Days In July
July Days were long, literally because the midnight sun never set, but it was also peak season at Manshausen: I worked 10 hour days, did little else, took very few pictures & enjoyed every moment. I like being really busy, I sleep better.
July 1st
Midnight sUN
The midnight sun occurs above the Arctic Circle and means 24 hours of sunlight.
The farther north you go the more nights of midnight sun you have. Half way between mainland Norway and the North Pole lies Svalbard, an island and the most northern Norwegian land mass where the midnight sun is the longest, from 20th April and 22nd of August. In Stigen, the municipality I was living in, there were approximately 76 days of midnight sun between May and July.
From afar it’s a wild idea, sunlight all the time seems like a huge adjustment, and it is strange when you wake up at 6am for work but the sunlight already feels like midday. However, like everything else, you adapt, it becomes normal, and you stop taking notice of it.
July 3rd
A Walk to the beach
July 7th
Sailboat slumber party
For her last two weeks, my island-friend Linda, moved on the trimaran parked at the jetty. The sailboat belongs to Børge Ousland and was the first vessel to circumnavigate the Arctic in a single season, but after a few days everyone referred to it as “Linda’s boat”.
Linda and I often worked dinner service together and would stay up late chatting with tea long after our shift ended. The midnight sun is sneaky like that, and gives no cues to just how late it really is.
This evening Linda, Ingrid and I decided to have a slumber party on the trimaran. I got cozy in my pajamas, grabbed my sleeping bag, pillow, puffer jacket incase it got really cold and most important, my buff to block out the sun’s endless light. On the trimaran Ingrid and I slept on the netting stretched across either side of the bow, like two hammocks, while Linda stayed in her usual captains cabin at the stern of the boat.
July 8th
Went to the beach with Ingrid & Phillip
beautiful ingrid
the island
midnight sun @ 22:50
our island home looking so small from the beach
Ingrid and I never had the same evening off. As two of the employees with the most experience, Ingrid even more than I because she worked at Manshausen last year, one of us was usually lead dinner service. This evening we were both off and it would probably never happen again, so we wanted to take full advantage.
Along with Phillip, Ingrid’s partner and my friend, we packed our backpacks with hot teas, cookies, blankets and towels, ready for an evening trip to the beach. With no pending darkness, there is never any rush to get back. You can sit on a beach all night if you like.
We stayed out until 23:00 and then headed back ready for bed.
July 10th
Mountain Guiding
My job here included a little bit of everything.
Today I got to guide a wonderful couple up one of the local mountains. It was an awesome introduction to guiding, something that I would love to do more of. On our way up we walked through a layer of cloud that concealed everything, we couldn’t see more than a few meters in front of us. I hoped we would walk through the cloud cover so that my guests would be rewarded with views at the summit, and that’s exactly what happened.
my very trusty hyperlite mountain gear pack
& hoka one one trail runners, both perfect for summer hiking
the traverse
July 12th
the midnight sun @ 23:40
the “white house”
left of the stove: stairs up to the loft & living area
right of the stove: around the corner is the dining & kitchen area with a view
of the jetty & neighboring island, similar to the image below.
July 25th
Foraging Wild Flowers
I loved finding wild flowers & arranging them for the main dining room
July 29th
making sourdough
making sourdough bread &
processing dried chamomile
July 31st
gOOD bYE juLY, GOOD BYE MIDNIGHT SUN
At the end of July Linda sadly left and I moved onto the sailboat. Each day I walked down to the jetty and before jumping onto the boat, I stood on the dock for a few extra moments to take in the view.
The water, the sun, the moon, the stars, the northern lights, the sweet little lamp post, what a view it was.