Summer 2009 we had such a great season in the Lofoten Islands, that we just had to return for more. As always when you ‘revisit’ a favourite place, there is a danger that you will be disappointed. After our first 10 day trip here in the Lofoten Islands, we are pleased with our decision to return and were not disappointed.
Norway’s coastline is as staggeringly beautiful as we remembered it, and the locals just as friendly. The Lofoten Islands are 150nm north of the Arctic Circle, and as to be expected the weather is often mixed. Last week we had some warm sunny days, some cold windy days with bright blue skies, a couple of days of flat calm, and one day with a huge amount of rain. We sailed 282 miles in the 10 days, walked to lakes, climbed hills, tried our hand at fishing and two hardy guests even took a dip in the sea off the white sandy beaches on Skrova.
We visited small fishing ports and had a close look at the cod drying on the racks. We anchored in secluded bays and enjoyed the peace. One night we drank gluwein and barbequed reindeer burgers, but ate them down below out of the wind!
We added 4 new places to our itinerary this week, the fishing villages of Aa and Sorvagen, and new anchorages in Ankersvagan and Breidvika. Each week this season we will continue to revisit favourite places and search out new treasures.
Our favourite place this week was Ankersvagan, a new anchorage on the island of Engoloya. As we arrived in this wonderful peaceful anchorage, the water was so still we could see reflections all around us, and up ahead on a rock sat two glorious white tailed eagles (sea eagles). We silently crept up to them, cameras clicking away, and managed to get some great photos of them.
As we were dropping our anchor we could see fish jumping and knew that here would be a good place to get out the fishing line. We weren’t wrong, within minutes of casting the line, Miles had caught a large cod. The stillness was amazing and in the silence we could hear the tinkling of the bells around the necks of the local sheep, and the calls of two cuckoos talking to each other.
As we left the following morning, we again spotted our pair of eagles, and spent another comfortable hour, just watching nature in action, and before we left we also spotted three harbour porpoises! No whales this week, will they come out to play next week I wonder.
Back in Bodo, midsummer celebrations were in full swing. We arrived to hear a band playing over the tannoy and just as we tied alongside it seemed that the canon was fired in welcome!
