Sailing to the Norwegian Fjords

We had flat seas, rough seas, arctic mint coloured seas, whales in the sea, dolphins in the sea, lots of oil and gas rigs, wind farms, fulmars, auks, fishing boats, tankers, shallow seas and extremely deep fjords.  And a German submarine that we saw coming in from the sea the day we left – perhaps it had passed under us when up a fjord?

Norwegian Fjords

The trip up the North Sea to Norway allowed us some great sailing on the wind, albeit a bit lumpy at times, really showing us just how well a Challenger Yacht can sail upwind.  With each night came less and less darkness as we made progress up the North Sea.  This picture was taken on a windless night at 3am!

North Sea Night Sailing

Our first stop was Stavanger and as we pulled in early one morning, we the crew (made up of an Italian, a Canadian, a Pole, an Australian, a Spaniard, two Americans, an Irishman and the rest from England!) all felt a great sense of achievement and excitement to be there.  After a few hours’ sleep everyone was up, off and out to explore:  Museums, restaurants, vistas. Before all coming together for supper in a local restaurant.

Up Lysefjord on a boat

The next day saw us motoring up   Lysefjord.  Wow!  What spectacular scenery.  Huge towering cliffs on either side, waterfalls here and there, a scattering of Norwegian houses (with turf roofs) and farms where cliffs subsided to allow for pine woodland and grass to the shore. There were times when it felt all on board were stunned by the sheer magnitude and beauty that surrounded us.

We then spent a few days winding our way North to Bergen.  Snow-capped mountains in the distance, lots of low lying islands covered in pine trees and scattered with Norwegian summer houses, narrow winding passes, lots of laughter on board, a tree and rocky out crop with over 50 herons sat on it, sampling of local cheese and caviar on board, a couple of nights (but it never got really dark!) out (heavier for some than for others), more laughter on board, an early morning walk round a lake followed by another swim, a fantastic fish restaurant and then cosmopolitan Bergen with its UNESCO protected Hanseactic wharf area of narrow wooden streets and hiculdypickledy buildings, a fish market, a fisheries museum, a funicular railway to high up above Bergen, a wooden church, a maritime museum and the Coda Gallery showing Munch’s  work, another great restaurant and night out (again heavier for some than others!), plus a tour of the local wharf area.

Bergen

And then it was time to say goodbye to Bergen and Norway and head back down the North Sea which we did in good time but with little if any wind.  A lot of fun was had by all and most felt they’d  like to visit Norway again some day and again by boat.

Posted by: First Class Sailing