Arctic Adventure
Remote, beautiful and soul-stirring, Norway’s northwestern isles are novocaine for the soul, says Helen Dalley
Norways northwestern isles present a delicious microcosm of traditional Norwegian life with their well-preserved fishing ages, pristine fjords and stellar opportunities to witness the Northern Lights, says Helen Dailey
Famed for its opportunities to witness the Northern Lights in the Winter and the midnight sun in the Summer as well as its fjords and salmon, Norway has much to offer the traveller. While Oslø, Trondheim and Bergen deliver that big-city feel on the mainland, exploring the country’s many groups of islands that stretch along its extensive coastline arguably enables you to better grasp what Norwegian life and culture is all about, whether that’s surfing at one of the world’s most northernmost spots in the Lofoten islands, or heading up towards to the North Pole to Spitsbergen, which is home to more polar bears than people.
Beyond the big metropolises, Norway’s smaller cities are gaining traction. The gateway to the Lofoten islands, Bodø, an hour and a half’s flight from Oslø, is set to be European City of Culture in 2024 alongside Estonia’s Tartu and Austria’s Bad Ischl. The first European Capital of Culture to be located north of the Arctic Circle is certainly not without its charms. I discover colourful street art (artists were invited here in 2016 to decorate the city when it celebrated its 200th birthday), cute coffee shops and a swish library & cultural centre designed by London’s DRDH Architects set against the backdrop of the city’s busy harbour. “A lot of my friends and people of my generation from Bodø have moved back, and we’re proud to be part of the city as it undergoes transformation,” says Julie Abelsen of Visit Bodø as we sip lattes at Melkebaren, a sleek café in the centre of town, in the fading afternoon light.
ISLAND BOUND
I’m travelling with boutique travel agency Up Norway, which has put together a detailed digital itinerary that leaves me breathless every time I read it, particularly the Northern lights photo expedition and stays in traditional rorbus (fishermen’s huts). With extensive local expertise, the company go beyond the traditional travel agency by linking you up with unique experiences and local people, and journeys can be tailored according to your interests, be that kayaking or cheesemaking. The agency are only a text away should you have any questions during your trip.
Armed with my Travel Pass Nordland, which enables me to board unlimited ferries and buses for seven days for NOK990 (approximately HK$870) in this northern county, I leave Bodø for Nordskot, the nearest place to Manshausen, an isle offering 55 acres of quiet contemplation. After a one-and-a-half hour ferry journey northwest, I take a speedboat in the dark to make the 500-metre journey across to Manshausen, which is owned by polar explorer Børge Ousland (see interview on p50). He’s not here, alas, busy sailing the Polar Ocean with Swiss explorer Mike Horn. The explorer told me he loves the island for all the outdoor pursuits it offers, be that hiking and fishing or diving and kayaking.
Situated along the old stone jetty, my seacabin, Grønland (that’s
Greenland in Norwegian) is a stylish, minimalist space fashioned from wood, aluminium and glass. There are no keys for the cabins and no locks on the door, which feels wonderfully freeing. The cabin is thrillingly situated over the shallows of the sea, while two chairs covered with sheepskin throws deliver prime views over the water over to Nordskot and the isle of Grøtøya, better appreciated when the sun rises tomorrow morning, when I’m woken by sheep loudly bleating outside my cabin. Watching the water’s gentle ripples, the odd fishing vessel puttering past against a backdrop of snowy mountains tinged yellow by the sun, is wonderfully meditative.
Once I’ve twirled around in the chair and gazed over at the few lights twinkling to my left on the neighbouring island of Grøtøya, I head over to the main house to meet my fellow Manshausen residents.The island only accommodates 16 guests and the dining room is quiet save for a low hum of conversation. I pull up a chair that seats six in the open kitchen/dining area. There is a wall of curios to my right from Borge’s trips – shells, driftwood, polar bear figurines – while upstairs is a lounge with sofas and bookshelves lined with tomes dedicated to exploration.
Dinner is three sumptuous courses of amazing food that champions local ingredients, including cauliflower, leeks, beetroot and broccoli from the island’s vegetable patch, all beautifully presented, particularly the roast potatoes on a rustic platter surrounded by shells and branches of Norwegian fir. There is little light anywhere on the island just in case the Northern Lights come out to play. Even car headlights can affect your chances of seeing them, says my host and the hotel’s manager, Jesper Hansen, a Dane who clearly adores the island’s steady, uninterrupted calm.
While the long journey to this beautiful corner of Norway has undoubtedly been worth it, I can’t help feeling a bit cast adrift, Robinson Crusoe style, in the Arctic. It really is so quiet here. Hansen calls it “positive loneliness” elaborating that Manshausen is popular with Norwegian celebrities due to its remote location. This dad to a six-week old, monitor dangling round his neck, says all the staff love helping look after the baby. It’s a heart-warming comment that demonstrates a surefire sense of community prevails on the island. Although it’s not people that are always first to be counted on Manshausen. “The sheep rule the island,” he laughs.
After breakfast, I hitch a ride in the speedboat with Jesper over to Grøtøya for a hike, not laying eyes on a single soul for over two hours, the sun-dappled houses I encounter en route strangely silent. When a couple of hikers’ voices cut into my reverie, it takes me by surprise. Unperturbed, I take in the deep yellow of the trees, feel the springy heather underfoot and halfway through my circular walk of the island, am afforded a stellar view as I ascend the hill, the Grøtøya Strait lustrous at the bottom of the mountains under sunny Autumn skies.
AURORA ARRIVAL
I’m upstairs in the library when, around 5pm, one of the staff heads upstairs and announces quite casually, ‘there are lights in the sky.’ Adrenaline takes over, the blood suddenly pumping round my body, as I rush downstairs, pulling on my hiking boots, hands impatiently tying my laces, before eagerly spilling out the door. Initially, it’s not so obvious, being more of a white band in the sky, a spectator beside me pointing it out while marvelling that she’s just seen a shooting star too. And then the band starts moving… it’s suddenly a wave, beams of warm green light dancing across the sky. My heart beats faster as I witness this gorgeous parade of nature, something I’ve been waiting to see most of my life now on display before me. There has been no lights in the past month, my fellow spectator informs, so I feel particularly lucky to be witness to it. Driven in by the cold, I reluctantly head back inside to the library to pick up my stuff, and try to watch it from the window, but it’s too bright indoors.
As evening arrives, it’s time to take the ferry back to Nordskot and two hours northwest to Svolvaer before transferring to Svinøya Rorbuer, 35 fishing cottages with low beams repurposed for tourists keen to explore the Lofoten islands that’s centrally situated in Svolvaer harbour… so central, in fact, that they perch on stilts above the water.
TAKING THE SCENIC ROUTE
I’m only at Svinøya briefly, as Up Norway has arranged for Nina Hansen from the Svolvær Tourist office to pick me up first thing to drive us west along the National Scenic Route towards Unstad. Driving along the Lofoten Scenic Route with mountains on either side is like moving through a Nordic postcard… the light is forever changing, mostly warm and golden as it glitters on the mountains. I can see why many found inspiration here, like 19th century artists Gunnar Berg and Otto Sinding. We pull over to take a look at a sculpture that mirrors the surrounding mountains. “It was deliberately put here, in the middle of nowhere, to encourage people to visit,” smiles Hansen as we take pictures in the surreal golden light.
We head west to the surfing school in Unstad, which can lay claim to being the most northern Arctic surf resort. Here, we meet owner Tommy Olsen, whose in-laws set up the surfing school in 2003. He shows us round some new holiday lets, contemporary pads decked out with photos of surfers hanging 10 under the Northern Lights, which are testament to the fact that the Norwegian surf market is growing. The waves, alas, are too choppy today, so after a windswept stroll to the beach, we head back for coffee and pillowy cinnamon rolls at the café. The sandwich board outside proclaims that they’re the best in the world, and while that’s quite some statement, they really are rather good.
After that, it’s time to make some cheese at organic cheese and goat farm Lofoten Gårdsysteri in Bøstad with Hugo Vink, who has been making cheese here for the past 20 years after moving to Norway with his wife from the Netherlands. Like the surfing, this is another of Up Norway’s most popular experiences with its clients. “There wasn’t a lot of cheese to choose from in Norway when we began making it,” he recalls. Before the hard work of sifting curds from whey in huge vats begins, we sit down and sample Vink’s sumptuous wares. There is cheese with cumin, blue cheese and cheese with seaweed, which we’ll be making later today, all paired with earthy crackers, goat’s milk butter and locally-made chutneys. People have come from all over the world to have a go at making their own cheese here, Vink tells us proudly, including a K-pop star accompanied by his guitar. In between the process of making our cheese – disposing of the whey, breaking up the curds into manageable chunks and tearing up strands of seaweed sourced from a local fjord – Hugo pours Nina and I two beers he’s crafted from the whey. Both are really good, possessing the colour, taste and aroma of a quality pale ale.
NUSFJORD BOUND
After bidding farewell to Hugo and laden down with
several boxes of cheese for the Svolvær Tourist Office, we stamp the snow from our boots and get into the car, heading back along the Lofoten scenic route to Nusfjord Arctic Resort, one of Norway’s oldest and best-preserved former fishing villages, where a bay cabin awaits me, a brilliant red hut set on stilts over the water. With its original timber walls juxtaposed against contemporary design – stripy wallpaper, stylish lightings – this is definitely a more upscale affair than my other accommodations. After a hearty dinner of soup, spaghetti and chocolate cake at rustic candlelit venue Oriana Tavern, I don my warmest clothes for the Northern Lights photo excursion, headed by Kristoffer Lorentzen, who runs a local design company and has an infectious enthusiasm for photography. “Tourism has exploded in Lofoten in the last couple of years,” he says, adding that in January and February, tourists come to see the purple light in the sky.
At Skagsanden Beach, which has a horizon opening to the north, we scramble over rocks and shallow puddles of sea water onto the pitch blackness of the sand, a popular spot to capture the aurora given that there’s no light pollution. The biting wind turns my cheeks red and blows my hat off and I have to run after it. After a stellar display the night before, we can make out faint green streaks in the sky, but there is too much cloud, alas, for us to properly discern the aurora tonight. We stop awhile at several other places, including Uttakleiv, a popular place to camp out and witness the midnight sun, but even when our driver switches off the headlights and interior lights, there is not much to see tonight. Not to be beaten, Lorentzo instructs us on how best to capture the lights, going over shutter speeds (10 seconds minimum) and other settings before uploading photos to his lightbox and reviewing them on his laptop. When the sleet and snow start obscuring our view of the night sky even further, we retreat to the warmth of the van, warming our hands over cups of hot chocolate and snapping a Kvikk Lunsj (Norway’s answer to the Kit-Kat) as Lorentzen shows us the gorgeous pictures cataloguing his recent trip to Bali.
It’s my last day in Norway. I crunch on the snow and cheer myself up with breakfast at restaurant Karoline, where a bowl of grøt, Norwegian porridge with berries, is hearty and warming – just what’s needed a day when the snow keeps stopping and starting. I gaze outside the window as light snowflakes fall and the light keeps changing, and watch people pose for snowy selfies. Once my porridge is finished, I can’t help but do the same, delighting in this October flurry. It’s the earliest I’ve ever encountered the white stuff.
Wiping the snow off my cheeks, I wander into reception and chat to Caroline Krefting, who co-manages Nusfjord with Renate Johansen. She worked for Scandinavian Airlines for 22 years and came to Nusfjord in summer 2018 on holiday. It affected her so immensely, she decided to move here and has no regrets.
“I like the straightforwardness of northerners – they wondered if a southerner would be able to cope with the first winter, but I managed it,” she laughs. Krefting’s carefree attitude is a happy advert for leaving the rat race and starting over.
A historical tour with Roald, whose grandmother used to live in the fishing village and managed the fishermen’s catch, gives some welcome background to Nusfjord. There used to be 1,500 fishermen here, rowing out with their nets to catch cod, with Italy one of its biggest exporters, he says. As we take in the rorbu’s snow-covered rooftops, Roald points out a rock that his grandfather happily placed on Nusfjord in 1905 to commemorate the dissolution between Norway and Sweden. The old trandamperi (fish processing plant) is still there, as are a number of old fishing boats and nets. Against the backdrop of his heritage, I take a picture of Roald, smiling in his fisherman’s cap and jumper, still clearly proud of his background. After the tour, I walk down into the nearby valley after Roald tells me, “it’s like a different world down there.” I’m delighted to discover he’s right. Making virgin footprints in the snow, I come across a fjord casting mesmerising reflections of the mountains above. Somewhere in the background, a stream is gently gurgling. I’m moved to say “wow” to myself before walking into the forest, gingerly testing the iced-over puddles in ditches to see if they’re solid (they are) and catching the snowy mountains reflected in the fjord in my camera. Hungry from my walk, I lunch at the Landhandleriet Cafe, which is hidden at the back of the old general store, which dates back to 1907, watching the light cast shadows on retro stylings like old telephones and television sets.
As my plane takes off from Leknes airport later that evening to make the 25-minute journey south to Bodo, I reflect that, with so many islands scattered along Norway’s vast shoreline, I’ve barely scratched the surface. But having caught my first glimpse of the Northern Lights feels enough for now.
The writer travelled with boutique travel agency Up Norway (upnorway.com), staying at Manshausen (manshausen.no), Svinøya Rorbuer (svinoya.no) and Nusfjord Artic Resort (nusfjordarcticresort.com). She flew with Scandinavian Airlines (flysas.com) from Manchester to Oslø and Oslø to Bodø
If you’d like to make the same journey as the writer, check out the link to Up Norway’s digital itinerary here: upnorway.com/journey/arctic-island-adventures