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Norway 2007: The Islands - Vesterålen and Lofoten |
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Friday 8th June: Sortland - Brustranda (132 km) |
The Vikings get a lot of bad publicity.
The 1958 film 'The Vikings' stars Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine and Janet Leigh together with a cast of thousands.
It has some good scenery (Hardangerfjord) and plenty of violence. The film portrays the Vikings as brutal, lusty barbarians - which they undoubtedly were, at least some of the time.
This stereotype of the Vikings cannot tell the whole story: when you look at a Viking ship you will see skill and beauty.
The modern Scandinavian people do not fit the Viking image either.
Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark are all actively involved in promoting world peace.
This is the region that gave the world the Nobel Peace Prize.
The town of Stokmarknes, on the island of Hadseløya
At Stokmarknes a friendly reporter takes our details for a local newspaper
Boatshed with reflections, south of Stokmarknes
North of Melbu, looking south-east over Hadselfjorden
The Melbu - Fiskebol ferry is the main link between Vesterålen and Lofoten
Lofoten: heading south on the E10, just south of Fiskebol
On the E10, between Fiskebol and Svolvær
Mountains are everywhere, trees are scarce even at sea level
A quiet Lofoten road - beautiful cycling
A seagull watches while we eat our ice creams at the end of a long day
Our warm, cosy cabin at Brustranda
The hillside behind the Brustranda campground is impressively steep
Karen's diary:
It was cool and cloudy as we pedalled along Sortlandsundet, but scenic. The jagged peaks opposite peered through the mist and gradually became more visible as the fog lifted. At the south end of the island we crossed another long, high bridge to the island of Hadsel. The main town is Stokmarknes - it must have a large food-processing factory because the air smelled like fish soup.
As we came down the bridge towards the town we were stopped by a young woman who wanted to take our photo. She was a journalist, looking for positive cycling stories for the Vesterålen newspaper. (The northern islands as a group are called Vesterålen.) We enjoyed telling her about our journey - sadly, we will not see the article. The ride from Stokmarknes around the island to Melbu is short but gorgeous. The island of Hadsel is green and lush and the meadows are filled with flowers. Across the water are endless craggy peaks. Melbu is enchanting - an old-fashioned maritime village on a sheltered bay, close to perfect.
From Melbu it's a 30 minute ferry crossing to Fiskebøl on the island of Austvagøy. (This is the beginning of the southern group of islands, called Lofoten.) The scenery is simply eye-popping; the peaks are unbelievably jagged and look like needles. The road plunges through the interior of the island, up one fjord, over a saddle, and down the next fjord. You want to take a photo every 30 seconds. The fjord ends at the busy town of Svolvær, a major port. It is a nice place with a bustling atmosphere. There were sharp peaks and islands all around and the weather was brilliant. When we reached the west coast of Austvagøy the road turned to the north, and straight into a bitter, strong headwind. All we could do was barge our way through it, up and down the steep little hills and into the freezing gale. Soon we got to the next bridge - another monster. I was so pleased to ride over it without getting blown off my bike. This bridge took us to Gimsøy, a small island that you leave ten minutes later by means of another bridge. On this second bridge we overtook the two German cyclists whom we had seen on the Andenes ferry last Wednesday. They were moving slowly, walking their bikes up the bridge. They seemed terribly overloaded - there was so much luggage on the bikes that we almost couldn't see the bikes! After a brief chat we continued on, and soon left them behind.
We are now on Vestvagøy, on the 'quiet' road on the south coast. 22km of convoluted cycling brought us to this tiny village, with a huge campground. It is like paradise, sheltered, with brilliant views all round and almost no traffic. Now we are in a comfy cabin, relatively pain-free. The new saddle-covers are a miracle. If I had a bottle of champagne I'd crack it open right now and drink a toast to the inventor of gel. It has been a perfect day.