As is becoming the pattern, we left Onøya fairly early, planning on heading to somewhere called Halsa or possibly Vågaholmen – they are fairly close together. We had a good sail for much of the way, playing sail roulette as usual as the wind changed, but keeping moving fairly well quite a bit of the way. As we rounded one corner close to Vikingen Island we saw an interesting sculpture. We were busy switching the from the genoa to the staysail, but it dawned on us that this was meant to represent crossing the Arctic Circle.
Now this was all very well, but … it wasn’t actually on the Arctic Circle. The sculpture was at 66o32′ (N) in latitude. However, the Arctic Circle is actually at a position more like 66o34′ (N) – a fact that will be wrong almost immediately as I type it as it moves very slightly and constantly. It is currently drifting north at around 48ft per year. The Arctic Circle actually marks the most southerly latitude where the sun does not rise at the December solstice (in winter) where the sun does not set at the summer solstice. These phenomena are referred to as polar night and midnight sun, respectively. The further north you go towards the North Pole, the longer that situation persists.
So, we actually logged crossing the Arctic Circle about 25 minutes later when we crossed a latitude of 66o34′ (N). Still, I am sure all the passengers on the Hurtigruten are unaware of this when they pass the monument (as one had done about an hour before we got there). Just as an aside, the word Arctic comes from the Greek arktikos, meaning ‘near the bear’. Kind of appropriate, we are definitely closer to polar bears than we were yesterday, but hopefully not too close ….
About an hour and a half after crossing the Arctic Circle the wind started to die a bit and, given some nice (relatively) warm sunny conditions, we decided on a change of plan and headed for the Svartisen glacier. The name Svartisen actually comes from the words ‘svart‘ and ‘is‘ meaning ‘black ice‘.
The name Svartisen is actually a collective term for two glaciers, and is part of Saltfjellet-Svartisen National Park. The place we were headed is actually called Engabreen and is an offshoot of the Svartisen glacier that heads down towards the sea. It holds the record of ending at the lowest point of any glacier in Europe, stopping at just 25 metres or so above sea level. There is a jetty there to moor right by Engabreen, so we motored all the way up Holandsfjord to get to the jetty – called Litlvika or Engen Brygge.
We got there shortly after 2pm and headed off to walk to the end of the glacier. Although it looks close, it is actually quite a way and we didn’t get right to the glacier, but we did get an excellent view and had a lovely walk round the glacial lake with Anne identifying various plants (including a Yellow Arctic Violet, Ajuga Pyramidalis, Birds Eye Primrose and Moss Campion) in the woods surrounding the lake. The woods themselves were festooned with lovely white wood anenomes.
Overall, an excellent which ended moored up in a beautiful spot. There aren’t that many places in the world where you can tie up to a jetty right by the foot of a glacier …..
