41) Back to Ålesund

88 days, 1673 nautical miles, to Tromsø and back. A leisurely summer, largely due to the (cheating) start this year. Plenty of time, null distance-stress. Plenty of non-summer weather, but august has been much better, and will hopefully form the lasting memory.

So, the last miles, from Sandøy to Finnøy to Ålesund. A very short motor to Finnøy, (63 48.1 , 6 30.4), in calm, grey, drizzly weather over a multi-marked calm sea. Careful navigation necessary.

Only one other boat at the guest pontoon. A splendid new building housing the local boating club and its facilities, and in the one end, in a glassed-in room, was a clenodium.

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A two-cylinder 250 horsepower marine engine, from 1935, the best preserved of over 650 engines built by “Finnøy Lars” and his factory, here on Finnøy, from 1905 to 1975. This poor motorman just had to stare through the glass and admire. Just to give you an idea of size, each barrel is about the same diameter as a forty-gallon oil drum. Whoomf, whoomf. The placard said it had logged over 100 000 hours. Now there’s reliability for you.

Forecast for friday was for a gradually-increasing north-westerly wind, so we stared early to avoid the blow. Overcast again, and almost drizzling, we motored until the wind came in, from a tantalising fine angle. Sails up, which helped a little. On the way the route goes through Lausund, (62 35.5 , 6 15.3), a narrow channel through shallows, where a new bridge is being built, between stone-filled-in-between-islands.

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Pillars almost ready, each one with its long-armed mobile crane. Wonder how they got them there? Lift to the top is via mobile crane!

Our course and the wind angle became friendlier and we sailed most of the rest of the way to Ålesund. On approaching the harbour entrance, from a rather, with hindsight, too-fine angle, Josin was called up on the VHF by Gabrielle, (or something like it). Oops! Whatthe…. Dive for the VHFmike. “Josin answering”. “Can you let us to exit the harbour before you enter?” “Affirmative”. So full speed and a 180 degree turn, and a high-speed ferry emerged from behind the large building on the end of the harbour wall. Hadn’t seen him move on AIS, thought he was stationary, and I was all busy thinking about ropes and fenders and which side and where. Bad. Lesson: Approach harbour with better sight into the entrance, cos its also the exit.

A badly-slept night on one of the guest pontoons, much pitching from the rollers coming straight in, whipped up by the NW wind. Decided to leave, and as it was a day before we were due at Mauseidvågen, where Josin will stay the winter, we’d take a sight-seeing trip in Hjørungfjord. Very impressive. Enormous mountains plunging straight down into the water, and very few places for habitation. If you squint hard you maybe can see a large, square, looks-like-a-notice at the top of the strange cliff in the middle pic. Warning to climbers approaching from the other side of the sudden drop maybe?. Saw another later, in the middle of a steep slope. Odd. Maybe an antenne. I liked the formation of the cliffside in the last pic. Could have been from the local monster sharpening his claws.

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The guest pontoon at Urke, (62 12.5 , 6 33.9) near the bottom end of the fjord, was over-popular and very over-full, both two-and three-abreast. Fantastic evening, smoky grilling very popular, singing too. No place for us though, so we found a very small pontoon outside a salmon smolt factory, quite weekend-shut and deserted, and enjoyed a quiet night.

Today, calm, the morning overcast trying to rise up the mountainsides, and the first motorboat armada on their way home ploughing up the mirror-like fjord. We’ll have to potter off soon, to Mauseidvågen, (62 25.4 , 6 16.6). Had hoped for a forecast southerly breeze to help us on our way, but it hasn’t appeared yet.

Alls well!