It may be 28ºC in Oslo…

we are however weather-bound in Sandshamn at 12ºC.

Cloud covered Stadtlandet

Our first sail this summer (1.6.16) has been to Sandshamn (62º 15’N 05º 29’.5E) on the island of Sandsøya. Not very far, just 13M southwest of Ulsteinvik, but a good place to wait for good conditions to sail around the dangerous headland of Stad. Stadlandet, as the whole peninsula is called, has a microclimate of its own due to its steep-to mountains raising 500m perpendicularly from the sea and the sea-bed echoing the coastline, creating very disturbed seas and extremely rough conditions in strong winds.

The detailed weather forecast for Stad for the next few days predicts just that: strong wind and waves between 4 and 6 meters high! It will probably be Sunday (5.6.16) before we can leave. Yet, apart from the wind being very chilly it is not raining and the sun is shining intermittently.

Sandsøy is a very pretty island with some wonderful walks, one small Coop, an almost abandoned marina which must have seen much better days and not much else. It will be good to start slowing down with nothing much to do! Today we decided to walk to Voksøy, a small island from where you can reach the mainland by ferry. The road spans across several small islands along a causeway. It was a fun 12km roundtrip that we finished with a well deserved snooze. 

Another cave

Friday 3.6.16. We woke up this morning without a cloud in the sky and still lots of wind, more than yesterday. The weather forecast has even increased the expected wind to 25-29kn until Saturday. When the weather situation is so clear cut, it is easy to relax in the harbour. Another great walk was on the cards. Skare, a tiny hamlet of around four houses is only 4Km away. From there we joined a path that leads to the Dollsteinsholla cave, 180m long with five chambers joined by long narrow passages. According to the local legend, King Arthur hid the Holy Grail and other treasures in this cave.

However, we never made it to the actual cave although we saw another smaller one. The terrain was very arduous, up and down, over rocks, wet moors and rubble fields. We went on and on and on for 1.5 hours and we could still see the white and red markers in the distance. We then decided to call it a day. Anyway, I am not sure that we would have liked to climb into a cave like that without some local knowledge or a guide. All in all we walked for 4.5 hours. [Just as well that we have trained with Simon all winter and are relatively fit!] 
PS: it seems to have been the entrance to the real cave after all.

1.5 hours of rubble fields take their toll...