After a lazy start from Sjervøy we motorsailed into a freshening headwind, past spectacular snow-clad peaks and glacial valleys and into the big sound south of Suroey Island.
This is a grand amphitheatre of sharply etched peaks and valleys, glistening in a late-blooming evening sun. For Maxine, sundowners were Farida’s leftover single malt. I stuck with G&T. Happy hour saw us through till our arrival in Hammerfest at 2330h. Admittedly closing midnight on a cold grey Sunday you should be careful judging a town, but for us it was not reminiscent of Paris or Rome. In the small hours, and I thought deeply asleep, I felt a change come through with fresh ESE breezes. Interesting how attuned you become to variations in weather, boat motion and sound after time afloat.
Today, Monday, the skies are cloudless. Weather precludes travel and I would get an mechanic to look at our engine coolant problem, but it is yet another public holiday. There seems to be a relentless succession of them.