Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

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The possible paddle last night came to nothing as the wind increased to a force four from the north and this would have done nothing to dampen the huge waves. When I woke in the morning it was the same. The forecast said it would get worse as the day progressed. I had expected this and had already resigned myself to the day in Mehamn. I got up reasonably late and then went into town.

The wind was bitterly cold on the way in. I went to the small café and had a breakfast roll and coffee as a snow shower piled in from the north. This was quite a surprise for June 3rd. I could see why people are so reluctant to put away their insulated overalls and dig out the bikinis. A few people joked it was the National dress of Finnmark.

After some shopping I went for a walk down by the fish wharfs. There must have been about 50 boats which landed their catch in Mehamn. Many were local boats but some were from Lofoten or Vesteralen and followed the Spring Cod up here and will be returning soon. Again a lot of the fishing seems to be done with long lines with many hundreds of hooks on each line.

In the afternoon I did some computer work and then went to the library where I could immerse myself in some of the bird books. There were many of the wader type birds which I wanted to identify. As I returned to the youth hostel in the increasing wind I saw a Red Throated Diver and a Common Merganser swimming about in the harbour.

In the evening I thought I would try to eat stock fish. This is the cod which was drying on huge racks on the southern half of town. There must have been the equivalent of 2 football pitches which were dedicated to drying the cod the boats landed each day. Locally it is called Boknafisk. It was well cooked and beautifully presented but this did not hide the taste. I was hoping for the salted cod I had in Vardo instead I got something with an almost leathery texture and half rotten taste.

When I returned from the meal I found there were a couple of Ornithologists staying at the youth hostel. They were on their way to the Nature Reserve at Slettnes Fyr lighthouse to look for wading birds. They confirmed I was wrong with the birds on Day 137. They were a rare flock of Polar Snipe and not the Purple Sandpipers. I was also wrong with the birds on Day 138. They were Purple Sandpipers and not the Stints as written.

The weather forecast does not look too promising for tomorrow but it could be feasible. However, it looks like there is at last some more settled weather coming in 3 days for about 3 days which should see me round Nordkapp and into marginally more sheltered waters.

It had been a very social land based day. I had however already explored Mehamn and there was not much more to see.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 11:06 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.