Evolene - Nauticat 42

22/8/25 to 30/8/25 There's nothing quite like returning from travels to help you see your own country in glorious technicolour again.  We spent a lovely weekend settling back into life in Scotland.  After a relaxing Friday afternoon following our arrival in Wick and a delicious fresh seafood dinner from the 'Creel & Crumb' shack at the top of the pontoons, we headed out for a much needed leg stretch round the headland to the north of Wick.  The cows and sheep were grazing contentedly in the lush green fields alongside the paths, kestrels were hovering above the more rustic areas just in from the coastline.  Large chatterings of starlings were lining the telegraph lines, waiting no doubt to create their beautiful murmurations as sunset approached, and a couple of buzzards soared inland.  Despite never having been to Wick or the surrounding area before (except for a brief visit by Stuart a couple of decades ago), there was a beautiful familiarity of the unfami...

19/8/25 - 22/8/25 We're back in Scotland and what a passage!  Checking out from Kristiansund on Tuesday morning was very straightforward and within half an hour of returning from the police station we had slipped our lines and commenced our voyage, leaving the pontoon shortly before 11am. Kristiansund berth It was overcast and a bit damp but the weather forecast was holding firm and we were excited to be on the move again and content with our decision making.  In addition, I had a little bit of apprehension about what lay ahead - this was the longest sailing trip I had done to date and my enjoyment of offshore passages had been a bit variable thus far.  However, I was also incredibly confident in Evolene  and Stuart's planning and how the three of us all worked together.  Therefore, whilst I felt a bit ropey during the first day, as I settled into the journey it soon passed and we settled into a comfortable rhythm of life aboard for the next few days. Day 1 was ...

12/8/25 - 18/8/25 Our parts arrived!  It wasn't until Thursday mid-afternoon (14th) and whilst that felt like forever for a couple of sailors itching to get going, in reality it was only a couple of days later than expected. In the days prior we caught up with general boat admin.  Stuart enjoyed a couple of runs and a haircut!  I went for a fascinating walk round the east of the headland, passing an international autonomous boat skills tournament for students (I found the Scottish flag but not the team!), historic German WWII armaments, a cosy restaurant at the headland (Ladekaia) which I expect would be idyllic for watching the sunset and walked back through the city's pretty botanic gardens.  We also enjoyed elevenses at a super lovely cafe (Nabolaget) that was typically Scandivanian and effortlessly chic, and lost ourselves in the city's excellent second-hand bookshop (and picked up a few more novels at 80p a piece)! Elevenses! Wangsmo Antikvariat bookshop Talking...

6/8/25 - 12/8/25 Storms can bring sailors even closer together, both in location and in camaraderie, and as we sat out the Norwegian version of storm Floris, it was lovely getting to know our neighbours better.  There were various impromptu gatherings on the pontoon during the day, collectively inspecting lines and fenders, viewing each others' boats and hearing past stories and future plans.  The yacht across from us, Infinity, comprised a Brazilian crew enroute to The Netherlands.  Rafted alongside us were Australian-Chinese sailing sisters aboard their new Garcia Exploration 45, Mulan II , recently returned from Svalbard and heading to France for the winter before plans to complete the Northwest passage (across the top of Canada) next year.  And just ahead of Infinity  was  Bodyguard !  It was great to see Dennis and Arianne again and we would go onto spend another couple of super lovely evenings with them over the course of our stay in Trondhe...

28/7/25 - 6/8/25 Wow, what a week!  I had planned to update this blog after Lovund but weather required us to scamper south and put in a few longer days of sailing to reach Trondheim before the remnants of Storm Floris blew through. After saying goodbye to Rory, Katharine and Oscar the boat felt oddly empty!  We had become so used to living onboard as the five of us, it was suddenly back to just Stuart and me for company... just as well we had lined up drinks with fellow cruisers later in the evening!  We had crossed paths with Graham of Impaler  back in Orkney when he took some beautiful drone footage of our departure from our anchorage at Kirk Sound and then again in Lerwick, but as we headed north east out of Lerwick to  Å lesund he was going due east to Bergen.  Having gone our different ways and explored our various routes, this was to be his last night in Norway before heading to the Faroe Islands and it was great to be able to spend time with him and...