We spend most of the morning cruising the North Sea about 20 miles off the Norwegian shore. The skies continue to provide ever-changing, interesting vistas, and Steve cannot resist photographing them.
Our morning routine is firmly in place. At 10:30am, the ship enters the fjord that takes us to the island of Vågsøy, on which the town of Måløy is located. It’s a beautiful ride of about twenty minutes until we reach the town.
What we see is quite incredible. The community is built on a steep hillside, and as can be seen on the map at the beginning of this post, you reach the houses at the top by traversing a series of roads with switchback at either end. Steve can picture in his mind the spectacular views to be had from the uppermost houses, but doesn’t have the ambition to make the climb to find out for himself. Neither one of can imagine the shape that the residents must be in to be making this climb home. In winter storms, they must be stuck in their homes for weeks.
We arrive on time at 11am and dock. Our excursion, Highlights of Maloy, doesn’t begin until 4:25, so our first order of business is lunch in the town. We have been waiting for fish and chips, and just know there are some nice restaurants there that will help us satisfy that craving.
We leave the ship around noon. There is a little tourist stand on the pier with a volunteer handing out maps. We ask her for advice, and she points to a yellow building and tells us that around there we will find what we are looking for. As we leave the pier area, another volunteer cheerfully hands us a postcard. What a nice welcome.
A fifteen-minute walk in the suggested direction and we can’t exactly find any restaurants. However, we continue until we are actually at the yellow building that was our landmark and, sure enough, here is a nice restaurant with a covered area with picnic tables. The restaurant is named Havfruen, and we walk in to see what’s what. It’s way too hot inside, but we are greeted warmly and are told that there is indeed table service outside. We find a table, and our waitperson comes in a few minutes with menus and water. They do have fish and chips!
We are there for almost an hour enjoying the quiet of the town and our lunch. Nearby we see a couple of members of Sirena’s crew enjoying a beer on their afternoon off. When we are done, we head back on the main street and stop in a very nice combination kitchen goods and souvenir store where we pick up an oven mitt for a Norwegian Cliff Island friend of ours.
The town is eerily quiet, and we assume it’s because everyone is at work. It’s another busy fishing port, and there are a couple of very large fish processing facilities across the fjord on the mainland, accessible by a bridge. We arrive back on the ship and await our tour.
At 4:25, we are back out and board our bus. We meet our guide Annetta, who introduces herself and says “Welcome to Molde … I mean Maloy! This is my second tour of the day, and I am a bit weary.” This explains the late departure. As it is everywhere, there aren’t enough people for all the available jobs. So both our guide and the bus driver are on their second tour of the day. It’s very nice of them to be willing to take us out so late in the day. We are told that we will visit three special places, none of which are actually in the town. But we will see much of the beautiful scenery available on the island of Vagsoy.
The first stop after a 30-minute drive is Kråkenes Lighthouse. Here is a brief Wikipedia description: “It was first lit in 1906 and automated in 1986. The original lighthouse was destroyed by fire following an Allied air raid in 1945. The current lighthouse now houses a restaurant and has rooms available for overnight accommodations. The 10-metre (33 ft) tall lighthouse is attached to the seaward side of a 2+1⁄2-story wood keeper’s house built into the rocky shoreline. The building is white and the lighthouse portion has a red roof. The light sits at an elevation of 42.5 metres (139 ft) above sea level and it emits a white, red or green light, depending on direction, occulting once every 6 seconds. The light can be seen for up to 12.8 nautical miles (23.7 km; 14.7 mi).
“The 10-metre (33 ft) tall lighthouse is attached to the seaward side of a 2+1⁄2-story wood keeper’s house built into the rocky shoreline. The building is white and the lighthouse portion has a red roof. The light sits at an elevation of 42.5 metres (139 ft) above sea level and it emits a white, red or green light, depending on direction, occulting once every 6 seconds. The light can be seen for up to 12.8 nautical miles (23.7 km; 14.7 mi).”
Annetta has been telling us along the way that the winter storms along this coast can be very dangerous, and almost apologizes that the seas today are not displaying that. She does explain that winter storms are such that this is the reason the lighthouse and lightkeeper’s home is so far up from the water. In fact, for us to access it from the bus parking lot, we must walk up a 250-yard drive. Cathy decides that she will stay behind. Steve and others make the hike to get a better view of the structure. The snack bar and souvenir shop are closed, but the views are spectacular.
Back down to the bus, and it’s off to our next interesting piece of nature, Refvik beach. Annetta tells us that it is extremely popular during the early summer. The beach is located between two mountains, at the foot of which are small farms. The beach itself is about 300 yards wide by 100 yards long, and the sand is soft and comfortable for walking. We both take a stroll down to the water. It’s a very peaceful and quiet place, but we are only there for twenty minutes. A day at that beach – in much warmer weather – must be a delight.
By now it’s almost 7:00pm, so we push on to the third part of our tour, Kannesteinen Rock. This involves driving back and through Maloy and a couple of small fishing villages, about a 30-minute drive.
Kannesteinen Rock is a most unusual rock formation created by who-knows-how-many-thousand-years of wind and water abrasion. This is a photo op, and we all indulge. It’s located in the tiny village of Oppedal, and when someone asked the driver why no one worries that the rock might be vandalized, he simply answers: “Because it’s in the middle of nowhere.”
We head back on the one-lane road through those small villages, and spot a series of boat houses in one. Cathy takes note of the sturdy stone foundations on which they are built and marvels at the construction.
We arrive back at 8pm as expected. We thank the exhausted driver and our guide Annetta and board Sirena. Dinner at the Grand Dining Room and we are ready to end the day. We are asleep before our ship sails for Kristiansund at 9pm. Another day of discovery here in astoundingly beautiful Norway, with several more to come. What a great trip this is.
