The Update #18 – Lofoten Time

Hey everyone! Nice to find you here again. We really love to see that our stories are read. Especially because we feel that people enjoy it as much as we do. We mainly write the stories for ourselves, for later, when we grow up, but we still love to see that others read them too. We’ve added something new at the bottom of the stories. You can now leave a heart if you have read it and liked it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make sure that you can leave multiple hearts at the same time, sorry mom, but if you leave a heart we feel a little more that the stories are being read. On to the story:

Today/Sunday was a day of miles. Today we decided to drive a long way to Bodø, from where we could take the boat to the Lofoten. There were actually no things we wanted to visit along the way. The ride itself was enough of an attraction. For example, we had to take 3 ferries, one of which would even take an hour, the ferry rides are always a gift. The views are always beautiful and it’s a really nice way to take a break from driving and enjoy the views together. During one of these trips we also called our dear neighbors and we enjoyed the view immensely. The mountains here are really so beautiful. It is fun to drive through this for 5 hours. We found a nice parking space and played a game of Catan, this time Jap was a little less far behind but still beat big time by Lon and we worked on the update. The next day we wanted to catch the boat to the Lofoten at 11 o’clock. This boat does not go very regularly so we had a good plan mapped out when we wanted to leave so that we would arrive at the boat on time.

The next day, the day of waiting, we left just a little later than we had planned this morning and that had quite a few consequences for the rest of the day. It was a 1.30 hour drive to where the boat would depart. Along the way we stopped to look at the place with the strongest current in the world and at a gas station where the diesel was really cheap. The prices here for diesel sometimes really fluctuate by the minute and can therefore immediately be 30 cents per liter cheaper or more expensive. So we usually fill up when we see a cheap one. And what probably held us up the most, we saw 4 moose along the side of the road!! Of course I was absolutely thrilled and had to stop for one (or actually 50) photo(s). As a result, we were not at the boat at the scheduled 10 o’clock but at 10.30. And this half hour delay really made the difference with whether or not we would be able to get on the boat. It was really busy and we were almost at the back of the line. I think it was 7 cars or we could have made it, but unfortunately the left without us on it. We would have to wait 5 hours for the next boat, but we were now immediately in front. We should be certain that we would get on the next boat. Luckily we were able to leave Bob in the queue and we went to find a place where we could sit and use the internet. We found a nice spot and were able to put our update online again, backed up all our photos and videos and updated our Workaway profile. Then it was time to walk back to the boat. At the last minute I made a tasty pasta salad for the boat because this ferry trip would take 4 hours. There was now room for us on the boat, despite the fact that only 5 cars could get in behind us. Along the way we read and listened to audio books. Around 8 pm we arrived in Moskenes almost the most southwestern tip of the Lofoten. On the way to our place to sleep for the night we could already enjoy the beautiful mountains and islands here. Man the Lofoten are spectacular. Large and jagged mountains surrounded by inimini islands, on which the most adorable villages are crammed.  And the water is so incredibly clear, we have rarely seen it like this. We found a really nice place to stay that was already busy but had a really great view. We had to get around some fish heads that are really everywhere on the ground here, yuck. They all use wooden frames here to dry fish (luckily not at the moment) and the seagulls occasionally steal some of this. Coincidentally, we also ended up at the place where the photo that appeared on the front of our Lonely Planet was taken. So we couldn’t resist looking for the exact spot of this photo and of course taking it as well. We walked around for a while and really took in this place. In the evening we were also treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets ever, the color red was almost unimaginable so beautiful. What a beauty the beginning of our time in Lofoten was.

The weather forecast for today was not great and it was therefore difficult for us to decide what to do. We had quite a few walks on our list with great views. But most of the mountains were all in the low hanging clouds and that’s why we wanted to save these walks with the best views for a better day. Finally we decided to walk to the Tindstinden summit. It turned out to be not really a signposted walk, but we had found a description of the walk on the internet. The weather was still quite nice when we started, the clouds were already hanging low but this also gave a really nice dramatic atmosphere to the area. Soon the walk got very muddy and we really needed the description to find our way. But we climbed steadily up and the views along the way were really spectacular. We stopped regularly to take some pictures and after 1.30 hours we were at the top. Because the top was still in the clouds, we decided to eat our lunch a little below the top where we did have a great view of the mountains and the town Å. When the top was a bit out of the clouds again, we climbed the last bit to the top and when we got there, it was in the clouds again…. damn. But every now and then you could catch some glimpses of the beautiful view. So we didn’t want to give up and really wanted to see the view. In the meantime it had started to rain gently, but then finally at the time we had agreed to walk back again, the view just appeared. Just long enough to take pictures and enjoy them. All the while it started to rain a bit harder and the path was really all mud, so we slid down the mountain. IWe walked all the way back in the rain, so we were completely soaked and dirty from the mud when we got back. But we had walked and had a fantastic view, it was worth it. Back at the camper we quickly put on dry clothes and drove back to our beautiful camper spot from yesterday. The bakery in the area was already closed so we played games the rest of the afternoon and evening, watched movies and had a delicious meal.

Rain was forecasted for today and that was what happened. It wasn’t that much fun today, so we drove a long way to the town of Leknes. Also because Jap had been very stupid and erased a memory card with footage from Sweden on it that wasn’t on anything else. As a result, a lot of film material has been lost. We were hoping with a card reader and some software to save the data but unfortunately they didn’t sell these specific card readers here. That will be an expedition for in Tromsø. At the supermarket we ran into some Dutchies we met through Instagram with whom we chatted for a while. Then we looked for a new tea strainer and cafetière because Jap had broken it this morning, hahah, it sounds very extreme but usually he is not such a klutz. The rest of the day we sat in a bakery (again) and did research for the way to Spain and Lon for Jap’s birthday. We are regularly in the bakeries because when the weather is bad it is really not nice to have to sit inside the camper all day. A bakery really gives a nice change. And we won’t deny it, the goodies and the wifi also help of course. In the evening we drove to a place to sleep near the walk to the Rytenberg. We had to be very careful with the electricity in the evening because after all those days full of clouds, our battery was really empty. Tomorrow we should probably go to a campsite…

Today we went again to a viewpoint, the Rytenberg. It wouldn’t be a very long walk but you should have a very nice view over Kvalvika beach. It is one of the most popular hikes in Lofoten. But unfortunately we soon ran into the clouds. And we didn’t get out of that for the rest of the walk. It was really extremely muddy and wet and we couldn’t see more than 5 meters around us. It was not a success, we had no view at all. At the top we couldn’t even find where the viewpoint should be. What a shame, but at least we had some exercise again. Because it was still very cloudy, we really had to go to a campsite to connect Bob to the grid for the first time ever. Until now, it has never happened that we cannot charge sufficiently via our solar panel, but there is always a first time. At the campsite we baked brownies, worked on the video of Sweden, read and of course showered.

The next day the weather would improve, but especially later in the day. So we first went grocery shopping and bought a loaf of bread at the bakery from two days ago. After that we got on our way to Nusfjord, a cute fishing village. Nusfjord should be a summary of all the beauty of Lofoten. Well it was, beautiful mountains surrounding a fjord and cute red houses. We took a look around here, there were all fish heads hanging to dry, very dirty. You could even take a photo kissing 1 of them, which we did of course. We went to a bakery here to eat something delicious and then we went on our way to the next stop. Or actually, the previous stop. We went back to the Ryten mountain. We were so disappointed that we had no view yesterday and since we had the time, we wanted to do the walk again today. There was a lookout point in front of the bridge that went towards Ryten, from here you could see the mountain and so we could see exactly whether the mountain would still be in the clouds or not. When we got there, the mountain was still in the clouds, so we didn’t know what it would be like tonight. So we just “waited” there. Soon some dutchies came and stood next to us with whom we chatted for a while. They took the good weather with them, because, as had been predicted, a moment later it opened up completely. That was super nice. Jap flew here with his drone for a while. Finally after dinner it still looked good and we went for it. In the meantime we had persuaded the Dutchies, Joep, Jaimy and her sister Fillis to join us. They had already done a hike today, but now it was beautiful and tomorrow you don’t know what it will look like again. We started the hike again around 7:30 PM and soon we were really blown away by the view. We could not have seen this at all yesterday. We were very happy with our decision to go again. After 1.30 hours we were back on the top and we had a really fantastic view of a very beautiful beach and the mountains. Unfortunately there were too many clouds for a beautiful sunset, but the view remained fantastic. After taking pictures here with the 5 of us and flying our drones, we started the way back. We are really happy that we got to do this walk again and that the weather was willing to cooperate with us.

Today was the day we had ‘waited’ for, the sun would be shining today and we were excited for that. It all looks a lot nicer when the sun is shining, or more importantly, not all the beauty is covered with thick clouds. The sun came out very quickly from behind the clouds and so we set off. Funnily enough, we thought that it would be beach weather. The beaches here are so incredibly beautiful. So we wanted to enjoy that. We first drove to the road towards Nusfjord again because we had seen people taking very cool pictures with the drone and we wanted to try that too. Yesterday there were just too many clouds, but now it was really perfect and we were able to take nice photos and videos. It took some effort and especially stress for Jap, because flying the drone remains stressful. Then we drove to a beach to go SUP. We only had forgotten that we were above the Arctic Circle and that it is still very cold despite the sun. We therefore quickly abandoned our plan and went outside to have lunch and edit some photos. The Dutchies from yesterday also came by and we chatted with them for a while. We had planned a walk for tonight that is very beautiful with sunset, but sunset was still a couple of hours away. We both found that quite difficult, the weather was nice so we had the feeling that we had to peak now and make the most of the beautiful weather. However, we had no idea what we wanted to do. Because as far as we are concerned there is not much else to do in the Lofoten besides hiking and the walks are generally too tough to do several in one day. Because we didn’t get rid of the restless feeling, we decided to drive to the town of Å to have a look around. This is also a fishing village but we soon saw that this wasn’t as beautiful as Nusfjord and we were quickly done with looking around. We were really out of it as you might be able to read. We think the Lofoten is so beautiful that we got a little anxious and really wanted to get the most out of it. This really just made us not relax at all and not enjoying ourselves as much. In the afternoon we admitted this to ourselves and were able to chill. haha. In the meantime it was almost dinner time so we drove to the parking lot for the walk. Here we had a quick meal and then immediately went for a walk. The sunset would still take a while, but with all those mountains we were afraid that the sun would soon disappear behind a mountain and we just felt like going.The walk was quite well laid out and therefore not so muddy for the most part. We walked over a kind of big staircase of rocks to the top of the Reinebringenberg. In the beginning, there were numbers on the stairs every 100 steps. But after 1150 we couldn’t find the numbers anymore, we think they lost count and didn’t want to start over again. But it were more than a million steps for sure ?. In 50 minutes we were at the viewpoint and wow this was beautiful. We had waited all day for this and it made up for it. Really so beautiful. It was very cold so we immediately put on everything we had with us. But it was really not busy which was very nice and again confirmed how nice it is to go for a walk in the evening. Normally this is a very busy walk. We first took a lot of photos and videos, after which we enjoyed the view side by side on a stone for a long time. It really got more beautiful every minute and we decided to continue until sunset which would be in 1:30 am. And that was a real commitment because it was really cold. At one point we got to our feet for a while in the hope of getting a bit warmer. By sunset we were both shivering, but the view also made us forget this again. For a long time, Jap doubted whether he should fly the drone. It is normally already stressful, but on the mountain he finds it even more stressful and when he flies over the edge he gets quite the jitters. But after a long time and with some help from Lon, he decided to do it anyway. We had found a nice ledge and let the drone take off. And it went really easy, there was almost no wind and he was able to take very nice images. When we were there, someone was also preparing a parachute. This man was going to jump down from this mountain point ?. Bizarre. We watched this until he jumped, it all went well and he was down a lot faster than us. Walking down helped a lot against the cold and we were soon nice and warm. Once back we drove to the camper spot where we had been before. What a day this was really so lucky that we were able to experience such a beautiful sunset here. Tomorrow we will say goodbye to this most beautiful part of the Lofoten and we go for a drive again.

That was it again for this week.

Much love from us.

Jap and Lon

Menu of the week

Spendings of the Week

Budget per day €54 and per week €378 and per month €1700

Route

Driven kilometers: 674