Evolene - Nauticat 42

The next travel blog update will cover reaching our northernmost point for these travels, which will either be   Stø or Andenes in  Vesterålen , weather dependent, but I thought I'd take this opportunity to describe what a 'typical' day for of us aboard entails.  I say 'typical' - each day is so incredibly varied - but I'm hoping the following gives you a flavour as to what we get up to in more detail! Usually we will start to stir about 7ish.  Despite the midnight sun up here in the Arctic circle, we are largely managing to maintain our sleep routines and, I think, are settling more to the temperature changes that comes with the sun lowering towards the end of the evening and strengthening once more in the morning.  Whilst we have small windows in our aft cabin and (handmade!) curtains to draw if needed, we rarely do - only if beside a pontoon with passing human traffic or rafted to another boat. We then take it in turns to make 'first tea' and then ...

21/6/25 to 26/6/25 Whilst midsummer's day in Norway is the 24th June (St Hans-dag), many of the celebrations take place on the closest Saturday, which this year was the 21st.  A few weeks previously we had seen a massive bonfire being constructed on our way into  Ålesund.  It turns out this one is famous for being one of the tallest in the world and is built entirely by hand by local youngsters (for more details see  Visit Norway - Ålesund bonfire ). The celebrations in Reine were rather more mooted but there was a very pleasant buzz in the village and the local bistro had a country and western band playing in their beer garden.  We were joined by a friend whom we had met a couple of nights previously and enjoyed pre-dinner drinks aboard his boat, Gogarth , dinner on ours, then a wander around the village soaking in the evening sun and ambience, before returning to Evolene  for whisky and cards!  We managed to watch the sun travel across the horizon un...

17/6/25 to 21/6/25 The morning of the 17th June was wet in Sels ø yvik!  The rain had persisted all night but was due to ease after lunch temporarily so we spent the morning catching up on boat jobs and food prep.  Then, about 1230, as predicted, the rain started to ease and we took our opportunity to make a dash for it. At this point, Evolene , was fairly boxed in.  She was the furthest boat along the pontoon next to the main walkway (starboard side to), with a boat behind her and a row of boats on the next pontoon to her port side.  The gap in between the two rows of boats was the width of Evolene  plus approximately a metre either side i.e. not much!  Also, it is difficult to steer when going backwards until we get some speed up. As we were preparing Evolene for departure our neighbours behind were walking past and asked when we were planning on departing.  When we told them we were aiming to go shortly, they looked somewhat apprehensive despite our...

16/06/25 As the forecasted, we woke to the sound of rain pitter-pattering on the cockpit floor above us.  It was grey outside but the visibility was good and we anticipated reasonable wind for the day and so it was time to put on our waterproofs and get going! We cast our lines and slipped out of the marina, with our course mapped northwards.  The wind was fickle at times, impacted by the topography of the land around us - stronger when passing the fjord openings, weaker where we needing to weave between skerries - and whilst it was a bit like playing hokey-cokey with the sail configuration, it certainly made the time pass quickly and further honed my skills with sail trimming.  A particular success was when the genoa (foresail) needed to be unfurled once more and the skipper was quite content to leave me to it to do it single-handedly whilst he finished required boat admin work! The rain continued but our spirits were high - we were rapidly approaching the arctic circle....

13/6/25 to 15/6/25 The area that we currently in is reported to be a favourite for Norwegian sailors, even more so than the Lofoten Islands, and it is easy to see why.  Whilst the current overcast conditions hide the full extent of its beauty we have enjoyed a superb couple of days exploring as we wind further north, weaving in and out of the skerries (this time under sail!) to Vega and having a blast of a downwind sail to Nesna. Sailing through skerries There is an incredible scope and variety of places to spend the night.  Several friends had very kindly provided us with lists of anchorages and places to berth but, now that we're out here, we can see that the options are practically infinite!   By and large we prefer to anchor.  It costs nothing, the boat will swing so that it always has the bow to the wind (providing shelter to the cockpit area), our batteries are well set up so that we will invariably have sufficient power to boil the kettle and cook with, w...

10/6/25 - 12/6/25 Rørvik is an incredibly well provisioned port, that provides excellent facilities for sailors as a pit-stop on their way north.  It is the largest port facility in central Norway and can cater for the smallest to the largest of sea-going vessels. Whilst the population of  Rørvik  is only just over 3,700, it has several large and well-stocked super markets, all within a mile from the marina.  In addition, the facilities at the marina are excellent and we enjoyed our best showers of the journey yet!  (Judging categories: temperature - perfect, stream - strong, cleanliness - immaculate, modernity - very, space to put stuff - ledges, hooks, ample room in the shower, and lastly cost - less than £2 for unlimited hot water.  All in all - utter luxury!!) Rørvik marina, Evolene  on the left We stayed overnight and long enough to do the usual turnaround in boat prep and take a lovely evening wander ashore, marvelling at the black-legged kittiwa...

06/06/25 to 10/06/25 Was a six-hour round trip to Trondheim a worthwhile detour?!  Absolutely!  We could have spent days wandering around this super-cool city.   It helped that we were bathed in glorious sunshine on the Friday evening after our arrival and the city centre quayside was buzzing with locals and tourists alike, making the most of the long summer evening.  Even the visiting cruise ship looked comfortable in its surroundings and added appropriately to the summer vibe. Trendy Trondheim We smartened ourselves up and headed out for dinner, exploring the pretty and meticulously kept city centre, and settling on a local restaurant, 'Jovial'.  Mindful of our budget, we purposely were not going 'fancy' and both ordered burger and chips, and quite quickly agreed that they were one of the best burgers and chips we had ever eaten out.  It transpires that Trondheim's culinary reputation is well founded! Following dinner we ambled along beautiful, tree-...

2/6/25 - 6/6/25 It was time to get going once again!   Fuelled by bacon rolls and having said a temporary goodbye to our friends on Polaris, it was time to top up Evolene's fuel stores and head north.  We motored round to the south side of  Ålesund to a fuel pontoon that had been recommended.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, refuelling a boat is remarkably similar to refuelling a car, save for the location of the pumps!  We berthed alongside, purchased diesel additive from the small shop at the top of the pontoon, fed the fuel pump with our credit card details to let the pump, in turn, feed the boat.  To this point we had used 420 litres of fuel equating approximately to about 4.5L an hour (or about 6mpg when motoring). Sucking diesel Refuelling complete, we set off into cold and showery conditions but a very decent wind.  We had no fixed destination to start with (other than north!) and with hugely enjoyable sailing conditions and next to no wind forecas...