A boat and a breen on the longest day.

Last nights fishing had taken place 100 meters from our parking spot on the jetty where a little boat takes people (mostly us tourists) from Holands-fjord over the water to Engen. And most people making this crossing are en-route to walk up for a closer look at the Engabreen glacier. Whilst looking at it for an hour or two last night I decided we should try and do that walk-weather permitting. As so often seems to happen, even when the weather is gorgeous at 1am in the morning it was chucking it down with rain when our alarm went off. So we had another hour in bed and got up for breakfast, our supply of muesli and granola are now well diminished so it was porridge today as we have 2kg to use before we go home. At the current rate of usage that will last us 20 days. Guess I better catch some more mackerel!! The boys watched a bit DVD which we deem acceptable on wet weather mornings.

After breakfast it was still raining but the forecast was for something a bit better in the afternoon so instead of taking the 10am crossing we decided to chill and wait an hour and go over at 11am. The 10 o'clock boat had very few people on it, and right on cue at about 10:45 a big bus drew up and off got lots of people...that would be just our luck not to get on. We were all donned in waterproofs when we left the van as it was still dreich, not raining hard but definitely not dry. We joined the big queue at the boat but got on no problem, I think they can carry many more if need be. The crossing was very smooth, with not many waves on the water which is an incredible turquoise colour from the minerals and sediment being washed down over thousands of years from the glaciers around here, its hard to capture the colour in a picture but it is amazing. The passengers we shared the crossing with were on a package tour, from Germany, they were bussing it and staying in hotels, a bus dropped them at the jetty, they crossed by the wee boat and had a bus waiting at his remote location, it carried them 1.5km and they then had ( a whole) 40 minutes to see this beautiful area, then bussed back to boat and so on. At the end of their 12 day bus tour they were getting the Hurtigrutten ferry back down via all the ports and then a bus back home, it really made me think how fortunate we are to have the time and inclination to do it our way. We are lucky to be able to afford the time, but we must surely be able to take more satisfaction form our trip knowing we have done it all ourselves, maybe the cyclists feel this even more so in their own way, relying only on ferries and their own legs to get from A to B.....I would hate that bus tour holiday!!

Its only a 15 minute crossing and we got off at Engen jetty and wandered along the track towards Svartisen a little hamlet of houses where people live and also a sort of animal park with some of the local species that can be found in the area, including an Elk which is tame-and can be kissed if your that way inclined. We decided to visit this on the way back if there was time, it was an extra cost if we wanted to. The drizzle was on and off along the track but it was quite warm. Callum likes to mump and moan and ask "how long is this walk gonna take" which after a while gets tiring but the promise of an ice cream at the end sometimes works wonders. Soon the track ran out and we were on a path up and along the smooth glacial slabs with iron stations in places to help progress. We passed a lady who was either seriously grumpy or totally disapproving of where I (I won't blame Joyce for this) was taking our children, lol, she hardly even acknowledged our passing. The slabs were in places slippy as it was wet but not too steep so we carried on. Joyce is nervous on this sort of stuff but put on a brave face and helped one or the other of the boys along as needed. Some of the stantions which were about 1" in diameter were bent double and I recon this must have been a winter avalanche that did this. I could see people away ahead of us on what looked like trickier ground and I thought perhaps this was a task too far for the boys, but a good friend of mine from years ago told me to "never judge a mountain until your nose is up against it" so we carried on (looks from a distance can be deceptive). The way up levelled for a bit and then left the slabs to ascend a sort of low angled gully or dyke so the ground was more broken and stoney. The boys seemed to be loving it, looking for the next blue paint splodge and scrambling upwards.

Joyce however was less impressed, I was getting quite a few looks which told the story well. I scouted away ahead at a section and found that it was never too bad, just a bit more of the same till it eased off to slabs again. The glacier was completely out of sight for all this section. My judgement was trusted and soon we were past the difficulties and much closer to the glacier, the cairn and the sensible stopping place for us today were just around the corner. We put our entry in the little visitors book. This glacier is very clean, white and blue. Many of the glaciers in the Alps I was been on are dirty looking due to the amount of rock that falls off the mountains and onto them, this glacier is fed from an ice cap rather than flowing below big peaks and this probably accounts for this look. I think the boys were quite impressed by their achievement of getting here, and also the view of the glacier. We took some photos at the cairn and blethered to a German lady who had parked beside us last night in a quirky little caravan. She had managed to get up with 2 Husky's attached to her. I wondered if this was easier or harder than having a couple of young kids to help along. We had all done well and I felt slightly less bad about taking a 3 and 4 year old up here when a group of Italians arrived also with a couple of youngsters-they were probably 7 or 8, so perhaps I am a bad parent after all.The rain had gone off almost completely and things were starting to dry out a little but it didn't ever get sunny.

Getting there is only half way however so it was time to descend, this is often trickier than going up and you are aware of this all the time whilst climbing, however we just took it all really steady and it really wasn't all that long till we were back down on the slippery slabs, the scrambling section over. Callum is a nuisance on stuff like this, it looks so easy but can in places be really slippy, regardless of how many time you tell him to take it easy or to stop jumping around it does just not seem to sink in so taking a hand is by far the best and safest option. Logan is good and much more measured although being that little bit younger needs a hand too. A slip or trip would not be good. Back on the track they found sticks and stones to throw in the rivers and also had a spring in their steps as the promised ice creams were only a few corners away. I love it after a hard hill day in the Alps stopping for a beer or something to eat in a mountain hut, it just seems like the right thing to do and it felt no different today and was just reward for the boys effort, AND of course its our holiday and ice creams are part of any holiday. So, we stopped for coffee and ice cream in the lovely lodge next to the glacial lake, its a bit more posh than an Alpine hut but had the same feel to it. It was quiet however, the weather had kept most away. The chef lad told us on nice days, and particularly Fridays we probably normally wouldn't even have managed in the door. We chatted a lot about how glaciers are formed and how at the moment they are receding, we took some photos in the lodge and the boys have promised to bring me back in 30 years with my zimmer to see how much it has shrunk.

Refreshments over, it was time to head along to the jetty for the boat back. The boys were none the wiser about the animal park and time was wearing on so jackets on and a quick walk along the last 1.5km and soon the little boat was back in sight. We all got on and the rain started back on a bit. Callum had been asking if he could have a go at driving the boat, so we went into the wheelhouse and the captain of the ship immediately looked at Callum and offered him his seat and a shot of the controls, clearly one  captain can recognise another with just a passing look. Callum entertained the captain and other passengers with his chat, telling them all about the boats he has driven, the type of car and motorhome he wants and also that his Daddy drives a Skoda. It was all good fun and I think it rounded off his day quite well. It's really great to see him happy.

Back in the van and through a couple of long tunnels and we were past Glomfjorg and en route to Ornes for an important visit to a shop. I only had 1 beer left and it was 5.40pm by the time we got there. Joyce had given up hope of stocking up on wine as the Vinmonopoly closed at 5, or so we thought. When I walked past there were a couple of people in, it is actually 6pm on a Friday-so, we are now all stocked up again for the foreseeable future and also happily parked up in a little campsite in a place called Reipa. Last nights catch was soon in the frying pan and we were all pretty much agreed that this Norwegian cod from a blue green glacial fjord, fried in Norwegian beer batter was perhaps the tastiest bit of fish we have ever had.

Today is the longest day of the year, the days will be getting shorter from here on in but our rate of travel north will negate any changes. Hopefully soon we will have a clear sky and a northern sea view to see the sun at midnight. All good and a great day again.