Spending a week in the Lofoten Islands in the the North of Norway was amazing. The place is beautiful and around each corner an adventure awaits. We spent our first night in Å i Lofoten which is the furthest tip of the island. That night I attempted to fish again but after sorting the line out which took me a good hour and killing a few shrimps in the rock pool to use as bait, which I got pretty emotional about anyway, I threw the line in and within seconds it was completely stuck on a rock and there was no way I could get it back. This time I gave up as it was getting cold and I had no more hooks on me.
The next day we moved on. Before arriving we had checked the weather and decided that we were going to spend about a week in the Islands. A week isn’t really enough to explore the island in depth but we made the most of our time there. We decided to drive about an hour up the road looking for somewhere to stop. On the way we stopped for a quick kayak though. Lofoten is described as a kayaker’s heaven and it is easy to see why with its crystal clear waters surrounded by mountains. Just floating in the sea with the mountains around you is a surreal experience and one which I will never forget. Especially when the lion’s mane jelly fish, the largest jellyfish in the sea, would calmly float past from time to time.
Later that day we decided to give cooking on fire a crack (I hope you got the pun there). I have managed to improve my fire making skills a lot since my previous blog ‘Swedish Summer‘. Within no time using the driftwood on the beach we had our water boiling and the food cooking away. For some reason cooking on fire is such an accomplishment and of course as we are proper British we always have to get a brew on the go. Although one day it took me about 2 hours to cook some brown rice and then just as it was ready I managed to spill it all on the floor… You learn to laugh at yourself a lot whilst travelling though.
Another new experience for me was naked showering with freezing cold water next to a lake. We have a solar shower but it hadn’t really been hot enough to heat it up and we were in a secluded place so why not? It is actually a really liberating feeling being naked in nature. Butt and tits hanging about the risk that someone might see. The next minute though an otter appeared. Having never seen an otter and in my excitement I chased it around naked. Poor thing. At this time I really was in tune with nature hey. Call me a hippie if you want…
The locals in Lofoten are also very friendly and I have found talking to locals is definitely something which needs to be prioritised in each area. We had seen a lot of people going around and picking orange things from plants. One morning a guy pulled up next to where we had parked for the night, we asked him what he was doing but he spoke very little English. About 10 minutes later he came back with a pot of berries and offered them to us. Without any hesitation George ate one, if we were going to die from berry poisoning it was going to be together so I soon followed. He let us keep them and before devouring any more we had a google to make sure we weren’t about to kill ourselves and found out they were cloud berries.
Even though we didn’t die from the berry’s. The next day our near death experience was a bit to close to home. We had found a beautiful place closer to Narvik this time with our own pier. I am not sure exactly where we were. After cooking dinner on the fire the clouds started to look angry and thunder could be heard in the distance. We decided to pack up and watch the storm come between the mountains from the van. What we both forgot to consider is that storms in Norway probably pack a lot more power than the storms in England. About 20 minutes in we both realised this. Well after the lightening hit the ground about 100 metres away from us we both realised this. About 2 minutes later we had jumped in the front of the van and were off to find a safer location. The photos below show how quickly the weather changed and how temperamental it can be in Norway!
These are just a few stories of my time in the Lofoten Islands, around each corner is somewhere which will take your breath away and you never know what is in store
Made up of deep fjords, craggy peaks, sandy beaches, and cute red fishing cabins, the islands are a wonderful location for landscape photography.
Great blog! Love reading all about Norway and your photography tips. The lofoten Islands sound amazing!