And so much more. We ate meat pies, heated in the oven, on the table in the cockpit. Weather was so sweet we had a meal outdoors.
This was the day we entered the fjords. Sailing in. Clouds, gave way to moist. Some light rail. Amazing bridges spanning the fjord, men in small boats stretching gill nets out for the evening catch. Fickle winds made for jibing, tacking and motoring.
We started to get a sense of the logging industry here. Logs stacked on barges waiting to picked up by ship to go off to mills in Norway, Sweden and Germany.
We ended up the evening tied upon to a pontoon dock.
Apples too. We were on a mission to get some local apples. We can see miles of orchards coming right down to the edge of the water. It started in the 1100’s when Cistercian Monks brought apples and grafting to the area. Original it was from personal consumption. Over the last 800 years it has turned into a significant source of income for the region. Apples and cider. Cherries too.
Charlie rowed me to the shore in the dinghy. I hiked up to the hill to find a couple of guys shingling a roof with these big beautiful slate pieces. They showed me where the orchard was that I hiked to only to find them closed. I got on the roof with them so they could show me where some other options are.
As we have come to learn apples aren’t ready here for another month.
Today- August 23rd.
Education day. We turned into a finger of the fjord and headed south. Aga; the town with the oldest court building left standing in Norway. 1100’s. We were early so no one else around. We wandered this ancient settlement. Multiple buildings, the court. Where justice was meted out. Numerous varieties of apples and pears from the 1800’s.
We sailed back out of the finger and took a turn to the next town Utne, and the Hardanger Folk Museum. We saw amazing craftsmanship in fabrics, wood work and extraordinary fiddles. Again more buildings showing regional building techniques.
We had home made apple cakes and parfaits. Discussed the intricate craftsmanship overlooking the harbor.
And cider. As much like wine regions there’s a large cider industry here as well.
We had an amazing sailing afternoon. Great breeze, blue skies, chilly then warm. We settled on Kinsarvik as our night time destination, partly because we had a menu that required mangos. The research told us there was a 24 hour store there. No one quite believed this but we went on faith. Docking was a dream against the town dock in the shadow of what turned out to be an unstaffed store. All digital. I got trapped in there , had to buy something to get a receipt with an exit code on it.
The future, eek gads.
Mango I salsa beef and cod tacos, cold slaw…
Larry greeted me the next morning with “we have a visitor.” OK Im said, then looked out to the stern to see the enormous bow of a tug that dock just behind us. In the night, we never heard him. His bow line was over the cleat that had our stern line on it.
Larry and I were disentangling it when the tug captain came out . All good. Very kind, understanding. He had friends working on the Bluenose 2 Schooner in Maine.
Another afternoon of beautiful sailing. A real gift.
Brought us to Osoryo. Swimming showers, fine cheeses and meats on the boat and a walk to town for a fish soup dinner.
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