ROAD TRIP From Narvik to Narvik – a week in Lofoten, Ofoten and Vestrålen, Day 13 – All about the Lofotens*

The Lofoten Isles were always going to be a major stop on our trip. It was intended to be the northern most point of our trip before we headed back south and towards home. It was also the place where we expected to stay the longest. It was probably the place we were looking forward to the most, not least because it is the place that so many speak very highly about. It was definitely the highlight of the trip for MTC^. It is supposed to be one of the best cold water diving spots in the world and he was very much looking forward to that.

Despite our high expectations of the Lofotens however, we knew shockingly little about it. I must shamefully admit that until a few days after we arrived in the area, I had no clear idea of where the Lofotens actually were, as in where it began and ended, how far it extended and what comprises the Lofoten Isles, etc – you know, essential geographical information. And with my painfully scanty knowledge, I was the slightly more well-informed one of our duo. For practical purposes, it did not matter. We were planning to drive through the entire area anyways, so wherever the Lofotens began and ended, we would, in any case, see all of it.

Where I went for a hike

That being the case, I was quite pleased and looked forward to the briefing promised to us by Divemaster Daniel. Divemaster Daniel is, as his title suggests, a divemaster. They seemed to be one of two dive centres in the area, despite it being as aforementioned, one of the best spots for cold water diving in the world. Apparently most of the diving is done privately or organised through dive clubs, which inevitably requires one to have enough local knowledge to be able to track them down in the first place, seeing as none of them seemed to be big on advertising. The other form of diving available is of course, the liveabroad trips organised externally. In any case, we got in touch with these people and arranged for a day of diving for MTC. I sat out the dives because the dive profiles were going to be out of my comfort level. And as it was not exactly cheap, we decided it was better that MTC pays for a proper dive, instead of both of us paying for a play-dive. But as I did not want to be left on my own the whole day while MTC was off diving, I asked to tag along. And when MTC went down into the water, I went up into the hills for a hike.

Where MTC went into the water

Some things must be said about Divemaster Daniel. That he was not Norwegian was clear to us the moment he spoke. We later found out that he is Slovakian. He decided one day to start his own dive centre, and chose Lofoten because he started his diving career and wanted to work with cold water diving. And Lofoten was the natural choice, being – at the risk of repeating myself – one of the best cold water diving spots in the world. Daniel was very knowledgeable and professional, and earned our respect and sympathy because of what happened on the diving day.

We arrived at 10am at the dive centre (on Day 13) as instructed. Daniel was nowhere to be seen. I waited in the car (because it was cold and windy out) while MTC went to find out what was going on from Daniel´s wife. There was another guy there who had also booked a dive, a Norwegian. I could not hear what the wife said, but I heard the Norwegian complain (loudly enough that I could hear him through the closed car doors) that he does not like it when people he has an appointment with does not show up on time. I opened the door in time to hear the wife say, apologetically, that Daniel had been in an accident and was running a little late, but that he would be there soon. In hindsight, I wonder how she managed to remain calm and not smack him for his lack of sensitivity and compassion. We later found out that Daniel had in fact been run over by a car and had to go to the hospital for a hole in his chin to be stitched up! He also had x-rays taken for potential fractures in his cheek. When he eventually showed up about 30 to 40 minutes later, he had gauze taped to his chin which became increasingly bloodier as the day progressed. Not only do I totally forgive him for being late, I think it would have been well within his rights to have cancelled the day´s dive. He did not. Instead, he called in another divemaster to lead the dive, drove the lot of us 25km, which on the narrow windy roads of the Lofotens, took about an hour, and gave us an informative and interesting lecture about the Lofotens during the drive, all the while with the bloody gauze taped to his chin. I forgot to mention that he also had scratches on his hands and arm, and that he was limping. I suspect the stoic determination to carry on as though he had not just been run over by a car (which earned our respect) had a lot to do with the fact that they probably do not get many customers and could not afford to blow off a day of business (which earned our sympathy).

History

He told us about the last Viking chief who had to run off to Iceland because he was being hunted by another Viking chief from the south who was trying to unite Norway under his rule. I later read about the Viking King Harald, who was the first King of a unified Norway and assumed that he must have been the one who chased the other guy away. Harald had apparently been put up to the task of unifying Norway because he was trying to score with some viking wench who refused to put out to someone who was king of such a small kingdom, as Harald was before he unified Norway. I hope she was worth it…

Fishermen 

Imagine sleeping under that for 3-4 months in winter!

He also told us about the early fishermen in the area, who paddled in from somewhere else in their little boats to fish in the rich Lofoten waters in the winter, and stayed there for months at a time, and that they pulled their little boats onto shore at night, flipped them over and slept under them. He also took us to a little barn close to the diving place, where someone owned one of those original old boats. One of barn walls had been destroyed in a storm so we could look in and see the otherwise privately owned boats. 

The seven islands

He told us about how the invention of motors changed how people fished and where they lived in the Lofotens. Oh, and of course, he also told us that the Lofotens are made up of a total of seven islands: Austvågøy, Gimsøy, Vestvågøy, Flakstadøy, Moskenesøy, Værøy, and Røst. Lofotr, which was the name of some Viking King was originally the name of the island of Vestvågøy only but later became the name of the seven islands.

The houses

At some point, the stopped and asked us if we had any questions. MTC had one: why do all the houses have grass on the roof. We had just talked about that the day before, as we were driving through the islands to Å, the last letter in the Norwegian alphabet and the last town in the chain of islands. Daniel explained that they used clay. At least we think he meant clay. He did not know the word in English, but from his description, myself and an American guy in the van decided that he must mean clay. Anyway, clay is apparently used to keep the water out. And because there is inevitably seeds and roots etc left in the clay, grass and plants grow. He also solved the mystery of the “sheep on the roof”. We had seen them the day before too, and I was so excited that I couldn´t form words. I was trying to yell out to MTC, who was driving, to stop, but all I could manage was “AHH!! SHEEP!!! ROOF!!!” 

Daniel apparently knows the owner of the roof and the sheep, who apparently build a ramp like access from inside the barn for the sheep to get up to the roof so that he does not have to worry about cutting the grass on the roof.

Daniel also explained that the walls of the fishermen´s little houses were painted red because traditionally, back in the day before paint was cheaply available, the houses were painted with what I think he must have meant the liver of whales… or at least some bloody part of whales which gave it the rusty, reddish-brown colour. The red paint used today is in keeping with that.** White paint, which was also available then, was expensive. So, if used at all, it was only in small amounts to pain window frames etc. Anyone who could afford to paint an entire house white was making a statement about their financial well-to-do.

^MTC: my travel companion
*This is obviously not current. A combination of factors, including not having access to electricity or internet for most of the time in Norway, led to very little being written while in Norway. The other very important factor was that I had finally got really, really into, one of the many books I had brought on the trip. I had started reading two others on the trip but somehow did not really get into them, until this one. And it was the one I had least expected: Män som hatar kvinnor. This is the original Swedish book which was translated into “the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. I bought it from a Mission shop on a whim and took it along with me, also on a whim and absolutely enjoyed reading every bit of it, even though I have seen the movie (the original Swedish one, and not the Daniel Craig one). I have now finished it and have bought the second book in the trilogy.

**This obviously does not apply to the red Swedish houses, which I think has more to do with its copper mining history.

The trip thus far:

Day 1(Sun) –Visited with Anya and Daniel at Daniel´s parents´ place at Sandsjöfors. Stayed in the summer cabin at Uppsjön

Day 2 (Mon) – Campsite in Stockholm

Day 3 (Tue) – Campsite in Stockholm

Day 4 (Wed) – Sala Silvergruva, Övre Hedesundsfjärden (the site of one million mosquitoes)

Day 5 (Thu) – Close to Hällan (the imaginary horse)

Day 6 (Fri) – Campsite close to Docksta

Day 7 (Sat) – Via Ferrata, dinner at Bjuröklubb, camped somewhere along the E45 between Storforsen and Jokkmokk (broken tent incident)

Day 8 (Sun) – Crossed the Artic Circle, Jokkmokk, Gällivaare and Kiruna. Stuga at Alttajärvi, about 20km south of Kiruna

Day 9 (Mon) – Kiruna, golf at Björkliden, crossed the border into Norway, camped on the edge of the fjord a few kilometres outside Narvik.

Day 10 (Tue) – Lødingen, Ofoten

Day 11 (Wed) – Ballstad, Lofoten

Day 12 (Thu) – Å, Ballstad, Lofoten

Day 13 (Fri) – Ballstad, Lofoten (diving day)