Hall Bredning to Iceland: Again, the open sea threatened to give us a hard time by means of heavy weather, so we made sure we got to Iceland early enough to avoid getting our butts kicked by King Neptune. But before we got out, we could still enjoy a day of wonderful weather, sunny and calm, amongst the icebergs drifting in Hall Bredning, as well as a lovely farewell aurora.
We got to Iceland after 2 days at sea without major troubles. The first harbour was Dalvik, and it was a pleasure to get the ship into a safe harbour (calm night! No anchor watch!) and to stretch legs again a bit next day. And then the last couple of miles to Akureyri, with some whales and a geothermal waterfall.
Huts are places of longing, dreams and adventure in Spitsbergen’s beautiful landscape. Even if the modern visitor’s eye may mostly be directed towards nature, most will have an open ear every now and then for exciting survival stories about explorers and expeditions, adventurers and trappers.
These huts are silent witnesses and and every one of them tells a little part of the whole story. The little book “Svalbardhytter” and the poster that is part of the same project make these fascinating places accessible for everyone.
From remote ruins, just traces in a few cases, to “famous” trapper huts such as Fredheim in Tempelfjord and Bjørneborg on Halvmåneøya, the war weather station Haudegen, the former scientific base Würzburger Hütte on Barentsøya and Hammerfesthuset, Svalbard’s oldest building.