We’re now in Tromso, our destination for the first stage of this expedition, having arrived late morning yesterday, just 28 days after leaving Marchwood. 

 

From Sandtorg we made our way up the inner lead which gradually grew in width, still in wonderful if slightly less dramatic scenery.  The only realistic stop on this stage of the passage is at Finnsnes.  Although the pilot suggests a number of possible anchorages we were keen to have a final ‘walk ashore’ stop before arriving in Tromso so we could shower and do some laundry before arriving in Tromso where everything looked rather more expensive: Finnsnes looked just the spot.  Unfortunately it turned out to be anything but what we’d hoped for.  Good for provisions, it was not not much use for anything else, with a rather industrial outlook to the whole place.  So we waited for the tidal stream to turn, caught up on sleep, and set off again in the early hours under beautiful midnight sun and made our way north.

 

As we approached Tromso the head wind picked up and we hoisted sail for a final blast before finding our way into Tromso Havn, right in the centre of the self-styled ‘Paris of the North’.  As anticipated, facilities there were not just expensive but practically non-existent, which seemed a surprise for such a major crew change-over location.  In the afternoon it was a toss-up as to whether we should cross the long road bridge over the fjord to visit the ‘cathedral of the arctic’ and take the cable car to the top of the adjacent mountain, or stay in the city.  We decided on the latter and it turned out to be a good choice as we visited the fascinating Polar Museum, with its emphasis on whaling and polar exploration; followed by the Polstjerna museum (named after the Norwegian sealer ‘MS Pole Star’) which focussed on arctic seal hunting expeditions; then Polaria, an aquarium orientated to arctic marine life.  Svalbard was a common theme in all three and I, for one, certainly left feeling buoyed up by the prospect of being there within a few weeks.  We then had an excellent final crew dinner on the waterfront before adjourning to a local bar to watch England scrape through to the next stage of the World Cup on penalties. 

 

This morning Julian, Steve and I all fly home, leaving Rosinis for a week before I return with Meryon and Giles to head north for a further 600nm.  So far so good. Everything has gone to plan and we’ve had an awesome time, helped by the fact that recent memories of good weather have now blotted out more distant recollections of beating into F6/F7 winds and constant rain.

 

Photos show the guest pontoon at Finnsnes; more midnight sun as we head north again; Lenvik, a village on the inner lead; one of the Hurtigruten ferries that ply the length of the Norwegian coast; Tromso waterfront with the cathedral of the arctic in the background; the Polar Museum; and the Polstjerna Museum and Polaria  (next door to one another and referred to by us as ‘the ship in the greenhouse’ and the ‘collapsed building’ respectively).