On the way to Å

This article is part of the series “2015-07: Lofoten and Vesterålen”.

Day one

Å is not only the last letter of the Norwegian alphabet, it’s the name of some places, too. The probably most known  is Å i Lofoten, the southmost village of the Lofoten islands.

Delle, a German friend of mine and I started the tour last Saturday. The only plan was to take the car, drive to Bodø and take a ferry to the Lofoten islands, the same day or the other day.

The weather in Skelleftehamn was fine but in Arjeplog, where we made a lunch break it started to rain. We continued our trip to Bodø over the mountains. They were wrapped in clouds and were still partly covered with snow.

On the road to BodøClouds and snow

17:30 we arrived in Bodø, just in time to get the ferry to Moskenes on the Lofoten. Normally I love to be outside all the time when I’m on a ship but this time the sky was so grey that you hardly could see anything. The Lofoten with its more than 1200 meter high mountains came in sight just some minutes before we arrived.

On the ferry to Moskenes

We left the ferry with Delle’s car and drove the 5 km to Å, where it rained so much, that we decided not to put up our tent but to sleep in the car. I put on my rain cloth and made a short evening walk but soon returned to the car. The only pictures I made that evening were the fish heads on the wooden racks drying in the salty wind.

Drying fish headsDrying fish heads

Two months ago – first aid course in Solberget

Day 31 – 38

Today when I look outside the window, I realised that winter finally has left Skelleftehamn. The patch of snow that I stood upon ten days ago to view the Northern Lights has melted away and some trees start to show their first little leaf buds.

Well – it looked different when I was in Solberget in Swedish Lapland two months ago, where a first aid course of the “Outdoorschule Süd” took place. The week was filled with many actions – both course units indoors and outdoors and leisure, too. If you are one of the course participant you will realise, that I left out quite much.  That’s because I tried to keep the text very short – it’s more keyword style – and focus more on the photos.

Saturday

Arrival day: an incredible starry night with even a bit of faint Northern Lights

Starry night above SolbergetAurora above the wooden sauna

Sunday

Course unit outdoors, training recovery position (“Stabile Seitenlage”) – course unit indoors, training cardiopulmonary resuscitation (“Herz-Lungen-Wiederbelebung”) – and a beautiful coloured evening sky.

Training recovery position in terrainCardiopulmonary resuscitationFrost patterns in the dusk

Monday

How to move injured people: a lot of teamwork is needed – frost patterns again – Lars, the Sámi, tells us about the reindeer herding

TeamworkTeamworkFrost patterns“Hibler technique”Listening to LarsOpen fireLars talking

Tuesday

How to evacuate injured people from an observation tower – reindeer sledge ride. (No people were harmed)

Evacuation from the observation towerEvacuation to the warm cabinMaking contact with the reindeersReindeer sledge rideReindeer sledge rideRen looking happyAfter the sledge rideDirk and a reindeer

Wednesday

Ski tour to Polcirceln, where we’ll stay to nights. I slept in my tent since the two cabins are really small.

MarshlandOn the way to PolcircelnOn the way to PolcircelnWideness on the marshlandsThe Polcirceln MonumentThe smaller Polcirceln cabinThe larger Polcirceln cabinSlid down snowMy sleeping place for the next two nights

Thursday

A misty morning – another “real life case”: hypothermia – a beautiful dusk. (No people were harmed)

My tent the next morningEarly morning mistReal life case: hypothermiaDusk above the snowy landscapeDusk above the snowy landscape

Friday

Ski tour back to Solberget – another fantastic dinner, this time: salmon.

On the way back“Single file”“Single file”On the way backOpen water in the bogMe taking a rest (Photo: Angela)Panorama view of SolbergetSalmon with potatoes

Saturday (again)

The last day – many serious studies as: How many people fit into the igloo (Answer: all!) or who wins the snowball fight

How many fit into the igloo? All!Snowball fightSnowball fight

Thank you, Angela and Stefan from the “Outdoorschule Süd” for a great week!

 

King crab fishing

Yesterday I was on one of the tours, that the Kirkenes Snow Hotel has in its program: King crab fishing. These huge crabs are caught in big crab traps.

First we were provided with scooter overalls, big leather mittens and helmets, because we were driven to the place by snow mobile. The crab trap of the snow hotel is located at the end of the Langfjorden. Normally it would be necessary to free the hole from new ice but yesterday it was too warm and the trap, that looks like a big cage, could be pulled up directly. And yes – we were lucky – a lot of king crabs were in the trap. Bry, the guide, took four of them and showed them to us. There are fascinating animals and looking at them closer they look like aliens.

Pulling up the trapTrapped king crabKing crab eyesKing crab portrait

Gry killed them with a knife and they’re dead in a split of a second. Then she took the legs, that’s the eatable parts and threw back the rests that instantly were eaten by cods swimming around. We took the snow mobile to the restaurant, Gry driving, me sitting behind her and the other seven tourists in the trailer. There’s an outside kitchen where the crab lags are steamed for 16 minutes. They look red after steaming. They’re eaten with white bread, butter, lemon and mayonnaise and they taste extremely delicious. I ate lobster twice in my life and many other types of crabs and crayfish but I liked king crabs best. And there’s a lot of meat in the legs. Three legs were more than sufficient to be full, I ate four and really was stuffed. Delicious!

Driving to the restaurantThe restaurantSteamed king crab legsBry presenting the food