Straumsjøen - Evenes - Oslo - Basel

Today is the last day of our trip to the Lofoten and Vesterålen. We get up at 5:30. We get ready, and Nicolas eats the last knekkebrød med jordbærsyltetøy (crispbread with strawberry jam).

We leave at 6 sharp. For a moment we are not sure we will get to the airport in time: Google Maps says a road on our route is closed and sends us onto a ferry. But the ferry does not leave until 9, which means we would probably just miss our flight. So we check Apple Maps, which shows the road as open. And it really is open.

On the way we eat a cinnamon bun, pecan pastries and Berliner doughnuts. The cinnamon bun is no coincidence, because today is Cinnamon Bun Day, and Nicolas traditionally has one on this day.

In Sweden the day is called Kanelbullens dag. It was thought up in 1999 by Kaeth Gardestedt of the Hembakningsrådet, an association that promotes home baking and with it the sale of flour, yeast and margarine. She wanted to make 4 October «omtankens dag», the day of caring. In 2016 Swedish television SVT reported how she hung bags of fresh cinnamon buns on her neighbours’ door handles in Malmö on the morning of 4 October. In Finland the day has been celebrated since 2006 as korvapuustipäivä. Korvapuusti literally means a box on the ear. The word comes from the Swedish «örfil».

In Norway the cinnamon bun is called kanelbolle, kanelsnurr or kanelknute. In Bergen it is the skillingsbolle. It is considered the city’s national pastry, dates back to the 16th century and takes its name from the one skilling it once cost. According to a survey, 55 per cent of Swedes ate at least one cinnamon bun on Cinnamon Bun Day in 2019. A Swedish cinnamon bun often has cardamom in the dough and usually pearl sugar on top. The cinnamon in it is almost always cassia, not Ceylon cinnamon.

Shortly before 9 we are in Evenes. At the Tesla Supercharger by the airport we charge our Ford to 81 per cent. We have to return it to Sixt with more than 75 or more than 80 per cent charge, but we can no longer remember which. So we play it safe.

Evenes Airport is tiny, and bag drop and security take no time at all. Crown Prince Harald opened it on 30 June 1973, when its runway was only 1600 metres long. Today the airport shares its runway with the Norwegian Air Force: Since 6 January 2022, F-35 fighter jets have been on NATO quick reaction alert in Evenes, and the P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft are based here.

We still have a good hour before departure, and we make use of it: Annina edits a travel video, Nicolas works on the blog. The Norwegian Air plane in the cover photo is ours. Looking out of the window, we see that it is raining in Evenes. Our flight to Oslo leaves on schedule at 11:05, and above the clouds the sun is shining.

We have a few hours’ layover in Oslo, because our flight to Basel does not leave until 15:55. We have lunch at the Trattoria Tavolare. From our table we look down at the people on the floor below. Nicolas orders a pizza margherita, Annina pasta funghi. Nicolas gives the pizza a 3 out of 10, which makes it only just better than a frozen pizza.

Then our flight to Basel departs, and with that, sadly, our holiday in Norway is officially over. Annina reads on the plane.

We land in Basel in the evening. In 16 days we have travelled from Bodø across the Lofoten to Andøya and Bø. We have written up each hike of this trip as a route description of its own: Kvalvika Beach, Offersøykammen, Reinebringen, Måtind, Bufjellet above Sandvika, Skårvågsfjellet, the Kyststien from Straumsjøen to the lighthouse at Vikan and Vetten. Until next time, dear Norway!