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Every picture tells a story, they say, so this blog will have a lot of photos and not so much writing. No, I'm not being lazy, although I do have a crick in my neck from prolonged photo-size-adjustments, I just prefer the visual to the written. (I think it's to do with my short attention span.)

So, without further ado, I shall begin.


The trip across the sea from Baltasound to Norway was a bit lumpy, and about half o the bairns were sick. But they coped admirably with their malaise, and were jumping about on deck by the time we were in sight of Norway.


John Anderson, the Mate, at the wheel on our way east.





We passed through some oil fields.






Our first sight of land was Mount Alden, at Værlandet and Bulandet.





We were met on the pier by some good friends.





The local school had invited us to spend some time with them, and we took part in an orienteering class, a music class, and a hike.





Linda and Gry from Værlandet took a short trip on board the Swan.








In Værlandet someone has had the rather enterprising idea of a Fishing Net Hotel. Sounds strange? We thought so too, untill the it was explained. A fishing boat usually has more nets than they use on one trip to sea, I think it depends on which sort of fish they are after. So what do they do with the unused net when they're not able to look after it? Yup, they send it to the Fishing Net Hotel. There it is taken good care of, stored in a good environment, and fixed if required. And to get the net there, they just have to steam up to the pier and it is taken directly from the ship into the building via a pipe, where it is directed to its own room.











Next stop was Hardbakka, where another school had invited us for a visit.




We were tied up in the beautiful harbour, with what looked like an enormous mountain behind the village. Of course, one of the activities at the school would be to climb said mountain. 'Just a short walk!' we were told. Ok, we were starting to learn that Norwegians are a fit race.

And, speaking of races, that's exactly what they did for fun on the mountain....




But the view at the top was worth all the sweat, and we could see Alden to the North, where we had come from the night before.






In Bergen our young folk entertained with shetland fiddle music.




In Baldersheim we were treated once more to some of Bunty's amazing home baking. Thanks so much Bunty!







From Baldersheim we carried on South, and stopped in Skudeneshavn and Stavanger. Go carting and lazer quest were some popular activities. (You can take the teenager out of the modern world but you can't take the modern world out of the teenager!)

From there we headed towards our final school encounter in Dirdal, a meeting that would not have happened without Island Blogging. We had been invited there by Dag, a regular commentor and know to many I-Bloggers.

Ian at the helm in Høgsfjord.






While we were sailing through Høgsfjord, with Dirdal in the distance, Dag and his family were busy firing up the barbeque!







Dag met us at the pier....






and came on board for a tour.




Then we spent a very pleasant evening at his house with Dag and his family. Tusen takk!




Dag's school took us all a tour of the local area the following day. The sun shone and we had a great time. We hope their school will make it to Unst one day.







This is us leaving Jorpeland to finally head homewards.






However, we did have an extra treat up our sleeves....



This is Utsira. Ian has always wanted to go there after spending much of his life listening to the shipping forecast! It is a very beautiful place, and we wished we had spent longer there.





LIfe wasn't all sunbathing and relaxing on this trip tho...





Doing a spot of boat maintenance - sanding the woodwork,




waxing the mast, and.......




peeling the tatties!



However, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.











The way home was sunny and flat calm, which was very welcome, although it meant motoring the whole way. We didn't mind at all, as we were well used to the sounds of the engine by this point.






Eddie's watch.




Nearly home! Coming past the Balti Light.





A big thank you to all our hosts in Norway, you all really made our trip worthwhile, and we hope we can return the favour sometime.


So, that's about it really, back to the rain beating against the windows and the 9-5 again.. ( Apart from I'm away soon on another sailing trip, this time a race from Bergen to Shetland and back. More about that in the holidays.)

Ok, back once more from life on the high seas. This time I did some of the Bergen - Shetland Races, and met some great people in the process.

I was on Arne's boat, called Fortito, and was one of 10 crew. I was pretty useless crew really, as due to an injury I stayed below decks, which in turn meant I spent the trip spewing, and the only useful contribution I made was as ballast.

However, on arrival in Lerwick I was able to spring into action, and my first useful contribution was to victual the boat. With beer, of course. And with that out of the way came the second priority - food. Good old fish and chips.

I can tell you, a haddock supper has never tasted as good as it did that day, on the deck of a yacht in the pouring rain, surrounded by good company and washed down with drams and lager.

My lack of contribution obviously had no detrimental effect on our race times, as we came third in class on that leg. Weyhey!!! We had a great night out after the prizegiving, and were joined by some friends from Unst.

I decided not to do the return trip to Bergen, as another trip confined to the cabin below decks did not appeal, and my injury need a little TLC. So instead I managed to get a lift on a local yacht so that I could take some photos of the start. That was a great idea, as I don't think I would have been able to stand on the pier watching them leave - I would have been jumping in and swimming to catch up!

They looked great going out o the Sooth Mooth o Lerwick harbour, right at the front of the pack. Well, almost. And it paid off, because they were second in class in that race - YES! Another great result! (Although it has made me question how useful my ballast actually was.)

Anyway, in time honoured Ruthodanort tradition, enough o the typing and onto the photos.


These first few are of the start in Norway. It was really exciting, I can tell you.

















We did a little tour to Unst one day, here's some of the crew at Saxa Vord, with Muckle Flugga in the background.





At the Unst Bus Shelter.





The start in Lerwick.





Fortito and the Bressay light.






Challenger, the boat that beat Fortito in the return leg, broaching as she sails out of Lerwick harbour. Don't worry, she was all back to rights in a few minutes.





Rounding Bressay, with Fortito on the inside.




So, Crew of Fortito!! Hope you don't mind me putting up your mugshots on my blog, but you all really made my second Shetland Race experience a fantastic one. Thanks guys! And thanks to my skipper too!