Where's Bertie? He's in a parking area a few metres away from the white sands of Haukland Beach (exact loc: 68.19919, 13.52979)
We do get to run in some spectacular locations and this morning was no exception. The distance to where the road diverged from the end of the fjord next to which we spent last night, and back again, was conveniently smack on 5km. Perfect for a Saturday morning (in lieu of a ParkRun) and with the water and dramatic hills all around it was a fine way to start the day.
Showers and breakfast were had and we were just sitting down with a second mug of tea apiece when we noticed that there was a clear and easy way for us to get out of the car park. Drinks were thrown into flasks, belongings back into their rightful places and with a motorhome just approaching (who was clearly going to park in the gap), we legged it, only pausing to do the pre-flight checks once we hit the road.
Our first hop wasn't far, to a car park where we could drink our tea, then it was a half hour journey up to the town of Leknes, where we didn't even pretend to look around. Our sole purpose there was the purchase of bread and a quick visit to a service point*.
The supermarket visit emptied our wallet to the tune of £32, which felt like a lot for one bag of food. However, we are finding some items that are not outrageously expensive. Bizarrely, cooked chicken is very reasonable, and the wholemeal crusty bread we are buying is only 60p for a big loaf (as against £3 to £4 for most loaves). Conversely, I can't bring myself to pay £10/kilo for cherry tomatoes or £4.50 for two avocados.
As we drove today a significant amount of dithering was had over our destination. Was our chosen destination too far north? Were we rushing past places we should be stopping to visit? The answer to both questions was apparently 'yes' as when I happened to spot a second road sign to Haukland (the first turn some 8km earlier was what prompted the dithering), I made a split-second decision, and exclaimed "Turn left here!" just in the nick of time for Mick to be able to make the manoeuvre. Approaching down the narrow road we weren't optimistic that there would be a space available (free parking at a beach, on a weekend, sounded like a recipe for 'busy' to me), but our luck was in and we got a slot facing the beach.
Not as dramatic as where we were yesterday, but with the white sand and incredibly clear water, it's still very high on the scale of loveliness...
...even if we're far from being alone. I'm not sure 'alone' happens on the Lofoten Islands at this time of year.
Somehow, it was 2pm when we arrived, and we'd not even had elevenses, never mind lunch. I'm still bamboozled as to where the intervening hours went.
In spite of the theft of time, after a combined elevenses and lunch we did get ourselves out for a stroll. Unfortunately I couldn't possibly capture the imposing concave cliff face under which we walked, sandwiched between it and the sea and the overcast sky was generally not good for photos. I did, however, grab a couple of snaps of this picnic bench, sheltered under a large overhanging rock:
It particularly caught our eye due to the hanging fire pan and the nice touch of fresh flowers on the table:
Back at Bertie, after helping out our Polish neighbours with their quest to pour bottles of water into their water filling point (it not being possible to get near enough to the tap to use a hose - we carry a funnel with a length of wide bore flexible hose for that very purpose), a gentle rain started to fall. It's now pitter pattering more insistently on the roof, and is forecast to continue through tomorrow.
(*we don't need a service point as regularly as we are using them, but we're working on the basis of not passing one by, so as to maintain flexibility to loiter in places without facilities for a few days if we so choose)
We do get to run in some spectacular locations and this morning was no exception. The distance to where the road diverged from the end of the fjord next to which we spent last night, and back again, was conveniently smack on 5km. Perfect for a Saturday morning (in lieu of a ParkRun) and with the water and dramatic hills all around it was a fine way to start the day.
Showers and breakfast were had and we were just sitting down with a second mug of tea apiece when we noticed that there was a clear and easy way for us to get out of the car park. Drinks were thrown into flasks, belongings back into their rightful places and with a motorhome just approaching (who was clearly going to park in the gap), we legged it, only pausing to do the pre-flight checks once we hit the road.
Our first hop wasn't far, to a car park where we could drink our tea, then it was a half hour journey up to the town of Leknes, where we didn't even pretend to look around. Our sole purpose there was the purchase of bread and a quick visit to a service point*.
The supermarket visit emptied our wallet to the tune of £32, which felt like a lot for one bag of food. However, we are finding some items that are not outrageously expensive. Bizarrely, cooked chicken is very reasonable, and the wholemeal crusty bread we are buying is only 60p for a big loaf (as against £3 to £4 for most loaves). Conversely, I can't bring myself to pay £10/kilo for cherry tomatoes or £4.50 for two avocados.
As we drove today a significant amount of dithering was had over our destination. Was our chosen destination too far north? Were we rushing past places we should be stopping to visit? The answer to both questions was apparently 'yes' as when I happened to spot a second road sign to Haukland (the first turn some 8km earlier was what prompted the dithering), I made a split-second decision, and exclaimed "Turn left here!" just in the nick of time for Mick to be able to make the manoeuvre. Approaching down the narrow road we weren't optimistic that there would be a space available (free parking at a beach, on a weekend, sounded like a recipe for 'busy' to me), but our luck was in and we got a slot facing the beach.
Not as dramatic as where we were yesterday, but with the white sand and incredibly clear water, it's still very high on the scale of loveliness...
...even if we're far from being alone. I'm not sure 'alone' happens on the Lofoten Islands at this time of year.
Somehow, it was 2pm when we arrived, and we'd not even had elevenses, never mind lunch. I'm still bamboozled as to where the intervening hours went.
In spite of the theft of time, after a combined elevenses and lunch we did get ourselves out for a stroll. Unfortunately I couldn't possibly capture the imposing concave cliff face under which we walked, sandwiched between it and the sea and the overcast sky was generally not good for photos. I did, however, grab a couple of snaps of this picnic bench, sheltered under a large overhanging rock:
It particularly caught our eye due to the hanging fire pan and the nice touch of fresh flowers on the table:
Back at Bertie, after helping out our Polish neighbours with their quest to pour bottles of water into their water filling point (it not being possible to get near enough to the tap to use a hose - we carry a funnel with a length of wide bore flexible hose for that very purpose), a gentle rain started to fall. It's now pitter pattering more insistently on the roof, and is forecast to continue through tomorrow.
(*we don't need a service point as regularly as we are using them, but we're working on the basis of not passing one by, so as to maintain flexibility to loiter in places without facilities for a few days if we so choose)
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