Heading South to Bergen

Sogne fjord is the most northern part of my sailing adventure; today we started to  head south. I think I can hear Melanie cheering from here?! Mind you, with the weather we are having here, who needs the med?!

We are now in amongst the many hundreds of islands strung out down the whole coast of Norway.

From one anchorage we went for a bike ride down the full length of the island to get a taste of the beauty a little inland; we were not disappointed. Rolling hills, fir trees, sparkling crystal clear lakes dotted with wooden chalets; many Norwegians have holiday homes in this area.

There was a pleasant gentle breeze when we got back to the boat so we set off again to do little more than drift south amongst these beautiful islands. We sailed down channels between islands from 1 mile wide to as little as 50 meters wide, a little tight!

We caught a whacking great Pollock trawling behind the boat. I hoped he might get close to Waddy’s Irish cod but sadly my tackle broke as I tried to haul him in over the back of the boat, he must have been huge!

We spent the afternoon wandering round these lovely old buildings at the old wharf, some of which made us feel somewhat drunk just looking at them with the funny angles caused by foundation sinkage over the years.

Bergen has a very interesting history. It was the capital city for hundreds of years. The king decreed that all trade (mostly dried cod caught in the north) traded internationally must go through Bergen. The Hensietcke League who were a huge German trading cartel throughout Europe in the middle ages moved in and pretty much took over the wharf area for 400 years. It was they who built and ran the wharf.