Day 5 – Kabelvag to Hamnoy
Today we drove the 70 miles to Hamnoy – our second location on the Lofoten Islands. The weather was mixed, starting rather cloudy, then clearing, then clouding over again. As the drive was not too far we had plenty of photo stops along the way though it can be difficult to find the best locations without knowing the road. The scenery seemed to deteriorate as we drove across Vestvagoy, as the mountains were set further away from the road, but when we crossed to Moskensoya it became more dramatic, and the area around Hamnoy and Reine is rightly known for its world class scenery.
In Hamnoy, we were staying at the Eliasser Rorbruer, a group of fisherman’s huts built up on stilts which are often photographed from the bridge leading to Reine.
Day 6 – Lofoten Beaches
Today we decided to visit some of the northern beaches, accessible by car. This meant retracing some of yesterday’s journey as far as Leknes on Vestvagoya. First off, we took a few pictures around Hamnoy, then drove to Ramberg and Skagsanden at the northern end of Flakstadoya. The weather was fairly cloudy and cool, so we were surprised to see some trainee surfers at Skagsanden. We then took some pictures of the dramatic scenery around the Flakstadpollen before crossing back to Vestvagoya to visit the beaches at Vik and Utakleiv. The latter is famous for its large rounded boulders that make a good photographic subject. Before returning to Hamnoy, we detoured to the main town of Leknes, as this was the only place within about 40 miles where we could buy a bottle of wine!
Day 7 – A, Sandbotten and the Midnight Sun
The weather was rather overcast today, so we decided to drive to the end of the E10 road to the village of A, but first we took a few pictures around the harbour at Reine. After visiting A, we visited another of Lofoten’s beaches at Sandbotnen where there is quite a large shallow lagoon.
In the evening, the cloud mostly cleared away, so we decided to go out to take the midnight sun, driving back to Skagsanden which we had visited the previous day. At Skagsandedn we could see the sun skimming the horizon at midnight, then we noticed the full moon rising in the south, giving some further photo opportunities.
Day 8 – Reine and Kvalvika Beach
The weather today was sunny with clear blue skies – our first (and only!) warm day of the holiday. We decided to do the walk to Kvalvika beach, but first we re-visited Reine to re-take some of the photographs around Reine and Hamnoy in the sunshine.
The walk to Kvalvika is not particularly long or arduous, involving about 1.5 miles and 600ft of climbing each way. The beach is only accessible on foot, but even so is a popular walk as it is well signposted with a good path and the beach has a spectacular setting backed by rugged mountains.
We had hoped for some good light late in the day, but the weather changed completely in the evening, becoming overcast with a strong wind blowing.
Day 9 – Return to Harstad
Today we had the 175 mile drive back to Harstad, basically retracing our outward route. The weather was very wet and grey all day, so with very little reason to stop along the way. This was the type of weather we feared we might get all week, but on the whole the weather was good, so we were not too disappointed to have one bad day – especially as we had already seen the scenery on the outward trip. In Harstad, we stayed at the same hotel as the first night. We did not explore the town as we had a very early start the following morning to drive back to the airport for the first flight out to Oslo, and the return home.
