In early May I got a phone call from Arne Vassenden, a nice fellow I had met at a meeting in Voss in December. He had mentioned that he knew some salmon fishermen in the Sogn og Fjordane region (north of the Bergen area), but I never took him up on his offer to set up meetings because I ended up focusing my research closer to Bergen. However, when Arne called he wondered whether I would be interested in taking a sailing trip with him to some of the outer islands outside Sognefjord in June to meet a few fishermen and see some of the most beautiful coastal area in Norway. It's not often someone calls and offers you exactly what you've been dreaming about!
On June 3rd I took the Hurtigbåt (fast boat) from Bergen to Krakhella, then took a bus to Hardbakke to meet Arne and his boat. The boat is a 100-year old wooden rowboat with a viking-style sail and place for max 6 oars. A beautiful craft. For the next three days we would sail west and then north, using wind when we had it and rowing when we didn't. Amazingly the ocean was flat calm and the sky cloud-free during the entire voyage. This led to sunburn and frequent swimming.
Although we did not have midnight sun the light lingered through the night, and it was sometimes hard to remember to go to bed. Sunset faded into sunrise, and I woke up to some of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. On the second night we camped on top of Alden, a prominent landmark for fishermen in the region because of its relative height. From Alden we could see far in all directions, including a view over Bulandet and Vaerlandet, our destination for the third and final day.
Arne was right - this area of the Norwegian coast is very special. There are no roads out to these intricate, exposed islands. Vaerlandet is known as the 'Venice of Norway' because it is made up of so many tightly spaced small islands with bridges running here and there between them. I can imagine that a bike tour to Vaerlandet would be an amazing vacation, although the fun of sailing through the tiny waterways would be hard to beat. Once we thought the mast would not clear a one-lane cement bridge, but we managed to tilt the boat hard as we rowed slowly under and we snuk through.
One of the most amazing things about Norway is the effectiveness of public transportation connections to the city even from so far out in the middle of nowhere. On the morning of the 4th day I took the early bus from the outer edge of the islands to a ferry that connected to the Hurtigbåt back in Krakhella and returned me to Bergen a few hours later.
Thank you, Arne!
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