Long Days in the Lofoten Isands

We met up with Judy and John in Trondheim and flew north to the Lofoten Islands yesterday.  It was a spectacular flight in perfect weather.  The views were to die for. We then drove almost 200 km SW down the islands to reach our accommodation at Henningsvaer.  We had to put up with scenery like this on the way:

The traffic moves slowly on Lofoten due to the narrow windy roads, and there were so many motor homes on the road, plus some road works and an accident to slow us down. Finally we arrived at our nice apartment in Henningsvaer.

 This is the view from our balcony

 Main part of Henningsvaer - home to many art galleries

Today we headed about another 120 km south to the last island accessible by car (there are 2 more accessible by boat only). We made many scenic stops along the way.  The final town we visited is called A (with a small circle over the A, pronounced like a short O sound).  I doubt there's another town with the same name anywhere in the world.

 the fields are ablaze with yellow flowers

 we visited a glass blowing workshop here

 the preserved historical fishing village of Nusfjord

 The dried cod was removed from the racks some time recently, but the fish heads remain. Fishing, especially cod, is the main industry here.

 

 racks and racks of drying fish heads - they are sent to 

Nigeria to be used in a local delicacy

 the stunningly beautiful setting of the town Reine

We returned home late and ate at 10 pm.  We abandoned the idea of driving to see the midnight sun today - we face east here with mountains blocking the view to the west, and we need to be on the west to see it.  We may try again another day.  Lofoten is the best place for viewing the midnight sun as it is almost right on the Arctic Circle.  It's now 1230am here and still bright daylight, but John has fallen asleep on the couch, so I guess it's time for bed.

Andalsnes - close to so much amazing scenery

Yesterday we drove here from Alesund, via Molde - more island hopping involving multiple ferries. We spent the afternoon driving the Trollstigen road (Troll's ladder).  The Norwegians are very big on trolls. So many place names start with "Troll", and they have ugly trolls at many tourist shops.  Trollstigen must be one of the world's greatest roads. There are 11 hairpin bends to the top.  The road crosses in front of a huge water fall.  The valley you drive up is a classic glacial carved valley:

I could not visit Norway without doing at least one serious hike. Today I abandoned Graeme, and broke all the rules of bushwalking by hiking Romdalseggen alone. This is not a walk for anyone with a fear of heights.  Part of the walk involves walking along a narrow rocky ridge with drops off to both sides.  The views were great even though the sun did not come out all day.  It took me 7 hours; spot on that advised by the hostel.  I am now recovering - the worst was the 1200m descent, seemingly never ending.

 the view about 30 minutes into the initial ascent

 from here the track ascends over rocks up to the ridge

 nearly at the ridge top - the red splotches mark the way

 it's early in the season and there was a lot of snow to trudge through

 this is not a view off to the side - it's the track on the ridge line

 the ridge goes up and down a bit - note the red markers

 Looking at back at where I've just walked. Parts were much steeper than the photos can capture. Two men were here cementing metal poles into the rock so more chain could be installed as help.

 The worst is over.  After this gentle ascent through snow there 

was just a long steep slog back down to Andalsnes.

Great hike!  Great day.  Tomorrow we leave here on yet another scenic route - the Rauma Valley to Dombas.  Then onto Trondheim to meet Judy and John and celebrate my birthday (hopefully).

Alesund - escaping from bad weather at Geiranger Fjord

The weather was not great for our first full day at Geiranger on Saturday - max 9 and raining on and off. We did a short hike starting high above the fjord, to a lookout.

 our hotel in the background with the Eagle Rd rising above it 

- the only road to Geiranger open all year round

Later we did a cruise up and down the length of the fjord. Like other boat trips we have been on, it was OK but we seem to see much better scenery from the roads high above the fjords.

 the Seven Sisters waterfall

 

The next day the weather turned really bad so we left a day early to head to Alesund in search of sunshine, or at least no rain. (Aside - if you have a choice of booking online with Venere, Expedia or Booking.com, use Booking.com.  Although the hotel was happy for us to leave a day early there was no way to avoid the 15% commission charge by Venere as they block changes by guest or hotel once the guest has checked in.  Not so with Booking.com).

Alesund was virtually destroyed in a fire in 1905, and completely rebuilt in Art Nouveau style.  We did an informative guided walk round the town, and then did the mandatory 418 steps up to the lookout over the town.

 

 typical Art Nouveau ornamentation

 the view from the lookout

Today we did a day trip to Runde, also known as Bird Island because 500,000 birds roost and breed there in the warmer months. The very pleasant drive there involved crossing about 4 islands, mainly by bridge, but also one very busy ferry.

We hiked the eastern end of the island for over 3 hours, in search of birds. Initially we saw none, but then we saw an eagle, and some gull-like birds. Graeme found a lookout which I managed to accidentally pass - from there you could see hundreds of birds on the cliff face. There were many kittiwakes (G called them the opposite of me - I was Kitty Asleep when I missed the lookout). 

 the initial ascent up to the ridge was very steep

 view down to the lighthouse and cottages

 the white spots on the cliff face are 100's of birds

 lovely views from the cliff tops

 crossing from one island to another on the trip back

Back in Alesund - the view from our hotel room. 

We left in steady light rain but returned in nice sunshine.