Taking advantage of the deck outside our rorbu, this morning we have breakfast out over looking the harbor and sea. This is one breakfast we take our time over, slowly sipping our mugs of hot tea. But soon it is time to head on. We pack up our stuff, drop off our key and are on our way.
During the day, as we did yesterday, we will be bouncing back and forth from one side of the series of islands to the other, from the landward side to the seaward side. We follow the road as it takes us, with short detours here and there to picturesque villages. Our first destination is Vikten. A sub sea tunnel takes us under the Nappstraumen to the island of Flakstadøy. After a short distance we take a detour to the sea side making our way to Vikten.
Along the way we are treated to a wonderful sight - a white tailed sea eagle soaring above us. What graceful birds there are. We hang around for a while watching him cruise around in circles as he slowly drifted away from us. Upon reaching Vikten we go and have a quick check at the craft shops that make this small village famous. We are shocked to discover that the most important store charges admission - we forget that and begin to make our way back.
Back on the E10, we make our way along the edge of the Flakstadpollen, branching off at the end of this bay at Kilan to make our way to Nusfjord. The road to the little fishing village is, as usual, narrow and winding hugging the cliff face that drops into the sea. Along the way, we pass more of the drying racks - the smell is something awful.
Nusfjord is one of the oldest and best preserved fishing villages in all of Norway - it is also one of our favorites. Most of the buildings are from the 1800s, and some are even older. Around 1900 some 350 boat teams rowed from Nusfjord during the cod fisheries. The village sits at the end of a peninsula, hugging a small protected harbor. The buildings are either red, yellow or white. The wooden pier circles the entire bay, with the wooden buildings radiating out from it.
One of the nice things about this town is that the hill behind the village can be climbed and it is possible to get an aerial view of the village. We walked up the hill and took in the view. It was then time for us to head back. We make our way back to E10 and drive on. We pass the small village of Klakstad with its 1780 church topped with Russian-inspired onion domes. Then it is past Ramberg to the Kåkern Bridge which spans the sound between Flakstadøy and Moskenesøy.
The road now runs on a shelf above the sea and kittiwakes nest on a bird rock close to the road. We then have three more bridges to take across the Kirkefjord to Reine. The town of Reine itself is not very interesting - all the old buildings were pretty much destroyed during the Second World War. But it sits in a spectacular setting with the flanking mountains rising up from the Kirkefjord. It is like an amphitheater, with the water of the fjord forming the stage.
The E10 will soon run out of space as it reaches the end of Lofoten. We are now only 8kms from Å. We make our way the final distance along the beautiful road. But we do not have much time to take a look at Å - we need to get in line for the ferry back to the mainland. We take a quick walk around town, and then drive the short distance back to Moskenes and join the queue for the ferry.
Things do not look good. The parking lot is filled with cars, camper vans, buses and trucks all wanting to get on the ferry. We will see how things go. We have about two hours to wait - it is now 2:30 PM - so we decide to have a picnic lunch on the pier. Other than that, we read to kill the time. Well, the ferry has arrived, discharged its load of vehicles and they are ready to load up. We sit in our car and hope and pray. But in the end, we are unlucky. We are the second car behind the last car not allowed on the boat. Oh, well, nothing we can do. But we need to plan for the night and we have to make sure we get on the first ferry tomorrow morning (this was the last ferry of the day).
We decide to go and spend a bit more time walking around Å, we will then return here, drive to a camp site a 100 meters away, drop off our camping stuff and then park our car in the queue overnight. This is not as crazy as it sounds. The ferry crew recommended we do it. Lost of campervans are parked there (but they have it easy as they can cook and sleep in there). There are even a few cars where the people ended up sleeping in them. At least we have our camping stuff with us.
So we head back to Å and we spend some time walking around this old fishing village. Pretty much the whole town now makes up the Norwegian Fishing Village Museum, so it is one big museum. We spend around an hour here wandering around.
We then drive back to Moskenes (not sure how many times we have done this drive today) and stop at the campsite. We pay our fee and then go look for a spot to set up our tent. It is not the best place - it really caters for campervans and it is one big gravel parking lot. But we are able to find a grassy spot on the edge that is smooth and dry. We set up our tent and throw all our camping gear inside.
It is then time for dinner. We drive the short distance down to the pier and park our car in the growing queue. Then we head over to the nearby cafe for dinner. It has simple, but decent food. The owner is friendly and helpful and we have an enjoyable, if basic, meal. We hang out for a wile and then return to our campsite.
There is not much else to do, but go and sit on the cliff overlooking the ocean. The weather has turned for the better and the clouds have largely cleared. It is a beautiful spot. We have a view towards the north up the length of Lofoten and to the east to the Norwegian mainland. As it starts to get cold, we retire to our tent for an early night.