We made our way out of the fjords and back to the coast, mostly under engine as the wind is either right from behind or on the nose. Luckily we were able to sail a little more as we got closer to the coast. Our nexst destination is a very small harbour in Klubben that on it’s on isn’t very special but serves as our base to climb the Hornelen peak, which is the highest sea cliff in Europe standing tall at 860 meters above sea level. There was some initial confusion as some of the teens had looked up the hike and told me it was a 4 hours hike. What they didn’t mention was that it’s 4 hours one way. And that of course is at a descent speed without two little kids. Anyhow luckily we did do some more research before actually starting the hike and calculated it would take us about 9 hours. It took us more like 11 hours in the end… Pff! I think this hike was a fair bit harder than Ben Nevis mostly because of the duration and the trail itself which, well isn’t really a path and involves some climbing and clambering over rocks at stages. We found a little patch of snow near the top which quickly turned into a full on snowball fight to the full delight of Tim and Alex who stayed safely out of the midst of it but threw in their share of snowballs. On the top we were rewarded with a magnificent view of the fjords and surrounding areas. A little sheltering hut is on the top with two beds and some flags. On the way down we split the group into two, Lucas taking the faster group down and sander, me and Ollie staying back with our kids and those who have less mountain goat genes in them. We took it nice and easy and came back only one hour after the first group. The following day we sailed 30nm to the island of Alden. A high, steep island with a beautiful, albeit small natural harbour. With no room for us to swing around we tied up the stern to a rock mooring and spend a lovely day resting, sailing the minicat and catching fish for our dinner.

Laura