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Norway 2007: The Islands - Vesterålen and Lofoten |
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Thursday 7th June: Andenes - Sortland (100 km) |
There are many islands in Norway. The administrative departments of Vesterålen and Lofoten are made up entirely of islands. Most of the roads hug the coast and are relatively flat. High bridges, ferries and one undersea tunnel connect the islands. The scenery is magnificent.
South of Andenes on route 82 - a flat road, a tail wind and sunshine.
On the island of Andøya, looking east over Andfjorden towards the island of Grytøya.
Route 82, north of Sortland, on the island of Hinnøya. The distant mountains are on the island of Langøya.
The view to the south from the bridge at Sortland
The high bridge at Sortland is typical of the many bridges linking the islands. In this case the bridge connects the islands of Hinnøya and Langøya.
Karen's diary:
When we got up at 6.00am it looked exactly the same as it had at bedtime last night (11.30pm) - same light, same wind, fog and chilly temperature. We are now on a long chain of islands and plan to cycle all the way to the other end, using bridges, ferries and a tunnel to cross between them.
Andenes is at the north end of Andøya, and this morning we cycled down its length. As usual, the fog and clouds disappeared during the morning and now we are sunburnt! To cross from Andøya to Hinnøya there is long, high bridge, very like the one at Finnsnes. The bridges must be high enough for ships to pass underneath. It was all peaceful. There were only a few small villages, few people and little traffic. Flat meadows were interspersed with clusters of steep mountains, and the sea was a lovely colour of deep blue, striped with jade green. Our final bridge (same design again) crossed from Hinnøya to the island of Langøya and the town of Sortland.
It is a busy place, with factories and shopping malls, but the campground is high above the town and is very calm. We were thankful to have a short day today because we were both in great pain. Our saddles had become quite excruciating and we couldn't sit for more than 10 minutes at a time. Brian had the excellent idea of finding a sports store and buying padded gel saddle-covers. We will try them tomorrow - they couldn't be any worse than what we already have. We are relaxing in a cabin tonight and have plenty of good food.