More Andøya
A leisurely day
17.11.2019 - 17.11.2019
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Northern Lights in Lofoten 2019
on Grete Howard's travel map.
We set out to do more explorations of Andøya today, and are very excited to see the coastal voyage ship Hurtigruten ready to dock at Risøyhamn.
As we don't have the pressure of collecting Lyn's luggage today, we have the chance to stop for photographs a little more often.
Failing to find a suitable lay-by, I merely take photos through the windscreen.
Sørmela
The topography here in Vesterålen is nothing short of spectacular, with steep cliffs tumbling straight into the sea. Communities have been carved out of the small area of flat land that are found near the ocean; or where there is no suitable ground, the road is cut into the hillside for want of any other space. This is why the coastal voyage postal ships were so vital before the roads – and bridges – were built.
The roads also travel through the mountains on several occasions, with some very long tunnels, as well as short ones such as here.
There are some impressive waves too.
Woodpecker
Without warning, a woodpecker cuts across the bow of the car and flies up onto a telegraph pole. Excitedly we wait for him to reappear so we can take a decent photo of him. He doesn't. He hides behind the post until he decides he has teased us enough and disappears into the distance. Later identified as a Grey Headed Woodpecker, he is another new bird to us.
Rubbish photo, but we saw him!
Every few minutes there is a scene that I beg David to stop the car for so that I can photograph it. I have to confess that I often just shoot from the passengers seat, as most times we are unable to find an area to pull off the road where we can safely get out of the car. Thankfully traffic is light to the point of almost non-existent, so we are able to just stop the car on the main road for long enough to take pictures.
Once we are back on Hinnøya, we take the road from last night, but continue on further.
At a junction we are unsure of which direction to take, and soon realise we've probably chosen unwisely when we come across a sign that states: “Construction road. Bad Condition. Continue at your own risk.”
We do continue for a short distance, but decide that it probably isn't worth the risk and with nowhere to turn the car, David ends up reversing back to the crossroads.
The other choice at the intersection takes us past farms with a few domestic animals, the first we've seen on the trip so far.
While the sky is still showing feint hues of pink, purple and yellows, the moon is just rising and looming large from behind the mountains.
Reindeer
David spots it first: an animal in the road. A horse maybe? No, it has antlers, it must be a deer.
As we get nearer we realise – to our great surprise - it is in fact a reindeer! Not just one, but two!
Another one appears and crosses the road in front of us. This is seriously exciting!
As more and more reindeer come into sight, it becomes apparent that these are indeed domesticated – albeit free range – reindeer.
Burying their heads in the snow, they dig for moss and other tasty vegetation.
They may be part of a domestic herd, but is still the first time I have seen reindeer walking around freely in all the years I lived in Norway. What a very special experience!
The daylight is all but gone by the time we get back to the house. We are hoping for some more Northern Lights this evening, but unfortunately they are not playing ball, so we spend the evening eating, drinking and chatting.
Posted by Grete Howard 14:40 Archived in Norway Tagged landscapes waves scenery farm tunnel moon norway woodpecker reindeer norge hurtigruten nord_norge risøyhamn drive_by_shooting northern_norway vesteralen andøya nordnorge hinnøya sørmela coastal_voyage Comments (3)
