Decidedly driech then finally a hill.
............. .......Wednesday 26th................
Our parking spot last night was nice and quiet. It was an 8am breakfast after a couple of snoozes on the alarm. It was dry but the forecast was bad for the day. we took a walk along the road to a beach not far from our parking spot to try and spot our eagle friend and give the boys a stretch of the legs. A wee fishing boat had ploughed its was out and was gently bobbing about, 3 guys happy trying to catch some fish.
Half a way along there road a word from Joyce meant the eagle had been spotted and it was heading right over us, quite high and not perfect for getting a picture. Again from below it looked all brown, but apparently young sea eagles are dark underneath, not getting their white tails until more adult. I managed to get a few pictures before it soared away around the ridge. On closer inspection of the pictures we are sure it is a young sea eagle, it has a few rather scraggy tail feathers which look to be white, and its soaring wing pattern is very flat.
We walked along to the beach passed some monstrous boulders that had obviously come from a huge rockfall above, ands also a steel barrier which was all twisted and buckled and ripped from the ground, most likely caused by a winter avalanche from the steep hillside above. We got to the beach but upon looking back the sea was all black and it looked like bad weather was incoming, so I walked back at a much faster pace while Joyce and the boys had a play on the beach. the rain came on but not hard, the worst of it bypassed us. Once off the shore and into the van it wasn't long before the heavens opened.
We were heading for the Viking museum at Borg today so the weather didn't really matter anyway. The museum is on the site of the largest ever Viking building, to be found in Norway, a Chieftens house dating from around 500AD and measuring 83 meters long. The original building, or what remained of it was found during an archeological dig in 1983. A reconstruction of the house has been built adjacent to the original structures location and it is fitted out inside with there main meeting area, workshops, and cooking and sleeping area's exactly as it is believed the original house looked all those years ago. Their are interactive panels and displays of the artefacts found in the ground with audio guides explaining what they are. It was an ok visit for the boys, on the whole there was enough to keep them amused and enough for them to look at, they are just a bit too young for this type of place. The workshops were quite interesting with people dressed in period clothes exhibiting their "trade", whether it was carpentry, making a pair of leather shoes or weaving a piece of cloth. There were plenty of pieces of costume or helmets and swords to have you picture taken with also.
We carried on north and around the peninsula with the villages of Vestersand and Sandoya on it, but there was no where to park so we found a nice spot where the bridge crosses the Sundklakstraumen, another couple of vans joined us and at varying times during the evening we were all out fishing, I landed a couple of small saithe but nothing major. We enjoyed the saithe Callum and I had caught at the Saltstraumen a few days ago, and very good they were too.
...................Thursday 27th..................
We woke too a lovely day, and had breakfast. Decisions and sandwiches were made for a days hillwalking. One of the Italian van owners seemed to have better joy this morning with fair catch of fish though nothing very big. He was cleaning them up so he had his tea sorted for today. Anyway, we packed our rucksacks and drove a couple of miles to the bottom of Storknubben the higher of our 2 hill options for the day. It rather depended on whether we could get parked as to whether we would try this hill or the lower Hoven. I really hoped for Storknubben as the views would probably be a little further reaching and also it was high time the boys were tested a wee bit more, they have proven may times that 300 meters plus a big distance is no problem so a bit bigger hill should be easy if the distance wasn't too great. The weather was lovely and I seriously considered getting back into the shorts for this walk, but we are a long way north and changing into longs if needed would be unnecessary faff, so the shorts stayed off for only the second day on this trip.
My rucksack was packed with full wet weather gear and plenty hats and glove's, its been pretty cool up here and the shorts have been a struggle this last couple of days, I figured we might need a few layers at the top. However we parked up and set off up Storknubben in lovely sunshine, and soon the layers were coming off as we climbed steeply through a lovely birchwood, we came out this at around the 200 meter contour. The path levelled for a distance and contoured round the hill towards a wee corrie, it was lovely walking and really dry underfoot which was a total surprise after all the rain that fell yesterday and through the night. Callum mumped and moaned a bit for lunch but it was far too early, so a couple of shared cereal bars and bananas kept the hunger away for the time being. The path steepened again for a bit and now we were in the wind, some more layers were added and the boys needed their gloves on.
We passed a couple coming down well happed up and we had a quick chat, they said it was very cold at the top. The walking was easy again on the shoulder of the hill and we made good time, the boys were doing great, no moaning just heading upwards. I explained to Callum that I am always scanning ahead looking for the path or markers so I know what's coming and also that I am always looking around at the sky to see what the weather is doing, and it was definitely changing, some darker clouds were looming out to sea and I though we might not get it all our own way. The slope steepened for the last 100 meters or so but soon we were on the short ridge to the top. The other side fell away very steeply and the other ridges were all very jaggy affairs and would require a rope and climbing gear for progress to be made, our way up was the only easy one. We took a couple of pictures at the top and then found a big rock to shelter behind for food after getting more layers and hats and gloves on. It was only about 10'c at sea level and I recon 600 meters up it could only have been 4 or 5'c and it was windy so pretty chilly. We had our sannies and I was disappointed to find the flask I had made up had no tea in it, just hot water......I had a assumed Joyce had put a tea bag in it while making the sandwiches and she had a assumed I had already done it, lol. No hot tea to warm us up. The boys by now had their big winter mitts on too, and when we got moving to head down they realised their hands were freezing, so there was little bit of misery particularly for Logan until we got down a bit and they warmed up, mine were seriously cold too and Callum described his as being like icebergs.......By the time we were a third of the way down hands had defrosted and all was well again, the boys skipping along nicely and managed the steeper terrain really well given their age. A wee bit assistance is all they need on the rocky or steep bits and Callum is almost able to do it all alone, although he tends to get excited and try and run or jump down things when walking would be far safer, I hope its not a fall that finally makes it sink in. Logan steps down things well, and his body movement on rock is superb, a bit of a natural I think. Joyce did great too, after a roll about in the grass when she fell trying to avoid standing on Logan who had stopped at a really easy bit, she was ok, her dodgy knee held up fine.
Our walk had been around 8.5km with 600 meters of ascent and it went really well, it took us 4 hours 40 minutes for the round trip, had it been warmer on the top we might have been a bit longer. The views were superb. I am now also acutely aware of the nature of the mountains on Lofoten. There are some easy ones like today's and a wealth of good hillwalking would be available here, however many, no, in fact I would say the majority of the peaks are serious mountaineering trips, requiring full on kit. Very narrow ridge's with big gaps, walls and buttresses on them and gendarmes that would need worked out. It would be very foolhardy here to set out onto them if not fully prepared.......A mountaineering trip here if you got lucky with the weather would be outstanding. I am really happy though, we reached a summit and had a good day, Callum and Logan did brilliantly and Joyce appears to have enjoyed it also, she is not huge on hillwalking. For the first time in a while Callum has gone to bed a crashed out with hardly a peep from him....fresh air and a bit of effort does the world of good for us all.
We spotted another sea eagle today, I seem to always have the wrong lens on my camera, today I had my long lens on the camera from the kick off, but it was such a nice morning that after a while of not seeing any raptors I changed to the wide angled lens for the view's and of course 5 minutes later a sea eagle flew right over the top of us at close range-typical. However we did see one when were back at the van quite possibly the same one are in the same area, it was being harried by a raven.
We drove round the rest of the Gimsøya peninsula and past Lofoten Links golf course, if I were a golfer it would definitely be on my list of courses to play. I think it is the world most northerly links course and looks stunning. It would appear to be highly regarded in the golfing world also. Maybe in another life I will come back as a golfer, for this one I think it will always be mountains, walking, biking and fishing, I have never played a round of golf and I can't see that happening anytime soon. We were soon back on the E10 heading for Svolvaer as we need to refill our gas and there's an LPG station there, there aren't many up here but we are now onto our 2nd cylinder , we found the station eventually but it was 4.20pm and the place shut at 4pm. The lady was there closing up but she wasn't an operator and we will need to pop back there tomorrow morning. We carried on up the E10 and found a nice campsite on the west side of the Austnesfjorden, the rain has come on heavily again and the big mountains are shrouded in clouds. Lofoten's highest mountain Higravtinden at 1146 meters is right above opposite us, its a big sharp mountain and is glaciated on one side, it looks tough to get up, it is revealing itself now and there is fresh snow on the top 100 meters or so, so its definitely cold up there. Unfortunately it looks to be clearing this evening and had we need on the north coast the midnight sun "may just" have been visible, we aren't however, never mind.
After tea the boys got bedded and fell asleep straight away. Joyce and myself have a fine Ardbeg malt to enjoy, our bottle of Makmyra Swedish whisky is finished. I liked the Makmyra, Joyce though it was slightly harsh, perhaps the Swedish whisky makers need to take a wee trip to Islay to see how it should be done.......a dram good way to end a good day!!
Our parking spot last night was nice and quiet. It was an 8am breakfast after a couple of snoozes on the alarm. It was dry but the forecast was bad for the day. we took a walk along the road to a beach not far from our parking spot to try and spot our eagle friend and give the boys a stretch of the legs. A wee fishing boat had ploughed its was out and was gently bobbing about, 3 guys happy trying to catch some fish.
Half a way along there road a word from Joyce meant the eagle had been spotted and it was heading right over us, quite high and not perfect for getting a picture. Again from below it looked all brown, but apparently young sea eagles are dark underneath, not getting their white tails until more adult. I managed to get a few pictures before it soared away around the ridge. On closer inspection of the pictures we are sure it is a young sea eagle, it has a few rather scraggy tail feathers which look to be white, and its soaring wing pattern is very flat.
We walked along to the beach passed some monstrous boulders that had obviously come from a huge rockfall above, ands also a steel barrier which was all twisted and buckled and ripped from the ground, most likely caused by a winter avalanche from the steep hillside above. We got to the beach but upon looking back the sea was all black and it looked like bad weather was incoming, so I walked back at a much faster pace while Joyce and the boys had a play on the beach. the rain came on but not hard, the worst of it bypassed us. Once off the shore and into the van it wasn't long before the heavens opened.
We were heading for the Viking museum at Borg today so the weather didn't really matter anyway. The museum is on the site of the largest ever Viking building, to be found in Norway, a Chieftens house dating from around 500AD and measuring 83 meters long. The original building, or what remained of it was found during an archeological dig in 1983. A reconstruction of the house has been built adjacent to the original structures location and it is fitted out inside with there main meeting area, workshops, and cooking and sleeping area's exactly as it is believed the original house looked all those years ago. Their are interactive panels and displays of the artefacts found in the ground with audio guides explaining what they are. It was an ok visit for the boys, on the whole there was enough to keep them amused and enough for them to look at, they are just a bit too young for this type of place. The workshops were quite interesting with people dressed in period clothes exhibiting their "trade", whether it was carpentry, making a pair of leather shoes or weaving a piece of cloth. There were plenty of pieces of costume or helmets and swords to have you picture taken with also.
We carried on north and around the peninsula with the villages of Vestersand and Sandoya on it, but there was no where to park so we found a nice spot where the bridge crosses the Sundklakstraumen, another couple of vans joined us and at varying times during the evening we were all out fishing, I landed a couple of small saithe but nothing major. We enjoyed the saithe Callum and I had caught at the Saltstraumen a few days ago, and very good they were too.
...................Thursday 27th..................
We woke too a lovely day, and had breakfast. Decisions and sandwiches were made for a days hillwalking. One of the Italian van owners seemed to have better joy this morning with fair catch of fish though nothing very big. He was cleaning them up so he had his tea sorted for today. Anyway, we packed our rucksacks and drove a couple of miles to the bottom of Storknubben the higher of our 2 hill options for the day. It rather depended on whether we could get parked as to whether we would try this hill or the lower Hoven. I really hoped for Storknubben as the views would probably be a little further reaching and also it was high time the boys were tested a wee bit more, they have proven may times that 300 meters plus a big distance is no problem so a bit bigger hill should be easy if the distance wasn't too great. The weather was lovely and I seriously considered getting back into the shorts for this walk, but we are a long way north and changing into longs if needed would be unnecessary faff, so the shorts stayed off for only the second day on this trip.
My rucksack was packed with full wet weather gear and plenty hats and glove's, its been pretty cool up here and the shorts have been a struggle this last couple of days, I figured we might need a few layers at the top. However we parked up and set off up Storknubben in lovely sunshine, and soon the layers were coming off as we climbed steeply through a lovely birchwood, we came out this at around the 200 meter contour. The path levelled for a distance and contoured round the hill towards a wee corrie, it was lovely walking and really dry underfoot which was a total surprise after all the rain that fell yesterday and through the night. Callum mumped and moaned a bit for lunch but it was far too early, so a couple of shared cereal bars and bananas kept the hunger away for the time being. The path steepened again for a bit and now we were in the wind, some more layers were added and the boys needed their gloves on.
We passed a couple coming down well happed up and we had a quick chat, they said it was very cold at the top. The walking was easy again on the shoulder of the hill and we made good time, the boys were doing great, no moaning just heading upwards. I explained to Callum that I am always scanning ahead looking for the path or markers so I know what's coming and also that I am always looking around at the sky to see what the weather is doing, and it was definitely changing, some darker clouds were looming out to sea and I though we might not get it all our own way. The slope steepened for the last 100 meters or so but soon we were on the short ridge to the top. The other side fell away very steeply and the other ridges were all very jaggy affairs and would require a rope and climbing gear for progress to be made, our way up was the only easy one. We took a couple of pictures at the top and then found a big rock to shelter behind for food after getting more layers and hats and gloves on. It was only about 10'c at sea level and I recon 600 meters up it could only have been 4 or 5'c and it was windy so pretty chilly. We had our sannies and I was disappointed to find the flask I had made up had no tea in it, just hot water......I had a assumed Joyce had put a tea bag in it while making the sandwiches and she had a assumed I had already done it, lol. No hot tea to warm us up. The boys by now had their big winter mitts on too, and when we got moving to head down they realised their hands were freezing, so there was little bit of misery particularly for Logan until we got down a bit and they warmed up, mine were seriously cold too and Callum described his as being like icebergs.......By the time we were a third of the way down hands had defrosted and all was well again, the boys skipping along nicely and managed the steeper terrain really well given their age. A wee bit assistance is all they need on the rocky or steep bits and Callum is almost able to do it all alone, although he tends to get excited and try and run or jump down things when walking would be far safer, I hope its not a fall that finally makes it sink in. Logan steps down things well, and his body movement on rock is superb, a bit of a natural I think. Joyce did great too, after a roll about in the grass when she fell trying to avoid standing on Logan who had stopped at a really easy bit, she was ok, her dodgy knee held up fine.
Our walk had been around 8.5km with 600 meters of ascent and it went really well, it took us 4 hours 40 minutes for the round trip, had it been warmer on the top we might have been a bit longer. The views were superb. I am now also acutely aware of the nature of the mountains on Lofoten. There are some easy ones like today's and a wealth of good hillwalking would be available here, however many, no, in fact I would say the majority of the peaks are serious mountaineering trips, requiring full on kit. Very narrow ridge's with big gaps, walls and buttresses on them and gendarmes that would need worked out. It would be very foolhardy here to set out onto them if not fully prepared.......A mountaineering trip here if you got lucky with the weather would be outstanding. I am really happy though, we reached a summit and had a good day, Callum and Logan did brilliantly and Joyce appears to have enjoyed it also, she is not huge on hillwalking. For the first time in a while Callum has gone to bed a crashed out with hardly a peep from him....fresh air and a bit of effort does the world of good for us all.
We drove round the rest of the Gimsøya peninsula and past Lofoten Links golf course, if I were a golfer it would definitely be on my list of courses to play. I think it is the world most northerly links course and looks stunning. It would appear to be highly regarded in the golfing world also. Maybe in another life I will come back as a golfer, for this one I think it will always be mountains, walking, biking and fishing, I have never played a round of golf and I can't see that happening anytime soon. We were soon back on the E10 heading for Svolvaer as we need to refill our gas and there's an LPG station there, there aren't many up here but we are now onto our 2nd cylinder , we found the station eventually but it was 4.20pm and the place shut at 4pm. The lady was there closing up but she wasn't an operator and we will need to pop back there tomorrow morning. We carried on up the E10 and found a nice campsite on the west side of the Austnesfjorden, the rain has come on heavily again and the big mountains are shrouded in clouds. Lofoten's highest mountain Higravtinden at 1146 meters is right above opposite us, its a big sharp mountain and is glaciated on one side, it looks tough to get up, it is revealing itself now and there is fresh snow on the top 100 meters or so, so its definitely cold up there. Unfortunately it looks to be clearing this evening and had we need on the north coast the midnight sun "may just" have been visible, we aren't however, never mind.
After tea the boys got bedded and fell asleep straight away. Joyce and myself have a fine Ardbeg malt to enjoy, our bottle of Makmyra Swedish whisky is finished. I liked the Makmyra, Joyce though it was slightly harsh, perhaps the Swedish whisky makers need to take a wee trip to Islay to see how it should be done.......a dram good way to end a good day!!
Swedish whisky? Kenny will hae a hairy fit....
ReplyDeleteaye yer right enough kenny is shocked and stunned that nae whisky wit ur yeh hinking aboot mon ! that is one braw campsite in your pics though! well done my favourite travelling family on a decent walk i had a look at the stats they boys are going to become the next killian jornet!
ReplyDeleteOH and PS my boy was scared of dummies when he was that age and refused point blank to go anywhere that had maniquins?/ dumies those fellas look mega realistic he woulda bricked it for sure lol
ReplyDelete