Sailing the Lofoten

Stockfish

We had planned our trip to the Lofoten already for 2020. But due to the pandemic it had to be postponed twice. In 2022 it finally happened. We first drove some 850 km by car from Tromsø via Narvik to Bodø and then sailed 315 nautical miles (or 585 km) with the S/Y Anne-Margaretha from Bodø back to Tromsø through the Lofoten archipelago. It became a beautiful two-week round trip north of the Polar Circle in the late spring and early summer of northern Norway.

We had beautiful weather when we arrived in Tromsø and enjoyed very much the panoramic views from the Fjellstua viewpoint above the city. The emblematic Arctic Cathedral always attracts attention when moving around.

On the drive from Tromsø to Bodø we stopped many times to capture the landscapes still dominated by the snow from the outgoing winter but already with the first fresh greens of early spring. After an amazing detour through Senja island we stayed over night in Narvik close to the ski resorts above the city. We watched the sun until midnight from the terrace of our tiny house at Camp 291. On the next day we continued our way to Bodø with some stops including at the foot of the Stetind, the national mountain of Norway.

We were very relieved to see the Anne-Margaretha already in the harbour when we arrived in Bodø. Our COVID tests were also negative and so we could finally set off. The first leg of our sailing trip from Bodø to Reine was realised under sails with Angelika at the helm bringing back many fond memories of our previous trip with Heinz and the Anne-Margaretha through the channels of Patagonia.

The old trading post and fishing village of Reine is a perfect first stop in the Lofoten. The colourful fishing lodges with stockfish drying on nearby racks and surrounded by the blue sea and steep mountains serve all the pictures one had imagined for this part of the world.

The next stop of our journey was the Nusfjord with its picturesque fishing village. During the day we explored the surrounding hills and lakes by foot and relaxed in the evening in the hot tub with view over the fjord. The vernissage for Olav H. Ulstein‘s exhibition at the Salteriet Gallery was a welcomed surprise. Also the next village, Hennigsvær, offered an exhibition with pieces of Ai Weiwei at the Kaviar Factory. But the beautiful weather with the first day of midnight sun on May 29 kept us outside most of the time.

Next day we were heading towards one of Norways best-known tourist attractions, the Trollfjord. To our great surprise, after the last Hurtigruten ship had shown its stunt of turning a large vessel in a narrow fjord in the late afternoon, we stayed completely alone with the beautiful surrounding landscapes until we left the fjord ourselves in the next morning.

In reminiscence of our trip to Patagonia, Heinz decided to spend the next night in the natural harbour of Kvannkjosen with the Anne-Margaretha anchoring in the middle of the bay and fixed by two shore lines tied to rocks and trees. Placing the anchor, fixing the shore lines, rolling them up again next morning, and – if the mooring was not safe enough – anchor watch during the night was our daily routine in Patagonia. We were not too sorry that we exercised this procedure only once during this Lofoten trip. Kvannkjosen bay was a beautiful spot surrounded by nature and silence – only the moose (or Norwegian Elg) would not show at shore as we had hope for.

After this highlight we continued our trip North with stops in Lødingen, Engenes and Vengsøy before returning on a stormy day to Tromsø after a journey of 10 days: a beautiful trip with Heinz, Dai and Nitya, our crew, and our nine fellow sailors from The Netherlands, Austria, and Germany.

Enjoy the pictures and the panoramas and follow our trip on this map:

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