The first stretch from the Outer Hebrides around Cape Wrath to the Orkneys was not very typical for the region: we had almost any wind at all. Most of the way was done with motor and sometimes supported by the strong tidal currents. Aiming for Stromness in the Orkney Islands saved us from going through Pentland Firth (… but there would have been no wind neither). We quite liked the Orkney’s, where we spent a day driving around Mainland from Kirkwall. But the highlight was to see thousands of Ganets nesting in the cliffs at Noup Head on Westray. Even though this had to be earned by taking a long hike across the island.
From the Orkney’s we continued further North to Fair Isle and then to the Shetlands. Again we spent a day exploring the main island by car, but were not very excited about the landscape. Though we found some nice spots when anchored in Mousa, where seals checked out our boat. We visited two times Noss Island just off Lerwick, a nature reserve with plenty of puffins posing right next to us, and again a huge colony of ganets nesting in the cliffs.
The passage across the North Sea was quite speedy, reaching an average of 7kn under sail. After 32hr we reached the Norwegian coast and then motored up the fjord to Bergen. We were greeted by the typical weather of this area: rain. Hence we soon left and headed south into Lysenfjord near Stavanger. There we spent thee exciting days with hikes to Kjerag Bolten (the rock jammed between rock cliffs), the longest wooden staircase at Florli with 4444 steps or 720m ascent and finally also Preikestolen, the famous pulpit rock (together with thousands of other visitors).
