Edge Of Darkness

John and his crew suffer rough seas and shocking conditions on the second leg of their journey to the far north.

- John Boyle

The alarm went off before dawn on our first morning in Norway. It was Mark’s turn to make breakfast, and I heard him leaving his cabin. I lay under my two duvets, luxuriating in the warmth and savouring the smell of fresh coffee and baking bread rolls.

Outside, the sea was as different as it could be from yesterday. The water of our anchorage was glassy calm, and the sun was rising behind the mountains into a clear sky. Instead of wind, the only sound was calling seabirds.

Norway’s longest stretch of exposed coast had seemed a challenge last night when we were both exhausted after a long and difficult day at sea. This morning, in calm conditions, it was a pleasure, and by mid morning we were moored to a pontoon at Vågen in the centre of Stavanger to pick up Fionn who had flown into Oslo and then caught a train to meet us and come aboard for a week. There’s just a small visitors’ pontoon here; in season, the chances of a berth would be slim, but in mid April it was virtually empty and we could pick our spot.

Stavanger is an attractive city, busy with tourism and commerce. The quayside around our pontoon in Vågen is the focus of cafés and restaurants, all literally just a few yards away on all sides, and behind them, narrow streets filled with groups from a cruise ship that had arrived shortly after us.