The scenery on Lofoten is just WOW. Unfortunately, everyone else thinks so too!
There was a hike I wanted to do today, it’s supposed to be the best hike on Lofoten. Unfortunately everyone else had heard about it too! We knew we needed to get up early if we wanted to avoid the crowds, so starting a hike at 10am was entirely our fault. And it was a very steep hike, up 2000 rocky steps. About ¾ of the way up, we were both overwhelmed by all the people and it became quite dangerous on the steep steps, and one guy even fell. So we bailed and headed back down before we had to battle the hoards that had gone ahead.
The scenery on the drive today was absolutely amazing. I love the contrast of the red timber villages, coastal scenery and dramatic cliffs towering at every turn. We tried to do another hike that was recommended, but the parking lot was full and cars and vans were driving around and parking haphazardly causing mayhem. And from experience, if the parking lot is THAT full, it won’t make for a very peaceful hike. So we aborted that walk too, and drove down some side roads. And this is where we found the magic.
We followed a narrow gravel road, which was barely wide enough for our van. I daren’t think what would happen if we met someone coming towards us. There were a few pull-offs which would have required reversing up, but thankfully it didn’t happen. At the end of the road was a charming village and some epic views over the ocean, the fjord and of course, the mountains! We found a pull-off and paused to take in the view and soaked up the calm. It felt like a small escape away from the madness of the main road, where campervans were behaving badly.
The road was an in and out, but we didn’t care. It was equally as nice heading back. We spent the rest of the day tiki-touring off the main roads, down little side roads. Massive mountains, turquouise water, white sandy beaches, and a blue sky backdrop made everything look picture perfect. I imagine it would like completely different on a rainy overcast day.
We drove through three unavoidable tunnels and they were all under 2km and I had no problem with the first two. The third one, which was 1800m, was scary. And not in a claustrophobic way. It was super-narrow, faintly lit and the centre line looked like a child had drawn in it chalk. And as I’m sitting on the wrong side of the car, I was in the hot-seat facing the traffic coming at me. And they weren’t coming slowly either. A gigantic bus barrelled on down, missing us by mere cms! It might be an exaggeration but that’s how it felt. I was more than pleased to get out of there. I might even have some funny GoPro footage of the trip (with a lot of swearing!).
That was our last tunnel for the day, so we continued our tiki-touring off the main roads, still in awe by the incredible scenery. I imagine it would look completely different on a rainy overcast day. Finding somewhere to sleep for the night proved a bit trickier. Most places are paid, but on the back roads there were a few pull-offs, most of them right next to the road. I didn’t like this idea. But eventually we found a scenic spot with a bigger pull-off with mountain scenery on one side and the sea on the other.
In Norway, the freedom camping rules are simple. You can camp anywhere as long as it doesn’t say you can’t, and it’s at least 150 metres from a house.
Rain is forecast for the next few days, so there will probably be less bragging about how beautiful it is here!