Message in a bottle ends up on Norwegian beach

Fife girl’s long wait ended by email from across the North Sea

After spending almost a year-and-a-half at sea, a young girl’s message in a bottle has finally found a recipient.

In November 2017, eight-year-old Eve Punter from Fife penned a heartfelt letter and launched it into the water off Aberdeen beach.

In the message she said who she was, and shared her hopes that the bottle would be found somewhere exciting.

Eve had travelled up to the Granite City from her Windygates homes with mum Vicky Gibbons, partly to find Christmas presents for her friends and family but also to continue a year-long tradition of visiting a different Scottish beach every week.

Ms Gibbons said: “We’d been to 32 beaches altogether but for some reason Eve picked Aberdeen to send a message in a bottle from.

“We put my email address in it and asked whoever found it to get in touch.”

Initially the pair were very eager to see where the bottle might end up and who it would be found by.

But as time wore on, they began to lose faith that it would ever reach dry land once again.

Ms Gibbons added: “Eve kept asking me if someone had emailed. I had to say that the chances were slim and that it might never be found, but she kept asking.”

However, last week a message arrived in her inbox from more than 300 miles away.

Eve’s bottle had survived a journey across the North Sea and ended up nestled in sand on a Norwegian beach.

It had been picked up by a fisherman named Sven on Feøy, a small island north-east of Stavanger.

The 0.5-square-mile island has just a few dozen residents, with those who are not retired making a living through farming, fishing or letting properties to tourists taking angling or sailing holidays.

Sven had written: “I found a bottle post sent from Eve the 2 November 2017 in Aberdeen.

“It washed ashore on a small island named Feøy, west of Haugesund, Norway.”

Ms Gibbons said Eve was delighted. She added: “She even printed it off and took it to school where they looked up information about the island. She was so happy with it.

“I really wasn’t sure if it would ever be found. I’ve been quite surprised.”

Eve Punter from Fife, who launched a message in a bottle from Aberdeen and got a response from Norway.