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Month: August 2011

The Oregon Coast

The Oregon Coast

I spent two fantastic weeks in the USA earlier this month! My main reason for going there was the wedding of Nicole and Patrick in Seattle on the 14th of August. Unfortunately, Paul wasn’t able to come, as it was too close to his annual research cruise. Never mind, I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity! I got there almost a week before the wedding, so I decided to go on a little road trip by myself. It wasn’t hard to decide where to go, as I had always dreamt of visiting the wild coast of Oregon. Run an image search on google, and I think you’ll understand why!

To get there, I took the train from Seattle to Eugene in Oregon, a 6.5 hrs journey. It was a great way to travel, I really enjoyed watching the landscapes roll by from my comfy chair. I spent one night in Eugene, then picked up a rental car and pretty much drove straight to the coast. Florence was my first stop, I stopped to browse the old town and admire the views along the river – I even saw 2 seals. The area south of Florence is covered by the Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area – quite impressive dunes that at times even spill over the highway.

Florence, my first stop on the Oregon Coast. In the background you can see the dunes! The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area - an area with lots of sand dunes. They would sometimes spill over the road!

And here I finally reached what I had come for: the beach!! I went for a nice walk. It was a warm sunny day, but the water was surprisingly cold.

I went for a walk on the beach in the Oregon Dunes area - I just love these wide beaches! Self portrait on the beach :)

I continued south along the coast, and had a quick stop in Reedsport for some food, and a visit to the Umpqua Discovery Center. This was a kind of museum on the natural and cultural history of the area, illustrated by amazing wall-to-ceiling painted murals. Afterwards, I continued to Bandon, where I had booked a room at the Bandon Beach Motel. The hotel wasn’t anything special, but the VIEW… I could actually see the view in the lower left image from my room 😀 I was so excited, and it was getting close to sunset so I took my camera bag and went for a walk. And took lots and LOTS of photos 🙂 It was just so beautiful!

And this is what drew me to this area: the beaches with stacks (the large rocks). This was taken from the parking lot in front of my hotel in Bandon :) The beach at Bandon, looking north

The light was getting very soft around sunset, and there always seems to be some spray/mist hanging on the horizon.

The beach at Bandon close to sunset, views were just getting better and better... A few of the stacks in the evening light

Finally the sun disappeared behind the stacks – that’s the official name for these rocks on the beach.

The sun setting behind the stacks This little boy enjoyed the sunset during a break from playing with his sister

After that, the light turned even prettier and I took lots of photos of the wild waves and the gulls along the shore.

Waves crashing at sunset Gulls playing in the waves

And this little plane flying near the moon 🙂 and more gulls!

I noticed this small plane flying near the moon - they must have had a nice view! This gull landed into my picture :D

Later I climbed back up the cliffs to watch the last part of the sunset. The colours turned very intense, it was just incredible. What a day!

I climbed back on to the cliffs to watch the sunset Impressive sunset!

The next morning I got up at 06:30 to catch sunrise… but it turned out to be a foggy morning! Not that surprising, this part of the coast is known for being quite foggy. I actually liked it, it was a very special atmosphere. I was on the beach very early, but there were a couple of other photographers around too 😀 plus some very keen joggers.

The next morning at 06:45... fog! Imagine living in one of those lovely houses right on the beach...

It was low tide, and you could now actually walk around the stacks. At the bottom, you could see lots of brightly coloured starfish, sea anemones, mussels, barnacles… fascinating!

At low tide, all kinds of creatures are visible at the bottom of the stacks. I love the brigh coloured starfish

It was very special to walk around those stacks early in the morning in deep fog. Everything was so quiet… it was almost surreal. You feel like you might be sleepwalking or something 😀

It was a very special atmosphere, walking between those stacks in the fog On this stack you can clearly see the water level at high tide

Here I climbed back on the cliff, and walked back to the hotel along the top.

Such a long list of warnings... Walking back to the hotel on this sleepy foggy morning

This was the hotel I stayed in, I had an upstairs room with balcony. Not that I spent much time there! The second photo is taken a bit later, when the fog started clearing and the sun came out again. I took that photo from the hotel room, have you ever had such a good view??

The hotel I stayed in, I had one of the rooms on the top floor, with balcony. Not very amazing from the outside, or the inside... ...but who cares when this is the view from your room! Here the fog started disappearing and the sun came out again

As the fog cleared, it turned into another beautiful sunny day. I continued my way south along U.S . Highway 101, stopping about every mile 😉 I went for many short walks along the beach, wishing I was there for a couple of weeks instead of 2 days!

Little river at the beach, this is still in Bandon - I never drove very far without stopping!

I took a short sidetrip to Cape Blanco Lighthouse, but it was extremely windy there, so I didn’t stay very long. Lots of people were flying model planes there which was fun to watch 🙂

Cape Blanco Lighthouse A beach at Cape Blanco... it was really windy here!

And the good views just kept coming…  it was unbelievable! I walked some short stretches of the Oregon Coast Trail, which follows the coast for 684 km  – I’m sure it would be an amazing experience to hike the entire length.

Another pretty beach I walked a small stretch of the Oregon Coast Trail, really nice! This was one of the views along the way

The road almost goes ON the beach at times… and there are many parking places so it was hard for me to make any progress 😉

My rental car :) see how close the road comes to the beach! Highway 101 crossing Pistol River

I was surprised to see lots of sweet pea (my favourite flower!) next to the road, though I guess this is a wild version. So pretty…

Sweet peas - my favourite flower! I was surprised to see them grow all along the roads here :)

I visited Cape Sebastian, which gives you a high view point over the coast and the highway. Spectacular!

From Cape Sebastian looking north A great viewpoint from Cape Sebastian towards Gold Beach

A bit further along I found these sand dunes on the beach. I have never seen them like this! A bit like I imagine the Sahara to look like, with these dunes shaped by the wind. You could actually see them change, would be fun to watch when the wind changes direction! They were bigger than they looked like in the photo, in the enlarged version you can see some footsteps and get an idea of the size.

Impressive dunes! They are bigger than they look, watch for the footsteps in the sand for scale More sweet peas, and dunes

Another pretty beach… and some cute little birds!

Another beautiful beach... are you getting tired of it yet? ;) Cute little birds on the beach

One of my last stops was at Whalehead Beach. You can see where it got its name from! It was a lovely place 🙂

Whalehead Beach, a lovely place Another picture of Whalehead Beach

This photo is taken near Brookings. I was planning to stay at the coast for sunset, but it was getting cloudy and I was quite tired. I still had quite a way to drive, as I had to get to Grants Pass in order to catch a plane from Medford the next morning – I had to make it back in time for Nicoles bachelorette party 😀

One last look at the beautiful coast of Oregon... hope to be back some day!

I had to drive through California to get to Grants Pass. At the border between Oregon and California, all cars are stopped and checked for fruit! The drive to Grants Pass was a windy road through the hills and forest, quite beautiful, but tiring to drive. I arrived at my hotel at Grants Pass just after 22:00, completely exhausted.

I thoroughly enjoyed my road trip along the coast of Oregon – I had been dreaming of visiting this area for many years, and it was even more beautiful than I imagined! I hope I can come back with Paul one day and spend more time there 🙂 But this was just the first part of my trip to the USA… stay tuned for many more photos!

Cycling around Hiiumaa (Estonia)

Cycling around Hiiumaa (Estonia)

(Better late than never right? This cycling holiday in Estonia was 3 months ago…)

We visited Estonia in early May, and after a few days in very pretty – but very touristy – Tallinn, we left for a cycling trip to an island called Hiiumaa. We rented bikes from Citybike who are based in Tallinn. They are excellent! They can arrange almost everything. You can book complete trips with accommodation included, but we decided to design our own trip. We arranged a transfer from Tallinn to Haapsalu, an easy cycle away from the ferry to Hiiumaa.

Here’s a map of our 5 days of cyling… (click to enlarge)

Map of our cycle trip on the island of Hiuumaa.

Day 1: Haapsalu to Orjaku (36 km of cycling, plus a ferry crossing)

We had visited Citybike the day before, and picked up our panniers so we could pack them with our clothes and quite a lot of food. We knew we’d be staying in quite remote areas without many facilities so were took almost all the food we needed with us. We left the rest of our luggage behind at City Bike.  Toomas (the owner) drove us and two Russian ladies to Haapsalu, which took about 1.5 hours. From there, it’s 10 km to Rohuküla, from where the ferry to Hiiumaa departs.

I managed to buy a gps map of Estonia before we left Norway. This was quite a challenge as the Garmin website (and instructions) were only in Estonian, and credit cards were not accepted for payment, but the customer support people were really friendly so I managed in the end. I had preloaded our planned routes into the gps as well. This was a HUGE advantage on our trip, as we never had to study the map. The gps even worked as a satnav, and came up with alternative route suggestions if necessary.

After a quick stop for lunch at a supermarket, we left Haapsalu. It looked like a really nice town, full of colourful wooden buildings housing art galleries and cafes. Too bad we had a ferry to catch! Just outside Haapsalu we came accross the old train station (not in use anymore) from where there used to be direct trains to St Petersburg. Now there is a museum and lots of old trains on display. The second photo was taken just before the ferry crossing – lots and lots of wood coming from Hiiumaa.

One of the old locomotives at Haapsalu station. There used to be a direct connection to St Petersburg from here. A preview of Hiiuumaa: LOTS and LOTS of wood :)

The day had started grey, but on the island we had sunshine. It wasn’t very warm though, we were actually really happy that we brought gloves with us! After the cars from the ferry had passed us, the roads were almost empty and the cycling was very easy.

Nice and quiet country roads Paul cycling on the Kassari Peninsula

When we crossed the bridge to the Kassari peninsula, we noticed lots of people. They were all fishing 😀 This turned out to be a very popular activity on Hiuumaa, the only times we saw lots of people were at fishing spots…

Fishing is very popular, we didn't meet a lot of people on the way except when we passed a stream full of fish...

We reached our accommodation in Orjaku at around dinner time. We stayed in wonderful Dagen Haus, a beautifully renovated old building. Look at that window in our bedroom… I could watch that view for days! We were the only guests, and we used the kitchen to make dinner. Afterwards, we went for a walk along the water. This area is perfect if you like bird watching 🙂 I wished we could have stayed there longer, it’s one of the prettiest areas of the island.

Our lovely room at Dagen Haus. I could sit there and watch the birds all day! During a walk in the evening, watching lots of birds - I think I counted 25 swans on the water behind us!

Day 2: Orjaku to Ristna (52 km)

The next day we woke up to… SNOW! Can you believe it? It was wet snow and luckily not sticking on the ground, but this shows what the temperatures were like. The owner of Dagen Haus prepared a really nice breakfast for us, including a large slice of cake :D. By the time we left, the snow had turned to rain. Our destination of the day was the western tip of Hiiumaa, and to get there we took minor roads through the central part of the island. These are all dirt roads, and with the rain we ended up caked in mud…

Still, it was nice cycling through the countryside, with very nice farmhouses.

Dirt roads through central Hiiumaa - in combination with rain it resulted in VERY dirty bikes/trousers One of the many deserted houses we passed, though this one seems to be in use as a shed.

After a while, the countryside gave way to a forest. There were hardly any houses in this part, and we didn’t see anybody for hours.

Central Hiiumaa is mostly forest, for miles and miles...

Later on we joined the main road again and shortly after we reached the Kõpu peninsula. The road here was asphalted, and very straight. It was a bit of a tough day, with so much rain and quite a distance to cover. We were really glad to reach the Kõpu lighthouse, which was open AND it had a cafe! Tired, cold and hungry, we couldn’t believe our luck 🙂 The tourist season had only just started, the lighthouse had opened just 2 days before, on the 1st of May. There were 2 guys in 2 separate parts of the building: one selling tickets to visit the lighthouse and also running a small tourist shop, and one running the cafe. I honestly think we were the only tourists on the island that week so I bet they were glad to see us 😛

After cycling through the rainy forest for hours, this cafe was a very welcome break Tea to warm our hands up, while waiting for sausages with fries :)

After a nice meal of sausages and fries, we visited the lighthouse itself. Kõpu lighthouse is one of the oldest lighthouses in the world, built in 1531. A very interesting building! We enjoyed our visit, even though it was cold and windy on the top. From our tickets, we could see we were visitors number 2 and 3 that season, no surprise 😀 but I do wonder who the first one was!

Kõpu Lighthouse, dating from 1531! Insude Kõpu Lighthouse - endless stairs

From the lighthouse, it wasn’t very far to our accommodation. We rented a cottage from the owner of Dagen Haus, the small Puumetsa cottage. On the way, we passed a small farming village where we found this Russian phone booth. The other photo shows our cottage, very pretty! It had a fireplace, and a wood-fired sauna, which was excellent at the end of such a cold and wet day 🙂

A Russian phone booth in the middle of nowhere. Next to it was a disconnected modern phone... odd! Our little house for 2 nights, wonderful! It had a fireplace and a wood-fired sauna :)

Day 3: Around Ristna (about 10 km)

We booked the cabin at Ristna for 2 nights, so that we could spend some time exploring the area. Close to the cabin, we came upon this abandoned Russian building. Estonia was part of the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1991, and you can find traces of this everywhere around Hiiumaa. On the walls of this building were layers off wallpaper that were peeling off, and underneath were Russian newspapers from the 80s. This illustration is about the Falkland War…

An abandoned building that belonged to the Russians. Looks like it used to be quite pretty! The rooms had several layers of wallpaper, including a layer of newspapers from the 80s. This article is about the Falklands war.

We also visited this Russian watchtower. Paul was brave enough to climb to the top, I didn’t like the look of the falling apart building and preferred to stay outside. Afterwards, we visited Ristna lighthouse. This one also opened on the 1st of May, but we couldn’t find any sign of somebody to buy tickets from. The door was open though, so we climbed the tower anyway.

An old Russian watch tower - Paul was brave enough to climb up! Ristna lighthouse, at the western most point of Hiiumaa.

When I came down, somebody had arrived so we bought our tickets 😀 She also ran a small cafe which unfortunately didn’t serve warm food yet, instead we stocked up on crisps as we were quite hungry!

Impressive door to the lighthouse On top of Ristna lighthouse, with the cafe in the background.

Afterwards, we went for a walk along the beach. We hardly saw anybody all day, it was lovely. Close to the sea we found this funny hairy flowers.

Skies cleared up in the afternoon and we went for a nice walk along the beach We found this funny hairy flowers close to the beach

Speaking of flowers, here are some more flowers I found on Hiuumaa. So pretty!

Speaking about flowers, these were everywhere in the forest. So pretty! Especially as it was still early spring and not very green otherwise And some more pretty flowers :)

Here is Paul cycling back to our cabin at the end of a fun day 🙂

Cycling back to our cabin in the evening sun

Day 4: Ristna to Kärdla (47 km)

The next morning the sun was still shining and it was noticeably warmer. We had breakfast outside, with this view overhead…

The view from (or rather: above) our sunny breakfast table in the morning

The cycle from Ristna to Kärdla was really pretty, especially when we followed minor roads through the forests. We found this windmill, slightly falling apart. We also visited the Hill of Crosses, an impressive place full of crosses made of natural materials. If it’s your first visit to Hiiumaa, you’re supposed to add a cross to the hill. You can read more about the origin of this place here.

A slightly falling apart windmill A break with some chocolate at an old church

We reached Kärdla, the capital of Hiiumaa in the early evening. What a nice town! It mostly consists of detached houses with large gardens, and it feels more like the countryside than the capital. We stayed in Nordtooder, a hotel right on the central square. It’s really nicely decorated. They were just changing ownership, and the restaurant wasn’t actually open, but it was a very friendly place. In the evening we tried to go out for dinner, but everything closed very early as it was still off season. Finally we had a burger in the supermarket cafe 😀 and bought some more munchies and a game of dominos to entertain ourselves in our hotelroom.

Kärdla is a very sleepy but friendly town, full of detached houses with nice gardens Another pretty house in Kärdla A nice park near the sea in Kärdla, with lots of wood carvings

Day 5: Daytrip from Ristna to Tahkuna Lighthouse (47 km)

We had breakfast with pancaked, yum! It was served by one of the owners, a very quiet man. Suddenly he grabbed a guitar and started singing. The song was in Estonian so I have no idea what it was about, but it was beautiful and full of nostalgia… so beautiful. What a surprise, a serenade for breakfast 😀

We started our day by visiting the tourist information, where they were very happy to see us, and really helpful 🙂 We also went to the bus station, where we were supposed to leave our bikes later in the day, to be sent back to Tallinn by cargo bus. It was a bit of a hassle, as they said the bikes would have to be packed in cardboard, but luckily a quick phone call with Citybike sorted everything out. After buying some food for lunch, we were off on our daytrip to the Tahkuna peninsula.

We took a small road through the forest and reached the northern part of the peninsula relatively fast. Our first stop was the lighthouse 🙂 A very pretty white one. The top had been replaced at some point, and the old top was standing in the garden.

Paul cycling on the deserted roads near Tahkuna lighthouse The old top of the lighthouse

The views from the lighthouse were very nice, you can see a lot of the coastline with beautiful sandy beaches and the forests behind. After our visit, we had lunch on the beach with a nice view of the lighthouse.

Enjoying the views from Tahkuna lighthouse The beach seen from Tahkuna lighthouse... ... and Tahkuna lighthouse seen from the beach :)

But first we also visited the memorial to the MS Estonia, a ferry that sunk on 28 september 1994, killing 852… I remember watching the news of this terrible accident back then, I was 13.  Tahkuna was the nearest bit of land to where the ship sank, that’s why the monument has been placed here.  It’s a bell hanging from a cross, and apparently the bell starts ringing in strong winds. That must be eerie… The bell had childrens faces, obviously modelled from a doll.

A memorial for the MS Estonia, that sunk not so far from here on 28 September 1994, claiming 852 lives. The bell will ring in strong winds... The monument is dedicated to the children lost in the disaster (all children on board died), those who lost their parents, and children who will never be born because of the disaster... I find that last one a bit odd!

There are many Soviet bunkers on the Tahkuna peninsula, and all of them are open for exploring! You’re even encouraged to bring a headtorch and have a look around. And so we did… of course these bunkers have been stripped from almost everything they contained, so there is not that much to see. I can’t stand walking around in these cold, dark, concrete buildings for very long, but they used to have electricity so perhaps it wasn’t so bad back then.

One of the bunkers we explored Bunk beds in a bunker... cosy! But they did have electricity then, so I am sure it used to be nicer

Most of them are small, but we also visited a large one which had several floors. Suddenly we heard voices in the distance… you’d never believe it, but a whole group of DUTCH students was entering the bunker with a tour guide. During our entire stay in Hiiumaa we didn’t meet a single tourist, but here in an underground bunker we meet a busload of Dutch ones 😀 I think they were students on some kind of history tour.

Paul exploring the multi storey bunker Me sitting on top of the big bunker, we could actually hear the guide speaking down below us :D

After our visit to the bunker, we had to more or less hurry straight back to Kärdla, as we had to deliver our bikes to the bus station before the office closed. The road went mostly through the forest so we didn’t see much of the beaches. At some point we found a little path leading to the beach, so we went to have a look. So beautiful… we were both frustrated that we had to continue instead of spending more time at this lovely coast.

 

Hiiumaa has many beautiful beaches! The beautiful coastline, pity we couldn't see much of it from the road due to all the trees

We went for dinner at the restaurant by the sea, which was closed the night before. This time it was open, but they were holding a belly dancing event, so we were asked to sit in the corner. It turned out the local belly dancing club was giving a performance, and it seemed like everybody in town was there to watch! It was a lot of fun watching everybody arrive and seeing some of the dances. After dinner, we went for a last walk around Kärdla – we were leaving the next morning.

Wooden boats at Kärdla Swan swimming in the sea

Day 6: Kärdla to Tallinn (by plane)

On Saturday morning we had an early breakfast (without any concerts). The bus stop for the airport was just a few steps from the hotel. The bus was tiny, and we were the only passengers. For the enormous fee of 0.60 euro per person we had private transport to the airport 😀 It’s located 7 km out of town and it’s very small. One of those airports where  everybody is multitasking 😉 The flight to Tallinn takes only half an hour, and there were 2 more passengers besides us. We only paid 20 euros each for our tickets… crazy!

The small plane at Kärdla airport

It was a pretty flight, and the flight attendents came about 3 times with a bowl of sweets 😀 What a nice experience!

In Tallinn, we delivered our panier backs back to Citybike and picked up the rest of our luggage. We took the ferry over to Helsinki in the afternoon, where I was attending a course for a week.

We really enjoyed our trip to Hiiumaa, it’s a very pretty laid-back island without much traffic – perfect for cycling. I’m sure it gets a lot busier in summer, which will add a bit more life. We’d love to come back when it’s slightly warmer and we can swim in the sea 🙂 We’re hoping to come back at some point, and also explore the island of Saaremaa to the south. It was such an easy cycle trip to arrange with the help of Citybike, can recommend it to anyone!

Reisadalen

Reisadalen

We were only at home for 36 hours after our trip to Sørøya – we picked up Suse from the airport (she had been to a conference), and the next day the three us were back on the road. This time the destination was Reisadalen, a narrow canyon-like valley. The clouds were hanging low when we left, and by the time we reached Reisadalen it was raining quite heavily. We spent the night at a campsite, Paul and I slept in a cabin while Suse slept in her van. The cabin was a bit like a shed and hadn’t been renovated since the 70s. The bathroom facilities next door were really modern though, AND there was a brand new sauna 🙂

The next morning we woke up to sunshine!

The Starmobil in front of our cabin The farm where we were staying

We drove to the end of the road, a place (well, couple of houses) called Saraelv. Here we went to Elvebåtsenteret, a company that rents out canoes and arranges transport by riverboats. We hadn’t made any appointment beforehand, we just showed up at the house and talked to the owner. He was really friendly and we easily arranged transport 20 km up the river by riverboat, with a canoe, so that we could paddle back the next day. We had to wait a few hours, which gave us time to pack our stuff and enjoy the sunshine while being eaten alive by mosquitos.

The riverboat was a long narrow boat, and the driver placed the entire (3 person) canoe inside it. There were plastic chairs in it with the legs cut off, so we had a comfortable ride. The trip upriver took about an hour, and it was beautiful. We passed a couple of waterfalls, lots of birds, and people fishing for salmon. The river is really clear, and quite shallow at times, but the riverboat drivers know the river very well. Just before we got to our destination, it was almost too shallow for the boat, and we could hear the propeller scrunching over the rocks at the bottom.

Getting ready for our canoe trip I am sitting on a plastic chair without legs, in a canoe, in a boat... Beautiful waterfalls along the way (photo by Suse)

We were dropped off near a cute little cabin with a grass roof, where we planned to spend the night. Luckily there was nobody else there, as there were only 2 beds. The cabin was full of mosquitos, but Suse used a spray that actually made all the mosquitos leave! It was quite dark inside, but nice enough.

The cabin we stayed in at Reisadalen The inside of the simple cabin

Almost every entry in the guestbook mentions mosquitos… you can see the extent of some peoples frustration in the drawing below… 😀

Drawing in the guestbook of the cabin. It says: 'Help! We are being eaten! Wind, where are you?'

We quickly built a campfire to keep the mosquitos away outside as well. We spent a wonderful evening by the fire, next to the river. Every now and then a riverboat would pass, mostly with fishermen. It was so sunny and we were quite excited about our canoe trip back to Saraelv the next day. We even considered canoeing all the way back to the sea, and camping another night along the way.

Spareribs on the fire A beautiful sunny evening by the river

Unfortunately, we woke up to a grey sky the next morning. Paul still went for a “swim” in the river, but it was rather chilly. Canoeing downriver was great fun, though you have to be a bit careful in the fast flowing parts. Suse was our captain and she steered us through all rapids safely 🙂 About halfway, we passed another cabin and we decided to stop for lunch. It was another grass-roofed log cabin, but a lot lighter and larger than the one we stayed in. We quickly got the fire going 🙂

The start of our canoe trip A cabin we visited along the way, as a lunch stop.

While at the cabin, it started to rain. It took some courage to get dressed and back in the canoe, and we paddled back quite quickly. We took another group photo when we got back to Saraelv, quite different from the photo we took at the beginning!

And then the rain came... Wet but happy at the end of our trip

We were quite soaked and very keen to get back to Storslett and a warm meal. Unfortunately, in my hurry I managed to trap my fingers in the sliding door of the camper van. Ouch!! That was really painful. Fortunately they weren’t broken, it was just really painful and I still don’t have feeling in one of my fingertips. When we got to Storslett we found out what had happened in Oslo and Utøya while we were away from mobile phone signal in Reisadalen, so it turned into quite a strange evening. We stayed at a campsite near Storslett, and we again opted for a cabin because of the rain. This one was tiny but very neat. Late in the evening, the sunset was spectacular. The light was so red that our faces looked funny 🙂

The starmobil and our little cabin Suse and Paul admiring the sunset

Incredible sunset… so beautiful!

Beautiful sunset Fireweed against the setting sun

The next day we were on our way to a fishing place, when suddenly we were surrounded by goats. Lots of them 😀 They were quite friendly, and we took a lot of photos. They belonged to a farm which had a shop selling goats cheese – excellent! We bought a big piece of mature goat cheese, so tasty.

Paul getting friendly with a herd of goats The little shop selling goats cheese

Our fishing wasn’t very successful, even though Suse caught a big cod almost immediately. Not long after, Paul managed to hook himself in his chin 😐 Too many accidents on this trip! Fortunately he stayed very calm (I would have fainted straight away) and with patience freed himself. We were going to drive a bit further, but with all these accidents we decided to stay at a nearby beach and have a bbq.

Our luxuruous bbq on the beach The beautiful wide beach, with rather grey skies

It was a really nice wide beach, and we played games, had dinner and talked until deep in the night. It was a grey evening, but suddenly the sun appeared below the clouds for a spectacular show!

Going for a little walk along the beach Suddenly the sun appeared!

We took a lot of photos…

Suse took this romantic picture of us... though Paul spoiled it all by saying that he knew Suse was taking a picture, that's why he put his arm around me. BOYS!! Suse and me

A while later, the sun was lighting the clouds from below and painted them a beautiful orange. This is my favourite photo of this trip…

My favourite photo of this trip, our tent on the beach with the beautiful sky

This was the only night we slept in our tent during this trip, and it turned out to be a bad choice. It started raining during the night, and it didn’t stop for hours. We found out that our tent is not quite as waterproof as we were hoping… we woke up finding all our stuff was wet, so we quickly packed up and woke up Suse to ask if we could drive somewhere dry for breakfast.

The weather didn’t improve that day, so after breakfast we drove straight back to Tromsø. It had been a really fun trip, inspite of all the accidents and the not-always-cooperative weather 🙂