The days continued to get shorter as we traveled further north in our Norwegian winter cruise—the sunset pictured above was taken at 3:15pm. We weren’t sure how we’d do with the super-short days of the Norwegian winter, but so far we haven’t minded. We run the boat in the morning during the darkness and then hike or tour in the tender when we have daylight.

From the fjord Gulen, we returned to the outer coast and spent two days at Froya. We toured the area by tender and attempted a hike to the dramatic Dosabu stormwatching cabin on the northwest side of the island, but the weather deteriorated, so we made a small loop hike on the island instead. It is one of the few hikes we’ve aborted in the many we’ve attempted since returning to Norway.

Below are highlights from December 5th and 6th, 2020. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.

12/5/2020

Froya Church Position: 61°46.36’N, 4°54.05’E The Froya Church, consecrated in 1865, aglow in the morning light.

Froya Bridge Position: 61°46.69’N, 4°54.19’E Passing under the last portion of the bridge to Froya that crosses several islets from Bremangerlandet.

Froya Anchorage Position: 61°46.89’N, 4°54.83’E Our anchorage off the east side of the island of Froya in 62 ft (19 m) on 200 ft (61 m) of rode.

Kalvag Position: 61°45.87’N, 4°52.65’E The picturesque town of Kalvag at the southern tip of Froya has lots of marina space and likely is very popular in the summer with boaters and other tourists. Viewed on a tender tour of the area.

Bow Watch Position: 61°46.47’N, 4°56.93’E Jennifer watching from the bow as we run the tender through a poorly-charted, narrow and shallow passage.

Bukta Position: 61°47.58’N, 4°57.23’E This floathome was one of several in the Bukta area that appeared to be part of a fishing lodge. They looked wonderfully built and maintained.

Beacon Position: 61°47.52’N, 4°56.91’E One of several statues and other figures serving as private marks of hazards in the area, likely installed by the same person who built the float homes.

Dusk Position: 61°47.20’N, 4°55.81’E Dusk at 2:40pm as we explore the area east of Froya by tender.

Sunset Position: 61°46.45’N, 4°54.07’E Spectacular sunset looking west from the southern tip of Froya. It’s hard to believe the time is only 3:15pm.

12/6/2020

Tender Position: 61°46.78’N, 4°54.08’E Our tender tied off at Froya for a hike ashore.

Deere Position: 61°46.72’N, 4°53.97’E Another John Deere in the wild. Shhh—it’s sleeping.

Trail Position: 61°46.68’N, 4°53.65’E On the trail for our hike, with the Froya church visible behind. It looks like early in the morning, but the time is just past 9am.

Choices Position: 61°46.90’N, 4°51.59’E As do many of Norway’s outer islands, Froya has an extensive network of well-maintained hiking trails. Here are our choices at this point.

Overcast Position: 61°46.85’N, 4°51.93’E Our original plan was to hike to the Dosabu stormwatching cabin on the northwest side of the island, a recommendation from blog reader Rene Bornmann. But the forecast partly sunny skies did not materialize. Instead we got rain and low fog, not very appealing for a view hike. So we instead of turning northwest, we turned southeast towards Kalvag, the town we visited by tender yesterday.

Ice Position: 61°46.56’N, 4°52.27’E It’s cold on the trail, with the puddles starting to ice over.

Footbridge Position: 61°46.56’N, 4°52.27’E Walking over a footbridge on the descent to Kalvag.

Kalvag Position: 61°46.41’N, 4°52.22’E The view southeast from the trail to Kalvag and across the waterway Froysjoen to mainland Norway in the distance.

Waterfall Position: 61°54.23’N, 5°0.35’E We’d returned from our hike earlier than expected, so decided to move the boat. Since conditions were calm, we made a pass around the rugged outer coast of Bremangerlandet and back around into Fajforden. This is one of several waterfalls we viewed en route.

Tennebo Anchorage Position: 61°54.74’N, 5°9.85’E Our anchorage off Tennebo in 129 ft (39 m) on 330 ft (100 m) of rode.

Happy Hour Position: 61°54.74’N, 5°9.84’E Tennebo was particularly beautiful on a calm night and the hillside houses aglow with holiday lights.

Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise. On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.