Tomorrow is the 21st of June, mid-summer here in Scandinavia. The preparations here in Norway do not seem as feverish as in Finland or Sweden. However since we have become accustomed to midsummer fever, we wonder what has happened to everyone. Maybe the Norwegians are not as fussed.
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| View from Oranienborg onto the harbour |
It’s mid-summer and we are still stuck in Mandal. But Mandal grows on you.
After we were stopped in our tracks at the rather sudden looking foot-bridge with the orange ball floating in the water in the newer part of town, our first impression was rather negative. Where were all the lovely alleys with the very old wooden houses? Where were the restaurants on the waterfront?
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| 18th and 19th century houses |
They were all tucked behind the foot bridge! And really, Mandal is a very attractive town with an intact centre, the largest wooden church in Norway, built at the beginning of the XIXth Century, meant to sit a congregation of 1,500 parishioners. Oranienborg, overlooking the town, is an old fortress with an outlook where you have a great view of the harbour and the outlying islands.
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| Sjøsanden lighthouse on the beach |
Although it remains sunny, warm and pleasant and many people are enjoying the lovely sandy beaches, the sailing weather is still not looking good! There is one gale warning after the next for this part of Norway (Lindesnes). We are now right at the edge of the Skagerrak where the west coast meets the south coast. Our neighbours, a crew of very nice Norwegian students waiting to cross over from here to Inverness have gone out this morning only to return after just a few hours because they could not make any progress in the strong wind and big waves. Another Polish yacht, according to their friends, needed 8 hours to do a short passage of just 20M. What a wind and weather gate!
Watching the weather, it looks as if it will ease next Monday (even perhaps already on Sunday). It will have been almost a week that we have been waiting for the wind to subside, although it will still persist in coming from the NW. Easy Rider will have to beat against the wind… not her most favourite direction…and Stephan agrees with her as ‘gentlemen don’t beat’.
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| So near and yet so far - our way to Lindesness |