Spirit of Adventure blog

Our final stop on this cruise to the Arctic wonderland was to be a little town situated nestled on some islands on Norway’s west coast.

Kristiansund was named after old King Christian VI (so they say) and the ‘Sund’ part is derived from the word ‘sound’ which presumably refers to the narrow little gaps between island through which one must travel by boat in order to reach the place.

Particularly renowned for its fishing heritage, Kristiansund is a phoenix town having been majestically rebuilt after WW2, and now houses the Norwegian Clipfish Museum.

Legend has it that when Viking King Rollo and his chums arrived over 1000 years ago now, they spent some time pondering over an effective way of preserving their abundant supply of codfish – and the answer literally came with the wind.

Dried on rocky headlands, the fish could last many weeks and became known as ‘klippfisk’ which literally translates as rockfish. The museum after its namesake explains the history and adaptation of the drying and salting process, as well as of course having all sorts of antique fishing-related bits and bobs on display.

Just a 30 minute drive from the famous Atlantic Road, another possibility of course is to head towards and drive this spectacular piece of engineering – an 8.3km section that weaves through an island archipelago via causeways, viaducts & bridges.

The weather cheered up throughout the day and by the time of our departure I would estimate that it would have been ideal cod drying weather – partly cloudy with a stiff breeze.

Less ideal was the gusty wind, however, for squeezing my ship through the 130m gap in between islands in order to exit the sheltered harbour Kristiansund affords.

Small gap successfully negotiated, we set course back into the North Sea and southwards towards our summer homeport of Southampton.

Kind Regards
Captain Kim Tanner