It was very large and had seating for perhaps 500. There were two enormous wood ovens which might just heat the place in winter. The church must have been at the heart of the community once but no longer now.

It had been a good day and it was nice to arrive at Rodoy which was more what I expected Helgelandskysten to be like, lush, relaxed and quirky.

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