After the first two nights in the pretty little anchor bay of Skarvøya, we sail on to Farsund, just under an hour's sail. Over the next few days, the wind will pick up a bit and then it will be nice to anchor in a small town. We sail between the many islets with rocks just above or below the water; it's all very well marked on the chart 👌 but we have to be careful.

In Farsund, we are all alone at the guest jetty. The sun shines brightly and we have lunch outside with delicious rolls from the Norwegian bakery. In the afternoon, we take a short walk through the town, truly Norwegian with white wooden houses. We also tidy up the beds in the forepeak and wash all the remaining bedding in the marina's free washing and drying machines.

The day after, we will do a combination of cycling and walking. First we cycle 7 km, then walk 8 km and cycle 7 km again. A nice work-out in beautiful surroundings, but still a bit “grey” because spring hasn't really started here yet. The trees are cautiously starting to sprout, but it is definitely a month or more behind the Netherlands here. It is also a bit more grey as it is cloudy all day for the first time in a long time.

We'll wait a little longer before taking the next part across the sea to the north because it's still headwind at the moment and the day after it will be a bit too windy. So we dive a little deeper into the area around Farsund to Egelandsfjord. At the end of this small fjord is a nice secluded anchor bay. The entrance is tricky with a small passage between underwater rocks. We therefore sail very slowly over the recommended line on the chart (two different navigation charts both indicate this wrong line) and gently hit a rock. 'Boom is ho', that's a bit of a scare 😱🥲. Mira gets ahead of the point and sees well where the rocks are underwater. A little further to the right, things go well. Luckily no damage, and a good lesson that the map is not always right.

Mira takes a walk to the top of a mountain overlooking the fjord and Toine watches F1 training sessions. On Sunday, we stay for a day with some harder winds and, for the first time, a few hours of rain in a row in the afternoon. Oh well, we entertain ourselves inside reading and watching the F1 race.

On Monday, we continue north. It is a beautiful sail along the Lista cape with sunshine and light wind. We are no longer alone on the water as we even spot three other sailing boats. Despite the light weather, there are decent waves here. Now it is very doable but with more wind you should not be here!

Again, we are in a very nice anchor bay (Kalven on Hidra) with a narrow entrance and high rocks on both sides. What a wonderful place 👍😃. We are all alone there and are welcomed by a Norwegian man who lives here on the island and comes over with his boat to have a chat. We sit outside in the sun until early evening.

The next day we take a tough hike through rugged nature with lots of climbing, scrambling and descending, to the top of Hidra (Langelandsfjell 300m). It takes us a total of 3 hours over 6.5 km, which shows how difficult the path is ☺️. Toine is very sorry he didn't have his poles with him 😎. At the summit, we notice that, as predicted, it is already blowing heavily. Time to sail on to the small town of Flekkefjord where we are sheltered. It's a short trip in bft 6-7, sheltered between the islands so no waves, but lots of wind and also fall winds (off the high mountains).

Flekkefjord is a cosy town with naturally white wooden cottages and a neighbourhood called “Hollenderbyen” where the Dutch 🇳🇱 used to live. Still visible by the Dutch roof tiles and front doors. We go to a Norwegian supermarket for the first time and the prices are not too bad. Only the hairdresser Toine goes to is a bit pricey ✂️😎. Fortunately, she does cut very well 👌.

Then it is time to head a little further north again towards Egersund. There is little wind, but for the next four days there is a strong headwind and that is not an option at all. Too little wind to sail but big swells (1.5 - 2.5m) make it an uncomfortable trip with a lot of rolling back and forth. Oh well, when we are back in a very nice anchor bay (Skavbergvågen) after 5 hours of sailing, we have already forgotten about it and just have a drink at ☺️. By the way, you should not only look at the draught at islets and rocks on the chart, but also at the height of bridges and power lines. The bridge at Egersund is 22m high and we need 23m so we have to sail a bit outside. The power lines are marked with a small red line on the chart and are 50-80m high so far. Just outside Flekkefjord, we were able to fill up on diesel very cheaply (€1.25 per litre)⛽️😃. On the way, we replenished the water tank with home-made water through the watermaker (about 200 litres).

In this bay, for the first time, we are no longer alone but with three other sailboats and about six motor boats. The Norwegians have a long free Easter weekend (it starts for them already on Maundy Thursday) and they traditionally spend it with outdoor activities together with family and friends and sausages on the BBQ. It is a cosy crowd. Today, too, we encounter quite a few Norwegians during our, again, brisk walk. We join in the tradition with a leg of lamb on the Kamado Joe, which is now cooking for 4-6 hours 😋👌.

We take a relatively long time for this part of Norway. We only have to be in Bergen on 14 May where we will meet Eline and Jonas who will sail with us until 23 May. After that, we still have five weeks to sail to Tromsø and that will have to be at a faster pace and/or longer stretches of sailing. We don't mind having a lot of time now until Bergen because it is still cold up north (there is still a metre of snow in Tromsø) and the whole region north of Bergen we will also have time for on the way back early next year.

Happy long Easter weekend everyone 🐣🐣👍🥰.