Day 128 – Good to be back in Norway this fortunate, wealthy and peaceful corner of Europe – 7 July

Day 128. 7th of July. No paddling. Stein came back on a morning flight, bringing a new Garmin GPS replacing one that died.

We have shopped three days supplies, loaded the boats on the roof and our stuff in the car, read “Den norske Los”, studied the weather forecast.

Plus had a fantastic dinner with Kamchatka crab for starters and Halibut for main course and cloud berries for dessert. All catch and harvested by Margerethe, Ulf and Elise.

We even took time to go to a debate in Kirkenes arranged by   “Klassekampen’s sommerbåt” with the title “Russia friend or foe”. The mayor of Kirkenes, a vice chairwoman of the political party Red and a representative from the Norwegian defence forces University college had a panel discussion.

An amicable discussion that somehow did not really address the headline question, but rather turned into a more introvert discussion about Norwegian defence policy and Norwegian democracy, (to be fair the basis and likely future of sanctions against Russia was also discussed).

We suspect such a debate would have been a bit more intense in say Finland.

Good to be back in Norway this fortunate, wealthy and peaceful corner of Europe.

Tomorrow we get to try ocean paddling along the coast of Finnmark, a new chapter in our adventure. Safety first and enjoy the journey is our plan.