Our first port of call was the small fishing village of Henningsvaer, 25 kms south of our hotel. You reach the village by crossing one of the many bridges that link the Lofoten Islands. It was another very typical village with a small harbour and multi-coloured wooden houses.
Wendy had been researching the route in her guide book and suggested we go to Nusfjord, a very small village about 6kms off the main road.Within a kilometre, we came up to this magnificent rock wall facing us. It towered above us and was simply awesome!
We continued on to Nusfjord which is a very pretty village. The houses by the water are all on stilts.
I noticed this rack of drying fish heads which are kept for animal feed.
One of the many grass-covered roofs on the old fishermen's cottages. This one was in rather a poor state. The cottages are called rorbuer and many have been renovated and are rented out for holidays.
We returned to the main road and not long after, we drove past the Viking Museum at Borg, with its impressive main building like an upturned boat.
The route then took us across a series of bridges and through tunnels, one after the other. It was the most wonderful driving experience, with light traffic and the weather improving all the time.
At one point, we looked across a fjord and near the opposite shore, the water was emerald green, such a contrast to the rest of the fjord.
We went from one side of the Lofoten Islands to the other and close to the northern shores, we saw this church with a domed steeple. It was unlike any other I have seen in Norway.
We reached our destination at the very end of the islands, A, at around 1.30pm and, for those who are not sure how it is spelt, here is a photo of the sign as we entered the village. A with a small o on top is the last letter of the Norwegian alphabet. They have 3 additional letters after Z.
We parked the car and then walked a couple of hundred metres to the headland. It was a very beautiful spot and with the sun now shining, we could really enjoy the fact that we had driven the whole length of the Lofoten Islands. Here I am pointing in the direction of London!
Wendy with wonderful scenery.
As we walked back to the car, we met a German photographer taking pictures of some plants. We chatted with him and discovered he was taking photos of a very ancient plant that has existed for a hundred million years. Wendy went on the internet when we got back and found out it is a Scouring Rush Horsetail of the equisetum family.
Here is my close-up.
Apparently it doesn't flower, but propagates itself by producing spores. Yet another interesting fact we have learned on this drive. My brain will be full by the time we finish!
We went into the 'centre' of A, where these nesting seagulls caught our eye.
We headed out of A and had coffee and a sandwich at a cafe where we were served by a Polish man. He had been in the Lofoten Islands for four years and prior to that, he worked at a golf club in Surrey!!
Shortly after we started the journey back, we met Bob and Eric driving the other way. They had spent some time at the Viking Museum. The drive north mainly followed the same route that we had taken in the morning and we stopped to take photos at a place called Ramberg, which had the most wonderful white sand beach. With the mountains in the background, you couldn't ask for a better photo. That's me at the bottom of the steps to the beach.
We continued on the main road except for one section, where we detoured on to one of the minor roads for about 60 kms.
The weather here can change very quickly and rain showers appear more or less out of nowhere. This mountain that had been clear a few minutes earlier, was suddenly shrouded in mist and clouds. It made a good photo.
As we reached Svolvaer, Wendy saw this modern house with grass roofs on the top of a hill.
We returned to our hotel at about 5.30pm. We both agreed it had been a great day's driving.
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