E phatlaladitšwe: 03.09.2022
Today the day started very sunny. With these temperatures, we wouldn't even think about having breakfast outside at home - what a few degrees of latitude can change! Today was our first outdoor breakfast!
I actually didn't feel like starting, but the big events of the day just couldn't wait for us - 3:50 pm was a fixed point for us. But let's start at the beginning. Since we've learned that you have to take 'cheap' gas stations as they come, we had our first pit stop after a whopping five minutes. After another three minutes, the second one followed; a supermarket tempted us to 'extensive' shopping. But then it went better, past a magnificent glacier - unfortunately, the last summer ferry went there on August 31st - so it only remained to admire it from a distance, but even that was spectacular.
After more small stops at beautiful beaches, we experienced short rain showers under almost cloudless skies. Unexpectedly, this happened in a 5 km long tunnel. That alone was alarming enough, but it got worse - the tunnel was mostly lit only with emergency lights. We made it through, and after us, the deluge or whatever foreign misery comes next. ;)
At 2:30 pm, we arrived at today's main destination. After a brief, unsuccessful parking discussion, Paul and I fled to the supermarket - how a peaceful conclusion was reached here remains unknown to the author - we found a great spot at Saltstraumen. This is the narrow entrance to a fjord where the tidal current leads to whirlpools and eddies and a flow speed of up to 40 km/h - a very impressive natural phenomenon.
From there, it was only half an hour to Bodø for the ferry to the Lofoten Islands. The early boarding of the ferry surprised us a bit - we were still busy eating noodles. As soon as we got on the ferry, it left way too early - we were completely confused - is this really the right ship!? The colleagues quickly moved the ship back and let another ferry dock - lucky us, everything was correct!
After about three hours, we landed on the Lofoten Islands and found our overnight camp shortly after the pier.