Rystad - Hamnøy

After breakfast we pack everything up again, as we got used to doing on our Sweden trip, and clear out the little cabin. Practised as we are, we get it done fairly quickly and are able to leave the little house and the campsite on time. Unfortunately the weather still isn’t much better, but it is supposed to turn nice by the afternoon! We head on to the south of the Lofoten, to our next accommodation in Hamnøy. On the way we make many stops to enjoy the landscape. We are back on our familiar E10, which, by the way, is almost the only road here. It runs along the coast with views of the sea and mountains.

On the way we see more sea eagles hunting in the sky. Near Eggum we pass an old Viking house that is now home to a museum. The longhouse, as it is called, has been partly restored and partly rebuilt. But we decide not to go into the museum, as we still have a beautiful stretch of road ahead of us. We take a few detours to see even the most remote villages. Our first stop is at “Skagsanden Beach”, a sandy beach with the Lofoten Beach Camp, where we once planned to stay. Swimming weather is not on the cards, though. It is very cloudy and rains on and off. Despite the low temperatures there are a few surfers and kayakers who venture into the sea (in thick wetsuits, of course).

The rainy weather does have one good side, though: We have rarely seen so many rainbows, or such intense ones, as today. We are glad to get back into the warm car and drive on to “Rambergstranda”, a white sandy beach in Ramberg.

We walk along the shore for a bit and go into the Lofoten Store in Ramberg. Before we drive on to the east coast, we make a detour to Fredvang. We cross two beautifully situated bridges to reach the village. We drive to a viewpoint overlooking a beach, with mountains all around. Here too we are greeted by a rainbow. We explore the area some more and once again see a sea eagle circling above us.

With lots of new photos we drive to our actual destination for today. Hamnøy is a small fishing village in the south of the Lofoten. Today it is known for its beautiful setting, and its combination of sea, mountains and red fishing cabins makes it one of the classic photo subjects of the Lofoten.

We are very happy to be able to spend 5 nights here. The little houses of the “Eliassen Rorbuer” complex are named after their founder, Mr Eliassen. Over 150 years ago he founded a small fishing village here together with a friend. At that time it was the most important fishing village in the Lofoten. Naturally they made their living from catching and selling stockfish. They caught up to 145,000 tonnes of stockfish in a year. When the catches declined, Eliassen came up with the idea of renting out the fishing cabins. From then on they made their living not only from fishing but also from tourism. To this day the cabins are rented out, and we are lucky enough to be staying in one of these traditional fishing cabins. We have a view of the harbour and the well-known mountain of Hamnøy. Right next door there is an exhibition about Hamnøy in a barn, with pictures from the old days. We look around and go to the famous photo spot on the bridge right by Hamnøy. From there we have a view of the red fishing cabins, the mountain and the sea. Annina has a 3000-piece jigsaw puzzle at home showing exactly this scene. We enjoy the view and take lots of photos. We come back here for sunset as well, because for once the sun is finally shining!

Bathed in sunlight, Hamnøy looks beautiful. At this point, however, we don’t yet know that it can look even more beautiful … In the evening we have rice with an Indian sauce and salad. We eat with a view of the harbour and watch the seagulls. But the day is not over yet. Of course we keep checking the northern lights forecasts, because from around September onwards it is possible to see northern lights in the sky. Today the probability is 18%. It gets dark rather late here, but we stay up so as not to miss our chance, because tonight it isn’t too cloudy. We wrap up warmly, take our cameras and tripods and go to the bridge to keep watch. At first we don’t see anything unusual ourselves, but our cameras clearly pick up northern lights, very faint to begin with, then more and more distinct. Eventually the clouds clear and reveal a sky full of stars. And then at last we can make out the dancing green lights in the sky too. We watch the spectacle from the bridge and can hardly believe our luck. A weasel also joins us on the bridge to watch the northern lights.

As the light fades, we want to go back inside to warm up, frozen through as we are, but right by our cabin at the harbour the most beautiful and strongest northern lights appear. There is less light pollution here, so we can see the lights even better. The whole sky glows green, and the lights dance above us.

This is easily one of the most beautiful things we have ever experienced. Happy and completely frozen, we return to our little house after 2 a.m. and warm up with hot soup before going to sleep.