Sunshine, rocks and remote places

Transcription

1 A Norwegian summer cruise Madeleine and Stephan Strobel How much alcohol do you have on board? demanded a voice from behind. We had just crossed the Swedish-Norwegian border when suddenly an aggressive roaring from behind announced the arrival of Norwegian Customs. The Officer warned us that if we didn t tell the truth it would be necessary for him to take us to the Custom House where we would be in Big Trouble! Stephan counted the bottles and the Officer went below to Ona Finnøy Ulsteinvik Fosnavåg Sandshamn Ålesund Øye Klungsvåg Måløy Florø Storholmen Vikingevågen Vestre Eidsvik Bergen Vargavåg Bjøllebøvågen Haugesund Easy Rider Bowman 40 Oslo Aker Brygge Halangspollen Son Evjesund Tananger Ådnøyvågen Krukehavn Papperhavn Kostersundet Risør Arendal Mortensholmen Mandal 254

2 check. He searched under the bunks, in the sail lockers, in the beds, under the navigator s seat and under the boards. Prewarned, we had already opened the bottles of spirits. The Officer suddenly relaxed and chatted about where we were going and the restaurant areas in Oslo. Then he left. Oh sing The Paranoia Blues! (Beth Levinsky). After this somewhat abrupt welcome to Norway we felt relieved. The officers had at least been polite and had wished us a good trip. Now we could start to enjoy our journey. We sailed up the Oslo Fjord in light winds, stopping at Papperhavn (59º06.3 N 10º50.4 E), a tiny anchorage in the middle of a pool of rocks on the island of Vesterøy. From there we visited Evjesund (59º21 N 10º40 E) on the mainland, a wide shallow pool, only 2-3m deep, surrounded by trees and farmland and a few scattered houses, mooring at Halangspollen (59º42 N 10º38 E). We reached Aker Brygge marina (59º54.4N 10º43.5 E) in Oslo city centre on 8 June. We notified the harbour master of our arrival and a summer student on the pontoon on a scooter directed us to the far corner of the nail bitingly narrow new marina with sharp corners between boats. Aker Brygge marina Apart from enjoying the wonderful city of Oslo, we also needed to find Norwegian bottles of gas and to install a Norwegian mobile broadband to continue writing our blog - both of which proved to be quite difficult! After eleven thousand one hundred and eleven steps (honest!), equivalent to 8.92 km, and having burned about 2,000 calories (according to my iphone app) in the sweltering 26ºC, we finally managed to get Norwegian mobile broadband and Norwegian bottled gas. And of course Norwegian bottled propane needs a different connector - different from Sweden, Finland and the whole of Western Europe. Aker Brygge, the city harbour, was a hive of activity. We arrived amidst 255

3 Madeleine and Stephan Strobel the preparations for the Oslo Race Week and the start of the Volvo Race around the world. Everything was geared up for the start of the long distance Oslo race where more than 900 boats sail out of the Oslo Fjord every year and return usually within 24 hours. It became clear that we were moored where the media were going to set up their equipment and it was going to become very noisy. So we decided to move to a quieter harbour along the Oslo Fjord where we could watch the race from a distance. We left on 12 June and had a great sail back down the Oslo fjord to Son (59º31.5 N 10º41.2 E), a quiet, small, picturesque town half way down the east shore. The wind and the current both pushed us along at around 6.5 knots under headsail alone. Even in settled weather in the Skagerrak there is usually a fresh breeze in the afternoon, and as we arrived in Son the wind suddenly increased to F6. The wind was forecast to stay northnortheast; perfect for us to continue out of the fjord. Then it was supposed to increase significantly during the night. We had planned to go to the more remote and somewhat bleak anchorage at Verdens Ende (59º03.45 N 10º24.9E) (literally world s end ) amidst the southwest skerries on the outskirts of the Oslo Fjord. It looked very rocky and somewhere we wouldn t want to be caught in bad weather. So, given the forecast, we opted for the small fishing village and pilot station of Krukehavn (59º04.9 N 10º27.1E), to wait for the strong winds to subside. Little did we know that the guest floating pontoon was outside the harbour and completely exposed to the north and the forecast strong wind. At around it picked up dramatically and by midnight it was blowing F7-8. The guest pontoon started to heave up and down, which was just about bearable, but then a late arriving yacht tied alongside us. Initially both boats danced in sync, but as soon as we got out of sync, the cleats and fairleads got a real hammering and the motion became quite violent. The situation was further aggravated because we were moored so close to the harbour wall and the back wash was hitting us from astern. Needless to th century buildings in Son

4 say, none of us slept through this Norwegian tango! The barometer was already high at 1017mb and it rose a further 6mb over night. We heard that many boats had to abandon the Oslo race. On Saturday, still feeling a bit rough after the sleepless night, we hoped for a reward and a good sail towards Risør (58º43.2 N 09º14.4 E), a small town highly recommended by our neighbours in Krukehavn with whom we had had a few aquavits. Unfortunately the northern wind didn t materialise. It dropped after just an hour s sailing and then slowly picked up from the south-west, right on the nose. Never mind, the weather was gorgeous and Risør was beautiful. We managed to moor right in the far corner of the harbour just in front of the old buildings in 2m depth. We followed another recommendation from our Krukehavn neighbours (after yet more aquavit) and on the 15th we entered what seemed to be a forbidding pile of rocks. They guarded the inner lead along the coast past the village of Lyngør, the Venice of the south coast and a Unesco World Heritage Site. It was a beautiful lagoon-like village, all of it with access to the sea. While the wind continued to blow from the southwest, it made sense to stay within the sheltered waters of the inshore route. We followed the narrow channels to Arendal (58º27.3 N 08º45.6 E), the largest city on the south coast and further west to Blindleia (blind alley). This is a very narrow, but well-marked, inshore passage between Lillesand (58º14.9 N 08º22.8 E) and Gamle Hellesund. Here, the channels sometimes were only two boat widths wide. In good weather it is an unforgettable experience. It is said to be one of the prettiest spots in southern Norway and according to our pilot book the hot spot for wealthy Norwegians. Indeed, even the summerhouses on the waters edge are very pretty, with tiny grass lawns and deck chairs. They all had a boathouse and a mooring buoy or two for small motor boats. Norway is mostly a motorboat country. Our anchorage in Blindleia was an inlet called Mortensholmen (58º12.5 N 08º20.3 E) with 5m depth. It was fully landlocked. As the season had yet to begin, we were on our own in the totally still, dark emerald water right at the end of the lagoon. The weather forecast promised another day of good eastnorth-easterly winds to get us to Mandal (58º01.4 N 07º27.3 E). The only tricky patch in this stretch was moving through the Heavenly peace in Mortensholmen rocky fringes around the island of 257

5 Madeleine and Stephan Strobel Sandøya (58º09.1 N 08º15.8 E) to go out into open waters again. Once through the area with its many isolated dangers, we could finally set sail and head for Mandal. But by then the wind had dropped... Once we reached Mandal the wind picked up considerably. Emerald green waters The barometer fell from 1021 to 1008mb in a day. The weather forecasts differed at first. The Norwegian online forecast (yr.no) predicted a gentle breeze from the northwest, but revised it two days later. The UK Met Office predicted gale force winds for South Utsira with gusts up to 46kts. The Icelandic weather forecast (theyr.com), predicted NW7, and Windfinder basically the same. The problem, as always, was whom to believe. So, pick your favourite weather forecasts... Although it remained sunny, warm and pleasant, and many people were enjoying the lovely sandy beaches, the sailing weather was still not looking good. We listened to one gale warning after another for this part of Norway (Lindesnes). We were now right at the edge of the Skagerrak where the south and west coasts meet. Our neighbours were very nice Norwegian students waiting to cross over from Mandal to Inverness. They left one morning only to return after just a few hours because they could not make any progress in the strong wind and waves. A Polish yacht took over eight hours for a passage of just 20 miles. What a wind! Lindesnes and Lista are both notorious headlands with shallows up to two miles offshore where the seabed drops abruptly from 30 to 200m. Moreover, with the prevaling north-north-westerlies and a west-going current, the waves 3nm offshore were huge and confused. According to our RCC Norway pilot, both have a ferocious reputation. It is subject to severe weather which can change suddenly. We opted to play safe and spent 21 June, mid-summer, still waiting in Mandal. The mid-summer preparations here in Norway are not as feverish as in Finland or Sweden. We wondered what had happened to everyone. We finally escaped from Mandal on 24 June. It had been almost a week since we had arrived and were literally stopped in our tracks by northwesterly gales. The wind was now supposed to be north-easterly, veering east and then southwest before returning to what seems to be its default direction of northwest. 258

6 We left very early to clear the two headlands and then on to Tananger (58º56 N 05º34.6E) west of Stavanger and some 100nm north-west of Mandal. We expected to arrive at around 02:00 on the 25th. As expected the wind was a gentle easterly. It was a gorgeous day and we wondered why it was that the strong winds always came from the wrong direction. There was hardly enough wind to take us past Lindesnes and Lista. What s more, the waves along that stretch of coast were confused and choppy. Even with a gentle breeze, the waves seemed to spill the wind out of our sails all the time. We needed the engine to make enough headway. Luckily there was still the westerly current to help. We were just past Lista lighthouse when dark thundery clouds started to gather. We heard the deep rumbling of thunder in the distance. The wind suddenly increased to NE5-6. This is just the kind of wind that Easy Rider loves and from a good direction too! With one reef in the main and the Yankee set, Easy Rider was very well balanced and we were happy. But only for half an hour... As suddenly as the wind had come it stopped. It was as if someone had turned a switch. From 6.5kts our speed fell to 2.5 in just a few seconds. And guess what? The wind direction changed as well and was coming right on the nose (northwest) again. From then on it was a long slog. We made it to Tananger by 3:00 am. Night sailing was an interesting experience in these latitudes. The sun still goes below the horizon, but the sky remains red until day break. Later as we approached the coast, there were so many light-houses we needed to identify and the sectors to follow. Approaching Tananger was even more of a challenge because it is an industrial and petrochemical port. The whole horizon was so full of lights that it was very difficult to make out the lighthouses, but it was a thrilling experience. When we finally made it into the harbour the water was like a mirror, making our final approach even more disorientating and confusing. Tananger is a suburb of Stavanger. It is a bit sleepy, but on the other hand it is very sheltered and quiet, unlike Stavanger itself, which we visited by bus (only a 20min ride). Stavanger in summer is a lovely buzzing town, but the guest marinas in the city centre all seem to be exposed to the north, hence the swell. They are very noisy too. 259

7 Madeleine and Stephan Strobel Lysefjord But at last we had arrived in the fjords! It was a complete change of scenery. Suddenly the coastline became mountainous and quite bleak. From Tananger, on 26 June we made for the famous Lysefjorden, the entrance to which is about 7nm south-east of Stavanger. It is the most stunning fjord landscape imaginable, stretching 20nm into the distance! High rocky mountains plummet perpendicularly into the fjord some 400m deep. You can go right to the edge of the water and even touch the rocks or moor alongside the cliffs. On a calm day it has a surreal, dreamlike feel to it. We looked for the famous Pulpit Rock, a perpendicular rock face 1,000m high. We went deeper and deeper into the fjord and there it was, almost at the head. A waterfall, one of many along the way, was falling from the top where patches of snow were still melting. It was quite late by then and the receding light had something very mysterious about it. We were elated by the magical experience, even if it was 40nm in and out of the fjord. There are no sheltered anchorages or harbours along the way. We anchored in a beautiful lagoon in Ådnøyvågen (58º55.1N 05º59.8E) just opposite the entrance to the Lysefjord. Pulpit Rock 260

8 Now that we had reached the Norway fjords, we were making our way towards Bergen. We decided to stay in the inner lead between the islands to enjoy the increasingly majestic scenery while the north-westerlies continued. We were still under the influence of the high pressure area stretching from Britain to Scandinavia. A change was expected in a few days - perhaps in Bergen, which has a reputation for being statistically the wettest town in Norway, with twice the normal rain fall. Our first harbour on the inshore route was Haugesund (59º24.8N 05º15.9E). We moored against black tyres along the town quay, between an armada of motorboat weekenders. It was a very noisy Friday night. All the restaurants and bars remained open until 02.00, but somehow we still had a good night s sleep. Nothing feels nicer than leaving a noisy harbour to get out into the open water. We sailed north past Sletta, another notorious stretch of open water. With a gentle breeze it wasn t any problem at all and it was a particularly good sail that first day. A thunderstorm was brewing over Haugesund, but we still had a bright and sunny day, watching beautiful and exciting cloud formations. In the end the thundery clouds were right above us, but we only caught a few drops of rain. Returning to the inner lead, we spent two nights in very peaceful anchorages: Bjøllebøvågen (59º42.4N 05º42.3E) on 28 June and Vargavåg, Fusafjord (60º09.2N 05º27 E) on the 29 th. Sailing through narrow sounds flanked by steep hills, we experienced a lot of funnelling winds. Out of the blue, in Raunefjord, sailing comfortably in a gentle westerly breeze, the wind dropped suddenly and picked up shortly afterwards to N5. Since we were travelling north, we had to take our sails down and motor. Norway is quite dependent on its huge fishing industry. Sailing towards Bergen, we passed many large fish farms, some of them anchored in 100 to 200m depths. They are an impressive sight. Large fishing trawlers were moored in many places in the vicinity of Bergen, waiting to be deployed. On 1 July we arrived in Bergen, Vågen (60º23.8N 05º19.3E). We didn t expect any of what we were about to discover. We were quite tired and happy to moor along the town quay. As soon as we stepped ashore, we bumped into thousands of tourists from all over the world, armed with photo- and video-cameras. It was getting late, so after a short stroll through the fantastic fish market, still buzzing at 22.00, we decided that we would explore Bergen properly the next morning. All we could hear at the fish counters were people speaking Spanish, Italian, French and Japanese. There was a very friendly atmosphere in the air. We woke up the following day, 2 July, to a drizzly, cold and misty Bergen. It was the first overcast day we had had since Oslo. It seemed to be living up to its reputation. 261

9 Madeleine and Stephan Strobel Bergen There was a row of old crooked timber houses just opposite where we were moored. They were a great discovery. It is a maze of what was once an important Hanseatic settlement, a German trading post, which traded dried cod and fish-oil for beer, grain, textiles, glass, candles and salt for over 500 years ( ). The German merchants lived totally segregated from the Norwegian population, hence the ghetto appearance of the trading post itself. The local beer is still called Hansa beer and the coat of arms has an eagle (the Hanseatic symbol) in one half and a dried cod on the other. The labyrinth of wooden houses is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was being painstakingly restored.. We noticed fire extinguishers and sprinklers everywhere. The last big fire that destroyed many of these houses was in With some lovely fresh crayfish in the fridge, we left Bergen intending to find more secluded and sheltered anchorages on the way up north. The change in the weather brought favourable southerly and southwesterly winds, so we expected some good sailing. Most disagreements on board happen when choosing anchorages or deciding whether to leave when the wind is strengthening or when to round a particularly difficult headland. Well, this time we had chosen what seemed to be both beautiful and sheltered anchorages - that is, until the wind got up during the night and the anchor started to drag over the soft mud and kelp. The first anchorage was perfect. Vestre Eidsvik (60º40.5N 5º05.3E) 262 Buzzing fish market, Bergen

10 was in a narrow sound called Straumane at the very end of an inlet, past a few rocks that left about a boat s length between the land and the rocks. Once in the pool, it was just big enough for one boat to anchor. There we had our feast of crayfish with bread and butter. That was a very good start! Our second anchorage, on the 5 th, was also in a pool, but this one was very big and open, unlike the little nook on the previous night. Vikingevågen (60º52 N 4º55 E) - how could we refuse to anchor in a place with a name like that? It was surrounded by low lying smooth rocks (a feast for the eye) with only the minor disadvantage that we could smell the oil refinery some four miles away. The anchor seemed to have set nicely and we were very pleased. Then just before we wanted to retire, the anchor watch on Vikingevågen Stephen s iphone started to bleep. We had moved closer to the rocks. The wind had got up and it was pouring with rain. With our yellow waterproofs over our pyjamas, we re-anchored in the middle of the pool, much further away from the rocks this time. But the iphone kept saying that we were still dragging, even though observations showed that we were not, or at most only very slightly. These gizmos are all too accurate it seems. In the morning everything seemed fine. We were still in the middle of the pool. The scenery was becoming increasingly majestic. The mountains had little vegetation and the high ones still had patches of snow. They seemed strange and distant. We left, tired and red eyed, hoping that our next anchorage in Sognefjorden, the longest fjord in Norway, would be better. Storholmen (61º04.4N 5º10.6E) was in a small archipelago north of Rutledal on the mainland. The anchorage was open to the north-east, but the strengthening 263

11 Madeleine and Stephan Strobel wind was expected to be from the south over night. It seemed that it was perfectly safe to anchor there. Our trusty Rocna anchor, however, would not set. Every time we lifted it out to try again, big clumps of seaweed came up with it. We were so tired from the previous night that we were not going to go anywhere else, so we tried our emergency Fortress anchor. It took us about two hours to assemble and drop it from the rubber dinghy. It seemed to work. Until During the night, the wind that was supposed to be southerly came funnelling down the Songnefjord from east-north-east. We had forgotten the first principle of Norwegian sailing: the wind can be diverted by the land-masses and fjords to completely unforecast directions. The anchors did not hold and Easy Rider was getting dangerously close to the rocks. At 0300 we had to call it a day (or night) and sail on to Florø (61º36 N 5º01.7E), a small town some 30miles further north. The night was never completely dark. The wind pushed us along and we witnessed a few rays of early sunshine before the day became miserable and wet with poor visibility all the way to Florø. After our second sleepless night, our consolation was a great sail with the last of the southerly winds. We wanted to stay at least two days in Florø to recover from our anchoring experiences, also to do some washing, some shopping and to write our blog. We met a couple from Ireland, Denis and Beenie in their beautiful 49ft yacht Narnia. We had a lot in common, including professionally. The affinity was instant. We spent a lot of time talking, drinking coffee, having lunch and pre-dinner drinks together. The next stage for both us and Narnia was to go round Statt, another dangerous and exposed headland that extends out to sea like a clenched fist, according to our Norwegian Pilot. It is in fact so notorious that there is a special weather forecast exclusively for this headland (as there are for Lindesnes and Lista) that gives the wind, wave heights and wave intervals for each hour of the day. The Norwegian lifeboats will also escort small boats round the headland if need be. The wind had veered to the north-north-east, but it was still very slight, so we decided to round Statt immediately rather than risk being stuck as we had been in Mandal. On the way to Måløy we rounded Hornelen mountain which rises 889m vertically from the sea and is nicknamed the squall breeder. Måløy (61º56 N 5º07 E) on 8 June was our last stop before rounding Statt. It is an industrial fishing harbour that exports frozen fish all over the world, but mostly to Japan. The smell of fish was quite overwhelming. Leaving early the next morning, the wind was very light, the sun was shining and we suddenly saw... was it a bird? was it a plane? no! it was a flying rubber dinghy! It flew very near us and the pilot waved. He looked 264

12 like one of those magnificent men in their flying machines. Rounding Statt with little or no wind was uneventful apart from the swell. Swell and no wind is a perfect recipe for sea sickness, but we were so focussed on the headland that we had no time for that. We arrived in Sandshamn (62º15 N 5º29.5E) on a small island northeast of Statt on 9 June. It was foggy and so a perfect opportunity to stop, walk, sit down and continue our blog. Now that we were past Statt, we were very close to our final destination of Ulsteinvik. It had come as a bit of a shock that we only had another ten days left before we had to bring our boat to the boatyard. The yard manager was going for two weeks holidays after that. To make the best of these last few days we needed charts for beyond Ålesund. We found a bookseller with two men at their computers ignoring us, but who finally condescended to sell us our charts and the North Norway harbour guide. We thought of going to Geiranger fjord, which is said to be the nicest fjord in Norway, but is also the most touristy, with half a million visitors a year, lots of speed ferries and even the QM2 on occasions rushing in and out. Was it really worth a 70 mile inland detour? In the end we decided to give it a miss. Instead, we chose the Norangsfjord which our pilot book also said was spectacular, but was only 30nm south of Ålesund and easy to navigate. There are no hidden dangers, the water is extremely deep (up to 400m) to the very edge of the fjord and our ipad was enough to get us there. Øye (62º11.5N 6º39 E) (12/13.07) at the head of the Norangsfjord is one of the many surprises of this cruise. We were surrounded by high mountains; the one next to us was 1,600m. Apart from two spectacular super yachts which disappeared as soon as it got dark, we were on our own to enjoy the scenery. There were waterfalls plummeting down the bare rocks all around us. That, together with the chirping of hundreds of sea birds, made a very relaxing background sound. The water was milky turquoise blue from all the snow still melting from the peaks. It was not salty and not too cold either. We had a great swim during a thunderstorm. Oh! and I forgot to mention that the air temperature had been around 26ºC for several days. We had dinner in the famous Hotel Union, built in 1891 for aristocratic guests, including Norway s Håkon VII and Germany s Kaiser Wilhelm II, 265

13 Madeleine and Stephan Strobel who came annually by steam yacht until 1914 (some say to visit a mistress). Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa had also been a guest there. It was fun, if a very costly experience. The hotel today was like a time warp. When we left Øye early on 14 July, the clouds had started to gather over the mountains. The water was completely flat, reflecting the surrounding mountains and clouds. By the time we reached Ålesund (62º28.3N 6º09 E) we could hardly see any mountains as a drizzly rain started to fall on this handsome town, rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style after a great fire in Ålesund today is teeming with tourists. Every day, big cruise ships (three on one day alone) dock in the south harbour and thousands of tourists, mostly senior, alight for a few hours. Some go on to do an express tour to the Geiranger fjord, many do the guided tour of the town. I was fascinated by the number of ipads and smart phones used to take snap shots of absolutely everything. It made us think about our own behaviour, taking a camera everywhere... do we also look at the world through the viewfinder rather than experiencing it directly? We had chosen a couple of gorgeous outer islands on the Harøyfjord between Ålesund and Kristiansund as an encore to our wonderful trip. One of them, Ona (62º51.9N 6º32.7E) is right out in the North Sea and surrounded by skerries. The shallow approach was tricky but well worth it. We arrived there on a very rainy Thursday evening, 17 June, and left in glorious sunshine on the Saturday. Ona has an impeccably maintained old fishing village. Twenty people still live there permanently. It had a lovely small wooden hotel/restaurant, leased for the season and run by three women: an accountant, a ceramicist and a dentist from the centre of Norway. It was their way of spending their holiday. A ferry arrives four times a day, bringing visitors on bikes and cars. It has a funny bow which looks as if it has been cut off. Presumably the shape has been conceived to fit exactly into the tiny harbours of the archipelago. Next day we moved on to Finnøy (62º48 N 06º30.4E), another of these tiny islands. It has a very pleasant new marina and even an indoor swimming pool looking out onto the skerries. The harbour was packed with large motor yachts, so you have to arrive by lunchtime at the latest. We were the only sailing boat and we stuck out like a sore thumb. They all seemed to know each other. The pontoon was occupied/obstructed with their deck chairs, barbecues and all sorts of paraphernalia they seemed to need for a picnic on the pontoon. We left Finnøy on 21 July in blazing sunshine, though not much wind. But it could have been worse: no wind at all and pouring rain. We were heading for Fosnavåg (62º20.54 N 05º38.05 E) through the Green Corridor and then on to our final destination of Ulsteinvik (62º20N 05º51E). What can I say? What can be better than waking up at our final destination for 2014 completely fog bound? No mountains, no rocks or 266

14 islets, no trees, no town, nothing to lure you or tempt you to go out sailing. We managed to do some of the essential maintenance while the sun was still shining. We began by cleaning the anchor chain and locker, full of smelly mud, sand and sea weed after all our anchoring - head inside the locker, elbows deep in muddy water, getting it ready for next year s adventures. We had decided to have Easy Rider stored inside. Many boats stay in the water in Norway because the Gulf Stream keeps the climate much milder than in the Baltic. Unlike those who live locally, however, we will not be able drop in from time to time to check the dehumidifier and heater. Our journey in 2014 has been one of the most varied and interesting experiences. At times challenging, spectacular and amazing, these are just a few attributes that can describe the scenery that we encountered in Norway this summer. And a well-established high-pressure area over the British Isles spilled over into Norway, creating the best summer in ten years. That also meant that we had many periods with very little wind, but they enabled us to soak in, admire and appreciate the coastline at its best. We have heard so many enthusiastic sailors say that having come so far we mustn t miss the Lofoten Islands. Indeed, one couple who had just sailed down from Tromsø (69º39 N), circled all the must see places between here and Tromsø. So next year we will apply to the Norwegian Customs to extend our permit to stay in the country for another year. Technically we only have until the 1st of June next year before we have to leave or pay 25% VAT on the vessel. The crew of Easy Rider saying good-bye until next year 267