Sally is now in her winter mooring since late September.

Our sailing season came to an end already in mid-August when Hakan got “grounded”. His left shoulder had been troubling him during the season and after a fall (that should have been easy), the worn-out tendons were not fit for sailing any more. We motored from our home port on a calm day, Hakan steering by one hand only and Eva doing the work, to secure Sally for the winter in Fiskebäckskil.

Hakan had an operation in October and got three new tendon attachments in his left shoulder. He still has another five months of rehabilitation but should be fit for sailing in the spring.

We stayed in the water two years ago and had some nice sailing. This winter may not be so much sailing, but we hope to be able to spend some time on the boat already in January.

We had a long and very nice summers days sailing most of the way to “The Paradise Bay” (Paradisbukta på Håøya) east of Langesund. We sailed many nice channels including the “Old Woman Fairway” (Kärringleia) NE of Langesund.

We have visited several times before and the pictures are form 20214 and 2016 respectively.

The next day was very calm, and we motored to Tallakshavn, another favourite from earlier trips, where we anchored and enjoyed a swim in tempered waterr. Next day gave us nice sailing conditions. We sailed most of the day, often maintaining reasonable speed thanks to our Code 0. We made a pit stop, to by some Norwegian specialities in the shop in the sound N of Tjome (Tjøme), before crossing the outer Oslo fjord to the Hvaler islands.

We found a new nice anchorage in Holtekilen for the night before continuing to Sweden and Stromstad (Strömstad) yesterday.

This concluded our long trip this year. Eva was picked up by her son with family and is now “grandma” for a few days before the go back to northern Sweden where they live.

We have sailed for 110 days and covered 2 860 nm since we left Sweden in late April. We have seen a lot of interesting places we did not know exited and have made new friends. We may not be so active on the blog now, as we only plan shorter trips in home waters. If you are curious about our coast, you may check out of blogs for Nov 2022 and Dec 2023

After Eva left, Hakan continued a bit south in the afternoon. A quick and nice close reach in 15-18 knots wind down to a protected anchorage (Alevikkilen inside Havstenssund) to hide from the expected days of heavy rain and strong winds.

We motored most of the way to Tvedestrand in Oksefjorden yesterday in light headwinds. Tacked for a while when the waters opened up before Arendal to rest our ears from the engine noise but the going was to slow. The prevailing current (0.5 to 1 knot inshore) is against us going up the coast as we are now.

Tvedestrand was a new experience for us. It lies a bit of the main fairway but is well worth a detour. It used to be a centre for the sailing traders of the old days. Now it is a sleepy summer town. It is one of the best preserved, and very typical, towns on the coast.

We stayed an extra day (again) and took the opportunity to do laundry (included in harbour fee) in the excellent new facilities. The scoops of ice cream was among the largest we ever have had.

We had an uneventful crossing. 325 nm, 60 hours with only 8 hours sailing. We had been looking for a weather window with not too much wind and swell.

We got two out of three as the swell was not too bad and the wind direction was alright, but the wind was seldom strong enough for reasonable speed. Not even with the Code 0 that we had put up before leaving Kirkwall. We found ourselves motor-sailing most of the way.

This route took us past many oil/gas platforms over a stretch of more than 100 nm. They lay far apart, and it is not difficult to pass between them even if the chart looks full of obstacle. Most of what you see on the charts are underwater installations that you can sail over. Our experience is that only objects with lights on them (shown on the chart) needs to be given due clearance, we go for 2 nm to be on the safe side.

It was interesting to approach the Norwegian coast with its high mountains at an angle. We sighted land already six in the morning but did not pass by “the corner” by Lindesnes light house until almost eight in the evening. The weather was very calm, and we could go quite close to the rocks.

We were also lucky enough to get one of the few spots suitable for larger sailboats in the small harbour of Lillehavn.

For once, we had a day without headwinds, in fact a day almost without wind. And no rain! We motored all day covering the almost 60 nm from Fair Isle to Kirkwall and managed to catch the tide to have a nice following tide the second half of the trip.

Kirkwall is the main town in the Orkneys and here you will find the cathedral for Orkney and Zetland (the old spelling of Shetland).

Orkney also have busses and we were able to by day tickets allowing us to hop on and off the local busses. Lucky for them (but not so good for us) they also have cruse ships visiting. One of days, we saw the island “invaded” by 6 000 tourists from two big ships.

Our first excursion was to a village older than the pyramids. Skara Brae dates to at least 3 100 BC. It is a small village with 8 houses. They had laid buried under the sand for millennia until uncovered by a severe storm in 1850.

It is Europe’s most complete neolithic village and an UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has been called the ”Scottish Pompeii” because of its excellent preservation, including stone furniture.

The old “Lairs house” of the land where Skara Brae lies is also open to public. In was interesting to visit and reminded us of the Agata Chrisie and other films from mid last century Great Britan.

The second excursion was designed to avoid the “Cruised crowd”. We started by going south to St Margarets Hope. A small village on the SE side of Scapa flow.

Here, King Haakon IV of Norway anchored his fleet, including the flagship Kroussden that could carry nearly 300 men, on 5 August 1263, where he saw an eclipse of the sun before he sailed south to the Battle of Largs.

We did not see any Norsmen during our 4 km walk in the nice countryside.

Coffee in an 17^th century shop before entering the buss again to go back past Kirkwall and then westwards to the late neolithic/early bronze age “Ring of Brodgar”, a most impressive ring of standing stones. Its age is not known, but there is a ditch (4 m deep and 10 m wide) surrounding the stones that was cut from the bedrock around 2 600 to 2 400 BC.

Originally, there may have been up to 60 stones. Today, there are 31, from seven different locations, 21 stones are standing but, 13 of them was re-erected in 1906. The purpose of the ring is unknown, no evidence of activity has been found within the ring.

The next bus took us to Stromness in the west for a walk in the old town and a beer (or two) before heading back to Kirkwall and Sally.

We took the bikes the next day and cycled over the hill to Scapa Bay. A wrong turn took us down to the beach from where we could see our destination, Scapa distillery.

We were the only ones on our tour and had a very nice private guide in Kalle (his parents had seen some cross-country skiing and got inspired by a Swedish skier). Interesting to see how this high profile (read dear (=expensive in Scottish)) whiskey is made.

We had a Tasting of three quite different whiskeys in the most impressive tasting room we have been to. The Scapa whiskeys are not peated as most other Scotch whiskeys and have a smote, round and, full body. We settled on buying an 11-year-old that we liked very much.

From there, we went to the Highland Park shop in town (the distillery is closed for renovation). As they did not want to give us a chance to taste without paying for a full tasting tour, we left without buying anything.

Today has been a day of provisioning and preparing ourselves and Sally for the two nights crossing back to Norway.

We have had water temperatures between 10 and 13 degrees all summer and often chilly winds. The long johns are automatically put on in the morning every day we go sailing. The caps are in the cockpit and are frequently used. The day we left Scalloway was no exception.

Another day, with confused seas took us to Fair Isle. The small island between Shetland and Orkneys. We had wind on the nose. It was strong enough, and westerly enough, to allow us to sail about half the way down.

The harbour in Fair Isle is small and there is a dock (no pontoons) with room for two boats where you can tie up. A slight swell came into the harbour even if the evening was calm. The island has 12 permanent inhabitants but thousands of birds.

We walked up the hill east of the harbour after dinner and sat there watching the puffins come home for the night. The were surprisingly unafraid of us and appeared to be just as curious about us as we about them.

One can take the bus to Scalloway. It is a short ride across from Lerwick. Several other sailors we met suggested this. But no, we wanted to sail there. It was 44 nm and took us eight hours. There were occasions during the day when we understood why so many of our fellow sailors opt for the bus. But once here, we did not regret going.

It was a nice enough day when we left Lerwick, no rain or fog in the morning. We set sails just outside the harbour and sailed hard on the wind, with a few shot tacks, south along the coast. For a while, we sailed in company with an English boat motoring at the same speed.

Our second tack was inshore to pass between the “mainland” and Mousa island. Partly because we expected the sea to be calmer there, but mostly to see the Mousa Broch. The 14 m high broch is believed to be almost intact and is still a prominent and impressive structure (well-marked on the chart). It turned out that not only the sea, but also the wind was lighter, and we saw the other boat well ahead of us as we left the sound.

The wind died down when we approached the southern tip of the island, so we motored. Rounding at Sumburgh Head was the first time we understood why the bus might have been a good option. We had 2-3 knots tide going out way and meeting wind and swell. This creates an “interesting” sea state that could be downright dangerous in stronger winds.

For us it was acceptable and as we were doing 7-8 knots, it did not last very long. We also had to pass Fitfull Head before we could turn north. By then the wind was back and we made good speed under sail. The head is a sheer cliff and the water outside it is quite shallow. The effect is a very confused sea. Another occasion to consider the buss but only for the half hour it took to pass the worst part.

We were surprised by the strong tide along the west coast. Good for us, as we had two knots helping us along on the nice sail up to Scalloway. And spirits were boasted by sunshine in the cockpit! The strong tides will guide our planning as we head south again, and it looks like we will have to make an early start.

Scalloway is the old capital of Shetland. It was the centre during the Viking days and they had there court (Ting) in the fertile valley behind the town. The castle still stands and today the town has a little more than a thousand inhabitants. It played a central role in the so-called Shetland Buss during the war. A few hundred Norwegian fishermen played, with their boats, an important role in transporting material and people between Norway and GB.

Nice and quiet and we think we are the only non-Shetland boat here. The two other boats on the pontoon by the boat club are from Lerwick. We also have a friendly seal visiting by the dock from time to time. The advantage of being in a place with few visiting yachts is that you get a chance to talk to local people. They come to the boat or approach you in the bar. We have felt most welcome and have had many interesting conversations, even if their dialect is hard to understand sometimes.

We have stayed for three days now. The first day was a day for rest and laundry. The machines in the clubhouse had a meter to be fed with coins. There was a £2.5 credit when we started. To be on the safe side, we put in a one-pound coin. It turned out that our three runs with laundry and two full dryers consumed les than the pound we added. Luckily, there were not so many others using the machined so we could do more  laundry yesterday and today on some of the remaining credit.

Yesterday we cycled around the bay and a bit down West Burra. Picnic on a nice beach and then a tour by Hamnawoe, a very protected bay filled with rubble from decades of activities and thus unsuitable for anchoring. It has a marina but only for local boats. It looked like cycling country with hills below 25 m, but there were many of them and we got quite exhausted, having climbed a total of over 200 m, before we were back onboard.

The boating club, where we stay, had an angling competition in the evening. They also opened the bar for the weekend, beer at reasonable prize and close to the boat. Lots of people and lots of mackerel.

Some of the fish got thrown back in the water after everyone that wanted to, was able to take some. We got a nice dinner today on fried mackerel.

Today, we walked to the lighthouse and said hello to sheep and ponies grazing on the hillsides. We also had a last cappuccino at cafe in town.

We have spent some days in Lerwick now and the plan was to sail today to a nice anchorage just a few miles down the coast. However, the forecast this morning was for fog and later rain. Not the best weather to be at anchor so we will stay another day.

We left Maloy and Norway early Thursday. The weather was not inspiring with low clouds mist and rain and no wind, but we know that it would improve later in the day. What we did not know was that the forecasted moderate swell would be so irregular, short and generally confused giving us a rather unpleasant journey for the first 24 hours. We had an explanation for the sea state from a Begen sailor. The Norwegian current runs up the coast and meats the swell from the north making the swell short and irregular.

The skies lifted and a moderate northerly breeze picked up. It was enough to give some air in the sails, but the swell rocked most of it out, so we kept on motoring. We could not turn of the motor until five hours out when the wind was steady above 13 knots giving enough pressure to keep the sails full all the time.

The wind increased further, and we soon found ourselves with a reefed mainsail doing seven knots on an open reach in winds at 20 knots (10 m/s) and some. This wind lasted until early the following morning, and we were making good headway towards Shetland. When we headed up a little between the oil riggs, we even had to take a reef in the genoa to make the sailing a little less uncomfortable.

The wind became moderate in the early morning and the swell more even already after the oil fields. We found ourselves motoring again over a calm sea after breakfast and arrived in Lerwick half past two (15:30 Norwegiantime) after 215 nm and 34 hours.

Lerwick is a nice little town and a refreshing change from Norway. Don’t misunderstand us, we loved Norway but after nearly three months and retracing our outward journey the last weeks, we needed something different. We had out first pint of beer after clearing customs (by internet in advance and confirmation by phone) and fish and ships for dinner, and a long night sleep..

The nice girls in the tourist office, whom we have visited several times for information, recommended several trips around the island by the local busses. We had planned to rent a car, but this proved unnecessary. The first trip was up the hill to near the local brewery. For £1.2, we got within 10 minutes from the brewery.

Lerwick brewery is open for visitor, guided tours or just tasting. We selected to taste all their different beers and were lucky to be the only visitors at the time. We got to talk with the brewer, a guy from California who had married a local girl, and he gave us lots of information on the products but also places to see and sail to.

On his advice, we walked instead of taking the bus back. There was nothing wrong with the directions, but we took a higher route from the hill we had to pass as we taught it would take us to where we wanted but with better views. That was not to be, and we found ourselves walking further and further from our rout. We walked a considerable detour and, in the end, jumped some fences to sneak through a private garden to get back in the right direction.

We finally arrived at Clickimin Broch, a stone structure probably built between 2 400 and 2 100 B.C. The broches are only found in Northen Scotland and on the islands. The structures were much higher in it’s time. Scholars debate whether they were prestigious houses or local strongholds.

We took the buss south the following day. A one hour ride took us to the southernmost part of Shetland. Here, there is a large, white beach. It looks inviting but the water is less than 12 degrees., so no swimming for us.

The hotel served lunch and after lunch we saw Jarlshof. This site is very interesting. Here one will find historic remains from different times side by side. The earlies dates back 4 500 years. Here were bronze age houses of different ages, a broach, several Viking houses, a 13:th century farm and, the tallest ruin, a 16:th century laird’s house.

A 2 km costal path leads from Jarlshof to the lighthouse on Sumburgh Head.

The head has a large colony of birds, and we were finally able to see the puffins close by. We have seen them flying and fishing but never close enough to the boat to get a good look.

The light house had a nice cafe with good coffee and splendid views to revive us before walking back to the bus stop. We were early so we had time for a quick one in the hotel bar before heading home.

Yesterday was a day for provisioning and cleaning, and beer at the boating club. Today, we have fixed some small things on the boat and rested. The Indian restaurant Safron served good food in large porions. Now we hope the forecast will come through for tomorrow.

We had an uneventful passing of Stad, even calmer than last time, and were able to pass close to shore.

The forecast was for northerlies, but we saw very little of them. We sailed for 20 minutes downwind in a good breeze just by the corner. And then again after another hour of motoring, reaching for 15 minutes by one of the larger bays in a breeze that died down behind the next point.

We arrived in Maloy (Måløy) in the afternoon and fuelled up on the way in. Rain in the afternoon but, we managed to provision between the showers.