Motor Boat & Yachting — August 2017

Stabben Lighthouse

dates from 1867

Svartisen glacier is a still a

majestic sight despite the

visible signs of global warming

• Norway’s longest, the Sognefjord – slashes inland through
  spectacular mountain scenery for over 110 miles and reaches
  depths of 1,300m.
  On our voyage north, we had planned another unmissable
  detour to be made into the fjords to the Svartisen glacier. This
  is just one tongue of Norway’s second-largest glacier that in total
  covers around 370 square kilometres, and at only 20m above sea
  level, is mainland Europe’s lowest glacier. It’s hard to imagine that
  once most of northern Europe was covered by glaciers like this,
  which created so much of our landscapes today. Spectacular
  though this is, I was troubled to see that even though only early
  in the year and not at the height of summer, the extent of the
  glacier here appeared less than the photos I had seen in all the
  guidebooks I had read – a visible and tangible sign of the reality
  of global warming.
  We pulled into the marina at Bodo shortly before midnight,
  although still it wasn’t truly dark. And at dawn, the sun picked
  out the snow-capped mountains of the Lofoten Island chain
  lying tantalisingly on the horizon. Our fi nal destination was
  just an 80-mile crossing away...
  Next month The Lofoten Islands welcome us with open arms

I’d been worried that we might not be able to achieve our ultimate
aim of reaching the Lofoten Islands simply because of a scarcity
of places to refuel, yet even out of season, my pre-trip concerns
proved unfounded.
British harbours and marinas could learn a lot from this. Even
in Cornwall, one of the UK’s prime boating destinations, there are
so few marine fuel outlets – and even fewer with 24/7 availability

• that at times I have had to arrange rendezvous with tankers in
  order to refuel.

IN SAFE HANDS
Navigation among the countless islands and rocks of many parts
of the inner lead had also been a concern before the trip. And
particularly should our electronic navigation system fail us,
forcing us to rely on paper charts. But I needn’t have been too
worried; since the Vikings, seafarers have been roaming these
waters, and every hazard or signifi cant feature is well marked,
either by traditional buoyage systems, lights, or some intriguing
and uniquely designed lighthouses.
In fact, cruising these sea routes and channels was a thrill –
sometimes the wide fjords or channels between mainland and
island were like a smooth and straight motorway. At other times,
weaving around islets and charted hazards was an exciting
challenge. The general pattern was to follow the inner lead
running the length of the coast, the protected north-south
passage, which every now and then is crossed by a sea lane where
ships emerge from ports and cities deep inside the fjords and cut
across the lead heading for the open sea.
In this maze of channels, the cruising prospects are endless. On
our voyage we saw a great deal, but barely scratched the surface
of what Norwegian waters have to offer. Just one fjord alone

SWEDEN

Gulf of BothniaFINLAND

Norwegian

Sea

Arctic

Circle

Oslo

Bodø

Ålesund

NORWAY

Holandsfjorden

Ranafjorden

LOVUND

From

Ålesund

To the

Lofoten Islands

Arctic

Circle

Norwegian

Sea

N

Bodø

nautical miles

0 10 20

Svartisen

Glacier

PRINCESS TO NORWAY