Well we've had a wonderful couple of weeks so far, not without its concerns and hassles which I suppose is expected as you settle into a long trip. My wrist has been the biggest concern. It could have put an end to the trip, but it's settled down and though hasn't gone away completely, with three long days behind us now it's not slowing our paddling down. The other hassle is our solar charger has stopped working. The 7watt panel out on deck all the time charging a 57Wh battery meant we were self sufficient for charging phones and cameras, but the connector has now corroded. Every town has a campground so now whenever we're ashore for a shower and laundry we'll need to fully charge the two storage batteries we have.
Since leaving Hellissandur we've had a dream run. Hardly a cloud in the sky and what winds we've had have been sailing breezes. Flat calm seas and morale boosting sun and blue skies have meant a lot of ground covered in the last three days. We arrived in Stykkishólmur mid afternoon with plenty of time to stock up on food and do some laundry. Off early the next morning to cross Breidafjordur, a 60km crossing but the fjord is dotted with islands of all sizes so our island hop across meant our longest stretch was about 16km. The first island an hour out of Stykkishólmur for a quick break, then about two hours to Bjarneyjar, where elevenses stretched to over an hour as we soaked up the sun and explored. A couple of more hours and we landed on Flatey, one of the larger islands which has a permanent as well as a seasonal population. Easily reached by ferry it is also on the tourist trail. We chatted to one of the locals who now only spends the three summer months on the island. She had been collecting eider down from the numerous nests that are scattered across the islands. Once cleaned she said it sells for AU$2,000 a kilo.
The eider ducks are everywhere. Their call, an almost comical camp 'Ooooh! Aaaah!' sounds like a crowd of panto dames watching one of those male stripper shows like the 'Chippendales'.
There are so many eider nests that some days we've actually had trouble finding a spot for the tent equidistant and far enough away from broody females sitting on their four eggs so as not to disturb them unduly.
We didn't need to paddle all the way to the mainland so camped on a small island Heimaey about 8km offshore. Heading west from there in the morning on flat calm water we both felt we were paddling uphill through treacle so were very pleasantly surprised when we stopped for lunch that we'd covered about 28km. That afternoon, as forecast, the Easterly wind picked up and with both sails up we raced around the coastline of Sigluneshlídar and on to the last little cove and landing point before the Latrabjarg cliffs.
We were expecting the landing to be tricky as the Southerly swell offshore looked big enough to create some troublesome surf but it couldn't have been easier, the swells just surging up the steep beech and hardly breaking. And even easier, just at the back of the beach from where we landed, the perfect spot for the tent.
No comments:
Post a Comment