I got back on land from tokt earlier than expected and was able to change my flight to that evening to begin my vacation. Idar and Pancho met me at the airport in Svolvær with the van and I was stunned at how great it has become. The electrical was all in place and the couch/bed turned out great! We drove to Henningsvær, about 30 minutes from Svolvær, and parked the van along the side of the road for the night. (Youtube video below blog)
Our little cabin on wheels.
The next day we walked into the village center and had a coffee at Klatrekaffeen (The Climbing Cafe) and bought a guide book for Lofoten bouldering. We ran into Adam (my coworker) who was set for two whole weeks of climbing in Lofoten and he had some good tips for us.
The bouldering spot we decided to try was not far from Henningsvær, so we packed up some campfood and made dinner on the grass next to the boulders. Bouldering outside was much more difficult than inside a bouldering gym simply because of the fear of injuring myself without the massive mattress that they have at indoor gyms. We bought a crash pad for bouldering, but need to buy one more. Idar also taught me how to ride a skateboard! That was pretty fun, even though I fell once on our way to get dinner in Henningsvær.
Tough position just for the picture.
The easiest route on the boulders.
The next day Idar took me on a hike to Vågakallen. He said it wouldn't be that difficult, but it was still challenging for me. It was quite warm with the sun and very windy at the top. I should have brought a jacket. We made it most of the way, but stopped when it got much more difficult mainly because we didn't want Pancho to stress too much. People were impressed we bought the dog as far as we did.
Idar waited with Pancho and sent me up to the next section of the hike/climb...then I chickened out and went down.
On Wednesday, it was fairly cloudy and cold and we had driven to Uttakleiv to sleep near a beach there. Idar took a dip in the ocean to wash his hair, but I stayed in the van and made coffee while a bus load of tourists watched the crazy Norwegian swim. From there we bought a few gifts at Glasshuset and were tourists ourselves at Nusfjord before we finally settled in for the night at Reine.
Our ferry to Bodø was at 7AM on Thursday, so we parked 5 minutes away from the ferry terminal to sleep. We got to Bodø around 10:30AM and decided to hike Svartisen glacier. The water there was a bit warmer than in Lofoten, so we swam in the fjord while we waited for yet another ferry back to our van after the hike. The glacier seemed to have receded a lot just since 2016 when I was there last time.
We were very happy with travelling with the van, and it made our travels very flexible by not having to search for a campground to set up a tent. The battery was always charged to 100% because of the constant daylight and Pancho seemed to get used to it very quickly. We are looking forward to more trips with the van this fall!
After 11 years with this blog, I have made the decision to retire it. I want to take a stab at vlogging (video blogging) since I enjoy editing videos so much. This blog started as a way for me to have a diary of my time in New Zealand and I'm glad I had it to go back and remember what I accomplished as a wide-eyed 20 year old. My vlogs will be available on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb6ZmcUcw8vZvPdfGIzNTbA Keep in touch 😊
On the 4th of July I joined the mackerel survey cruise aboard M/V Eros. It's a brand new vessel that is even nicer than G.O. Sars! However, as I found last year, most of these luxuries aren't used on the survey because we are quite tired from 12 hour work days; and the gym is the most important room when you are limited to only walking up and down a flight of stairs. The first dinner was a very Norwegian meal of raspeballer (potato and flour mixed together with some bacon), sausages and potatoes. At least the crew blasted some CCR after dinner, so that was about as "American" as it got for the 4th. I'm working the 2-8 shift, so 2am-8am and 2pm-8pm. My shift partner's name is Stine (Justine and Stine -- cute) - and pronounced like 'steeneh', not stein. On this survey I have more responsibilities than last year. This year I can add plankton sampling to my resume. And this probably sounds weird, but the one thing that has officially made me feel like...
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