Kayak Isle of Man - Norway.

It was good to paddle through a partial lull in the terrible weather with Jess and Ian this weekend. We went from Port St. Mary to the Sound. It was pretty rough in places and it was nice to have the security of some company. Of late I've been paddling alone as my work related travels continue. It's Orkney next after 3 and a half weeks in the Outer Hebrides. The regular paddles we enjoyed each weekend are probably over as we all have new and different commitments. People's lives change and evolve and new paddling opportunities arise.
Speaking of changes there is a small new section on the main web site, KAYAK.im . I've been emailed by a couple of contacts in Norway to perhaps put some Norwegian content on the site. Of course KAYAK.im is principally about paddling on the Isle of Man. But I was impressed by my Summer paddling experiences in Norway, and so a small "site within a site" has been created which you can find here. I've been promised more content from Norway and I'll post it if and when it becomes available. In the mean time I've written 3 pages about kayaking in Norway and about Noway itself and how to get there, plus a page which focuses on kayaking on the Island of Senja. Any comments or suggestions or inaccuracies noted then please feel free to let me know.
Photos above by Sion Scott in Sogndal, Norway, 2009.
www.KAYAK.im

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.
www.KAYAK.im

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.
www.KAYAK.im