scandinavia 4 [eng]
hello dear friends
it's that time again, today i'll be in touch from the north of finland and hope to sweeten your day with another part of my travelogue.
have fun reading!
7/24/22 - 7/30/22
i wake up in a sunny bødo in the late morning and after breakfast i call my parents for a while before i drive towards the ferry port, here i join the long queue of other travelers who also want to go to lofoten.
the ship leaves at around 4 p.m. and we are on the ocean for a good 4 hours before we arrive in moskenes, it is a calm and sunny crossing and i drive out of the car deck to the islands in a good mood, it is not that late yet and that’s why I decide to do a little hike. in yttersand i park the bulli and trudge up the rocky path, but when i turn around to look at the bulli again, i see that unfortunately i left the light on. so back again and then off again. the path leads quite steeply up to a ridge, from which far-reaching views towards the atlantic and the island landscape are possible.
it is also very clear weather and the sun approaching the horizon bathes everything in a beautiful golden light. when i take a leisurely tea break at the viewpoint in ytresand, i kept glancing over the slope, which here reaches a good 200m down to the sea, and saw that another path meanders along the shore. looking in the other direction, that of the bay enclosed between the mountains, i discover a small hut right on the beach, built of stones and with a green roof, it can hardly be made out from afar.
so the idea developed in my head, to combine the descent to this hut with a way back along the bank and so not to trudge back the same way as i came here.
I reach the hut around 11pm, a challenging descent because the rocky ground is very heavily overgrown with moss and other small plants, and I never know where my feet will land, so I almost break my foot a couple of times and stumble down the steep slope.
finally arriving at the hut, i realize that it is actually a hiker's hut with an oven and a store of wood, and the first thing I do is make a small, hot fire.
at this point in time i have already made up my mind that i would like to rest here for at least a few hours and look at the entries in the hut book to fall asleep, there are still some from 1993. people really don't come by here very often, according to the entries about every 1-2 weeks. since i didn't pack a sleeping bag or an insulating mat, i roll up my jacket and snooze on the mezzanine, warmed by the stove, the sun is just setting behind the horizon. then suddenly it's daylight and cold, i wonder how long i slept, only to realize that the sun is just beginning to rise, a look at my cell phone tells me it's almost two o'clock. I turn on the stove again, pour myself some tea and sleep for a few more hours until I can finally pull myself together and pack my stuff.
there's a lot of flotsam lying around here on the beach and i'm looking for a nice piece of wood that i can take with me as a souvenir, but the pieces here are more like half trees and so i finally strap a kind of metal hemisphere onto my backpack, very nicely rusted and once made a little nifty an excellent lampshade, I think to myself.
however, the part is quite heavy, but my planned way back along the coast promised not to become a climbing party. I thought so anyway.
the first kilometer was also manageable with a bit of jumping from stone to stone and being careful not to slip, but then I reached two gorges that were too big to just jump over and, to make matters worse, not so easy to bridge. looking for a way over, my gaze wandered up the cliffs and I thought I saw a possibility...
so i climbed up the cliff only to find about 30m above the water that it is steeper than it looked from below.
my bouldering skills are there, but climbing around 30m above the cliffs on an almost vertical wall with hiking boots, a heavy backpack and no safety gear seemed a bit too risky to me, after all I didn't want to slip and die here.
the way back was almost as demanding as the way there and when i finally came out near the hut i was very knocked out. and then looked on the map for a way back over the hills.
there was also one marked, but unfortunately i never found it and ended up stumbling for 3 hours through extremely uneven terrain, further and further up, the rain started and my feet were already completely soaked from the small boggy flat areas anyway the water of the small creeks collects before it flows into the ocean.
completely exhausted i eventually came back on the ridge 250m above the sea and found the same trail from my way yesterday again. From here it was only downhill and after slipping twice on the rain-soaked, muddy ground, I finally reached the Bulli with my feet suffering from blisters. my little hike had turned into a 14-hour ordeal and i lay dozing in the car for the rest of the day, before i rolled into the parking lot of a small marina in eggum. where i finally build my night's camp and could sleep in peace.
unfortunately the new day starts again with a lot of water from the sky and for once i have breakfast in the bulli, in the late morning i set off and drive through the villages of the lofoten fearing nothing bad when a norwegian policeman approaches me after a short descent waves out.
my heart immediately sinks into my pants and i quickly realize that this is a routine speed control. next to me there are already 4 other cars whose data another police officer is just recording. then comes the bad news that i was about 13 km/h too fast instead of the required 60 km/h. that may not sound like much, but unfortunately the fines here in norway are pretty steep and when i find out that this offense will cost me around 400 euros, i feel completely different.
but as with the parking ticket in stockholm, i think to myself: it's your own fault, you know that it's expensive to drive too fast here and why be angry for the rest of the day that can't be changed anyway...
a funny feeling remains and the rain, which increases in intensity again when i reach henningsvær, doesn't make the general mood in the bulli any better.
actually, hennigsvær is an old fishing village on the south side of austvågøy, one of the middle islands of lofoten. this place is distributed between small islands quite idyllically and exudes a cozy vibe, at least when you look at the photos. the rain isn't exactly conducive to the whole thing and also not that it's teeming with tourists here. one shabby souvenir shop follows the next and the prices are more of a deterrent than inviting.
disappointed, after a short tour of the town, i walk back to the car and continue driving through the many tunnels until, after a routine look at the warning lights on the dashboard, i notice that an LED is lit.
it's the one that shows if the battery is charging, i also notice that the tachometer doesn't respond to my throttle. somehow fits to this day that something like this has to happen. so i drive out at the next parking lot and make myself a coffee first, before i talk to a couple who are also parked here and ask if i could get some wifi from them to google what could be the cause of such a problem.
the nice man asks directly what's going on and i explain the problem to him, then i started the van again and he says it must be something with the alternator, otherwise the rev counter would not be affected and so we look through the maintenance flap at the engine and directly at the problem. the V-belt that connects the water pump to the alternator is hanging in tatters from the wheels on which it should actually run.
happy that the problem is now localized, i remember that i even have a v-belt with me, because this has happened a few times in the past.
I say goodbye to both of them and set to work on the repairs. it's relatively quick, because it's easy to get to once the bed has been removed.
with the new V-belt, the battery charges again and you can continue. i'm very happy and drive for a while until i set up my camp for the night on a remote little road on a peninsula near forra. it's wonderfully quiet here and also a little darker due to the surrounding trees, i make myself a hot-water bottle and fall asleep happy about the solved problem.
unfortunately, this wednesday also begins rather damp and drizzly, it's a bit of a pity, because i'm out and about in this beautiful landscape, but don't see much of it, because the low-hanging clouds cover everything above 200m and everything is just gray and hazy.
i get breakfast over with quickly and when i want to drive on, the bulli goes on strike and doesn't want to start, so i take a little break and read a lap, then i try it again and lo and behold, a lot of smoke and then it runs purring like a cuddly cat. However, on the descent back to the country road, an annoying squeaking starts, I think that's the V-belt. although I stretched it vigorously yesterday, it probably wasn't quite enough. So clear everything out again and made the engine free.
I tighten the alternator with a strap that I fasten to the tailgate and then tighten all the screws again. I notice that the V-belt is a bit too long for this purpose, because the alternator's adjustment options are limited and you can't endlessly adjust it upwards to tighten the belt. i hope, however, that it will be enough and that i will find a dealer in one of the next cities who has a strap that is shorter than 643mm.
when everything is installed again, i drive on without squeaking and optimistically start looking for the right spare part. I'm wondering about the refueling and workshops, but it's not easy, either they have already closed at 16h, or they have nothing that soon.
the temperature of the cooling water also worries me a little, although it is not critical, it is significantly higher than before the breakdown with the hose last week. when i unscrew the plastic cover of the front radiator, i find that even though i bled the radiator after installing the new hose, only the lower third is really warm. the conclusion is that the rest is just air that pumps through the hoses with the water and is finally collected here at the highest point. So at a gas station I google again how to properly get the air out of the system and follow the instructions from a forum point by point. about 3-4 liters more water fit into the circuit and the air is almost completely out.
then i put the bed back in and drive for a while, the engine temperature is now back in the soothing lower part of the display and my jittery mood is finally coming to an end, at least 90% because the search for the V-belt will definitely not be easy.
i arrive in beertavarre around 9pm and wind my way along a bumpy dirt road that brings me to a small parking lot with a shelter and toilet. arrived here i call ada for a while and cook a portion of rice for dinner. Well fed and happy that the problems of the last two days are a thing of the past, I fall asleep under two thick blankets after a few episodes of the tatortreiniger.
at today's breakfast i call leander for a while, in a few days the last submission for this semester is due and we still have to work out some details on our building design.
when i set off, the search for the V-belt continues and i stop at various gas stations and garages, but nobody can really help me. so i continue cruising along the coast and finally settle down comfortably in a gas station with my laptop. luckily, vectorworks is running on my mac and i can incorporate the latest change requests from our lecturer into the 3d model.
then we continue in the direction of alta, here I hope to finally find the right spare part tomorrow. I arrive at a small junction with a view of the lake and make myself comfortable around the campfire, because the sun is just about to set and it has also stopped raining.
the new day greets me with lots of sun and i happily start making my breakfast and coffee before doing an extended round of yoga and then reading in the sun for a while. then i drive a few kilometers further and ask my way through the various garages in alta and unfortunately even the vw car dealership they can't help me. but in fact i find a suitable V-belt at an auto parts dealer, it's not exactly the right size either, but it's very close and shorter than the one i just installed. So if the squeaking comes back, I can now replace it and tighten the shorter one. in alta i also drive to a campsite to wash my clothes and while the machine is running i continue to work on the project for the university.
i spend the evening on a very bumpy track that takes me about 400m up the mountains and after a snack i lace up my shoes and start hiking in the direction of the alta canyon. this is a large river valley and only about 6km from the car park.
it's a nice hike and i walk through many swamps until i finally see a waterfall and take a break. i reach the viewpoint of the canyon around 11pm and look down from a high cliff into the gorge that the water has washed into here over thousands of years.
back at the car, i decide to drive a little further and set up my camp for the night on the shore of a small lake. after the hike i fall tired and exhausted into the pillows.
the next day also greets me with lots of sun and i continue on the bumpy path past many reindeer until i get back on the paved road and follow its sweeping curves downhill through a river valley. a very nice street, after about an hour i arrive back in alta and fill up my water at a gas station.
about 100km further on just behind olderfjord i park in a bay on a small peninsula directly at the water. While I'm making my couscous, I see a small herd of reindeer by the water and finally fall asleep after eating.
thank you very much for taking the time to read, hugging you from afar and happily saying:
see you soon
love
pauli
previous posts of the scandinavia trip:
scandinavia 1 ger
scandinavia 1 eng
scandinavia 2 ger
scandinavia 2 eng
scandinavia 3 ger
scandinavia 3 eng