Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

With the late night and the stiff shoulders I slept until 0830 and didn’t get up until 0900. It was glorious day and it was almost completely windstill. The weather was just as it was last night. It seemed a shame to have wasted such good conditions.

It was just a short day today as I had to go to Bugoynes to get the flares which were probably not there and also I needed time to write up a couple of days which would take much of the evening. So I intended to spend the night there.

After a relaxed breakfast on the beach I eventually packed the kayak and set off at 1130. Jon having left a few minutes earlier. It was a stunner of a day as far as the wind was concerned but it was overcast. There were some porpoises in the bay as I left

Once out of the bay I headed west past the headland and then over a short sound to Kjooya. It was set in the middle of a dark steep sided fjord. The bird life here was not as rich as I was perhaps a km or two from land.

After passing Kjooya I headed North West over some 8 km of open water. There was a very gentle swell behind me and a very slight breeze against me, so conditions were perfect. The makeshift footrest I made seemed to be working and gave me something to push against and stopped me slouching.

The 8 km seemed to take a long time to cover but it was just really an hour and a half. I suppose the distance seemed longer as the view never seemed to change and the mountains on the far side remained distant for so long. Eventually I approached the base of the cliffs and snow filled gullies on the west side. I then turned north for a km to enter the sheltered Bugoynes harbour protected from the easterlies by the Bugoya Island.

The harbour had a number of jetties and seemed to be a landing place for the larger boasts to land king crabs. There were at least two plants to process them. Otherwise the small town seemed very charming. I landed at the beach where Jon had already arrived. I then went to investigate my flares.

The first thing which struck me about Bugoynes was just how helpful and friendly everybody was. At the shop/post office/chemist the owner bent over backwards contacting everybody who might know the whereabouts of the flares. They had not arrived. I just told myself it was up to the firm in Kirkenes to sort it out. They would just have to get some to Vardo or beyond.

The shop owner offered us coffee and we took it. While sitting there everybody who came into the shop chatted. It seemed Bugoynes had a population of just 220 with a couple of shops, a secondary school and couple of crab businesses and a crab research station. It had a quaint church and some nice older houses. There was also some accommodation on the other side of the isthmus by a beach. It was a half km walk or one km paddle.

I later found out that this charming town was not burnt by the Germans. The commander of the garrison at the time had spared the town out in return for transport from fishing boats to evacuate his troops. He was jailed as a traitor in Germany for the last months of the war. He returned he as a tourist in the 60’s ad was warmly welcomed apparently, which was not the norm so soon after the warWe paddled round the small hammerhead peninsula to the west beach in extremely calm conditions. Across the large Varangerfjord on the other side was the town of Vadso under a snow covered plateau. It was tomorrow’s task to cross the 13 km of this fjord and I can only hope I have not squandered the calm weather.

The beach on the west side was idyllic. It was some 250 km of very light brown sand overlooked by a few houses and the same church as we saw from the other side. At the south end of this beach were 5 small cabins. Jon and I would take one for the night.

I set about the blog straight away but it took 5 hours to process the photos and write everything. It seems to be a never ending chore that is really getting a bit all consuming. I sometimes wonder if this is going to be a writing tour with a bit of kayaking in between. I hope not. I eventually finished way too late at midnight and then still had to have supper and a shower.

It had been an easy and interesting day. The paddle was very pleasant but what really took the prize was the jewel of the village of Bugoynes. It was a hidden treasure.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 10:46 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.