Where do you go when COVID-19 scuppers all of your original summer plans…? In our case we decided on Norway (as soon as the borders opened – August 2020)!
I adore Scandinavia, so when my friend Cat had to cancel her holiday to Peru and decided we still needed to get our adventure fix closer to home, in Norway, I immediately said YES! We even decided to invite the husbands along with us this time…
The Lofoten Islands was the destination we settled on. These incredible, majestic islands sit north of the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Sea and are home to spectacular mountains, turquoise fjords and white sandy beaches.
We arrived into Moskenes harbour via ferry on a clear and relatively calm day, meaning we were able to appreciate the archipelago from afar as we approached the jagged landscape. We boarded the ferry as foot passengers (you can also take vehicles); and on arrival at Moskenes we went to find the hire car we had booked for the week via Whatsapp… Let’s just say your options are limited for hire cars in this part of Norway, and we found ourselves squeezing into a retro 30-year-old Nissan Sunny!
The fact that the Lofoten Islands are so far north, means that from the UK you need to factor in a whole day to get there (and a day to get back). Our journey to the far north involved a flight from London Stansted to Oslo; an internal flight from Oslo to Bodo; and then a 4 hour ferry from Bodo to Moskenes. Don’t let this put you off, as putting in this ‘leg work’ means you have access to a beautiful, remote, viking world.
While going to Lofoten during ‘lock-down’ meant the tourist volumes were less than usual, there were still plenty around, most of whom were Norwegians from further south. If like me, you prefer to get away from the tourists then this is the place for you…particularly if you’re willing to put on your hiking boots and pack your tent.
In Norway, everyone enjoys the right of access to the countryside (Allemannsretten), meaning you can pitch your tent pretty much anywhere uninhabited. However, following a day and a half of travelling, for our first night in Lofoten we did actually decide to make use of the campsite a stone’s throw from the port, so that we could indulge in a shower.
Apart from enjoying a shower, on our first night, we sorted out our bags which were coming into the wild with us for the next 4 days; we purchased gas for our Jet Boils (most local gas-stations and ‘supermarkets’ and Intersport sell gas); and drove our car to Fredvang, where we would be ending our hiking route. The local bus network operates till late, so we managed to get ourselves back the campsite with no issues at 11pm.
Cat and I have done a few trekking holidays together and have almost perfected the art of packing as light as possible. The husbands on the other hand appeared clueless…wanting to add random, unnecessary extras – I did have to give in to my husband and accept marshmallows and skewers in the end as a compromise and to save our marriage! Regardless, by the time we had eaten our first ration pack meal of the holiday, our bags were packed and the first night sleeping in ‘daylight’ began – sleeping during midnight sun is a strange phenomenon.
The Real Adventure Begins
Day 1 (Moskenes to Bunes)
Leaving the campsite on foot around 9am, we started the day with a 1500ft ascent up Merraflestinden to get the heart rate really pumping! With our bags at their heaviest; the sun beating down on us; and our legs not quite awake, I think we shocked ourselves into getting up the first climb. Thankfully we were immediately rewarded with a view behind overlooking the port we had arrived at yesterday, and Moskenes village.
Plus, once you are over the worst of the climb, you get the privilege of looking back down onto Djupfjorden. This was our first sight of the beautiful turquoise waters on display in Lofoten from above.
Following our first ‘snack break’, we continued upwards, more gradually now. As the weather was looking good, we headed towards Munken with the plan to climb Munken nordtopp. There is a small lake and some cabins at the foot of the trail heading up to the summit, so we left our heavy bags here, before climbing up the final 700ft or so.
The view from the top of Munken was one of my favourites of the trip. Not many words can describe the awe of seeing fjords and mountains as far as the eye can see.
Unfortunately, as you would expect, the temperature was slightly cooler with the arctic breeze whipping through, so we didn’t spend too long at the top – even though it was August, there was still even a bit of snow clinging onto the more exposed parts of Munken and on many of the higher surrounding mountains.
After retreating back down to our bags, we had a nice hot lunch…Chicken Biryani in ration pack form always tastes amazing when sitting up in the mountains!
We had hoped to have time to also do Hermannsdalstinden on the same day, however following advice from a local we met at the top of Munken, we decided that we’d simply have to come back to Lofoten on another holiday to do that one! Instead we hugged the edge of Tennesvatnet before sharply descending into Reinefjorden. Saying this was a tough descent (dropping 1000ft in 0.6 of a mile) is an understatement…! My quads were on fire when we reached sea level and my hands stung from the level of scrambling involved.
After the descent, we thought that the worst was over and that although there wasn’t an official path, as such, around the edge of the fjord this should surely be a ‘walk in the park’ following the last hour! What followed was two miles of a ‘Takeshi’s Castle’ style obstacle course through forest and over rocks!
Arriving in Vindstad 11 hours after we had started that day, we were delighted to see a friendly face – a Norwegian lady we had met on the ferry crossing. Stina pointed at a yellow building saying that there were proper toilets within, with fresh water available. She also gave us the great news we needed to hear that we only had a few kilometres of (almost) flat walking to get to Bunes beach where we intended to pitch up our tents for the night.
The majority of the walk from Vinstad to Bunes beach was along a sandy track, which almost felt like a luxury in comparison to the prior hours. The remote village is dotted with traditional yellow and red buildings, which made a nice distraction while we plodded the remaining kilometres. The final hurdle to the beach is a 400ft sand dune. But take it from me, it is 100% worth it!
Bunes is regarded as one of Lofoten’s most scenic and isolated beaches as it can only be reached by ferry from Reine at certain times of the day, or by walking (clambering) like we did. On arrival, we spied 3 or 4 other fellow, wild campers scattered across the vast expanse of grassy dunes along the back of the beach, so we tucked ourselves on a nice flat spot away from the ‘crowd’.
There was access to fresh water via several waterfalls towards the South-Western side of the beach – perfect for drinking and taking a fresh(!) dip. There were also a few fire pits made by previous visitors, which we made full use of to cook the marshmallows which I had been so reluctant to pack…I concede, they were a great idea.
Day 2 (Bunes to Horseid)
We awoke to the pitter-patter of rain drops on our tent, and as we were in no rush that day we remained under the canvas hoping the sun would show it’s face…by 9.30am we were defeated and ended up hiding behind a large rock to eat our breakfast.
While the boys spent a few hours playing “No Thanks” (a perfect, compact travelling game), Cat and I decided we needed to ascend Helvestestinden to satisfy our craving of a summit on that day.
Helvetestinden is a granite mountain peak, which rises sharply from Bunes beach, with a summit of 1,975ft. We accessed it by climbing up the sand dunes, leaving Bunes beach behind us and heading left (East) along the grassy slopes. There were a few faint trails to follow towards the rocky field where you start the steep ascent.
Once on the rocky part of the slope, we found a few unmarked trails to follow leading up the mountain. There was plenty of scrambling with our hands and a few bum slides on the slippy parts. On the whole the trail is steep but fairly stable. The trail steepens just before you reach the ridge line at around 1,150ft. Once on the ridge line, we were rewarded with the clouds clearing so that we could enjoy the amazing view of Kjerkfjord, where we were heading later on that day.
After taking a few photos looking down onto Kjerkfjord, we turned left and started to climb the final leg towards the summit. The first part of walking along the ridge was relatively easy, but this narrows as you get higher up the mountain. There are a couple of very narrow steps to negotiate along the way and with the wind rising when were were on the top we decided to turn back at the last very narrow section. As lovely as Kjerkfjord looked, I didn’t fancy taking a closer look yet! Plus we still had a few miles of hiking to do later in the day, so we were happy to turn back here.
Arriving back at Bunes beach a couple of hours after departing, we returned to a hot lunch and the tents almost packed away. These husbands of ours can come again!
We had learnt from some locals that there was a foot-ferry service which ran from Vinstad to Kjerkfjord twice a day so we aimed for the 18:00 crossing to make full use of the long daylight hours. Our planned route was to walk from the ferry berth to Horseid beach (around 3 miles) where we could pitch our tents for the next night under the canvas in this incredible land.
After arriving into Kjerkfjord ferry berth, there was a faintly marked trail through the small village which navigated us towards the 350ft climb over a pass we needed to defeat before descending onto a rather swampy path heading North towards Horseid beach. We were spoilt by another amazing view for the rest of the walk (see below), but we were being chased by a rather grey cloud, so we put our heads down and aimed to find an area at the front of the beach to pitch our tents before the heaven’s opened…we didn’t quite make it!
With the arrival of the rain, we found a flat(tish) spot for our tents, found a waterfall with fresh water, wolfed down some food and hopped into our sleeping bags ready to dream about the amazing views we had seen so far!
Day 3 (Horseid to Kvalvika)
Day three turned out to be our favourite days of the whole trip. Some of the highlights being a couple of steep climbs, a croissant shaped lake, skinny-dipping in a fjord and again being spoilt to jaw-dropping views everywhere.
After plenty of faffing and getting our bags packed, we started the morning with a plod back along the boggy path that we had arrived on the previous evening. However, we were soon stretching our calves as we started to climb the 1500ft saddle that would get us one step closer to Kvalvika Beach (our next tenting spot).
The before mentioned saddle is the dip between Brasråstindan and Krokhammartindan and the path to the top was not actually marked-up on every map that we looked at, but there is a bit of a trodden path; however, to be honest, as the ascent is so steep it is easier to zig-zag your own route to the top.
Be warned there are a couple of false summits that get your hopes up!!
After a quick celebration at the top of the ascent, we headed north-east along the ridge line. There was a visible path that was easy to spot once up there and although the path had fallen away at certain points it was relatively straight forward to find the path again, as there are cairns dotted along the way.
After half a mile of walking along the ridge line we spotted my next highlight of the day – a croissant shaped lake (and yes I know it is clear that I have a very food orientated mindset!!)
Keeping the croissant lake on our right we navigated our way past the lake and started to descend into very boggy terrain, which finally meant putting our gaiters to good use. Plus, the Rain Gods couldn’t make up their minds, so we were doing the waterproof-jacket-dance every 5 minutes.
In addition to the wading activity, the path is pretty over-grown in patches, which made it difficult to see the path, but made for fun Tarzan swinging action; and although we were standing in muddy water and could hear running water most of the way down the mountain, it was difficult to access any free flowing drinking water without really going away from the path, but this of course made the drinking water hunt challenge more enjoyable.
Little did we know, we were heading towards what would become my favourite moment and view of the trip. For starters we were back on flat-ish (but still boggy) ground and the sun had decided it was the boss again. On top of this, we were rewarded with this below tranquil view along Stormarkpollen of Selfjorden. We couldn’t hear anything but nature, we couldn’t see anyone but each other and we were all smiling ear to ear, even with the knowledge that we had a further 5 miles to go for the day. Looking at each other, there was only one thought running through mine and Cat’s minds…’this looks like a perfect spot for a skinny-dip’. A 30 second dip in the chilly water, followed by some tranquil meditation, was all that was needed and we were ready to navigate round the base of Kitinden, and then through the valley between Litljirdtinden and Moltinden, towards Kvalvika.
From our dipping spot, we soon joined a gravel road (the first sight of partial normality in a few days!), which made the next 2 miles of walking easy, but still enjoyable as we passed colourful fishing huts and remote holiday houses along the way.
Coming to a gate on our left, this marked the start to move away from ‘normality’ again as we headed along a partially trodden track towards the southern bay of Kvalvika. We had chosen the southern bay as we had read it was less populated by other tourists in comparison to its northern sister. The reviews were correct, although, on arrival, while setting up our tents in the (very chilly) shade, we realised the other bay had longer in the sunshine…which may have explained this split. We were waiting till about 10pm for it to reach us…and by that point we were chilled through and in need of a warm sleeping bag.
From whichever bay, the view of the imposing mountains is awe inspiring. From our tents we were looking directly at Rytan, rising 1781ft into the sky – we planned to attack this first thing the following morning. Just behind us, creating a 2050ft wind-buffer was Kjerringa – perhaps one to do on our return visit.
Day 4 – (Kvalvika to Fredvang)
After packing up our campsite, and crossing the two sandy Kvalvika bays, we started along our plotted route towards Fredvang, via a small detour up Rytan. Being hugged by imposing, granite mountains from all angles (apart from the icy cold ocean in front of us) meant starting with a heart and calf burning climb up into the saddle below Rytan. We were not the only ones making the climb as most others who had camped at Kvalvika were also setting off for the day. Although busy, there were not too many ‘traffic jams’ fortunately.
There was a stream running down to the side of the hair-pin path, which although allows for scooping some drinking water, made for a squelchy path once we were near the top.
Once up onto the flatter terrain again, we admired the vista and then sought a spot to offload and hide our bags behind a rock before practically running up to the summit of Rytan like spring chickens – we’d almost forgotten how easy it was to walk without 15kg+ on our backs! The extra elevation was worth it for the view back down onto our camping spot; however, we soon turned around as the clouds had quickly rolled in and threatened rain. As we neared our bags, the heavens opened and the wind speed dramatically increased.
After a very quick hot chocolate and snack stop, we proceeded to quickly descend between Rytan and Torsfjortinden towards Fredvang, taking the Eastern path which drops to the south of Bora. There are one or two handrails, chains and bridges to assist on the way down, although being so wet it wasn’t the most glamorous departure we’d undertaken. Despite almost losing the path once or twice, we managed to find our way to Fredvang where we had a cosy AirBnB waiting for us (inclusive of a much needed beer and hot-tub).
If you fancy watching a 5 minute video with some footage of our trip, take a look at the below.
Leave No Stone Unturned 