We’re beginning to forget that Amalia has sails. The weather at the moment seems to have settled into bands where there is far too much wind (even for those sails) and then there is far too little. Today was the latter. Once again we headed off early, but this time the strategy was to avoid the rain which was forecast to start after lunch. This brilliant strategy was confounded when it started raining as soon as we left, but it did gradually clear and we had a fairly clear run with winds rarely troubling the anemometer to even turn. It was a lovely run though through the islands and weaving through beautiful landscapes (as ever!).
We arrived at Kuringvågen in time for lunch and obligingly, the rain came shortly after lunch. The combination of lunch and a strategy that worked did induce a certain degree of smugness as we sheltered for the afternoon.
With plenty more rain in the forecast we decided to stay in Kuringvågen for a couple more days. We found a walk round past the church – an intriguing octagonal shape. It was inaugurated in 1825, but has been adapted and added to since and is apparently beautifully painted inside. However, we tried all four doors – all were locked, so we can’t verify this.
The next stop was a visitor centre for one of the local salmon farming companies. I thought that it was an exhibition centre, but it seems that it was a base for taking groups out to the salmon farms in RIBs to show them farming at first-hand. The friendly person there though offered to show us a film about salmon farming and chatted us through things, showing us some preserved salmon roe in a small jar and then a large stuffed fabric salmon to illustrate the size they are when they are dispatched to that great salmon farm in the sky (or Sainsbury’s as we like to call it ….!). The film was interesting and slickly produced, carefully glossing over some of the more controversial aspects of the industry. As the second largest industry in Norway after oil, it is hardly surprising that they want to protect their status, but multiple issues are starting to come to greater prominence: sea lice and other parasites (which can then affect wild salmon), genetic pollution (when farmed fish escape – as they do – and inter-breed), disease and mass mortality (high densities of fish within the pens can spread disease rapidly), fjord pollution and waste (as concentrated fish excrement pollutes the sea bed under the pens). All these were carefully glossed over and environmental groups continue to campaign to close many regulatory loopholes.
The next day we felt that we needed to stand in solidarity with friends back at home. With a heatwave affecting all of southern England, we decided that we needed to know what you were all going through, so we booked a sauna! The hotel in Kuringvågen has a floating sauna outside, so we booked that to swelter for a while and very pleasant it was. The sea still hadn’t warmed up that much, but it was refreshing, so we can recommend coming to Norway to avoid excess heat (except selectively in saunas!).
That evening was a big one for Norwegians. Norway was playing France in the World Cup and so we decided we should support the home side. Along with 110 other people, we squeezed into the hotel to watch the match. Norway had already qualified for the last 32 as they were drawn with France at the top of the table, but it was still an important game. France went 2-0 up fairly quickly, but about 10 minutes later we had the perfect illustration of the difference in timing which can happen when streaming television. The other end of the room (who were watching on a different TV) suddenly got very excited and were cheering like mad. About 1 minute later we found out why as Norway scored. The second half though didn’t go any better and they ended up losing 4-1. The Norwegian supporters seemed quite philosophical though and some even argued that had been the plan all along as this result meant that they met the Ivory Coast in the next round where France would meet Germany. I guess that’s one way of looking at it!
