Rotterdam (or Anywhere)

Two weeks ago my parents visited me in Tromsø. Paul was already at sea (on his annual research cruise) when they arrived, but halfway through the week he called to say the ship had broken down, the cruise was aborted and he’d be home the next day! Not good for his cruise or the ship of course, but it was great to unexpectedly have him home so soon 🙂

My parents were very lucky with the weather: it was warm and sunny on most days! Sunday was their last day in Tromsø, and we decided to go “øyhopping” (island hopping) by ferry, from Belvika to Sandøya.

Three times a week (on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday evening), the ferry that connects Belvik (on Kvaløya) to the island Vengsøya goes all the way out to Sandøya, with request stops at several islands along the way. After about 4.5 hours the ferry is back at Belvika, so it’s often used as a sightseeing roundtrip. I’ve always wanted to go on this ferry, but only in good weather – and in good weather I usually didn’t want to “waste” the day on a ferry and instead would choose to climb a mountain something else active. Having visitors who are not that keen on mountains was the perfect excuse 😛

The ferry leaves quite late, around 17:00, so we made sure to have a big lunch at home. Lucky – as the only food you can buy on board is ice cream and waffles – a great snack but perhaps not the best dinner option 😛

The ferry didn’t stop everywhere, but it picked up people at Risøya and Sandøya. They had to come on board via a steep ladder, carrying their luggage – and even dogs – on their shoulders 😀

We sat outside at the back of the ship, out of the wind and in the sun, and enjoyed watching the scenery. We brought a thermos for coffee and tea, and some chocolate and biscuits and really enjoyed the evening.

It was nice to see Sandøya again, I would have loved to get off the ferry here and spend the night there, but work was waiting for me the next day – and anyway the next ferry back would be 3 days later 😀

The ferry doesn’t have exact times for the islands stops, and since we didn’t stop everywhere, we had time left over on the way back. There were several sightseers on board, and the captain decided to make a few detours, so we got to see the church at Gåsvær for example! It looks beautiful there, I’d love to come back there and visit the island.

At about 21:00, it finally got a bit chilly and we moved indoors. The ferry is quite new, and it’s very comfortable inside, with huge windows. Sunset was beautiful, so I kept running back outside to take more photos 😉

We arrived back to Belvika at 21:30, and drove home in beautiful sunset pastels. What a perfect way to spend the last evening with my parents! 🙂

What do you give someone who has everything? My answer to that was a weekend away 🙂 So the weekend after Paul’s birthday, I had reserved Malangshytta through inatur.no. This cabin belongs to the Hunting and Fishing Association, but can be rented by anyone. It’s a wonderful spacious cabin on a lake (Ytre Fiskelausvatnet), quite close to the road but very secluded – we didn’t see anyone for more than a day, even though there are some houses/cabins closeby.

Like most Norwegian cabins, there is no electricity, only a primitive outhouse and you have to get your water from the lake. There was no mobile signal here, let alone internet. Our only luxury was an FM radio 🙂 it was wonderful to be away from everything for a while. I’m quite an internet addict, but every once in a while I really enjoy to be cut off 😉

We arrived on Friday night, and Saturday was rainy. We didn’t mind, we spent our time drinking tea, eating brownies and other nice food and reading books and magazines. In the evening the weather cleared up, and we went for a short walk along the shore of the lake. Impressive clouds!

It was surprisingly windy! This caused quite a lot of waves on the lake, and I had fun trying to capture them 🙂

This is the sheltered bay near the cabin. It was so windy even the ferns wouldn’t sit still for a photo…

On Sunday it was very calm, and it was amazing to see the lake completely flat after all the waves the previous day. It was still raining, but when it stopped for a while, we decided to try the boat that comes with the cabin. We briefly tried to use it on Saturday, but the wind and the waves were too strong, and the boat was difficult to row as it didn’t have any rollocks (just loops of string). It was much easier now that the wind and waves were gone 🙂 We rowed over the completely calm lake, and even tried our fishing luck. There are supposed to be Arctic Char and Trout in the lake, but unfortunately the lake lived up to its name 😉 – Ytre Fiskelausvatnet means “Outer Fishless lake”. It started raining heavily when we were on the other side of the lake, and by the time we came back we were completely soaked.

Even though the weather was less than ideal, we kind of fell in love with Malangshytta 🙂 We really enjoyed the peace and quiet at this beautiful spot, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be back here!

Paul had his birthday yesterday, but as the weather suddenly cleared up the evening before, we decided to go for an early birthday BBQ on the beach at Grøtfjord. I never get bored of this place, it’s such a pretty beach…

We stayed on the beach until about 23:00, when the sun is still up but it disappears behind Vengsøya. The light was so pretty on the way back to Tromsø that we stopped several times to take some photos…

At Eidkjosen, Lance (the research ship that Paul spends a lot of time on) was also reflected in the calm waters – beautiful!

One final stop on our way home, on Tromsø island looking towards Kvaløya.

The next day, on his actual birthday, we kept changing our plans. We were going to eat sushi at our favourite restaurant, but it was warm and sunny so we decided to go for a boat trip to Hekkingen. But by the time we were ready to put the boat in the water, it had clouded over. We’re a bit spoilt, so we decided not to go. Instead, we tried to reach Torsnes beach near Sommarøy. It looked like an easy trip on the map, but it turned out to be a nightmare 😉 Lots of marsh and too many small trees, terrible amounts of mosquitos, and finally we couldn’t cross the ridge as you had to climb nearly vertically on huge boulders. Never mind… at least we got some nice views of Sommarøy…

Next time, we’ll follow the beach at the bottom of the ridge instead of trying to cross it 😉