We awoke early to high winds and rain, and decided we should get up and take the roof down, yet again. Despite assurances last night that they were endeavouring to fix the showers, there was sadly still no hot water. Howard and I opted to have a quick wash, and depart. The morning, in all honesty, was pretty dreich. We headed first to the town of Stamsund, which is a Hurtigruten port. In the rain this morning, it did not look particularly appealing, and we couldn’t even find a coffee shop that was opened, so we moved on.
I was speaking on What’s App to one of my friends who has been to the Lofotens earlier this year. I told her it was wet and windy. She advised us to head for Unstad Beach, on the other coast. She told me that it was a surfer’s beach, and would be full of fit, hunky, blue-eyed surfers catching a wave! She also recommended the surfer’s cafe which she assured me would be full of the same fit surfing types.
So off we headed. I didn’t tell Howard about the surfers, just the cafe. We arrived in stair-rod rain, having first having to negotiate a single lane 0.8 kilometre tunnel with passing places. Having had to back up in the pitch black tunnel twice, to let cars get by, Howard was less than enamoured by the beach. ‘So, why are we here?’, he enquired. I had to fess up that it was supposed to be full of surfers. On a day like today, the surfers obviously had more sense, and had stayed at home. Just two solitary female surfers sat on the beach, contemplating going in the water. I amused myself for ten minutes or so, taking photos of pebbles, then gave up.
The surfer’s cafe was another matter. It must have served the best coffee we have had in the Lofotens, and their cinnamon buns were sublime. But still no sign of hunky surfers!
At this point, Howard and I felt a little defeated by the weather. We had eyed up a campsite along the coast, but it really didn’t seem like camping weather. Howard did a quick search on his phone, and announced he had booked a room in Henningsvaer for the night. What a relief!
We headed northwards to this charming little coastal fishing town, which even in the rain looked quite charming. We checked into our room – bijou, but clean and warm, and with copious supplies of hot water. We were like kids in a sweetie shop. I never thought I’d whoop at hot water!
The rest of the afternoon, we had a little wander around (still in the rain), and bought Oscar a new brightly coloured floor rug. We then headed up to the lighthouse, past the town’s football ground, which must have one of the most beautiful aspects of any pitch in the world, looking out to the fjord and mountains, surrounded by cod drying racks – very unique.
We headed back to our room for a lovely hot shower, and have just enjoyed supper, cooked for us, in the local hotel. Tomorrow, we’re hoping for better weather, and will be back in Oscar again. But for tonight, we’re savouring a real bed in the warm. And tons of hot water!
I’m still trying my hardest with the photos. I’ll post a few, but most are still floating around in the cloud somewhere!
Oscar Goes To Europe 