Sandvika, Svesfjorden, Norway
The Norwegian coastline meanders in and out. Long fingers of the sea reach inland as if to tickle the boundary with neighboring Sweden. Myriads of rounded rocky islets sit scattered about the edges, adding to the maze-like quality of the shore. Their soft contours dressed in shades of green seem strangely comforting in a world that could be confusingly similar to one who was unsure of the way to go.
Throughout the morning we meandered among narrow and convoluted channels where sunshine danced on quintessential white houses and red barns. Here and there a mustard colored building stood out in its individuality. Our pilots seemed to delight in showing us the narrowest of navigable passages.
Svesjforden is one of the tinier indentations carved by ice and flooded by the sea. Size, however, has nothing at all to do with the proportion of the beauty discovered there. Chatter marks scored steep cliff walls embracing Sandvik’s harbor. Rounded mountain peaks reached to the sky, their flanks edged with spruce and birch forests. Kayaks appeared as miniscule specks of yellow drifting on a mirror sea. Freshwater streams trickled to the kelp-covered salty shore, pausing to pool in low boggy spots or meandering in convoluted channels.
Inland, these same waters cascaded over rounded boulders or slid down polished chutes separating into narrow rivulets and reuniting into rapidly flowing rivers. Fat tadpoles splashed in quiet pools shocking us with their cannibalistic nature. Spurred violet flowers perched on naked scapes delicately rising from pale green leafy rosettes. It either was the time or the place for these insectivorous butterworts to bloom and blossom they did everywhere along our trail. Crowberry, bearberry and blueberry shrubs littered the forest floor.
At the end of the day we returned from the trail and lay in the grass of a meadow. It was tempting to stay and soak up the sun, but dinner beckoned.
