After Jørpeland, we sail to a beautiful and also rather deep (25m) anchor bay near Stavanger. The weather is lovely and sunny. We take a walk on the small island of Langøy. When going ashore (on the rocks), Mira falls and hurts her wrist. Fortunately it turns out to be not too bad but it makes us realise that an accident is in a small corner ☺️. We learn that Langøy (as small as it is) played an important role in the Second World War and the ruins of the bunkers are still there. Shell also had an oil depot here 🤔. In the evening, we eat delicious sausages from the BBQ and sit outside for a long time for the first time 😊☀️.

The next day, we sail 25 nm further north. Apart from an hour, we can sail everything 😊⛵️. The first part beam reach (bft 4) with both sails. Once into the Karmasund only with the genoa downwind (bft 5) with 1-1.5m high waves. Bit uncomfortable, but soon the water flattens out in the shelter of the land. Those wave heights for certain parts along the Norwegian coast can be really serious (4-6m high) and we keep a close eye on them using Barentswatch. A very useful website with good predictions 👌👍.

In the afternoon, rain is forecast so we seek a sheltered anchor bay just north of Kopervik. The rest of the day we spend inside. Between showers the next day, we sail for an hour to Haugesund. A nice little town on the north side of the Karmasund. Here we stay for two days to wait for the strong northern winds to pass. We make use of the town by going to the cinema the first evening (Accountant 2, English spoken with Norwegian subtitles which Mira understands a bit already ☺️). Bit much violence but still a very entertaining movie.

The second evening we go out for dinner at a nice steak restaurant 😋. That day we also make a walk into the countryside outside Haugesund with views of the town and surrounding islets. In the late afternoon, with the stormy north wind, we are tugging on the lines quite a bit. During the night it calms down.

The next day, the wind has died down and we continue north again into the Hardangerfjord. We can partly sail and additionally motor a lot, to a quiet and sheltered anchor bay south of the small island Borgondøya. We stay there for two days. The first day is drizzly and a good opportunity to sew a cover for the life raft. That had been on the list for a while. The second day Mira makes a hike to the top of the island with stunning views 360 degrees around 👌😃. Toine is struggling with an injury (pain in a muscle deep in the lower back) from a slip-and-fall during the second hike in Norway and is therefore not going along. Fortunately, things are getting better but it will take some time, and it is important to find a balance of rest and exercise.

The next stop is further into the fjord to Sundal past a waterfall and overlooking the Bondhusbreen glacier. This is also where we visited 14 years ago with the daughters, good old memories 🥰. The jetties at the campsite are not there yet but we happily fit on the (somewhat ramshackle) wooden wharf next to the camper field. We make the same tough hike as then, towards the glacier. Only, that glacier is so much smaller than 14 years ago 🥲 that we can't even see it at the point where we return after walking 6 km (just like then). Back at the boat, we sail on to the peacefulness of an anchorage. The first two are no success; anchorage ground too rocky and bay too small. But the third is a beautiful natural bay where we are fine for the night.

It's time to do some shopping so we sail a short distance to the small village of Gjerdmundshamn. It feels like a nice place with bustle of ferries going to and from so we decide to stay for the day. There are lots of ferries in this part of Norway, many of which are electric. The ferries from this port sail day and night.

The next day, for the first time, it is warm enough to have breakfast outside and the rest of the day we are dressed in shorts with t-shirt/polo for the first time all day 😎. We sail on towards Bergen through the narrow Lukksund fjord with a 32m-high bridge. On the way, we make a spontaneous video call with the daughters and their boyfriends 🥰. Fortunately, Eline and Jonas are finally having nice weather too, and it looks good for the coming week ☀️😃. At the entrance to the anchor bay, a 25m power cable (we need 22.5m) is hanging. Always exciting, but it really does hang high enough 🤗. It is a large enclosed bay where we spend the rest of the afternoon sitting outside in the sun.

The last stop before Bergen is the small port of Kleppholmen. We could sail half of the trip. Once there, Mira makes a walk to a summit with a nice view. We are not quite comfortable here; in the wind and with a squeaky jetty. So we immediately cast off again when Mira returns and sail on for another half hour to a beautiful ‘quiet’ anchor bay in the middle of nature (under the take-off route of Bergen airport and with a ferry passing cosily behind us 😎). We eat stew from the crockpot and fries from the airfryer, delicious outside in the sunshine

We are now exactly 10 weeks on or way. How extremely lucky we are with the weather ☀️😊. It can also be very different here with fog, cold and rain and then it is a different story. We (Mira, Toine has been for longer 😎) are also getting more and more into the rhythm and realisation that this is our life for the next while. What a huge privilege ☺️😃👌.

Keeping in touch with the daughters is going very well with video calls via whatsapp. We are already well used to that. We've also done it a few times with friends in recent weeks and that also works very well 👌. Nice to be able to keep in touch better this way 🥰.

So far, we have encountered few other boats because we are still early in the season. But just this past day, we see both a French, British and Belgian sailboat. In Haugesund, we spoke to a couple our age on a Norwegian boat going all the way to the northern border with Russia. We are also in touch with two Dutch boats who are also going to Svalbard in July. In the coming period, we are bound to meet more boats that are also sailing north at a faster pace like us.

Now first, tomorrow we will go to Bergen where in two days we will meet Eline and Jonas who will sail with us to Fløro for 10 days 🥰.