When Pia Galgut fell in the middle of a Norwegian street and broke her leg last year, it meant an abrupt end to the wonderful cruising journey that she and husband Robert had been enjoying aboard their beloved Nordhavn 40, Adliya. But it also became the catalyst to their voyage to the Arctic Circle. 

The spill she took was bad. She was rushed to a hospital in Haugesund, Norway, and underwent an operation to replace her hip and femur. The quaint town had been one of the stops on their Norwegian summer cruise that was to ultimately bring them to the fjords in the northern part of the country. Instead, the couple flew back home to England where Pia began rehabbing.

As someone who enjoys keeping busy, especially in the garden, Pia found that although she was quickly returning to normal everyday activities, her new stiff joints were not amenable to crouching in the flower beds for hours on end. It was then that Robert suggested they get back to cruising aboard Adliya where the boat provided ample room and comfort. As a test, they went to Guernsey and the Isles of Scilly in the UK, spending ten days in different anchorages while Pia performed physical therapy in the saloon and attended appointments with her physio via video conference. She passed the test with flying colors and they made a commitment to resume their cruise in the summer of 2024, intent on getting all the way to the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway. “Having that time back on our boat (so quickly) got me back into cruising again,” Pia said.

Norway and its archipelagos and fjords were high on the must-do list when the Galguts purchased their boat through Nordhavn Europe in the fall of 2020. It was part of a bigger cruising plan they had in mind as they searched for a small passagemaking boat they could operate themselves. Robert had his sights set on a Nordhavn 40, a model with a habit of avoiding the UK brokerage market, and pounced on hull #58 as soon as he learned it was available. They took it over from the original owner, a Scottish farmer who had purchased the boat new in 2006, and primarily used her for scallop fishing expeditions. The vessel had low hours on the engine and was in very good condition. 

They named their boat Adliya, a nod to the town in Bahrain where Robert and Pia first met while both were working there. It means “good judgement” in Arabic and they decided it was the perfect moniker for their Nordhavn. 

During the first two years of ownership, the couple got acclimated to the boat and cruised throughout the UK and Ireland and then on to Northern France. The intent was always to cruise locally at first and then baby step their way to expanded itineraries. Pia’s accident disrupted their progression to more exotic locales but her recovery stirred a renewed and perhaps more vigorous motivation to reach the higher latitudes of Norway. 

With Pia back to her old self, the couple set off from their home port of Portsmouth and by June had made it to Haugesund, the site of where they had to abandon ship the year before. They covered 660 nm in 17 days, stopping at 11 ports along the way in order to enjoy the sights without feeling rushed. By the end of June, they reached the extreme northern town of Svolvær, situated in the Arctic Circle, and in doing so earned themselves an Extreme Latitudes pennant from Nordhavn for reaching a latitude above 66° North. (Svolvær, the capital of the Lofoten Islands, is at 68° North.)

It was the pinnacle of their Norwegian cruising and Robert says they will take at least a month on their journey south. Their last destination will be the renowned Geirangerfjord before jumping from Ålesund back across the North Sea to the western isles of Scotland and then on to Dublin to visit Pia’s family, which they are aiming to reach by the end of August.

When Robert emailed a friend back in 2020 as the couple were closing on their purchase of Adliya, he sent a rough draft of the cruising they had hoped to do:

>Year 1: UK south coast going west to The Scilly Isles, Channel Islands and Northern France.

> Year 2: To Ireland, The Isle of Man, Western Isles of Scotland.

> Year 3: Thru the Caledonian Canal, Shetlands, to Bergen (then the Norwegian fjords…)

> Year 4. More Scandinavia.

> Year 5. To Gibraltar, then a year or 3 in the Med. (Particularly the Greek islands)

> Across the Atlantic to the Lesser Antilles 

> But let’s see; a year at a time…

When asked how well he’s stuck to that plan, Robert says, “It seems we are near enough on track so far! And we think that the ‘More Scandinavia’ phase that we are in currently may well be extended. Perhaps Denmark/Sweden/Baltic next year; Faroes and maybe Iceland the year after.” Certainly that Pia speaks most of the Scandinavian languages, having been raised in Denmark and Sweden, helps the cause.

Upon reaching Svolvær last month, their total miles on Adliya were at 7,560. By the time they arrive home in Portsmouth this October, Robert suspects they will be closing in on 10,000 nm and updating their Distance Pennant account so they can receive their new pennant. It’s a lot of miles for just the two of them to have collected, and they have loved every meter traveled. “We have loved all of it,” he says, then laughs adding, “Yes, really, all of it!” When pressed to name favorite things about this most recent journey, he lists visiting Ålesund, witnessing a pod of Killer Whales north of Rorvik, exploring the coast of Helgeland, getting an up-close look at White Tailed Eagles near Svolvaer, and staying in Reine, a land-locked harbor in a spectacular mountain setting.

Folks are surprised when they see the Galguts tie up and are the only ones to hop off the boat, especially once they learn of all the miles they covered. “They ask us, ‘Where are the rest of your crew hiding?” he jokes. “People are always interested in Adliya and are often amazed at how much room the boat’s layout affords and the number of systems on board.”

He maintains that it is the perfect size for the two of them to have their own space, easily manage, and usually find a spot in a busy marina. And probably most importantly, it has given Pia the confidence to get back to cruising. “Our brilliant Nordhavn 40 has given us lots of great adventures and I feel so lucky now to be back cruising and enjoying life to the full again,” Pia says. “We all have good and not so good days, but it is making the best of every day that counts!”