Sunday 2 July 2017

Sunday 2 July - Haukland Beach

Where’s Bertie? His wheels haven't turned. He's still in the beachside car park at Haukland.

It has been a while since Bertie has spent a day stationary. Indeed, the last time was our first night in Germany, three weeks ago. Given a forecast of rain for today, and as we were in a nice car park with a very pleasant view, it was an easy decision to have a lazy one today.

Lazy, that is, except for this afternoon's run. My original intention had been to walk the circuit that goes over a nearby pass, down to Utakleiv on the other side of the headland, then back along the same track as we walked yesterday afternoon, sandwiched between cliffs and the sea. Then I decided to walk up to the pass and run the rest, which I duly did after lunch. Not only was it a nice route, but, after 5 miles with almost 200m ascent, I came back glowing, which was a bonus as it hasn't been a warm day. A bigger bonus was that not only did the rain hold off for my run, but it stayed dry for Mick to run the same route too. In fact, by the time he got back there were hints of brightness in the sky and the temperature finally started to rise a little.

The dry afternoon also brought people out again, after a quiet morning in the car park. Whilst there have been folk setting out for walks all day, once the brightness appeared, so did cars of walkers, who could soon be seen snaking up and down the path to the pass. On our limited experience so far, I would have to compare the Lofoten Islands in July with the English Lake District in August in that it seems that it is a rarity to get a path to yourself. Or maybe we just happen, thus far, to have picked the most popular routes.

Other news of the day:
- We saw a sea eagle earlier. It was the cries of the sea birds that alerted me to its presence and we watched for a while as it got chased off by a gull that was only a fraction of its size.
- Lots of buses of cruise ship passengers have arrived at various points during the day, the vast majority, if not all, American. The pattern of behaviour was the same for all: the buses disgorge them, they walk the 100m to just in front of Bertie, they take a few snaps then they go back to the bus. It's not a style of holiday I understand, but then maybe they pointed at the two people sitting, heads in books, in a tin box on wheels and wondered about the appeal of spending a holiday sitting in car parks?
- After weeks of barely seeing another British registered vehicle, the two vans that pulled in next to us earlier are both Brits. They didn't spot our number plate until later, so must have wondered on arrival why they got such a cheery wave.

And that's it. Books and crocheting have filled the rest of the day nicely.

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