Harold Hardrada sailed southwest from Norway on August the 12th. En route to England, he stopped here in the Viking earldom of the Orkneys to pick up yet more men and yet more ships to add to his already formidable fleet. Expectations must have been high. The Norsemen could almost smell triumph in the summer winds. There would have been feasting, and singing and the reading of poems, some of them doubtless written by Hardrada himself. And it may be here that Tostig joined the Viking fleet. If he did and if he looked out at the water and saw the 300 ships, his little heart must have skipped a beat to think of the catastrophe awaiting his brother. Together, Tostig and Hardrada would be unstoppable, invincible. Or would they?


哈得尔达在8月12日由挪威向西南方向出发，途经维京人在奥克尼群岛的领地时，他下船挑选了更多士兵和船只壮大了他本已可畏的船队。挪威人的期望一定非常高，以至于他们都能闻到夏日风中胜利的味道。为了庆祝，他们必然吃喝玩乐，诵读诗歌，哈得尔达本人无疑也雅兴了一把，可能就在这里。托斯提戈加入了维京人的船队，若真如此，当他看见三百艘战船时，想到他的兄长即将面临的灾难，定不禁为之激动，托斯提戈和哈得尔达联手，将会天下无敌。真的会是这样吗？