These photos are taken at Telegrafbukta, this is the jetty that I took the northern lights photos from two weeks ago.  The second photo is zoomed out so you can see the blue sky above the mist. I think the bright area would form a fog bow (rainbow without colours) if there had been enough fog.

I watched some ships looming out of the mist – an impressive sight. All around Telegrafbukta, there were groups of students (from a high school I think) doing some kind of project about marine life.  They also seemed to use the boat in the second photo, it came to the jetty a few times. How cool is that!

The autumn colours are beautiful at the moment! When the sun comes out and the sky is blue, it just looks so pretty

The mist started to disappear, in the photo below you can see there are only a few patches remaining. There were several people walking around, taking photos. I talked to one guy who showed me his photos from earlier this morning…  he made me very jealous The mist had been denser then, and he took beautiful photos of the bridge and the city centre. I should get up earlier next time!

I thought about going to one of the bridges, or up Fjellheisen, but the mist had completely disappeared by then. Instead I drove to Prestvannet, the lake on top of Tromsø island. On sunny days it’s not very difficult to take nice photos there with Tromsdalstinden reflected in the lake and the colourful trees.

What a beautiful morning! It was great to be out and take photos again. Can you believe I haven’t taken any photos since the northern light photos 2 weeks ago? It was a very busy time, I’ve been working a lot and Paul was getting ready for his annual research cruise. He’s the cruise leader this year which meant he had lots of organisational things to take care of. He flew to Longyearbyen to board the ship there, but he’ll come back to Tromsø by ship at the end of this month.

Tonight my brother and his girlfriend are arriving in Tromsø, it looks like they’re going to be extremely lucky with the weather – we’re supposed to have sunshine until Sunday. Perfect! I have two days off, so we’re planning to go hiking and stay in one of the mountain huts. I’m really looking forward I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll also see the northern lights

I quickly went to the jetty at Telegrafbukta with my camera. The show didn’t last very long, but it was beautiful. Even the bright full moon couldn’t overpower them!

When the “lights went out”, I stayed for a while longer hoping they would come back. The moon was reflected in the fjord, it was beautiful. To entertain myself, I took a self portrait

Less than 5 months ago, I was at the same place enjoying the last aurora of the season. It’s so exciting to be at the start of a new season

I didn’t have very good weather. The weather forecast (which I wrote myself ) promised the weather would improve very quickly, and I was hoping for sun on the top. However it took a bit longer to clear up, and in the end the sun came out when I drove back to town! I didn’t take a lot of photos, but it was a very nice walk. The first part goes through fairytale forest with flowers everywhere. The top is more rocky and the view was nice, even with all the clouds.

More recently, Paul and I went up Ørnfløya on a Friday evening. It was going to rain all weekend, so we decided to make the most of the last bit of good weather. Ørnfløya is near Sommarøy and it’s quite a drive from Tromsø (about an hour). It’s by far the easiest of all tops though, it’s only 160 m high and the total walk is 2.2 km. It took us 25 minutes to reach the top, and about the same to come down.

We were hoping to watch the sunset from the top, but although we reached the top just in time (at 22:00), the sun had already disappeared behind a layer of clouds. Still, the view was very nice! It’s great to see Sommarøy from above.

We didn’t stay on the top very long as it was getting quite chilly. We drove to Sommarøy and enjoyed a cup of tea on a beach there. It was a quiet evening and we watched some seagulls fight with what we think was an otter. The tide was coming in very strongly and we watched a school of small fish fight with the current while being attacked by bigger fish. Life is unfair

The clouds were really pretty! The midnight sun is gone since late July, but at 23:30 it was still pretty light. It’s changing very quickly though, this was only a week and a half ago, but now we do have real darkness!

The hike starts very steep, but we had some help with us! Ine-Therese brought her 2 dogs (Luna and Sepi). They are sled dogs, and we both had a harness around our waist connected to the dog. I was surprised what a difference this makes! The dogs have a lot of energy and almost literally drag you up the mountain The first part of the hike goes through the forest, until you reach a plateau. From there it’s a steep and rocky climb to the top. These are some views on the way up…

After 4 exhausting hours, we made it to the top! The last bit is very flat, which was good – I had hardly any energy left by that time. The view from the top is really good

The cairn on this top is really impressive – it’s about 4 meters high and it has a room at the top that you can climb into. Of course we had to try that It was about 9 degrees but there was hardly any wind, and we enjoyed a long lunch break in the sun.

You can look very far in every direction. This panorama shows the Lyngen Alps. Luna and Sepi also enjoyed their break, it must be quite tiring for them too!

Around the top there were some very steep drops. The path goes quite close to them at times, we tried not to look down too much There were some low clouds drifting below the top, and at some point we decided to go down in case the clouds would increase and cover the top.

The way down wasn’t easy, especially the bit with loose rocks – very hard on your knees. And the dogs can’t help you much coming down They are very well trained though, on the way down they walk behind you so that you don’t trip over them or get pulled down by them. It took us about 3 hours to come down. We were quite exhausted and very happy to see the car again

The next day we woke up to pouring rain we continued on our way, only stopping in Svolvaer to buy some food. The house we rented was in Høynes, which was really only one street with a few houses and a farm. It was located in a very quiet part of the outer side of the Lofoten. It was almost always windy there. Sheep walked around the house, and the farm next door even had a sheep dog. A slightly crazy one, it was often chasing the ponies in the field opposite! This is the little house, which had a big view

The next morning we woke up to sunshine! We decided to climb the mountain behind Reine. The distances in the Lofoten are quite large, because the roads often have to go around fjords. It was 80 km to Reine, quite a drive. We stopped a few times along the way, to walk along some beaches (we even ventured in up to our knees, but it was way too cold for swimming!).

Another reason we wanted to visit Reine is the Eva Harr Gallerie. The art gallery in Tromsø has some of her work and we both really like it. It was a beautiful gallery, and it was great to see more of her work. We had only seen lithographs, but the gallery also had about 20 paintings. Really nice! The one below was my favourite. The gallery also sold her lithographs, and I finally made up my mind about buying one. I bought one called “Stjernenatt” (starry night), you can see an image of it here. I am so happy with it! I still have to get it framed, but I think it will look great in our living room

After our visit to the gallery, we drove to the starting point of the hike. It was a very short hike, but extremely steep. And very muddy, so it wasn’t an easy climb. And you don’t get to see the view until the very last moment. The view however, is worth everything – it’s so spectacular! You look over Reine and several islands behind it and the open ocean as well.

We climbed up a bit further, but at some point the path was following such a sharp ridge that we decided to turn back. Below you can see our view looking down, it was crazy! It was hard coming down on such a muddy steep path, you really had to be careful not to slip. Sometimes we had to sit down and continue on our bum We made it safely down though.

The next day the clouds were hanging low, and we decided to visit Henningsvær. A very nice place to walk around, lots of nice old wooden buildings and cosy cafes.

We also visited Kabelvåg, the town centre is very small but also fun to walk around. On our way back, the clouds were hanging around the mountains like a hat, it looked really cool!

We decided to climb a peak called Hoven, the mountain in the photo below. It’s not that high – 368 m. The clouds were constantly hanging around the top, so we were a bit worried we wouldn’t have a view. It was very windy on the top, and the view kept disappearing behind the clouds, but it was quite impressive anyway. There are some nice sandy beaches in this area!

The next day we decided to go for a trip with the boat. We put the boat in on a sandy beach in a calm fjord, but as soon as we reached the open ocean the waves were 1-2 m high and it was quite rough. This was my first experience of waves like that in a small inflatable, and I felt like I had to hold on very tight in order not to bounce out. I didn’t really enjoy it and even felt almost seasick, so in the end we turned back to dry land. Phew Of course the weather calmed down then. We walked around for a bit, enjoying the views, and collecting some drift wood for the stove at the cabin – it was quite cold and we fancied having a fire! (for some more photos and a map of our boat trip, see here)

On Wednesday, it was sunny again! And there was hardly any wind, so we decided it was a perfect day for taking the boat into Trollfjord, a very narrow side fjord of Raftsund. It was such a beautiful day. The first photo shows where we put the boat in the water. The second photo shows a group of buildings we passed on the way, it looked so idyllic.

Trollfjord is narrowest at its entrance, about 100 m. The large Hurtigruten and other cruise ships often go in there, it must be very impressive with such a big ship. For our small inflatable though, it was easily wide enough . We were the only boat in the fjord, it was beautiful. We put the boat on land at the end of the fjord and had some lunch. We then went for a walk to a lake. There is a hydroelectricity plant at the end of the fjord, and we had to climb over the pipe

We walked up to a lake, which was a really nice walk though not very easy as it was (again ) very muddy. And the lake turned out to have a huge concrete dam and concrete beach so it wasn’t as scenic as we were hoping . It was quite late when we got back to the boat. There were lots of jellyfish in the water, and I discovered that they light up if you take a photo using the flash. They are so pretty! These ones are called moon jelly and they don’t sting so nothing to worry about Paul taught me to drive the boat, it was fun! He also wrote an article about our trip here.

We came back from our trip to Trollfjord really late at night, so we didn’t do very much the next day. We drove to Stamsund, and enjoyed a nice dinner in the restaurant there.

On the way back, I took some photos of abandoned houses. I find them quite fascinating, I always wonder how they became abandoned, what the story behind them is. They are great subjects for photos, with boarded up windows and completely overgrown gardens. But you do have to be careful, as I found out when I took the second photo below…. somebody was actually still living in that house and suddenly appeared in one of the windows… OOPS!

Friday was our last day in the Lofoten and we decided to walk along a nearby beach. We started the walk in Eggum, where there’s a ruin of a radar site used by the Germans in WWII. The photo below is taken through one of its “windows”. The beach here is facing the open ocean and full of driftwood and items lost from ships. There is so much wood around that someone is building a kind of hut. Very nice!

Some of the wood was full of holes from woodworms. Paul took some really nice photos of the holes and the tunnels, while I was picking some blueberries

Most people walking on the beach continue all the way to Unstad, but we started quite late and didn’t go that far. We walked until the lighthouse on top of the cliff. Nice view!

There were lots of sheep walking around (with bells on), it’s crazy how high they climb up sometimes. Some were also just enjoying the sunset

When we came back to the car, lots of campers had found a place for the night. The Lofoten is full of campers and caravans parked everywhere. Our car looked so tiny in between these big campers

When we came back to the cabin, the sunset was really beautiful, and reflecting in the very calm sea. The first photo shows our little house on the right What a view for our last night!

The next day we drove all the way back to Tromsø, it took all day. We had one more day of holiday left, which we used for another boat trip, and then it was back to work for both of us. It wasn’t easy to get up at 7 again we would have liked a much longer holiday, but that’s life I guess

Day 1: Rognli (Signaldalen) to Gappohytta (11 km, 4 hrs)

It took us a day to park our car in Dividalen and drive to Signaldalen with my parents (and I managed to add some more time by realising I left my waterproof jacket in the car – we had to drive back for 20 minutes to get it… oops )

Finally, at 18:00 we were ready to go. After lots of rain, that day it had finally cleared up and it was sunny!

We followed a track up the valley, first through the forest and later through a more rocky landscape.

After a while, we found the disadvantage of the beautiful still weather – mosquitoes! And lots of them… Fortunately our repellent seemed to work – as in we didn’t get bitten – but it’s hard to enjoy the scenery with a cloud of mosquitoes around your head!

At about 22:00, we reached Gappohytta, which looked idyllic in the evening sun, reflected in the lake. There were 2 huts, one of them empty, so we had the luxury of a whole hut to ourselves. The huts from DNT (the Norwegian Trekking Association) in this part of the country are all unmanned and you need to buy a key to open them. They have no electricity or running water, but are always near a water source. They have gas for cooking (and everything else you need, like plates and pans and cutlery), wood for the stove, beds with bedding (but you need to bring a liner or a sleeping bag), and usually a separate building with a toilet of the hole-in-a-plank variety.

We enjoyed a good dinner that we brought from Tromsø, and then it was time for bed.

Day 2: Gappohytta to Rostahytta (20 km, 9 hrs)

The following morning it was still sunny, but with some pretty clouds and a nice breeze to blow away the mosquitoes.

We walked through Sweden for a couple of hours. We crossed a lot of small rivers, before stopping for a break at a waterfall.

We crossed the border back into Norway, and soon reached our halfway point, which means: lunch!

We walked through Isdalen, a pass between two valleys, strewn with huge boulders and surrounded by steep mountains.

At the end of Isdalen, there is a steep descend down towards Rostadalen. The view is quite spectacular! But walking down over small rocks was rather tedious.

At the bottom we had our first serious river crossing – one that required taking our boots off and wading through. I had brought flip flops for this purpose – so I wouldn’t fall over or hurt my feet – so I thought I’d be fine. What I didn’t realise is how COLD these rivers are…. It was really painful, within seconds my feet were numb with cold and I cried when I got to the other side. It took a while before my feet stopped hurting! Not quite the nicest experience… but at least now I’d know what to expect next time.

At some point we heard a funny noise nearby, something between the noise of a duck and a pig, and we looked up to see what made that noise. Not very far from us, a herd of I think around 100 reindeers was walking past. What a sight!

The final stretch was tough as the mosquitoes came back in full force, this time biting me all over my face. Such a relief to finally see the hut! It was quite busy and we only just about found 2 free beds. A quick dinner, and off to sleep.

Day 3: Rostahytta to Dærtahytta (17 km, 9 hrs)

We woke up to another sunny day. We washed ourselves in a pool at the side of the river before having breakfast at the hut. The hut is very nice and modern, it’s been built in 2007!

To start out hike, we crossed the river using a suspension bridge – cool!

After that, we climbed up rather steeply – not easy when it’s warm! We then walked along a plateau for a while.

At some point the landscape became very rocky and it’s tiring to walk from rock to rock like that. We climbed up to 1045 m. At that point it started to cloudy over and with the wind that made it feel quite cold. Soon however, the hut came into view!

It wasn’t long until we reached the hut. Again, there were two buildings and we chose the one that was empty. This was the oldest of the two, and very cosy – with the added luxury of an indoors “toilet”!

We arrived very tired, sunburnt, and all muscles aching from three days of hiking (nearly 50 km). The next day was going to be a very long one (24-28 km depending on the route). It was quickly decided that a day of rest would be the best idea for tomorrow.

Day 4: Rest day in Dærtahytta

We slept for a long time and enjoyed a lazy day in the hut. Outside the clouds were low and it was raining continuously, so we chose a good day to rest! We read the guestbook, which always has some amusing entries People also leave all sorts of books and magazines, so we had plenty to read. At some point in the afternoon, we got company from a German guy who had walked from Rostahytta that day. Later on, we were joined by a Norwegian couple from Stavanger – they got lost during the previous day and had spent the whole night walking!

Day 5: Dærtahytta to the car (25 km, 9 hrs)

The next day the clouds were still low and it was drizzling. We had 2 options: our original plan was to walk to Dividalshytta and spend another night there, before walking back to the car the next day, or we could walk straight back to the car. The drizzle stopped soon after we set off, and it stayed dry for the rest of the day, but there was no wind and we were bothered by mosquitos the whole time. They bit me everywhere, even through 2 layers of clothes. We got so fed up of the mosquitoes, that we decided to walk to the car and go home that evening. I later counted 30 bites just one one arm, and they were getting into our noses, mouths and ears… they literally drove us out of Dividalen!

The path was quite good at first, so we made good progress. Later we had to go through a swampy area which was tough as we sank in over our boots and got wet feet. In this valley, we found a lot of antlers though! They were lying around everywhere, and we even found a matching pair. We took the best ones home, we’re planning to do something creative with them. Either a lamp, inspired by one we saw in a log cabin, or a coat hanger perhaps.

We had one major river to cross. It was too deep to walk through and very wide. Paul tried hopping from rock to rock, while I took my boots off and walked across on flip flops. We both ended with wet boots though! Paul stepped on a rock which flipped over, and I tripped and fell forwards while my boots (hanging around my neck) dipped into the water. Oh well The last part of the hike went through the forest, along a beautiful gorge created by the river we had just crossed. The river was now narrow and wild…

We got back to the carpark at about 19:00 and were quite relieved to see our Caddy appearing when we came out of the forest We were wet, dirty and smelly – just longing for a warm bath at home and a good bed to sleep in Some people who were just starting their hike asked if we had been on a long tour – wonder if we just looked that tired, or if they could smell us

It was a beautiful hike through very nice landscape, but if we do it again, it won’t be in summer when there are so many mosquitoes and so much of the ground is swampy! Autumn is probably a better season. People had warned us about the mosquitoes but I thought they were exaggerating. They told me to buy a mosquito-net-hat, but I thought they look uncomfortable and silly. Next time, I’ll leave my pride at home

We’re only home for one day, we’re leaving for the Lofoten tomorrow! We’ve rented a small house near the beach there for a week. I’m really looking forward to it! We’ll take the boat and are keeping our fingers crossed for some sunshine

I headed to the top as fast as I could, but above 500 m I was  hindered by a lot by deep snow which was still on the ground. I thought I could walk around the few patches that remained in July, but they were much bigger than I thought. Trudging through snow in the cloud was not much fun. I began to worry that it would be in vain. I hoped I hadn’t taken a day off just to wander around on my own in a cloud!

At 1000 m I was beginning to lose faith in the pixel, when I noticed a strange phenomenon. Here in the mist, rocks felt really warm to the touch. They must have seen some sun not long ago!! I stepped up the pace, and a patch of blue sky began to emerge through the mist. The cloud top was very well defined when I crossed it – within a few steps the visibility went from zero to almost infinite! It was like putting my head above the surface of a swimming pool.

The pictures below show the view from the top, about 100 m above the clouds. The peaks in the distance are the Lyngen Alps. I spent more than two hours on the top enjoying the sunshine in a t-shirt.

While on the top, I took this time-lapse video of the clouds sweeping past Tromsdalstinden. It was almost like standing on a ship and watching the waves roll past.




Just before I left another person emerged from the cloud below – he turned out to be a pilot who had seen the peak sticking out before landing in Tromsø.  He had literally run up there afterwards! Another pilot promised to try and take a photo of him on the summit. That would have been a cool picture – but just before the plane was due to take off, the cloud level rose, and we were surrounded by the whiteness again! Nevermind – we were content in the knowledge that we had stolen ourselves an extra day of sun!

It was a very cold day, about 8 degrees! I regretted not bringing gloves, I got so cold. But we enjoyed our walk on the beach. There was an oystercatcher who had a nest somewhere near the beach, he got very alarmed when we came near and flew in circles around us.

In Tromvik we found this gull with a nest on top of some kind of refrigerated container! We continued all the way to the end of the road, in Rekvik. We really liked this house on the coast…

We walked along the coast for a bit, and came to a beach with very red rocks. I’ve never seen that around here before! The rock formations on the beach were very interesting too.

Group portrait on the beach The other photo shows the path that follows the coast.

On the way home we saw this reindeer next to the road!

The next day we drove to Sommarøy where we went for a walk. Paul’s parents were attacked by this huge seagull! If you come to near to their nest, they’ll attack you by diving at you repeatedly. They don’t actually come that near and I don’t think they’d actually hit you, but it’s really quite scary when it happens to you! There were some gulls near our house that did the same thing for a while and I didn’t enjoy it. Fortunately there were also friendly birds around there We saw a lot of ducks with baby ducks, so cute!

These rorbuer (fishermens’ cottages) are owned by the hotel, must be nice to stay in them! I am not sure what the “house on sticks” in the other photo is used for, probably just for storing fishing gear.

This is a pretty boathouse with grass on the roof. We also met this funny looking goat

And on the way back, we saw a group of reindeer!

On their last day in Tromsø, the sun finally came out! And what a difference that makes… We went for a walk around Telegrafbukta, enjoying the sunshine. Of course I had to take another photo of my favourite boathouse

We also made a short visit to the botanical garden, mostly to visit their cafe and eat waffles, mmmmmmmm

So far, July hasn’t been very summary either – still a lot of cloudy and cold days. Fortunately every once in a while there is a nice evening or even almost a day – and you need to take advantage of them when they come around! My parents arrived yesterday, on a beautiful sunny day – but today we are back to nonstop rain and low clouds. Good day to spend inside finally catching up with my blog

It took me 5 hours in total (about 2.5 hours to reach the top, half an hour break, and 2 hours to come down). The length of the trip was 7.5 km. I found this quite a tough one to climb, as it was very steep up straight from the start. At some point you reach the first “top” from where you get your first view to the actual top – which is further along a ridge. I lost my motivation a bit when I found out how far it still was! The ridge goes gently down for about a km, but after that it is a very steep climb again. Very rocky too, I had to use my hands several times on the last part. It was a beautiful day though, with great views, and I had a great time

This is the view from the first top, showing the ridge leading to the actual top. On one side, the ridge is very steep. On the other side there’s a lake, called Tverrfjellvatnet, that was still frozen. The melt ponds on it had a beautiful bright blue colour!

The view from the top! It was a nice surprise to be able to see all the way to the sea. The peaks on the right are about 1000 m high.

Two more views from the top, one towards Kattfjordvatnet (the road back to Tromsø goes through this valley), and one towards Nordfjorden.

On the way back I took it easy and I took a lot of photos. By this time the first “after work” hikers were coming up, it was nice to chat to them. The path was often marked by small cairns as in the photo below. I also took a close up of the blue melt ponds, they are so pretty!

A small lake on my way down…

I reached the car tired but happy and sunburnt too, mostly on one side .

And now it’s back to work, I had to start at 6:30 this morning! I did 2 radio interviews early in the morning. They were supposed to be about the weather but as the DJs know that I’m Dutch, we ended up talking about the world cup and the Netherlands reaching the finals. I am not a football fan at all so it’s quite bizarre to talk about it on the radio Luckily I saw half of yesterday’s match while visiting the neighbours (we don’t have a tv) so I could confirm watching the match and I kind of knew what I was talking about

More soon I hope – I have a lot of photos from the weekend Paul’s parents came to see us, I hope to share some soon. We have also been out with the boat again, have a look at the photos of a dreamy evening on Vensøya here. If I didn’t have to work the next morning, I would have loved to stay on that beach all night! Paul also went on a boat trip by himself last weekend, to Nipøya.

More soon

It was extra frustrating for Paul, as the boat that he bought had been delivered just before that weekend and he was keen to try it out. However, we thought it was important to have good weather conditions at the first try, so we waited for better weather to come…

The boat is an inflatable zodiac-type boat. You can read all about it on its very own website . We have named it Drijfsijs, which is Amsterdam slang for any bird that floats on the water (mostly used for sea gulls and ducks, but even swans would qualify ).

Finally, on Thursday the rain stopped and the clouds disappeared. More rain was expected the day after, so we decided we shouldn’t waste the opportunity! We drove to a nearby launching point that Paul had spotted. It’s not an official boat ramp, but it’s a nice beach with a parking lot very nearby, and out of the way of the “crowds” at Telegrafbukta – perfect. While Paul pumped up the boat (it only took him 15 minutes!), I was taking photos of the flowers (good deal ) and the green grass, quite overwhelmed by how colourful the world suddenly had become

The engine is new and that means you have to start using it slowly. The first 15 minutes it had to go as slow as possible. No problem in this nice sunny weather

Our original plans for the evening were a dinner in town with Nicolas, so we called him to ask if he wanted to come for a boat trip instead. He was quite keen, and so we picked him up from the jetty at Telegrafbukta (the one in the very first photo). The tide was low and the ladder didn’t quite reach down to the waterlevel, so he needed to do some gymnastics before getting into the boat Below is a map showing our route, we aimed for the island of Grindøya, less than 2 km away.

By now we could use the engine up to half throttle so we could go a bit faster. It took us about half an hour to reach the island. Of course, on such a nice evening, we weren’t the only ones there – there was another zodiac and 2 kayaks.

It’s a beautiful place, we had a bbq on the rocks overlooking the sandy beach and enjoyed the views of the mountains around us. A great evening! We also explored Grindøya on foot a bit, although we couldn’t go very far as most of the island is closed off at this time of year, to protect the nesting birds.

After our walk, we left the island and dropped Nicolas off at the jetty. By now, the tide had come up and the stairs were a bit easier to get to . When we got back to the launching place, I was a bit too keen to get out of the water and discovered I should get higher wellies – I managed to step into slightly too deep water COLD!!!

It was a fun first trip, and I’m looking forward to the many more adventures we’ll have with our boat!