First I’ll attach a few photos that weren’t included with yesterday’s blog because we were using the satellite phone (although I think they’ll probably still appear at the bottom of this blog entry on the website).  Here we have the team celebrating our arrival in the Arctic whilst at anchor in Fleine; a curious mountain we passed 2 days ago called Torghatten, which has a hole right through it; me repairing our binoculars after they got a soaking (they now work better than originally), and our Fleine anchorage.

 

This morning we left reasonably promptly to sail across to the Lofotens.  As usual the wind was right on the nose, but we had some good sailing in reasonable weather to start with, then the wind dropped and we motored on across Vestfjord, the large expanse of water that separates mainland Norway from the Lofotens.  As we continued it just got colder and colder.  You’ll probably say ‘well what do you expect that far north!’, but in truth it has been rather soul-destroying to compare photos taken by previous crews (all bright skies and sun) with ours (all cloud and grey).  But spirits are still high and crew banter hasn’t fallen by the wayside just yet, so all’s well.  We arrived in the early evening.

 

The remaining photos show, first, the impressive outlines of the Lofotens towering out of the water and, for us, rising into low cloud as we approached.  The others are taken in Reine, a very picturesque village on the island of Moskenesoy and our first port of call in the Lofotens: our mooring against the backdrop of typical wooden buildings, and cod drying on large racks.  These are everywhere to be seen (and smelt!). 

 

Apparently the weather is due to improve here in the middle of next week.  Guess what?  We’ll be flying back to UK on Wed, where we hear the heatwave continues. I bet it will stop around Wed!