After we’ve extensively explored the southern part of Norway in June, we had reserved the “middle part” between Trondheim and the Lofoten for August. This time, we travelled together with our friends Frank and Anne, who undertook an extensive 2-day trip to meet us in Oslo, followed by another day and 500 km jointly driving up north to Trondheim.
Map of the Lofoten-tour (Adobe Flash required)
See full screen
To break up this first long day, we included a stop at the Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella national park after about 2/3 of the way to Trondheim. This harsh alpine area is home to wild reindeer and lots of birds, but also to a decent population of introduced muskoxen. These massive looking arctic bovids are best known for their thick coat and for the strong odor emitted during the seasonal rut by males. They are sometimes difficult to find in the large national park, but can be seen by joining an organised tour, or by sheer luck during a hiking trip. Because of time and money issues, we chose the second option and hopped on a shuttle bus, which brought us on a dirt road 20km inside the national park close to Snøhetta, the highest mountain in the park.
Already from the bus we could spot some muskoxen in the far distance, raising our hopes for a closer encounter. However, I first got attracted by two birds at a small stream, which I hadn’t seen until then - the Common redshank (Tringa totanus), and the White-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus). Unfortunately, the muskoxen preferred to stay at a distance and not until our shuttle brought us back to the main road we got the chance to see them up close. But then we were even lucky to see an adult with a small calf. Stupidly, the bus driver was not patient enough to stop and wait until I got out my camera, so I have to come back one day for a photo :)
After a terrible first night at a truck rest area not far from Trondheim, we spent a rainy second day with city-touring and pizza-eating in Norway’s fourth largest city (180’000 inhabitants).
From the old town bridge we had a look at the colourful old storehouses at the Nidelva river, which are subject of most postcards from Trondheim (although normally with striking blue sky and sunshine). We also pilgrimaged from the old bridge to the second most pictured object in the city: the Nidaros Cathedral. Most religious people probably pilgrimage from further away, but especially when raining, religion isn’t that much of our thing, so this had to be sufficient. :) We gazed at the massive, several sainthoods-displaying front of the cathedral, and warmed our damp hands in the nearby bistro by consulting the guide book for further attractions. However, being wet, cold and hungry, the only attraction that could convince us to be worth visiting was “Peppe's Pizza”, offering an excellent choice of real Italian “New York Greenwich pizza”. :)
Fortified by such a big lunch, we easily handled the ferry ride to the other side of the Trondheimsfjord and the rather short drive to a famous bouldering spot close to Harbak on the west coast, where we planned to spend the night and do some bouldering the next day.
The Harbak boulder location is most famous for a huge roof under a tall rock wall, which is equipped with good holds and thus perfect for long and challenging boulder problems. Scattered across a meadow in front of the big roof however, are also numerous excellent smaller rocks with beautiful routes on it.
Upon arrival, a wet wind made us search for shelter under the big roof for preparing and having dinner. As it turned out to be a designated “spiseplass”, we seem not to be among the firsts who had this idea. :) Unbelievable but true, the next morning we woke up with clear blue sky and sunshine above our cars' rooftop-windows! Yeah, perfect bouldering weather! Since the rocks still needed some time to get dried up by the sun, we first visited another big cave called “Harbakshula”, which extends long into the mountain and also is sometimes used as a natural opera by a local chore.
Coming back from this short hike, the rock was dry and we were able to do some really nice climbs until it got too hot and we decided to go for a a swim and a free hot shower available at a nearby beach.
For this night and dinner we continued to an island called Linesøya, which could be reached by crossing two bridges from Harbak. It turned out to be an ideal spot for observing big flocks of Greylag geese (Anser anser), which seem to have started their autumn migration already and were passing over the island and gathering at an inland lake. We found a nice spot at the sea for the night and Frank and Anne prepared original Swabian "Linsen mit Spätzle” - lentils and egg pasta, which they brought with them from Germany. Sooo yummie!!
Having made little progress in going up north within the last two days, we covered some kilometers the next day and made it all the way up to Brønnøysund and the nearby hol(e)y mountain Torghatten. This only 258m high mountain is known for a characteristic natural hole in its middle, through which it it possible to walk.
We made use of an excellent campground nearby, which was honestly one of the nicest, best serviced and cheapest ones I’ve seen so far in Norway, and we agreed on climbing the peak of Torghatten for sunset. The top offered a fantastic caribbean-like view of the surrounding skerries dipped in turquoise water and glowing in orange-pink from the last sun rays. Wow. We were so excited about the beauty of the landscape that we decided to descend another way on the other side of the mountain, find the back entrance of the tunnel, and cross through it to go back to the campsite. A good plan that began with leading us through even more beautiful landscapes - wild and thick forests, marshland, dried riverbeds, fern-fields, deciduous woodland, etc… . We felt like in a computer-game with constantly changing levels.
Unfortunately, after some time searching for this mountain-hole we entered the more difficult levels, in which the last glimpse of daylight was exchanged by the dim light of a full-moon hidden behind the mountain. It was nearly midnight and still we were in the middle of nowhere on the wrong side of the mountain without being able to spot the god-dammed hole. After some more levels, we reached a point from which we could spot two illuminated farmhouses that we’d seen before on the ascent path, and instead of continuing to search for the mysterious hole, we decided to go into that direction and circle the mountain to reach the campground on the other side. Hach, and then we saw it - way up in a totally unexpected side of the mountain, there was the hole! Too far up to still go through it during the night, but after a good and long sleep we finally managed to cross the bewitched hole the next morning!
With just half a day left to get closer towards our destination, we only made it half-way up to Bodø, from which the southern tip and islands of the Lofoten can be reached by a long ferry ride. We spent the night at a time-saving, but beautiful viewpoint along the road and enjoyed a good dinner with sea-view and a splendid sunset. On the next day, we managed to reach the ferry in time and had a quiet ride via the island of Røst, to the island of Værøy.
We reached Værøy in the evening and settled at a beautiful natural camp spot at the northern side of the island, which was also the starting point of the hike we’d planned for the next day.
LOFOTEN, we finally have arrived!!!
Stay tuned for the next part!
Lofoten part two: the exploration of an Arctic archipelago
Soon! On your favorite travel blog! :)
Map of the Lofoten-tour (Adobe Flash required)
See full screen
To break up this first long day, we included a stop at the Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella national park after about 2/3 of the way to Trondheim. This harsh alpine area is home to wild reindeer and lots of birds, but also to a decent population of introduced muskoxen. These massive looking arctic bovids are best known for their thick coat and for the strong odor emitted during the seasonal rut by males. They are sometimes difficult to find in the large national park, but can be seen by joining an organised tour, or by sheer luck during a hiking trip. Because of time and money issues, we chose the second option and hopped on a shuttle bus, which brought us on a dirt road 20km inside the national park close to Snøhetta, the highest mountain in the park.
Already from the bus we could spot some muskoxen in the far distance, raising our hopes for a closer encounter. However, I first got attracted by two birds at a small stream, which I hadn’t seen until then - the Common redshank (Tringa totanus), and the White-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus). Unfortunately, the muskoxen preferred to stay at a distance and not until our shuttle brought us back to the main road we got the chance to see them up close. But then we were even lucky to see an adult with a small calf. Stupidly, the bus driver was not patient enough to stop and wait until I got out my camera, so I have to come back one day for a photo :)
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After a terrible first night at a truck rest area not far from Trondheim, we spent a rainy second day with city-touring and pizza-eating in Norway’s fourth largest city (180’000 inhabitants).
From the old town bridge we had a look at the colourful old storehouses at the Nidelva river, which are subject of most postcards from Trondheim (although normally with striking blue sky and sunshine). We also pilgrimaged from the old bridge to the second most pictured object in the city: the Nidaros Cathedral. Most religious people probably pilgrimage from further away, but especially when raining, religion isn’t that much of our thing, so this had to be sufficient. :) We gazed at the massive, several sainthoods-displaying front of the cathedral, and warmed our damp hands in the nearby bistro by consulting the guide book for further attractions. However, being wet, cold and hungry, the only attraction that could convince us to be worth visiting was “Peppe's Pizza”, offering an excellent choice of real Italian “New York Greenwich pizza”. :)
Fortified by such a big lunch, we easily handled the ferry ride to the other side of the Trondheimsfjord and the rather short drive to a famous bouldering spot close to Harbak on the west coast, where we planned to spend the night and do some bouldering the next day.
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The Harbak boulder location is most famous for a huge roof under a tall rock wall, which is equipped with good holds and thus perfect for long and challenging boulder problems. Scattered across a meadow in front of the big roof however, are also numerous excellent smaller rocks with beautiful routes on it.
Upon arrival, a wet wind made us search for shelter under the big roof for preparing and having dinner. As it turned out to be a designated “spiseplass”, we seem not to be among the firsts who had this idea. :) Unbelievable but true, the next morning we woke up with clear blue sky and sunshine above our cars' rooftop-windows! Yeah, perfect bouldering weather! Since the rocks still needed some time to get dried up by the sun, we first visited another big cave called “Harbakshula”, which extends long into the mountain and also is sometimes used as a natural opera by a local chore.
Coming back from this short hike, the rock was dry and we were able to do some really nice climbs until it got too hot and we decided to go for a a swim and a free hot shower available at a nearby beach.
For this night and dinner we continued to an island called Linesøya, which could be reached by crossing two bridges from Harbak. It turned out to be an ideal spot for observing big flocks of Greylag geese (Anser anser), which seem to have started their autumn migration already and were passing over the island and gathering at an inland lake. We found a nice spot at the sea for the night and Frank and Anne prepared original Swabian "Linsen mit Spätzle” - lentils and egg pasta, which they brought with them from Germany. Sooo yummie!!
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|
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|
|
|
|
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Having made little progress in going up north within the last two days, we covered some kilometers the next day and made it all the way up to Brønnøysund and the nearby hol(e)y mountain Torghatten. This only 258m high mountain is known for a characteristic natural hole in its middle, through which it it possible to walk.
We made use of an excellent campground nearby, which was honestly one of the nicest, best serviced and cheapest ones I’ve seen so far in Norway, and we agreed on climbing the peak of Torghatten for sunset. The top offered a fantastic caribbean-like view of the surrounding skerries dipped in turquoise water and glowing in orange-pink from the last sun rays. Wow. We were so excited about the beauty of the landscape that we decided to descend another way on the other side of the mountain, find the back entrance of the tunnel, and cross through it to go back to the campsite. A good plan that began with leading us through even more beautiful landscapes - wild and thick forests, marshland, dried riverbeds, fern-fields, deciduous woodland, etc… . We felt like in a computer-game with constantly changing levels.
Unfortunately, after some time searching for this mountain-hole we entered the more difficult levels, in which the last glimpse of daylight was exchanged by the dim light of a full-moon hidden behind the mountain. It was nearly midnight and still we were in the middle of nowhere on the wrong side of the mountain without being able to spot the god-dammed hole. After some more levels, we reached a point from which we could spot two illuminated farmhouses that we’d seen before on the ascent path, and instead of continuing to search for the mysterious hole, we decided to go into that direction and circle the mountain to reach the campground on the other side. Hach, and then we saw it - way up in a totally unexpected side of the mountain, there was the hole! Too far up to still go through it during the night, but after a good and long sleep we finally managed to cross the bewitched hole the next morning!
|
|
|
|
|
|
With just half a day left to get closer towards our destination, we only made it half-way up to Bodø, from which the southern tip and islands of the Lofoten can be reached by a long ferry ride. We spent the night at a time-saving, but beautiful viewpoint along the road and enjoyed a good dinner with sea-view and a splendid sunset. On the next day, we managed to reach the ferry in time and had a quiet ride via the island of Røst, to the island of Værøy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
We reached Værøy in the evening and settled at a beautiful natural camp spot at the northern side of the island, which was also the starting point of the hike we’d planned for the next day.
LOFOTEN, we finally have arrived!!!
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|
|
Stay tuned for the next part!
Lofoten part two: the exploration of an Arctic archipelago
Soon! On your favorite travel blog! :)
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