Store Kågtinden

Store Kågtind awaits me...

Storbuktdalen

Storbuktvannet

Storbuktdalen from above 

Flowers that thrive...

Bruttodalen

Don't you just love stones?

Moomin at summit

Summit book securely encapsulated

Store Kågtinden 1228 m 

Me at summit

You can see Skjervøy behind...

It was time for an evening / night hike since I've never done that and I really wanted to summit Store Kågtinden so why not today? Weather was great for a hike so I took my bike over there and started walking at 6 pm. I reached the summit at 10.20 pm and the view was amazing, this feels like a real summit (even though it's not into thin air...) but still it's 1228 m and the highest summit in Skjervøy municipality. It's located on the island Kågen and it's also the third highest peak on an island in Norway. I enjoyed the view until 11 pm and then went down. Back to where I left my bike just after 2 am. There had been a concert in a tent outside Rema and people were going home so there was fighting and drunk people all over the bicycle path...

Dusk Til Dawn - Bullet

Lailafjellet

Lailafjell 206 m

Picnic

Laukøy

Roasting sesame seeds

Today was a really hot day. After work I went up Lailafjell and sat there and watched the view. Tahini is nowhere to be found here but I just thought that I can just make my own homemade tahini.

Trolltind

I woke up and thought it was morning, the sky was so clear but it was only 2 am. For a moment I thought about getting up right away since the weather was so good but then I tried to sleep some more. I also woke up at 4 am...probably I'm still not used to this midnight sun. But at 6 am I left my tent and went up. There were some kind of gathering with samis and probably a hundred reindeers collected up on the mountain. Something was going on but I'm not sure what? Anyway I continued since I was afraid it was gonna be some kind of slaughter. It started raining again first just a little and then very persistent. I thought I would take breakfast on the way up but I wasn't so keen on stopping now so I just took a really quick sandwich because the rain and wind was getting harder the higher I came. But still I continued. Summited at 8 am and took one picture of Moomin, afraid he would blow away! I didn't stay long because there really was no view. I went down and there was not a trace from neither samis nor reindeers, just a little smoke from one of the lavvus. I took down the soaked tent and packed my stuff. Rolled down the mountain and left Akkarvik, heading back to Laukvikskaret where the ferry leaves for Storstein. Then I met Dag-Finn who heard about me (rumours all over Skjervøy) and he said I could come with them for a hike up Kågtinden coming weekend if the weather was good. After a while I stopped for breakfast / lunch because now I was really hungry. Had a break at a nice waterfall because I had lots of time until the 4 pm ferry. When I got back home to Skjervøy, I hung up the tent to dry on the veranda.

View from tent 100 m above sealevel

The mist is spreading

Fast food

Visibility does not really improve

Just below summit 850 m - This one is for Mike!

It stopped raining...

Sheep on the road

Sheep on the move

The weather today actually reminded me of when we were at the Faroe islands...

Check out my brother's cool videos!

Arnøy

Storstein

Arnøy left and Laukøy to the right

On the road

Drive carefully 

Jetty

Seaweed

Skjervøy behind

Arnøyhamn

Cute little sheep

True the animals were allover...

Road to Årviksand

Storfjellet

Nice plants

Nord Fugløy behind

I took the first ferry at 8 am from Storstein. It took me 45 minutes by bike to the ferry. Then I headed for Årviksand. The first thing I saw around the corner were two little sheep sleeping in the middle of the road or maybe just had a cozy time? When in Årviksand, I hiked up Storfjellet but not all the way to summit. It was such a perfect day, no sun and no rain just clouds and perfect temperature. Arnøya is a lovely place. On my way down I met a white reindeer (*). After 4 hours hiking I came down and was so hungry I had to eat something and then I was ready to continue to Akkarvik. That's also when the rain began...when I finally came to Akkarvik I went up a gravelroad leading to Trolltind, as long as I had the energy for, since it was really steep and the bike was heavy. Then I pitched my tent in the rain and was so hungry that I made dinner right away, with strawberries for dessert! I am so tired...

Nord Fugløy, with an area of 22 km² has the biggest nesting tribe of white-tailed eagle in Europe and also razorbills, puffins and eider ducks.

Arnøy has an area of 269 km² and is one of the six inhabited islands in Skjervøy municipality.

* White reindeer. According to ancient sami belief the white reindeer has a message, it can be either good or bad. The reindeer also symbolizes happiness for the samis. If you are lucky enough to see one, you can count on that happiness awaits just around the corner. 

And according to my book (Solöga) it has this message; You have the gift that the world has been waiting for. Give it to the world because it's needed. Discover your own capabilites and feel confidence in them. Everyone has different gifts and we are all needed equally.

The scent of heather

When I came from work Helge asked me if I wanted some fish for dinner? He had been out fishing so he gave me a fillet of fish and I put it in the fridge because I was going hiking first. This time I went to the other side of the island, Engnesodden and up to "Trollet" 289 m.

The mountains with snow is Kågen

Having a break

Norwegian superfood

Our landingsite for helicopter

Superfood!

This is CRAZY, the blueberries are only 15 NOK / kg, in Sweden it was like four times more expensive. And I also found wonderful big, red and sweet strawberries for 20 NOK so I had to buy two packs of those. I have already decided that Rema is my best and favourite shop. Now I can have blueberry smoothies every damn day if I please!

An ordinary tuesday...

Today was totally crazy. We had server problems and power supply interruptions like at least 8-9 times. Also the phone was ringing all the time, except between 12 - 12.30 then we close the phone and reception and we all have lunch together. In Norway they have a habit of eating only sandwiches for lunch so they think I'm a bit weird with my salad lunchboxes. When they heard I like to go for mountain hikes, one of the nurses gave me a number to one of her friends which she thought I should give a call.

Health center (Helsesentralen)

My work seen from the hurtigrut-harbour

First day at work...

I was there too early, only me and the cleaningstaff was there.
First day I was just sitting next to Marianne and followed her around like a lapdog to learn how things work and the new program WinMed. There are 4 doctors working here but one is currently on vacation. Working hours is from 8-15 so it feels kind of short, but it's good anyway - more leisure time to the people! I didn't do much today after work. Just went to buy some food (and tealights to make it cozy) we have two food stores here at Skjervøy; Coop and Rema.

My kitchen

View from my veranda

Sleeping my day away

I slept almost 12 hours, it's crazy I never do that! I had a quick breakfast and left just when Yvonne was coming to clean out the apartment. Her son stayed here before me so she was cleaning up after him. I took my bike and went up to Skattørafjellet (347 m). When I got back she had left a note saying it was nice to meet and if I want to go hiking in Lyngen I should call her so she left her number. That's so nice. Lyngen Alps is a mountain range east of Tromsø, the mountains are of alpine character and the highest summit is 1833 m.

Skattørafjellet

View from Skattøra to the other side

A cloudy day on the bike

It was a really cold morning. I woke up Antje because she told me to, if there was sun but it was not, just a lot of heavy clouds all over but the good thing was that it did not rain. So we had breakfast and packed our stuff. Then we went on to Storslett and there was a little rain teasing us. We continued just a little into Reisadalen but in Snemyra I decided it was time for me to turn back. To sleep in a bed, rest and take care of my cold. So we said goodbye and she went on. That was 12 o'clock and I arrived at the island of Skjervøy 6.30 pm. (To my luck I found my lost bottle exactly at the same spot where I left it, just before the tunnel!) Then I was really hungry so I cooked a huge portion of pasta, had a Mack beer and some tea with honey. Then I was too tired even to take a shower and fell asleep. This was my first night sleeping indoors in Norway!

Indre Sokkelvika 

Sørkjosen

Storslett

Sørkjosen

Langslett

Time for a scary tunnel

Maursundtunnelen 92 m under sea level

So good to be back!

Resting at Kågen

The bridge to Skjervøy

With A Girl Like You - The Troggs