Category: Norway and Lofoten Islands

We arrived in Scotland in blazing sunshine, motored through the sound of Islay with the tide and anchored in West Loch Tarbert, Jura.  After 3 nights at sea it was time for Scottish Gin and Tonic at sunset.

541 miles on the log,  with stops in Fowey, Falmouth, 3 nights at sea ,Jura, Mull and finally Oban. We had a bit of everything.  A long beat around the Lizard in a steady force 6, downwind to Lands End in a steady force 7 and then a beam reach north through the Irish Sea and north channel.  The wind died just before we reached the Mull of Kintyre but the sun came out and we enjoyed motoring in sunshine for 30 hours.

The only rain of the trip was on the last day as we motored from Loch Duarte in Mull to Oban – we looked a bit bedraggled when we arrived.

Its best to let the guests sum up the trip

Sunny skies, starry nights, a bit of rain and lots of fun.  Superbly organised and hosted trip

Amazing experience of watches and variable weather.  Excellent hosts and lovely food

Velvet Lady inspires confidence and is a beautiful boat to sail.  Your attention to detail and safety left me in no doubt that this is the way to sail

First rate hosts, ship ad journey.  A wet day at sea is better than any day in the office

One of the reasons for ending our last trip in Stokmarknes was to give Richard and Lin the opportunity to explore the island group of Vesteralen, just north of the Lofoten Islands.  After a quick scrub, clean and shop we were ready for the off and left Stokmarknes heading west to circumnavigate the island group.

We were really surprised to discover how different the islands were from Lofoten, lower, greener and more rounded.  There was also lots more habitation than we expected colourful houses, pretty churches and plenty of birds.

We found some spectacular anchorages but the highlight of the trip was the 5 killer whales who coasted by and stayed with us for about an hour, and even returned the following day.

Now we are in Stokmarknes and ready to start our second one way trip, this one ending back at our usual base in Bodo.

For our final 10 days in the Lofoten Islands we yet again had an international flavour with our guests.  2 couples, both from Australia.  We were looking forward to meeting them – they didn’t know each other and Australia is a big place.

Within 5 minutes of talking we discovered that they lived a mere 5km apart just outside Freemantle – both owned boats and went sailing in the same area.  Whats that about 6 degrees of separation or something!

We had a great week – mixed weather added to the lure of the islands and we found plenty of time to explore ashore. We visited many of our favourite places for one last time before heading home, and dubbed Haversand ‘Paradise Beach’

One day – Richard found this hat in a shop in the Lofoten Islands – thought it would be good for keeping the rain off.  The next day, I had to model it for real!

Its a long sail from Bodo to the Lofoten Island – 55 miles – not so different to a channel crossing.  Not the kind of thing that you want to do either on the first day of a cruise or the last day, so we allow for this and spend the first day and last day sailing amongst the islands on the mainland side.  We’re going to make a change next year.  We’re going to do 2 one way trips, Bodo to the Lofoten Islands and the Lofoten Islands back to Bodo – meaning more cruising time in the Lofoten Islands and a trip on a small propeller airplane to get there/back.  What an adventure.  Dates and prices for this will be published at the end of August.  Sign up here for our newsletter to receive details hot off the press