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Day One, 30/06/01
It had taken us three days to get here. Traveling first by ferry from Belfast to Stranraer, driving across England to Newcastle, a second ferry to Bergen and then a drive over the mountains to arrive at our starting point Vik, a small town set at the base of a valley surrounded by wooded hills and Sognefjord itself .
We had packed and repacked the boats several times the night before, making last minute decisions on what to bring and what not to bring. A few discarded kitchen sinks later, we were eventually ready.
After a late breakfast we took the boats across the road for the start of the trip. It had rained most of the morning but just as we set off from the harbour the rain stopped, a good omen I thought.
It was great to be under way at last. The weather was over cast but the scenery made up for it. The boats were full and set low in the water but handled really well. We set our sights on Balestand and into a light wind and a slight chop we started to cross the fjord. As we reached the middle of the fjord we had great views in every direction. We stopped about midway across and started what was to become the traditional daily lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches.
We reached Balestrand around 17:30 and set off to find a campsite. We found the tourist office and the staff were more than helpful but told us the only site was about a two kilometers back down the fjord. Having exited our boats, that wasn't what we wanted to hear but luckily there was an alternative. We were given the address of a lady who rented out cabins and after a quick inspection and price inquiry we moved in.
The town itself was pretty much deserted as was most of the small towns we passed through. With all the shops closed our first night was spent fishing by the fjord with first blood going to Mark! We spent a very comfortable night, much better than camping I thought and wondered how many more cabins we could get during the trip.
Day Two, 28/06/01
Next morning we returned to the tourist office and booked another cabin in Leikanger which was our next stop. Last nights catch was on the breakfast menu which was enjoyed by all.
The water was flat calm and with no wind we started for Leikanger. Stevie and Richie had left first, we soon joined them and had our first run in with one of the many passenger ferries which cruise the fjords. It was a case of closing up to make sure we would be seen and then keeping a watchful eye on it's direction. As we paddled on we saw the first sighting of the fjord's wildlife, leaping from the water just in front of us was a salmon. We also saw the first several waterfalls during this leg.
The weather was on the change. With the wind increasing the sea developed a nice "chop". As we pushed on a mist was quickly followed with rain, so without a break we reached Leikanger mid afternoon. We found our campsite which was about a kilometer from the shore. We also had use of a hut right beside our get out point and this proved invaluable. We were able to hang our wet gear up to dry it also gave us a fantastic place to cook our evening meal, a rather tasty chilli and rice, right on the waters edge.
We went for a walk around Leikanger after a dinner. Once again we found very few people around and no shops. It does have a very pretty church and graveyard and a hotel which served us coffee. We returned to the cabin which had a great view across the fjord and watched the weather continue to deteriorate wondering if we would be able to make the crossing to Fresvik the following day. With little else to do we all had an early night.
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