Kayak Isle of Man - Scotland.

About 3 months ago I resigned as a Consultant Anaesthetist at the Nobles Hospital, Isle of Man. I had no job to go to, and I really didn't know what I was going to do for a living. All I knew was that I needed to leave that job. I didn't even know if I wanted to ever practice as a doctor again. As an aside, I learned this week that another anaesthetist from my former department has done the same thing! Either way, this week marks my return to the world of the working. I'm off to the Outer Hebrides for a few weeks to cover for an absent Consultant Anaesthetist. After that I'm off to the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland, to do the same thing up there. Now you'll notice a pattern starting to emerge here? All the jobs I've accepted so far are in prime kayaking spots, and yes the Rockpool will be coming with me.
The photos above were snapped during a rather blustery circumnavigation of the Calf of Man on Saturday with Jess and Ian.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Hamn i Senja to Skaland.

For our final two days in Northern Norway we returned to Hamn i Senja. The Island of Senja is like a breath of fresh air after Lofoten. It's just as spectacular as Lofoten, but Senja has not yet been besieged by the convoys of camper vans from middle Europe. Senja takes on the role of an accessible wilderness. This is Norway at it's most Arctic, where wildlife is abundant and on display. And yet it remains accessible, as the Norwegians have burrowed numerous tunnels through the massive, dramatic granite mountains to facilitate the roads. It may not stay like this as word gets out and tourism promotion takes off.
This time the pontoons were complete making launching the kayak from just below our cabin easy. I paddled north through the archipelago of "tropical islands" borrowed from the Maldives, and then through a wide open and exposed section to the idyllic sandy beach just north of Skaland. This really is paddling at it's best. Northern Norway is remarkable, Lofoten is magical, Senja is spectacular and this section between Skaland and Hamn is one of the most special places I've ever been.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Lofoten further reflections.

This was my second time in A i Lofoten. Last year we were there in October. This time in July it was different. Don't get me wrong, Lofoten is always stunning and I had one of my best paddles ever down to the Maelstrom. But somehow the mountains were less dark and the clouds were less moody. Lofoten is as much about the weather as it is about the geography and it needs, storms, wind and perhaps even snow. This doesn't mean I won't return, it means I'm coming back in January!
By the way all of the above photographs are of Senja, not Lofoten, which is where we are now.
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Kayak Isle of Man - Fish Heads.

A few photographs of some of my paddling trips around Lofoten are shown above. Clearly, the lower most photograph is different. It shows thousands of cod fish heads strung up and attached to drying poles. We encountered these on a walk into the mountains a day or two ago. As mentioned in previous posts one of Lofoten's major exports are dried, salted codfish. These go mainly to Southern Europe including Spain and Portugal. Many end up as Bacalao, which consists of the dried, slated cod, potatoes, tomatoes and what ever else comes to hand. The fish heads however are different. They are exported to Nigeria where they are mixed with spices to create a delicious meal! Judging by the blue bottles and the smell there may be some insect life included in this mid African delicacy.
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Isle of Man Kayakblog - Moskenestraumen!

Wisely or not I paddled from the tiny, historical fishing village of A to Hell a couple of days ago. Every now and again I undertake a paddle which remains memorable and will stick with me forever. This was one such paddle.
A consists of many Rorbuer, or fisherman's huts, many on stilts overhanging the sea. These were constructed to accommodate the hundreds of migrant fishermen who arrived in Lofoten for the seasonal cod fishing period over the Winter. These days, tourists, including us, inhabit them as fishing has become less labour intensive.
I really wasn't sure what to expect on this paddle. I wanted to do it last time I was in Lofoten but I couldn't get hold of a boat. This time I had my Rockpool. On the way down I passed puffins, several pairs of Golden Eagles and a myriad of sea birds. However, as I neared the end of the main chain of Lofoten Islands, I began to feel nervous as I heard an all too familiar roar of a tidal race. Was this the infamous Moskenstraumen or Maelstrom? Renowned for pulling under fishing boats, whirlpools and the fastest ever recorded tidal currents at 18 km/hr I was now very worried. The roar grew loader and yet there were no signs of tidal activity. I turned the corner at the end of the last main island and entered the Maestorm (lower photo) and paddled towards the aptly named "Hell"! There was that roar but there was nothing. There was less tide than on a slow day at the Calf. The roar I heard was the boiling, fizzing commotion of thousands of fish leaping all around me. Somewhat relieved, I paddled back towards A and caught a speedy tidal stream about a mile off the coast. It was a taste of what this place is capable of as the Rockpool became a rocket and took me home in record time.
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Isle of Man Kayakblog - Hamn i Senja.

It was pretty good to get the well travelled 3 piece Rockpool Alaw Bach in the water again. It's been a while, as I was trying to preserve it for this trip to northern Norway. It nearly all went very wrong as Norwegian customs toyed with the idea of charging me £680 pounds to allow the boat into the country. They relented, but the delays meant that we thought we'd missed out on collecting the kayak before we left Tromso. With just 10 minutes to spare before we boarded a ferry to the Island of Senja, the hotel in Tromso rang to alert us to the kayak's arrival. We didn't mind the 3 hour back track, and simply caught a later ferry. 10 minutes later and the kayak would have been effectively out of reach as we continued our journey down the "Whale Route".
It was in Hamn that I took to the water. This small harbour on the west coast of the Island of Senja is the gateway to an archipelago of over 100 smaller islands. The photos above do not do justice to the setting and in the warm summer sunshine the archipelago seemed more reminiscent of the Caribbean than this special place above the Arctic Circle. Clearly others felt so as a steady trickle of paddlers launched into the turquoise water from Hamn. They take paddling pretty seriously up here and there is a Midnight Sun Paddling Festival on Senja from the 2nd to the 5th of July if you are in the area.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Trolls.

They say that Senja rivals Lofoten. I had heard of the Lofoten Islands but not of Senja before I first travelled to Northern Norway. They, who ever they are, are right. The geography is similar with soaring, shear cliffs rising hundreds of feet vertically from the dark, icy sea. But Senja is also different to Lofoten. If it were possible it is more remote with very little compromise to tourism and hardly any accomodation. Lofoten on the other hand benefits from the hundreds fishermans huts long since vacated by trawlermen, but instead utilized by viitors from across the globe. This makes the Island of Senja feel more forbidding and more on the edge.
Having said all that the accomodation we found in Hamn is first class. A few miles down the road would be Senja's attempt at a theme park. The Troll Park contains officially the Worlds largest Troll, plus his wife for good measure. You can check it out for yourself in the Guiness Book of Records. Oh, and despite what I said in yesterday's post, Joanna Lumley is in fact incarcerated here in the senjatrollet as shown in the picture below.


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