A holiday within an adventure (day 25-30)
Day 25 -30 (6th - 11th Sept)
2,708 miles
Bodø - Lofoten Islands - Bodø - Trones
A lot had happened over the last week that I didn't want to forget. I'd been focusing on getting through the various mechanical and logistical challenges, setting up everything I needed to continue my trip so hadn't had much 'down time' which I know sounds strange considering this whole year is one big jolly, but it's all relative!
Myrene had been travelling up the islands from Moskenes doing various solo hikes for a few days and was going to be around Svolvær on Friday evening so I was planning to get the express ferry from Bodø which goes once a day and gave me time to sit in a cafe and catch up on everything that had happened. Writing it out the crash and previous week felt pretty strange and I had multiple inquisitive looks from the bakery staff as I sat there for 6 hours having breakfast, lunch and afternoon cake until the ferry arrived. The boat ride was a stunning journey up the west coast in the evening sun, with mountains and fjords, tiny little fishing villages and inaccessible bays all the way up for 3 hours. The captain of the catamaran must have known the waters intimately, because we almost flew between narrows and shallows with 6 impeller jets at ridiculous speed. The final crossing from coastline to Svolvær was ropey. If you wanted to get up and find solace in a sick bag, you would have quite a task getting to it in the first place - I was grateful to have not had a much food before I got aboard. Myrene met me at the harbour with her rental and we headed back to the campsite she'd booked then we sat in the kitchenette catching up, hashing out half-remembered piano songs on the upright and eating a delicious bean curry she'd saved for me!
I was a total passenger to the arrangements over the next few days, I hadn't researched anything, didn't know what was worth seeing or where to go, and didn't bring much to the table with logistics as I only had what I could take on a plane with me.
The Lofoten Islands are basically the Carribbean of the arctic, the waters and beaches are otherworldly and aside from the lack of steel drums and piña coladas, the only reminder you're not in Antigua, is how cold the water is - its a stunning place to be and had not been on my radar at all.
After a quick food shop to cover the next few days, we headed off for our first hike with the clouds hanging heavy above us as we approached the starting point for Floya and Djevelporten. The short sharp ascent saw us climb quickly into the mist and lose our view of Svolvær and the islands as we carried on to Djevelporten (translated to 'Devils Gate'), and took the obligatory photos perched precariously on top. Googling the rock will show long reaching views of mountains and lakes in the background, but I can't confirm whether they're real because the greenscreen was set to 'grey' for our visit. We continued on to summit Fløya as it was only a short distance further, but as we got near the top it all got a bit sketchy. The damp misty rocks were greasy underfoot and the way on was knife-edge drop down one side, with loose car sized boulders projecting up above on the other. We spurred each other on to continue climbing to the top for a lunch spot (although I’m maybe slightly more guilty with this) and it was the least comfortable summit I've made for a while. The good news is neither of us died, and we were able to enjoy carrot bread cheese sandwiches (nicer than they sound) with zero vis from the top before picking our awkward way down past the obstacle course and concluding the walk 'gapping' the last mile of 1:1 steps back to the car in record time.
We headed off to visit the fishing village of Henningsvær with the world famous football pitch crammed amongst rocks on a tiny island, projected into the limelight by the Clarkson and The Grand Tour playing car-football a few years ago. Mooching around the little town we found some cinnamon buns hidden away in a cafe and liberated them from captivity then had a play with the drone looking out past the lighthouse, using it to explore some of the smaller islands with follys on surrounding the 'main' island. The skies were starting to clear which gave an impressive background to the village but time was getting on so we continued south to find somewhere to camp. Coming of the main road we found a gravel track on the west side of a mountain that campervans would struggle with so was relatively quiet, and made dinner on a big rock watching the most incredibly rich sunset on a very peaceful evening.
Jax was doing The Great North Run in Newcastle the following day and I'd brought my running kit with me to run at the same time and pace to keep her company with it, from 1000 miles away. I found a little road route to run which took us to the village of Eggum, tucked away up a deadend road and was very unassuming but had an absolute gem of a secluded white sandy beach. Walking out onto the sand and into the sea I was bemused with how somewhere so stunning could be totally deserted but it had a distinct feeling that the locals would rather tourist folk didn't clog the place as the nearest parking was a kilometer away, which is fair enough! I lined myself up to start running at the same time Jax did as Myrene spent an hour or so at the beach, then met me at the end. I'd not really run for quite a while and wasn't sure I'd be able to complete let alone keep pace with Jax who maintained a consistent momentum the whole way. I tracked her through the mile counter online and could see how she was getting on - very proud of her for completing and I was glad to have managed to loosely match time.
I was grateful Myrene had let me rail-road the days plan with the run and even more so when I was presented with a champion's cinnamon bun at the finish line! There were a couple of beaches close by that Myrene wanted to visit so we headed up to explore and by the time we got there the beating sun had made it quite clear the only thing for it was a quick swim and some lazy beach time. The water was 'fresh' to say the least but it was just the ticket after the run to have a quick dip then lay in the sun and channel our 'inner lizard' for a spell. The second beach had an annoying charge to park there with an unavoidable ANPR system, but it was a nice spot so we paid and cooked up dinner there, marvelling at the unnecessarily round boulders.
After another very picturesque sunset it felt odd to try hunting for somewhere else to stay so we succumbed to the camping charge and planned to stay the night. We played around taking photos of the 'heart rock' well into dark and were close to calling the day when Myrene spotted something in the sky, we nipped out and through long exposure pictures found the aurora was starting to show! It built and developed over 30 minutes until it looked like a green laser show from a rave the otherside of the mountains with bright lights casting straight across the whole sky. It had strange voids in it, almost like a bubble or something with a total absence of colour and very defined edges, similar to a slice of jarlsberg or emmental - but green, and hundreds of miles above us in the sky. A life-long ambition realised, I had finally seen the aurora! With any luck I'd get to see it a bit more on my travels north once the bike was sorted as this year is forecast for high solar activty and the various delays from my travels will give the darker nights needed.
The following morning the weather wasn't very enticing but we booted up and made for the summit of the neighbouring mountain - Mannen. As we set off I counted 20 people ahead of us on the trail and laid the challenge to overtake them all before the summit. Myrene is a speedster with hill climbing and I'm a fan of relentlessly pushing up hills too so we managed the 400m ascent in just over 1hr15 and were rewarded with views across yesterday's swimming beach and the turquoise waters toward Offersøykammen, the afternoon's peak. After we took few photos on the overhanging rock to give folk at home the jitters, we headed down then into Leknes for chai latte, some cake and for Myrene to practice napping a little.
It started to spit as we set off up Offersøykammen which was pretty much a straight ascent from base to peak. From the summit we could see back to Mannen in the distance which felt like it had happened much longer than a few hours previously. The views from the top were panoramic and far reaching, Myrene could see peaks she'd ascended in the days before I'd arrived in Lofoten, far in the distance. We spent a fair bit of time at the top just taking it in then headed back down the sharp descent to the car and onwards.
The weather forecast wasn't anticipated to be that kind for our final day on Lofoten so we didn't travel too far before looking for somewhere to camp, partly so we had more to do in the rain the next day. Within a few minutes of looking for somewhere we happpened upon a little pull-in by a fresh water lake which had the space for car and tent off the road and access to the water. Myrene took the lead with cooking again whilst I had a bath in the lake, reminiscent of the last time I was above the arctic circle with the old man half my lifetime ago - it felt good to be clean again after 4 days! After a very tasty stirfry I contrived a sort of dessert from melted choc and pan-heated bananas - not as good as they are wrapped in foil and cooked in embers of an open fire but a surprisingly tasty aprés for the main course!
The rain was on-off all morning, but the 'off' was just a lighter version of 'on'. During one of the slightly less meaningful showers I packed the tent up and we headed to a glass blowing studio on the coast not far away to have a look, it was going to be a day of filling time somewhere dominated by nature and outdoor activity, slightly out of season. Myrene bought a piece of glassware from the studio knowing her impending return journey would be a tricky one to manage (but I can happily report, it arrived back in NZ safely in the end), then we made for the village of Å, which I can only assume was the very first settlement on Earth, when naming was easy. Famous for it's bakery and cinnamon buns (yes there is a theme of coffee and cinna-buns throughout this trip, but its better than being hooked on class-A drugs) we had some bakery treats then looked around the museum which is an assembly of buildings throughout the village. Life as a Norweigian/North Sea fisherman and the industry of fishing, cod liver oil manufacture and boat life was a tough place dominated by the hiarachy of land-owning squires unfairly rinsing the fisherman for their stocks, whilst the latter were known to sleep beneath their upturned boats through winter to survive the cold, it was an interesting insight into the region a hundred years ago. I can also confirm - cod liver oil manufacture requires a stern stomach, the armoa is pungent.
After we'd completed Å, we went up to Reine, in the rain, and found refuge in a cafe until it closed, then tested the socially acceptable length of time you can sit in a bistro on a cup of tea before asking for the bill (answer - just shy of 2 hours before it feels too uncomfortable to stay). It was the least active day of our time on the Lofoten Islands but it still felt fun to be wandering around looking and chatting about everything we saw and did - very relaxed company to be in.
Our ferry back to Bodø left at dark, so I got a few hours of writing done whilst Myrene practiced some more napping (pretty good at it now I think!) then we landed at about midnight and headed to our hostel outside town, met the seemingly half-cut but kind hostess and were tucked up before 01:00, knowing we needed to be up early to return the car at the airport and start our journeys back.
My plane back to Trondheim was scheduled to leave 45 minutes after Myrene's which worked well, as she started the transfers through Oslo, Heathrow, Singapore and ultimately New Zealand. We said farewell at the gate, and I felt sad for it to end - it had been such a brief but intensely filled 5 days of hiking, getting to know a new friend, gorgeous scenery, tasty food and just fun relaxed easy company - those things rarely come at the same time and it all started because I couldn't get into a hostel in Stavanger until she helped me. I have noticed that being generally self-sufficient and independent basically precludes me from meeting people, and some of the nicest people I've met have been through needing support over the past few weeks, being exposed and vulernable.
With the promise to make her a Medovik cake next time we meet, I sat and looked at the departure board for my flight - Trondheim, cancelled. Appparently a lightning strike had cancelled my flight and I'd been diverted through Oslo 5 hours later - annoying! After some admin sorting my bag and re-checking in, I waited out the departure knowing I was going to fly straight past Trondheim on the way down - shame I couldn't just hop off part way. Once in Oslo I was in the same airport as Myrene again, but didn't get chance to say hello because just as she was expecting to board her flight to Heathrow she discovered it had been cancelled then whilst trying to resolved she became embroiled in a fantastic misunderstanding with border control and police making for a brilliant anecdote of misfortune! Eventually I landed in Trondheim and was collected by Vegard from the train station in Verdal which felt like coming home, and Myrene made her new connecting flight to Frankfurt, ultimately making it back to NZ without any more police interaction.
What an incredibly rich few days.
