Meandering south

We humans are funny creatures. When I am in a challenging place, like cruising in Patagonia or South Georgia, I long to be somewhere where the cruising is easy. Well, this area of Norway is definitely that and I find myself longing for a little bit of adventure, an adrenalin rush. We motor (no wind or on the nose) from one stunning anchorage to another, drop the anchor and have a good walk. Our last anchorage had the highest seacliffs in Europe as the backdrop. There was the option of climbing that but luckily it was a grey, wet day when we motored past. With my fear of heights that would have given me more of a rush than I'll ever need. Phil was disappointed to miss out on the climb though. Only last week a woman fell to her death up there.

He did get up Mt Saksa which is about 1000m above sea level for a stunning view of the fiord we were anchored at the head of.

While we were tied up to a public dock at the island of Veoeya Phil was able to fix the anchor windlass which needed the brushes in the motor replaced. Luckily he carried spares as we anchor in most places. It has done a lot of work over the past few years and it would have been hard work pulling up our heavy chain by hand, not really an option. This island used to have a large Viking village at one stage but now just has a church, homestead and a few outbuildings.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Somewhere along the way this mess  got wrapped around the prop so Phil had to drag out his old wetsuit and dive down to cut it off. Took a while and the water wasn't exactly tropical but a hot shower soon had him warmed up again.

Bridges and ferries connect a lot of the islands so when we are planning our route we need to check the bridge heights carefully. We did sqeak under a 17m one at low tide leaving the town of Alesund but wouldn't make a habit of it. Our mast is about 17.5m so we go for the 18m + bridges.

While we had a few hours in Alesund a cruise ship with loads of Aussies onboard was in. We really enjoyed chatting to people from our side of the world. People here are quite reserved. At first we thought it was the language but it just seems to be how they are. We have met some lovely people here so it's not a complaint.

Just lately we have been visiting anchorages that are not in the two cruising guides that we use and that has been a good move. People get such a surprise when we drop anchor in their tiny harbours and it is easier to get talking with them.

Autumn has definitely set in and the leaves are turning along with the weather. We seem to be getting a lot of grey days and plenty of rain as we slowly meander south to Bergen. It will soon be time to start lighting the heater and adding another layer of clothing. At least we now have some darkness at night so falling asleep at a reasonable hour is no longer a problem!