Selforganised Trip Lofoten 21.3 – 29.3.

The long Easter holidays in March gave me the chance to go on a longer trip to the Lofoten Islands in the north west of Norway, together with Jed, Maike and Sam (American). The islands are located in the arctic circle and characterized by white beaches next to high mountains up to more than 1000 metres, northern lights in winter and the midnight sun in summer as well as cod fishing, the main economic activity (next to tourism). Due to the Gulfstream the Lofoten Islands have a milder climate than other places at the same latitude. The Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic as well as the special geographic and climatic conditions serve as a habitat for a rich sea life and plenty species of sea birds. All these aspects make it a perfect place for any kind of outdoor activity and I was very excited for our trip. As we went in March, it was still snowy with temperatures around 0 degrees and the zenith time for cod fishing and northern lights.

Out planning was fairly basic, but we packed a winter tent, stove and camping equipment and rented a car to explore the Islands flexibly and spontaneously. In the whole week we travelled from the south to the north and visited several beaches and villages as well as went on some hikes. We camped in a beautiful environment, eat fresh fish, saw the northern lights four days in a raw, spotted sea eagles, jumped into the arctic sea, visited the Viking museum and had a lot of fun as a group.

Besides all the great experiences we also had to face some challenges I am going to tell more about as well as how we solved them as a group.  On the first day it seemed that the Islands wanted to prove us. It started with a ferry that didn’t arrive because of a storm so we asked some fisherman who contacted them via ship radio. Way behind schedule we experienced a rough ride and arrived on the Islands at 5 a.m. in the morning. When we got our car at 7 a.m. it turned out that it was stuck in the snow and it took us 45 minutes, a lot of sweat, mutual encouragement and two wooden planks to finally get it out. The weather was great and we could marvel at the snowy mountains, the blue sea, the full racks of dried fish and the red fisher huts. The next thing that happened was, that Jed lost the car keys in a wall of big rocks. We were searching them together and Jed finally got them after cutting his finger on a rock. Later when standing at a stunning viewpoint I stepped into a hole which was hidden under snow and my shoe was filled with ice water. Luckily someone could help me out with a plastic bag which I was wearing instead of a sock from that moment on. After an eventful but still great day we found a perfect camp spot in a small forest next to the famous surfer beach in Unstad. After setting up camp it turned out that the gas we had bought in the shop earlier had the wrong attachment and we couldn’t use it for cooking. Coincidentally we had brought some firewood and where able to collect some more in the forest so that we were able to make a hot and delicious meal. However, I am never going to forget to check the gas bottles anymore before I buy one. Whilst shopping wood, Sam cut here finger really badly, so I cleaned and bandaged it as good as possible. Although all these incidents were not dramatic they showed up as a lot of small challenges. Nevertheless, we had a great first day, not least because we supported each other, worked well together as a group in all kinds of situations and were able to laugh about ourselves. After it got dark we were rewarded with the first Northern Lights showing up over the mountains and the sea.

The positive group dynamic continued for the whole time and even increased because of another incident we had to deal with. The weather had changed and we had stayed in a DNT hut after a snowy hike to Kvalvika beach (where other people believed us to be Norwegian due to our equipment – still the best compliment of the trip).

We were on our way down to Reine in the south and it was snowing a lot when we wanted to stop at the Viking Museum and the car behind us crashed into us. Luckily, nobody was injured (except of some stiff necks the next day) but we had to clarify things concerning the insurance. The whole procedure took us until the late evening and we ended up cooking dinner in our hirer’s driveway sitting in the dark and pouring snow. Although we were still upset and tired from the accident and the long day we just started laughing about the unlucky situation and tried to make the best out of it.

Besides breath taking views, various amazing impressions of nature and the desire to come back in summer the group cohesion is one of the aspects I remember the most about that trip. Everyone contributed their own abilities and strength to the group and situations which helped us supporting each other in all the challenges we had.

(more pictures in the gallery)