North to Nesna...

Day 52: Friday 19th June, 2026

Brønnøysund to Nesna.

Duration: 8hrs 5mins

Heavy downpours overnight thankfully eased for our departure from Brønnøysund...but the skies remained grey...

...which sadly really limited our views out west to the island of Vega and all the surrounding skerries and islets (around 6,500 of them!) - which I had really wanted to see, as I had loved a book called 'A Place of Tides' by James Redbanks. It is a beautiful read which documents the author's 70 days spent with an elderly local woman called Anna and her assistant Ingrid, who was trying to revive the ancient tradition of building nests on her ancestral islands, to shield the eider ducks from predators in order to harvest their precious down feathers...maybe the elusive isles will be visible on our return journey later in the summer...

...So, onward up the misty Tilremfjord , through Tjottafjord, and then Alsthaugfjord...

where the first of the Seven Sister Mountains teasingly came into view, with low lying cloud and mist shrouding the tops and her siblings beyond...(peaks 902m to 1066m)

...but the Weather Gods were kind and slowly, as we motored past, the others showed themselves too. ...

...and then the cloud slowly enveloped the tops again, as we passed on by...

...which meant we could give our full attention to the dramatic mountain 'Donmannen' (858m), on Donna island...

....and all the beautiful landscape beyond...

...where the glimpses of sunshine became more persistent...

and illuminated low snow and high waterfalls...

...and then just as we entered Ranfjord, we spied Nesna and her welcoming harbour in the heart of the Helgeland coast ...

...and found a nice spot on the pontoon...even though the bow thruster blew a fuse again...

....so ashore we went for a nice small hike through the forest, with lovely outward views...

...and then back to the boat where I trapped the Captain in the bow locker...

...and refused to let him out for dinner until he had replaced the thruster motor...which worked a treat...so once he had successfully replaced and fitted the designated part he was allowed to come up top...

and have a lovely dinner and enjoy the soothing evening's vistas before retiring to bed...