0335 Bodo to Lofoten Islands

22^nd Aug 2015

Big ferry ride, whales and dead fish !

Woke up at 6.30 am to yet another clear blue sky (Bet you are sick of hearing that !!  Tough !)   and showered and packed up ready to head to the port for our 10.05 am ferry departure  from Bodo to Moskenes on the Lofoten Islands – a 3.5 hour journey.

We arrived in plenty of time – In fact we were first in line in the “reservation” line – There were plenty of others in the line of people who hadn’t booked, but we had wanted to make sure !  About a half hour wait, chatting to people from Miami and the Ukraine and Norway about our

trip and the car, and then we boarded.  Much bigger ferry than the little island hoppers we have been catching, but not a lot of people or cars on there despite the weather.  We learned last night that the ferry company has actually reinstated its (more frequent) summer time sailing schedule because of the reason good weather and  increased numbers of people as a result.  We met a Norwegian couple yesterday who have in fact had their annual holiday in July, when it rained non stop.  So because of the current fine weather here, they have taken another week without pay just to enjoy some sunshine !

Leaving the harbour we wove out between hundreds of tiny islands (and a few big ones with mountains on), heading  NW out to Lofoten.  Calm seas, a few whales flopping around at one stage, and just a beautiful little cruise out into the North Atlantic.  Hot dogs on the ferry were good too………..

It was funny (to me anyway) that in harbour before we left, the rear deck was covered in Norwegians baring as much skin as possible to get a tan.  But shortly after departed and there was a bit of a breeze, they all went inside leaving the deck empty except for  few hardy travellers who were suitable attired !!

We arrived in Moskenes on schedule at 1.30 pm, and the Lofoten Islands really are mountainous peaks rising straight out of the sea.  It was only at the last minute that we rounded a small headland and saw Moskenes harbour – Until that moment it had looked like we were just heading towards the rocks !  We unloaded and set off to the main road (“main” meaning in this instance it is just a little bigger than the non-main road, but not much !) where most people turned right to

drive through the islands – But not me.  I wanted to get to the very end of the Lofoten Islands first, so we drove about 5 kms to a town called A.  Yup, A.  Well actually it has a little circle above the A, but my computer won’t write that !  Do you think they ran out of place names ?  We saw a place later on called B, so maybe they really did run out of names, and we might find C tomorrow !   Anyway, I digress.  A is the most delightful little town, and on the other side of A we found a car park and lots of people walking somewhere.  Once we parked, we followed the herd, and about 1 km down a path we found a big rocky and marshy headland that really was about as far SW on Lofoten as one could go without a boat.  2 groups had actually pitched their tents right on the end and were camping there – A perfect spot.  The headland was a little like being at Land’s End, or Ushuaia – A special feeling being right at the end of a road somewhere, and you can go no further.  Tine to head in a different direction. 

The main industry here is fishing, cod fishing.  Apparently the cod come in to Lofoten from the Barents Sea between April and June to spawn, making this the worlds largest cod fishery.  The cod caught here is then hung up on special wooden racks in the open air, to dry – a balance between the temperature and humidity here makes it highly suitable – and in June it is taken down from the racks and mainly sold to Italy and Africa.  The truck load we saw being filled smelled a bit strong, so I can just imagine the local odour when the many racks around the area are all freshly filled !!

From A we set of through the islands – And it is just magical.  The little bays and coves all along the twisty coast line are full of little fishing boats, brightly painted boat sheds (some even with sod roofs), and little villages with their mix of white, yellow and red houses are round every corner.  Especially for the first few kms you can’t even put your camera down – But as everyone else on the road is slowing down to take pics too, no one cares too much !  As we have seen over the past few days, the water round here is just so clear you can see the bottom quite clearly any time it is shallow enough,  and we wandered slowly up

the coast just enjoying everything.  At one little village a fishing boat was  coming into the harbour and it was followed by swarms of gulls – It was still some distance from us – Like several hundred yards out – But I was certain I could see something bigger and darker amongst all the gulls diving into the water.  (My hearing may be shot, but I can still see OK !!) I got the binocs out and sure enough there were porpoises or something leaping around in the water out there.  So I tried to take a couple of pics that I could blow up and see more clearly what they were – And they were Orcas !  The tall dorsal fin you can clearly see in one photo indicates this.  I was so chuffed to have caught that on camera from so far away. 

From there we wandered on round the coast for another hour or so – through semi-tunnels built in case of rock falls, alongside sheltered fjords filled with salmon farms, across bridges, through tunnels, and  eventually to a spot where we stopped to eat our sandwiches that we had made for lunch on the boat, but not eaten because we had those hot dogs instead !!  We stopped on a little working wharf but being Saturday it was deserted – But it was interesting to see, on a day when there wasn’t a breath of wind and the water was millpond calm, that theit 20 ft and 10 ft containers were either chained down or weighted down with 4 tonnes of bulker bags !!  There were also a couple of sections of road that 

Had barriers enabling the road to be closed off in case of high seas – Obviously it is not always calm and sunny up here !!

We wound on round the coast, past a Viking museum where we stopped briefly but it was too close to closing time so we didn’t go in the museum itself, and then only a little further up the road there were hoards of seagulls flying across the road and landing on a rock right beside the road  - When we got there several gulls had to take extreme avoiding action to miss us !! Wonder what they were doing there ? 

We then wandered on slowly round the coast looking for a good free camping spot.  We passed

a few great ones that someone had found first, but then, just past Brustranda, we found a little gravel road up to a clearing, overlooking the islands out to sea.  Perfect.  We set up, watched the local coastal ferry from Hurtigruten leave port, and after a supper of Norwegian fish cakes, some great local sausages, and lots of fresh veggies, washed down with some good red wine, we settled in for the night.  We are now well north of the Arctic Circle at 68Deg 18’ north, so even though we are well past the longest day of the year, it is staying light longer and longer.  By the time we get to Nord Cap in a few days time we could well be in 24 hours of daylight.

In the meantime, another incredible day in this amazing country.  It will be another day or so before we get back on the mainland, so more of Lofoten tomorrow. 

Pics are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0335BodoToLofoten?authkey=Gv1sRgCOmwnu_2jrmhfQ