The Island of Gjerøya

After a chat with a couple of the locals, the old guy who gave me route information yesterday, and another guy with his young daughter who was working on his boat, I left the beach we had spent three days at and drove a couple of kilometres to the north of the island for a hiking circuit I had put together. It’s not that difficult to avoid the marshy areas, so it’s possible to go anywhere unless the rock face is too steep.

At Roja’s request, we took in the lake we were at on Saturday, Håkaringvatnet, set magnificently into the rock. We were out for a couple of hours, and then drove into the village at Selsøyvik to get rid of the garbage, use the shop and fill up with water.

The shop, Landhandel, is part of a small tourist operation run by two ladies who I was soon conversing with. They wanted to know where I had been on the island, and what I had been doing.

They have a few rooms they rent out, and though they have been busy at weekends only until now, the high season will start at the end of the weekend, when the schools finish for summer. Visitors come to fish, hike, or just relax; it does look a very pleasant place for such a vacation.

Also staying at the quay, in their boat, were the crew of one of the ‘InTheSameBoat’ vessels, the Fonn.

The Fonn is the largest of a fleet of 15 boats that are concerned with ocean care, and sail the world collecting plastic from the seas, beaches and coastlines. They also run education programmes at the ports they visit in the local communities and schools, and do some fundraising.

I spoke to a French guy who was captain of the Fonn, a 15 metre sailboat. The boat is based in Nordland and this is there busy time of year. For the winter months the boat is available for hire for sailing tuition, with the permanent crew of two running classes and raising money to work the rest of the year. At the busy time of year they take on volunteers as additional crew. Here’s their website with lots more information.

The Landhandel shop is as small as one would expect, but with a vast range of goods. I picked up some essentials, including freshly baked bread which took twenty minutes to finish. While it was in the oven the ladies showed me where I could fill up with water, with a hose at the quay, and we bade our farewells and headed a couple of kilometres down the road to car ferry boarding area.

In the late afternoon I crossed to the island of Gjerøya, the next one to the north in the chain, then drove the six kilometres to the north of the island where Anders, the farmer from the island that I had met on the mountain yesterday, had recommended a place to overnight. It entailed a very rough road for a couple of kilometres, but emerged from the trees to a sandy beach in a magnificent setting.

There is rain forecast, and had been since mid-afternoon. Cloud gathered during the afternoon and is now low in the sky, the odd spot of rain, but nothing more than that yet, but it seems like it will arrive.

At 7 ish we walked around to explore. I rounded the headland to come face to face with a sea eagle sat on a rock about 30 metres away, and Roja and I stood watching it silently for a couple of minutes. It saw us, but wasn’t bothered – a great experience.