Stuart tells how it was....

"We had an early morning departure from Floro since we had a few miles to cover and Tommy was (strangely) very keen to visit a tang factory in Buskoy. It had something to do with packaging up sea weed, ready to be used for pharmacutical purposes in some far away place - I think! It seems like the summer has been and gone as it has been fairly cold for a few days now, after torrential rain in Floro, which means we don't feel so guilty taking shelter in a fine cosy public house for most of the day. Smokey JapaNeil is champion sleeper today with Terry '40 winks' Balfour managing to have breakfast before 3.30 pm for the first time in a week. Neil has earned an extension to his original nickname because of his new paparazzi style of photography - we think he has taken over ten spools since leaving Lerwick harbour."

With Buskoy behind us we crossed the mouth of the Sognefjord, the longest fjord in Norway, and followed the well marked channels through the islands down to Fedje. Fedje is a small island on the extreme west coast of Norway. It is a bit like a Shetland Skerries but on a bigger scale and with the same friendly people. We had a downpour of heavy rain just as we approached the harbour mouth which got us all scurrying for oilskins. We tied outside the beautifully restored schooner "Lotos" and soon there was a liaison officer on board with the promise of of a free taxi to take us to hot showers and a run round to the karioke bar later.

Tommy Allan's shower was to be a bit delayed though. The generator began to change tone and Robbie noticed the cooling water had stopped coming out. Sarus, or stingy jellyfish, and tang had blocked the cooling water strainer. We tried to clear it but were unsucessful. Tommy volunteered to dive in and see if he could clear it from below. He did but even that did'nt work so when the rest left for showers we took the boat outside again and ran full speed ahead and astern. This did the trick and we tied up again for a late dinner and showers.