Day96 I am feel super rested after my resting day and I am just chilling to music until the shop opens so I can get some breakfast, after some food and getting everything reedy and I am on my way, thank you Bjørnar and Odd for your hospitality! Kayaking out of Henningsvær in the beautiful sunny weather heading to Svolvær for some shopping.
After I am done with my shopping I also make another stop by
for some advice about the current in Raften, he is not certain about the time for the turn but agrees on my assessments of a three hour delay from the tide and give me advice for where to stop to make an assessment, he also tells me about a beautiful spot called Grunnfjorden and I also get an email I can use if I come back next session and need work. Once again super nice service here, Thank you! Next stop is Trollfjorden so I get going so I won’t be there to late,
I make my way along the east side of Stormolla where a rescue boat comes flying passed me in full speed and rerun towing an boat back and as the sun goes down behind the tall mountains I make my way into the Trollfjord, it is really beautiful but smaller than I expected. It is just an nm long and on my south side I see the tallest mountain in Lofoten, a really nice view!
I set up my camp at the end of the fjord next to a German couple and we end up sitting and having a nice talk waiting for Hurtigruta to make their stop inside the fjord and a little passed 10pm the ship shows up and make a 180 turn and goes back out again. Not much space for error here and cool to watch! And now we can go to sleep! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Distance for the day 24,8 nautical miles, trash in water x1 and on land x0
Day97 the Germans are already gone by the time I get out of my tent at 10am are so I have the fjord all to myself, I do some yoga and eat and start packing down.
But when the clock turns 11 the silence is gone RIB boat after RIB boat comes in the fjord and it sounds more like a war zone in the small fjord and the eagle’s comes out starting to circle over the fjord knowing that this sound means food! It is a lot of them and a beautiful view! I make my way out slowly and turn north into Grunnfjorden, the view here is even more beautiful than Trollfjorden! Long nice green valley with a beautiful lake at the end where I meet a man out fishing,
we have a short talk and he confirm that the current have a three hours delay giving me three hours until the turn so I get back in my kayak and head for Raften on my way to Brottøya. It is a foggy day with little wind so I decide to just go for it when I get to Raften. It is a little scary, but no problem my top speed is 8 knop without making much of an effort so I make it out of there in good time before the tide turns and after a short crossing I make it into the sandy beaches of Brottøya where my grate, grate Grandfather once settled down a long time ago making me the 5th generation on the island and I get a feeling of returning home as I get out of the kayak and set foot on land. A short time after a car shows up telling me to get in so he can drive me to Reidun, I am taken to her house where fishcakes are waiting and I get a little history lesson over my lunch. Her son Aage also shows up and are staying for some days. After the food I take a walk on the island seeing the area where my forefathers settled down, I have never been here before but it all feel so familiar to me, I actually believe I remember being here as I stand on the property.
One more place on my list of places I need to return to! Back at the house we talk and talk until we all find our bead and fall asleep zzzzzzzzzz
Distance for the day 13 nautical miles, trash in water x1 and on land x0
Day98 I wake up and breakfast is waiting for me a cold wind from the west is blowing and I am asked to stay another day, and when sveler (old style Norwegian pancakes) and a stake in the oven makes the choice easy! I also get a history lesson and a ride to where the old farm was, take a walk around the island!
It is a beautiful place! During the day I also get a message from my father telling me that tomorrow it will be 85 years since my father’s father was borne here! It is strange how everything falls in place and I believe my forefathers are sitting somewhere together and smiling about this!
Distance for the day 0 nautical miles, trash in water x and on land x
Day99 once again food is already on the table! We eat and talk and I say my goodbyes to Reidun and Aage gives me a ride to the beach and say goodbye. It’s a special feeling leaving this place exactly 85 years after the birth of my grandfather, I will be back one day!
The sun is out and there is no wind so I make my way around the island and make my way to Sortland, on the way I meet Hurtigruten and the coastguard W321 Senja before I have my lunch by the jetty in Sortland.
And then I am off again. The sun has started to hide behind the clouds and the wind is picking up but I keep going until I reach the island of Andøya, I find a nice beach at the south tip and make camp for the night zzzzzzzz
Distance for the day 27,4 nautical miles, trash in water x0 and on land x11
Day100 I am up before 9am and eat and pack down camp, I am in my kayak before 10am and kayak the east side of Andøya headed for Harstad by Risøy, it’s a beautiful sunny day and the water is like a mirror, just before Risøy I meet Hurtigruta once again and possession myself for some good photos.
I keep going true the narrow Risøysunnet and make the 10nm crossing over Andfjorden where I leave Nordland and enter Troms. Nordland has been the best county so far! Where I have stayed the longest (34 days), And the best weather! And as I cross the border winds start to pick up and speed goes down. I make it to a nice beach at Eglsnes where I am meet by a Reindeer and her calf, this is the first time I have seen one so I get a little exited. I have a break and make some food before the last part to Harstad.
I enjoy the beautiful view on my way and I also spot a huge eagle chilling out with what looks like his best friend a seal but before I manage to turn on the camera one goes to the sky and the other one to the waters. Just after 9pm I make my way into the jetty at Harstad, I find the key to my father’s friend’s Gull Erik apartment eat and shower before I take a walk in town. It is a Saturday and it’s a lot of people out on town, it is a little too much for me and I am bare footed so I skip the beer and head on back to bead zzzzzzzzzz
Distance for the day 33,4 nautical miles, trash in water x1 and on land x2
100 days passes by fast, it is only 0,85% of the life I have lived so far! But I have never experienced so much and learned so much before in 100 days and that makes 100 days a lot! If you add to the equation that you have traveled 1677nm which is longer than the distance of Norway’s coastline and to do it in a 5,5m long kayak. On top of that I have hiked to some of the most beautiful mountaintops I think the highest one was 1500 M.A.S.L. I have lost track of how many different animals I have seen but the biggest surprise was a shark! I have almost died 10 times all of them was because of people in boats and I have picked tons of trash in and out of the waters! I have meet old friends and made new once, I have visited close family and family I didn’t know existed a 100 days ago! I want to thank you all for the support and help you have given me and I want to ask you all to make an effort to make the world a better place for us all and those to come! Be kind, accept differences and don’t lie are the basics for a better world, don’t throw trash and pick up what we already have polluted the world with is important but also ask yourself the next time you are going shopping is this a good product and do I rely need this? Maybe my old TV can last one or even ten more years? Every time we buy something we take more resources from the earth and create more trash. I am going to end this with a thinker and a quote, why do everything nowadays have a day when mother earth only have one hour? 'If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make a change. M.J.
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Lots of Love
Joachim the ShibbyTraveler