Week 35 - Lofoten, Norway

On Monday we parked the camper at a farmer's place and went hiking on Ryten. The 500 meters of altitude are spread over 4 kilometers, which is rather relaxed compared to other hikes on the Lofoten Islands. From the top, you can overlook Kvalvik Beach, which can only be reached on foot or by boat. That's why the beach is very popular for camping.

Actually, we wanted to walk to the beach from a different starting point the next day, but we couldn't find a parking spot, so we skipped the hike and had a rest day instead.

Afterwards, we went to Reine and hiked up Reinebringen. The special thing here is that the summit is accessible via over 2,000 steps. You have a wonderful view over Reine and the neighboring mountains.

At the parking lot, we got into conversation with Achim from Bochum. While we were in the middle of the conversation, Julian suddenly shouted: Whale!

And indeed, directly at the coast, just 5 meters away from us, a whale surfaced, took a breath, and disappeared again. Even on the whale tour, we've never been this close to a whale. Unfortunately, it didn't show up again. Let's see if I can keep up the whale sightings in the coming weeks ;-)

On Thursday, we went to Å i Lofoten, which is the southernmost village on the Lofoten Islands. Here, we treated ourselves to quite expensive cinnamon buns and strolled through the village. In the evening, we took the ferry to Bodø on the mainland. After a short night in Bodø, I brought Julian to the airport.

In total, we spent 10 days on the Lofoten Islands and it was just right. Less time would not do justice to the islands. Of course, you can always spend more time, but we were able to do all the highlights we wanted. Luckily, the weather played along and we were able to do everything we had planned.

For me, it then went south to Saltstraumen - the largest tidal current in the world. I was there at high tide and witnessed whirlpools in the water. However, since the water was also coming from above, I didn't last very long there and continued to the Svartisen Glacier. Theoretically, you can see the glacier from my parking spot. However, the clouds hung so low in the mountains that I could only catch a glimpse of the second largest glacier in Norway the next day.

Apparently, Julian took the good weather home with him. The forecasts for the next few days are abysmal. Let's see how it actually turns out.

Since the weather didn't allow for any outdoor activities, I had a driving day on the famous coastal road FV17. The beautiful landscape was also swallowed up by the clouds here. In the evening, at least a rainbow surprised me on the horizon.

This morning, I went straight to the ferry to Vega. The island group consists of more than 600 islands, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is considered the least discovered island group in the world. I took the few dry hours to hike Vegatrappa. 1300 steps lead to the summit and provide a view of many of the small islands. Now I'm standing in a meadow and hoping that I don't get stuck when driving away.

With yesterday's drive, I left the Arctic Circle, so the polar days are also behind me. However, it is currently only 'dark' for 3 to 4 hours per night here. So there's no real darkness yet. I really enjoyed and was impressed by the region above the northern Arctic Circle. I experienced the polar day and reindeer here for the first time - hopefully not for the last time :-)