In our last blog, we arrived in Risør, Norway and tied up to the stone wall here to wait out some gales coming from the South. Risør was a convenient port to stop into given its distance from our most recent Swedish anchorages. We did not do too much research on the area as we expected to pass through rather quickly on our way to Scotland. Well, one gale turned into 3, and 3 nights turned into 8 fairly quickly.

Risør is protected by a group of small rocky islands, or skerries.
Can there be too many cute white houses and narrow lane ways?

Risør is stunning. Our first day here we went foraging for mussels and oysters in the dingy in the local area. It is lobster season now and there are pots everywhere. Just before the rain hits, we make it back to Away to cook up a seafood feast.

A big haul of mussels…
In to the soup. Coconut ginger and lime broth.
Just reward for some determined shucking. Four kilpatrick with cured reindeer instead of bacon, and 8 natural with an asian inspired sauce.
Fi bringing Away fashion to Risør. In the background you can see the high ground behind the town where extensive German WW2 gun emplacements now make great dog walking, mushroom hunting and exploring.
The guest harbour is a little exposed outside the breakwater, but at this time of year we found a spot inside the harbour wall.
We helped a solo French sailor in a catamaran dock behind us. It transpired that his catamaran was the first catamaran built by Garcia who also built Away. He left us a thank you crab on the deck when he moved on, which Bernie discovered on his way to his morning wee. He will now walk round the deck the long way to avoid the location of the strange creature with big scary claws.
Late afternoon light on Risor
Looking down on Risor harbour from the gun emplacement. Away is center left.
You are allowed to explore the WW2 tunnels
Underground rooms once housed munitions and soldiers
But sometimes the exit is locked!
The old town water supply now reflects the autumn colours.
We found lots of mushrooms in the woods. There is even an online Norwegian mushroom identification service that will tell you if they are safe to eat!

When the local press arrived to interview us about what a strange black boat from Australia was doing in the harbour, we knew it was time to move on. They published a nice article in the local paper.

Risør, Australia _ Skipshunden Bernie avgjør hvor «Away» skal seile (1)Download

By this stage, and after a few more doggy walks along the coast, we were totally in love with Risør. In total we spend 8 days here, the second longest we have spent anywhere this trip except for Copenhagen – maybe Stockholm too… The food, people, nature and exploring opportunities were fantastic. We meant to leave after a couple of days, but spent one evening planning until 1AM. What was going on with the north sea? There was gale after gale coming over, and constant 4-5m conditions with only a slim 1.5 day break in between them. We need 2.5-3 days to cross, and it was not looking good. That night, we made a plan to stay in Norway for the winter and travel to the UK for December and January to reset our Schengen visas and apply again for our Swedish residency permit. It was hard to admit defeat, but we don’t want to scare ourselves silly and end up becoming land lubbers again.

The next day, pondering out big decision, we do some more exploring in the hills, and get to planning.

Perhaps I wasn’t so unhappy to spend a few more days here.
More German war infrastructure.
I look like Elliot from ET.
The colours are changing. Soon this place will be covered in snow, and the harbour most likely frozen.

Adrian and I do research and make calls to Norwegian marinas in the area. We find a marina in one of the most beautiful fjords in Norway, a few hundred miles north from where we are now. The marina doesn’t freeze over, we can stay in the water, there is skiing, cross country skiing and amazing hiking to be had all winter. It is also possible for us to travel with Bernie over to England in late November from there. We book in, and begin passage planning to get there before Fi needs to jump on a plane and head back to the sunny (or rainy) wilds of Sydney Town.