I’m woken in the dark by tent walls shaking in the wind and quickly close the flaps against the rain blowing down the mountain pass. It’s 3 am. The wind gusts, up to 45 mph, bend the broken pole despite the tape. Will it hold?
Further sleep is fitful before breaking camp at 5 am while I still control the situation. I pack quickly in the rain and tread carefully down the hillside in the gloom.
The small ferry to Reine is not due for a few hours, so I must find shelter from the awful weather. A small wooden hut sits on the end of the jetty. Please let it be open.
The heavy door pushes open, and I tumble inside, a heavy counterweight slamming it shut behind me. A bench runs round three walls and a tiny window looks over the fjord — what a haven!
The wind roars outside, shaking the jetty. I hope the ferry sails today as my only other option is to hike back over the mountains, which is out of the question in this weather. If necessary, I can sleep in the hut. Messages scribbled on the wall tell of hikers stranded here for up to 32 hours like modern Crusoes.
I’m heartened by the arrival of a man pulling a cart piled high with parcels for the ferry, which is now 30 minutes late. He tells me the wind today is nothing compared to their winter storms and points to the trees, black with salt blown from the water.
The ferry eventually arrives and I climb down the loose ladder provided. With impeccable timing, the sun appears. The weather changes so quickly here.
The views are astonishing, with 3.5 billion-year-old metamorphic gneiss, some of the world’s oldest rock, rising out of the water in smooth slabs, sculpted in fire.
The shores are lined with wooden racks for preparing stockfish – cod dried and preserved in the cold air and wind. This is Norway’s longest-sustained export commodity. The Viking conquest of Britain was financed and provisioned by unsalted cod!
The ferry docks at pretty Reine village. Several hikers are lounging round tables on a grassy central square, so I buy a coffee and pastry before spreading my wet gear out in the sun to dry.
I need an alternative plan, as the weather forecast is challenging for the next few days, and I can’t trust my tent up in the mountains, so I book three nights in a guest house on the tiny island of Sakrisøy. Accommodation secured, I explore the village, ringed by attractive hotel cabins overlooking the bay, where kayakers head into the fjord.
My accommodation is an hour’s walk from the centre of Reine, crossing three bridges. I could probably get there faster in a kayak.
Following the road out of the village, I reach one of the most famous viewing spots — it takes my breath away.
A speedboat circles the bay before passing under a small road bridge.
The guest house is lovely. It was one of the cheaper options, due to a shared bathroom and kitchen. Jack, the English warden, is a great guy. A keen traveller, hiker, cyclist and kayaker, he recommends several hikes.
I’ll try to complete as much of my original route as possible via day hikes, although this will be difficult, as there are so few buses at the weekend, the ferry does not run tomorrow, and the weather looks foul. For now, I look forward to a hot shower and a long sleep in a huge double bed.
Date of walk: Friday 30 August 2024.
Absolutely breathtaking!
What an adventure. Always meant to get across there for the climbing.
I suspect you could spend years climbing on Lofoten.
If only.
That view is, indeed, breathtaking.
Wow
Amazing scenery!