A quick stop at a vista point on our way to Borg. The peninsula in the distance leads to Eggum...
A quick stop at a vista point on our way to Borg. The peninsula in the distance leads to Eggum...
The Viking museum was only open for 70 more minutes, but that was enough time to get our $18 worth. The largest Viking hall was unearthed here, and a replica built to house the museum. I spent awhile photographing these cows...
Close-ups of the baby cow. It was breezy and cool out...
The nearby hogs weren't quite as cute. We took the 6pm English tour of the grand hall. Red cloth (dye) was scarce, and signified nobility, during Viking times. The urine of a drunken man was an ingredient to create the best blue dyed cloth...
Everything inside was a replica of what was found in the Viking house, and can be touched by hand. There were a few people in custume making clothes. Our guide explained some of the Viking sagas, as recorded in this tapestry. Most Viking shoes were not very sturdy, except for the leather boots...
Lots of pretty wood work inside the hall. We learned that the Swedish viking women wore the horned broches (sort of Madonna style). And Viking men were popular with British women, because they bathed every Saturday. Apparently, you can sign up to have dinner in the great hall too...
This board game was popular in Scandanavia during the Viking era. Pieces can move up,down,left,right, for any length, and if a piece is surrounded by 2 of the same color, it's eliminated. White needs to move the center "king" into a corner to win. Wendy works the foot powered bowl carving contraption...
Our time at the museum was brief, but worth the stop. There was a church, ship, and blacksmith that were spread out over a mile outside, but I thought it would be best to save our time for a potential hike later tonight elsewhere. So we departed the museum and drove to Eggum...
Eggum didn't have any camping facilities, and you had to pay to drive/camp up along the coast. Since the next hike on the agenda was between here (Eggum) and Unstad, along the mountainous coast, we made the 30 minute drive to Unstad, and camped at a great campground, with even more delightful scenery. At 120Nkr ($19) for a 2 person tent, Unstad Camping was a great deal, and had free showers! We cooked dehydrated split pea soup, with couscous for dinner. When we opened the bread, there was a nasty/yeasty smell, and it was soggy in the middle. This bread was 5 days old, and was turning bad. I salvaged as much I could, eating the crusts with the chocolate, banana, and peanut butter spreads. Good thing we had just bought new bread this morning, to stock up on.
A couple of pics from the Eggum Peninsula. We didn't like that they charge money to drive further out along the coast, and decided to camp at Unstad, ~6 miles further up the coast, but a 30km drive around the mountains to get there...
When we arrived in Unstad we immediately liked the area, which had a beach. Before setting up camp, we scouted out the trailhead for the path to Eggum, which was very close-by (picture from the trailhead). It was breezy and chilly here near the coast...
Unstad camping had a nice flat field, and wasn't crowded. We could hear faint sheep calls from the mountains. A couple pics of our tent site...
We used the kitchen to cook up our couscous and split pea soup. Lunch didn't really happen today, as we had a huge breakfast buffet, and just snacked while hiking and driving. The thermometer outside the kitchen read 55 degrees at 9:30pm. No bugs at all here. The green mountains were a pleasant backdrop to go along with the sound of the waves...
After dinner, we readied ourselves for a late evening hike, in which we might be able to view the midnight sun(!). The trail was supposed to be fairly easy, traversing the north facing mountainous coast to Eggum. Had Karl and Mariann been around today, we might have proposed that one of us would start at Eggum, and the other at Unstad, so that we could hike the entire 6 mile coastal hike, and drive back. Since we were on our own, we planned to hike from Unstad as far as we liked, and head back. We made a short drive up the dirt road to the trailhead, where an RV was camped out, and started the hike at 10:10pm.
A map of the hike from a sign at the trailhead. We started at the yellow box in the lower left (Unstad), and could hike along the coast as far as we wanted towards Eggum...
An easy dirt/stone road led towards the northern sun at 10:15pm. I brought my ND grad filters for my camera, and used them a bit on this hike, trying to balance the exposure between the sky and earth. It was the perfect scenerio to try them out. Sometime's the effects look a little surreal...
Shortly, we reached a livestock gate. I head read that sheep inhabited the area, and we were hoping some might pop up for company. The town of Unstad resides at the end of the bay...
The dirt trail had several ascents and descents as it rounded the corner of the mountain. We'd be getting some good exercise tonight...
Soon we regained a view of the northern sun. The trail was a bit slippery, and would be very difficult when wet. A chain railing was installed in some areas...
For 35 minutes, we followed the trail as it rose, dipped, and rounded corners, before we met any company on the trail. The "company" seemed to know me by name, "Maaah-ah-aht-aht", they called. A few sheep graze under the sun (10:45pm)...
A couple mintues later, we encountered a picturesque lighthouse, which would become the subject for countless photos. A look back at Wendy, and some fog rolling into the mountains in the distance...
A couple, of the many, lighthouse pics. A group of sheep were hanging out near its base. The sun danced in and out of the narrow strip of cloud all night...
Ever since my trip to Scotland 5 years ago, I've had a fondness for seeing the gentle, usually cute, fluffy white sheep, juxtaposed against the green grass in the mountains. There's something simple, peaceful, and timeless about it...
Wendy also has a fondness for sheep, particularly watching them run and play. I love the expression on this big sheep, standing tall in front of her lambs against Wendy...
We hung out around the lighthouse for awhile, watching the sheep and taking pics.. It was ~11pm, but we still had energy, and the hike was beautiful, so we continued on, at our relaxed pace. Around the next corner, we could see clear across to Eggum. After hiking another 30 minutes since the lighthouse, crossing rocky beaches, and pausing to watch the occasional sheep, we turned back at 11:30pm, guarenteeing that we'd be within sight of the sun at midnight.
A look back shows Wendy and the lighthouse behind, as we continue on the trail. Ahead the coastline lead to Eggum. We could recognize a structure that we saw when we drove there earlier today...
A pic of the near-midnight sun over the rocky beach. Some fog was gathering among the coastal mountains when we decided to turn around at 11:30pm...
The lighthouse returns into view. The weather was ~50 degrees, with a soft breeze. Pleasant enough with our warm long sleeves...
Shortly before we reached the lighthouse, we encountered people for the first time on the hike, two guys who were headed to Eggum. They took our pic. The solitude on this enchanting hike had made it all the more intimate of a Lofoten experience...
The lighthouse was looking as scenic as ever still. This time we found a couple other people hanging out near the lighthouse, in addition to the sheep...
With midnight a few more minutes away, what better way to pass the time than to admire the sheep and lighthouse. I played around with my camera a bunch more here...
The sheep gathered around the lighthouse were mainly young lambs, and ran around in circles together, sometimes squaring off to butt heads briefly. One particular lamb kept having certain ideas of his own, but there were no takers...
Cute lambs in the night-time sun...
Then the big moment came. 12:00 midnight! And the sun was still shining! I'll always be able to say I saw the midnight sun now. :-) I know that the lowest point of the sun isn't exactly at midnight here (it's sometime after), but this was close enough. The sun would indeed never set today. After a few more minutes hanging out near the lighthouse, we continued back to Unstad, eventually reaching the car at 12:50am. We passed a few people on the way back, who were starting the hike (I greeted them with "Good Morning!"). Sure is a fun novelty to hike at midnight without a headlamp...
A couple of self portraits at midnight. In the 2nd pic, Wendy figured out a better configuration to capture my watch, and us in the midnight sun. Want proof? Read the watch, and check out the reflection in my glasses... :-)
Having had our fill of sheep, lighthouses, and midnight sun, we headed back to Unstad. The fog was thickening in the islands to the south. Wendy takes a pic of me profiled against the sun...
A last couple of looks at the lighthouse, before turning the corner...
Unstad returns to view during the final stretch back. The midnight sun doesn't have a direct line-of-sight to Unstad, but lights up the mountains on the south side of the bay. A bit of fog/cloud creeps over the mountains to the north, as we arrive back at camp...
The hike was beautiful, and will always remain magical in my memory for many reasons. The scenic coastline, the lighthouse, the sheep, the low hanging midnight sun, the ocean, and the solitude on the trail made this classic Lofoten hike timeless in my mind. I'm still loving it that I just hiked from 10:10pm to 12:50pm in sunlight.
Back in camp we showered (free hot showers!), and were ready for bed after a LONG day that started with an unexpectedly spectacular hike in Svolvaer. Writing the journal took awhile today, and it's a late bed-time for me. Will wear the earplugs and sleep in tomorrow. Had considered a morning hike before meeting Karl and Mariann in Reine at 3pm, but we'll skip it and rest up. Birds are chirping as I lie in the tent at 2:10am. It's daytime! The thermometer read 41 degrees at 1:30am after my shower.
Go to next day...