Change of Crew

Norway is an incredibly wealthy country on the back of North Sea oil and gas, first discovered in the ‘60’s. Very sensibly they are spending their liquid gold on their infrastructure. The roads, myriad bridges and communications systems are impressive indeed. There are hundreds of islands off this small part of coast alone with any island within bridging distance of another being connected by road, often serving as few as a dozen houses. Every home has electricity cables regardless of how remote. It can’t make economic sense but it keeps the islands alive if you can afford it, and afford it they can. We spent a couple of nights in a small harbour on one of the outlying islands flanked by 2 huge 60’ motor yachts and a small(!) 40 footer, only in Norway (and perhaps Nice) could Moondance be eclipsed by other craft in a small harbour, there is some serious money here!

The cost of living here I reckon is about double the UK. A litre of milk is £3 and a loaf of fresh bread £4 – not a cheap place to hang out! Minimum wage is also double. How they compete internationally I do not know.

Tourism seems to be of little interest to the Norwegians despite what they have to offer. Tourist information is scant and little effort is made to encourage visitors; I can only guess that they are well enough off from oil not to need it. I have seen no commercial fishing or agriculture (the mountainous terrain is not very conducive any way); I can’t really figure what these people do except enjoy themselves in their thousands of holiday homes dotted all around the coast line, not a bad life!

They are a funny lot these Norweigans. They are friendly enough when you engage them but they seem to keep themselves to themselves; they very rarely exchange greetings when they pass you. Extraordinarily there are almost no sailing boats here despite the mass of inlets, islands and lovely boating opportunities; it is all power boats. They worry about cycling through poorly lit tunnels and advise against going up to the tops because there is snow around. I think the Vikings would be ashamed of this lot!

On Saturday Mike set off home whist in the opposite direction on the train from Oslo  came Gordon, my Canadian friend who I did the Himalayas with.

I spent the day servicing the engine and doing domestics, cleaning and doing the washing – by hand as all Norweigans seem to have their own washing machines thus having no need for a laundrette and leaving humble yachties to get out the bucket. Domesticated man, female porn I am told?!

A somewhat jet lagged Gordon appeared on deck to another sunny day on Sunday having arrived at 1am after missing a connection. We headed south, bound ultimately for Oslo, where we would end the first half of this years trip.     P..41

60 miles and no mackerel later (where are they all, are we to starve??!) we pulled in at the mouth of Lyse Fjord, one of the most famous of Norways fjords close to the ferry port of Stavanger.

 

 

A stunning place indeed and the sun continues to shine.