All the way to Alta

Wed. May 27 2015. Eidkjosen to Toftfjorden

0700 Up Up and away! Well not really, I can’t fly tried it once and I still hurt!. But we did get underway and started off motoring towards our destination where ever that might be.  Around 0900 we unfurled the jib and did some motor sailing. Then Sally heard our call sign over the vhf. Somebody wants to talk to us? What a surprise. It was a Norwegian coast guard ship the KV BarentsHavn. He had seen us on the Ais and since we passed each other port to port and close it was a good time to speak. Sally (can you imagine did all the talking) while I just steered the boat and heard a one sided ½ conversation.

It was a sunny warm day with little wind so we just put hours on the engine and a dent in the fuel supply. We arrived at our destination Toftfjorden(the site of the Bradthill incident). I was here last fall with Glenn and Jaques. Dropped the hook, launched the dinghy rowed ashore looked at the monument and went for a walk up the valley following a stream looking for salmon or trout in the pools. No luck with the fish. Returned aboard and had a pleasant night on the hook.

Thursday May 28 2015. 0530! Sleeps a problem when there isn’t any dark! At least for me, Sally doesn’t seem to be bothered by it! So we had breakfast and got underway motoring and then we got the main up with one reef in and just kind of mozzied along at about 6 knots or as they say here knopf.

Then at 0805 Hamnar Radio called. Wow two radio calls in two days We’re famous! They just wanted a radio check as they tried calling us digitaly. We had to explain that when our radio was built digitally meant using your fingers not something electronic! But they were happy the vhf worked. We said our goodbys and continued a long cold MB ride. It seems that that is all we do. MBing. Anyhow after a very long day we arrived at one of our destinations only to find it totally unsuitable and wide open to the wind. So I picked another harbor some 5 miles away (Sandland) Motored there, entered a really small mole harbor spied a pontoon, made ready to go along side when we were told it really wouldn’t suit and would we mind terribly taking a mooring? We said nope no problem and that’s what we did. It Bucketed down rain and was cold so we buttoned up and slept like to warm bricks in an oven!

Fri. May 29 2015. We slept in until 0630 whoopie decadent we are! Had some breakfast and donned our foulies as it was wet and cold out and dropped the mooring and off we went to continue the journey. Not much scenery to be seen as it was also foggy or low cloudy and one could not wee the tops or the middles of the mountains so we satisfied ourselves with views of the fjords and counting rain drops on the ends of our noses. At about 0845 we were able to unfurl the jib and so gained an extra knot of speed and so we just wizzed along our way down the Alta Fjord to,,,,,, yup Alta. Actually we went to Bossekop.

Now Bossekop is kind of the little brother to the Big sister Alta. Both were leveled by the retreating Germans during the little disagreement from a few years ago. Just around the corner in the Kafjord. The Battleship Tirpitz hid out until damaged by some crazy Englishmen driving midget submarines! It was damaged enough that it was out of commission effectively for the rest of the war and was eventually moved to Tromso where it was finally sunk by Lancaster bombers.

The Tirpitz museum was closed until June 15^th So one of the reasons for coming here was a no go. But the other! The Petroglyphs or rock carvings were well worth the trip. Even the 3 ½ K walk up hill down dale up hill down dale and finally up hill! Foot sore and weary we finished the day!