(Most of this post written by FIONA Illingworth, whilst enjoying her well deserved holiday with me here in Norway)

Sunday 15 September 2019

We stayed half up/half in bed until about midnight last night hoping to see the Northern Lights. It was freezing and we sat up in bed/tried to have a nap. All to no avail.

Today looks like it could be a good day and the sun is shining through the side window. I am so looking forward to the hike today. Visibility looks good and John is considering taking the drone up the mountain instead of his camera. We will try his wide angles lens on my camera body … see how we go!

3.30 pm

So much for our top ten hike – we got lost somehow (don’t ask me how!). The route was not exactly well marked to be fair but, in all honesty, we should have had a proper map!  Not to worry. We had a good walk up through a pretty valley and half up one side of a mountain but we were heading in the wrong direction. Doh!  

So we gave it up as a bad job, retraced our steps and have driven over to Stø to do a bit of the walk from the other end.  Before heading out the second time, we stopped for coffee and a cinnamon bun in the cafe at the nearby camp site. I wasn’t expecting much to be honest as we had read some poor reviews on the campsite and had no intention on staying there.  But, actually, the cinnamon buns were good and you also were welcomed to free coffee refills, which is unusual here.   

Stø was a small fishing village with a place to book whale watching tours.  But it looked as though they only ran until the end of August.  There was a huge building looking rather run down just at the place where you joined/finished the Queens Hike and it was covered in really excellent murals of sea life.  John took some photographs of them.  Apparently, murals on the side of buildings are a bit of thing here but we haven’t seen many.  

Both fishing villages looked quite authentic rather than for the benefit of tourists and I wish we had had more time to look around, but we were keen to get on the walk at either end and so we missed the chance for a proper look round.  The road to Nysksund was dreadful and a difficult road to navigate.  I am glad that John was driving, put it that way.  Thankfully, the road to Stø was much better and wasn’t a problem at all.

4.30 pm

On the coastal path from Stø.  All we have to do is keep the sea to our right. Surely even we can manage that?  We have stopped at a quiet bay to take a few photographs and John is attempting to fly his drone to the light out in the bay. What could possibly go wrong?

6.00 pm

We had a great walk along the coastal path at Stø.   John put his wide angled lens on my camera whilst he used the drone.  In the end he didn’t fly it right out to the light in the bay; he didn’t dare due to a wind blowing the drone slightly off course.  But he did fly it over the water.  It took me a while to adapt to the wide angled lens.  Everything seemed so far away.  

Typically, there seemed to be a plethora of path makers (red T) on this side of the path.  (Though we did find some towards the end of the walk at the Nyksund end, proving that we had started on the right path but then lost it very quickly). 

On the coastal path, we could relax more because even we couldn’t get lost.  We spent a good hour or so just messing about on the rocks, taking photos and drone footage. It was great to take our time doing nothing much (from my point of view anyway). 

There was an abandoned building on the waterfront and someone had drawn a number of murals of sea creatures around it, giving it another life.

Our ultimate aim is to drive south to the bottom of Langøy, eventually heading for Bø where there is a interesting looking sculpture as part of the Skulpturlandskap Nordland. But we will reach there tomorrow; tonight the plan is to wild camp somewhere along the route.

We’ve decided to knock the idea of whale watching on the head. The whale watching at Stø appears to have stopped for the season and I’m reluctant to drive all the way back up to Andenes to try there. 

Perhaps we will start to head back to Tromsø via Senja on Tuesday. Let’s see!

Monday 16 September 2019,

(Most of this post written by FIONA Illingworth, whilst enjoying her well deserved holiday with me here in Norway)

10.00 am

Gosh, it is 10 am already. Half the morning is gone. We were up and at a viewpoint just by Ryggedalen Tunnel this morning, before breakfast. It is a stunning view. I did a bit of yoga whilst John took some footage with the drone. The landscape is looking amazing, resplendent in autumn colours, but so difficult to capture on camera. I spotted loads of cepes growing amongst the bracken and ferns, and what I think were blueberries, which are in season at the moment.

The plan today is to drive down to Bø and then take a circular route via Staumsnes. We saw some beautiful scenes as we drove down the 820 road last night.

We were the only vehicle at the rest area by Ryggedalen Tunnel last night. I think this route is off the main tourist trail. Given the stunning scenery, I suspect there will be a lot of stopping and starting along this road this morning. We’ve only just set off and we’ve stopped already!

12.12 pm Bø

We found The Man of the Sea sculpture and he was certainly worth the drive.

He is made from cast iron and crystal and looks very poignant, with rather sad eyes and enormous feet!

The piece was created by Norwegian Artist Kjell Erik Killi Olsen. He stands 43 meters above the bay at Vinje looking out to sea.

The bay itself is beautiful. It is so quiet here and you can just hear the gentle hum of traffic on the 820 road nearby. In addition to the sculpture, there is an exhibition about all the art works included in the project. I must say, I like some better than others, but then it would be a boring world if art spoke to us all in the same way. I also think that it is highly likely you would change your mind about a piece when you saw it in the landscape and in the flesh, so to speak.

1.40 pm

Still in the carpark by The Man of the Sea having had some lunch and now researching about where we go for the next few days. We are considering a drive to Harstad, followed by a ferry crossing to Senja first thing in the morning. It sounds fun!

We could, of course, simply drive along roads we have already travelled to get to Senja, but it feels more adverturous to take a different route.

6.40 pm

We have driven via Sortland to Harstad, which is still part of the islands of Nordland though I am not sure if they still form part of what is known as the Versterålens. I don’t think they are by the looks of the map. Good old google says that Harstad is located on the island of Hinnøya, and is the third largest town in Nordland.

We are only camping here overnight and catching the ferry across to Senja in the morning; we must be up early. It feeels right to return to Senja. The place where my trip to Norway began and now the place it will end.

7.55 pm

Amazing how the campsites vary. We are in Harstad and compared to some of the others we have tried, this does not compare well. The campsite near Myre, where we stayed on Saturday was fantastic compared to this. It had excellent kitchen facilities and free showers. This one, on the other hand, charges for a shower and the kitchen facilities are poor to say the least. A couple of hot plates is the best they can do and they seem to be taking forever to heat up the food! The campsite warden is friendly but this place certainly lack a woman’s touch for sure.

Tuesday 17 September 2019

(Most of this post written by FIONA Illingworth, whilst enjoying her well deserved holiday with me here in Norway)

Up with the lark this morning in order to catch the ferry to Skrolsvik.  

We were alerted last night by the campsite warden to say that the northern lights were visible. It was a cold night but we went out and were finally treated to a bit of a display. They weren’t very bright to be honest; it was just our luck that the campsite was well illuminated and the lights of the town didn’t help either. But we DID see it and, of course, the camera saw it better than our naked eye. It was something at least and I can always say now that I have seen them.

We stayed up at least an hour or so hoping for more. There were faint murmurings but it didn’t amount to a great deal.  Nonetheless, it was exhilarating to watch, wait and hope.

8.30 am

Complete fail this morning!  Turns out the ferry terminal we first located only goes to Sørrollnes and not Skrolsvik.  So then we googled the terminal and we ended up at Stornes where, despite the indications of a ferry line on the map, the ferry does not go to Skrolsvik but only to a small island called Grytøya.  We simply turned round and took the return ferry journey of approx 10 minutes. No charge and we both benefitted from the toilet facilities!  The ticket man told John that there hasn’t been a ferry to Skrolsvik from Stornes for years. Such is life!

I am still convinced that there is a ferry terminal in Harstad that would take us to Skrolsvik but I doubt we will ever find it. Instead we are reverting to plan C, which is to go back to the ferry terminal we first visited at 7.30 am and take the ferry to Sørrollnes. It doesn’t look as though it will save much time on our journey to Senja but it will be an alternative route and open up the possibilities of new photo opportunities!

So here goes … let’s see how we fare with Plan C. Just about to dock on the island of Hinnøya once again!

9.20 am

On board ferry number two to Sørrollness. We were lucky … we just rolled on as the last vehicle before the ferry shut its door. They really don’t mess about here. Doors open and shut, vehicles drive on and off with impressive speed. I guess catching a ferry is so much a part of daily life for many here. 

It is another promising day. I hope the weather holds as the forecast doesn’t look great for the next few days. 

11.40 am

We have driven up the tiny road from tunnel linking Rolla to Andørja, in search of a spot to have a snack. We had to drive quite a few kilometres but found somewhere just as we were about to give up and turn around. Just beyond the lay-by I spotted a small path leading to an old picnic table looking out onto the bay. It was completely invisible from the road and perfect in every way. It was so still you could have heard a pin drop.

Island life must be hard a lot of the time I’m sure but there is part of me thinking that they have it sorted. They know how to live the good life: no rushing and living on top of each other.  They have space to spread out.  Many have wonderful views from their homes, a couple of outbuildings, probably one of which is a winter sauna.  Many have a small boat (probably a must in most places around the small islands).  Children start school at 6 years old.  They leave their bikes unlocked outside their house.  It seems pretty idyllic to me.

I wonder – have we forgotten to actually enjoy life’s simple pleasures in the UK? John had just started to listen to the UK news last night (when we heard of the damning indictment of the Luxembourg PM on Boris Johnson) when we heard a knock at our window. It was the campsite warden telling us of the Northern Lights. Suddenly the news didn’t seem that interesting (not that it was to me in the first place to be honest). It takes a holiday to remind you to focus on the small but at the same time increasingly important things in life … nature, quiet, time with loved ones, space to simply be. The Danish have a word for this: hygge. I need more of this in my life for sure although I do think, as I get older, I focus on this more. Long may this development continue!

1.35 pm

We stopped along the 84 road to try and capture some of the autumn colours in the trees but it is so much more difficult than it looks. The trees look incredible from a distance but when you get up close you lose the canopy of orange and yellow; the trees take on their individual nature. So it doesn’t make for the great sweeping swathes of colour, which is what I was hoping to capture. Instead, I have gone in very close and shot the red ferns that carpet the floors of the forests. It is beautiful, sure enough, but not really what I was after. I think, now, we have lost the best of the light but who knows what the rest of the days will bring, forecast notwithstanding.

4.25 pm

We stopped at a traditional bakery and cafe to have a cinnamon bun and coffee and the lady who served us told us that it would snow on Thursday. It has prompted me to reconsider our plans to stop in Senja for two nights. I would be happier if we drove back onto the mainland tomorrow night; I don’t want to risk having to drive over a mountain in bad weather. Maybe I am over reacting; we are in Norway after all. But I don’t want to take the risk in any case.

So now we are at Ersfjord and the light is quite flat at the moment. Out to sea the clouds look interesting so it may well develop into a promising sunset. It is raining very lightly but I am sure it will only last a short while. This is a beautiful country and we come across fantastic scenes around every corner.

8.55 pm

We have had an uneventful evening at Ersfjord.   I attempted to take the sunset but the sun refused to play. However there were some quite dramatic clouds overhead and I hope I’ve captured those.  I reduced the exposure by 2 stops for a more dramatic effector.  I do hope it works!  It looked good on the back of the camera, but then it usually does. 

Whilst I was waiting for the sunset, John got talking to one of a group of four young women who were setting up campy on the beach. They had two tents between them. Turns out they are all air stewards for Norwegian Airlines. They had four days off together so just decided to head up to Senja. They were most impressive … building a log fire and setting up their tents etc. It is raining hard now so I hope they manage to heat up their food before the downpour. 

Our plan is to slowly make our way back to the mainland tomorrow. It seems crazy to have driven all this way for one night but I would rather not be negotiating mountains roads in sleet and rain on Thursday.  

Monday 23 September 2019

Today was a really interesting day so far as my photography was concerned. Looking for landscapes to photograph, I find, is like waiting for a bus, you wait for ages and then three come along at once.

The journey took me from Bjervik, where I’d spent the night, along the E10 and past a small settlement called Herjangen. Just past there I came across what looked like a huge area of swamp land. The area contained deep brown and tan coloured swamp grass islands that I photographed from as close as I could without falling into the swamp! I put the drone up to see if I could see the depth of the water, but it looked down into black water that seemed quite menacing, so I decided not to go any further into the area.

There were a number of small beautiful plants covered in the morning dew that made really good subjects though.

Just a kilometre up the road there was a very photogenic lake, I later learned was Lake Gállojávr. On the banks of the lake the wispy reeds were covered in the morning’s frost and in the distance I could see a small fisherman’s hut. It looked idyllic.

A little further up the road I came upon the small village of Lødingen where there’s a memorial to those killed in the crash of a Shorts Sunderland Flying Boat, the “Kvitbjørn”, in August 1947. The remains of one of the engines serves as the memorial centrepiece. Very poignant.

As I continued along the E10 I came to the Vesterstraumen Bru (bridge), a fine example of the design and engineering achievements of the modern road engineering that has taken place over the last forty years in Norway.

That evening I made my way to a campsite I’d been to before at Sildpollnes Sjøcamp in the Vågan area of Nordland and settled in for the night. This site is in the most picturesque of surroundings and is very close to a really pretty little harbour where you can watch small fishing boats go in and out all day to their local fishing grounds.