We spent a pleasant evening in Andenes. After dinner Sarah and I went for a wander, up to the lighthouse and around the centre of town. Unlike many of these remote places we have visited, Andenes felt a bit more like a real town. There were a few shops and a couple of restaurants, but it’s not somewhere worth going out of your way for.
Andenes Lighthouse
The one thing that may make the journey worth your while is whale watching, if that’s your thing. It is apparently Norway’s and therefore probably Europe’s premier location to see whales. It’s not cheap at 950 NOK (€127) a head, but the large operators in town guarantee a whale, or your money back! We made a half hearted enquiry at one place, but there were no spaces for 2 days and on that day they had seen killer whales, but as a result all the bigger whales had disappeared. I’d quite like to see a whale, but we decided against waiting two days for the privilege.
View from Basil last night
When we woke up in the morning, yet again sea mist had rolled in. Our lovely view over the harbour had disappeared. We therefore decided to start the day with a much needed shop in the hope that the mist would clear. It didn’t.
This morning’s view from Basil!!
We therefore set out on the Andenes Tourist Route with severely restricted visibility. Time and again we got to an official viewpoint for there to be no view! At one point the mist cleared and we stopped in the sunshine, near some military facility (no photography signs everywhere), to have a cup of tea in hope that the mist, which we could see in the distance, would burn off. My short term memory problems showed themselves as I finished my tea and pranced about with my camera taking photos! Luckily nobody official appeared to whisk me off.
One of the few clear views we got on the Andenes Tourist Route. If you look to the far right and left you will see the bank of fog/mist.
The mist stubbornly remained on the horizon and so, like a rain affected test match at Lords, we took an early lunch. There was still no improvement, so we pressed on. For remainder of the Tourist Route we switched between mist and bright sunshine. From what we saw of this tourist route, like Andenes, it is not worth a detour. The route is mostly along flat boggy moorland next to a beautiful turquoise sea (yes again) dotted with small islands. But there were no fjords or dramatic mountains to lift the view. In our case it made sense as a route from Senja, which we wouldn’t want to have missed, to the Lofotens.
We parked up for the evening on a large gravel area, set back from the road, near the village of Forfjord (68.829715, 15.669465). It has got pleasant enough views over moors to some distant mountains and we can just see a fjord in the valley below. We set off to walk down to the fjord but found that the track ended at a private house. On the way back we discovered a nice, small, fast flowing river. The car park has lots of notices in Norwegian about fishing so we presume this is a salmon or trout river.
Basil’s view this evening near Forfjord
Salmon River at Forfjord
It’s another free night! Andenes kindly provided an emptying and filling point for motorhomes, so we are set up for another four nights of freedom, although I think a campsite stop might be necessary for laundry before then.
Basil’s overnight free spot
Tomorrow we start our assault of the Lofoten Islands. Ever since we set off in February this section, because of what I have read in other blogs, is something I have especially looked forward to. The weather forecast is good for the next few days so I just hope the views are not spoiled by sea mist. The islands jut out from Northern Norway into the Artic Ocean so I suppose anything is possible.