Country: Norway
Distance travelled:
Weather: Windy with blue skies

We had left Henningsvær, actually on the lowest reaches of the Vesterålan Islands not the Lofotans as I had thought, by midday. We were heading for Andenes, a town located on the very northern tip of the Vesterålan Islands and where we were planning on taking a boat trip out onto the ocean in the hopes of seeing a sperm whale.

The weather was a little improved over yesterday with patches of blue skies although the wind had not decreased. We drove steadily north, stopping at the occasional lookout to take photos. I realise that many rest stops are placed where there is a suitable location, especially in a country as mountainous as Norway but it was annoying how many times the view from the road was superb so I would encourage Mark to stop at the next rest stop, only to find it was around a corner and usually shrouded with trees.

At a bus stop with good phone reception somewhere south of Sortland, we paused to book the trip with Whale Safari. They run two boats out of Andenes and have a ‘whale guarantee’ promising to keep taking you out until you see a whale. They also offer your money back if you prefer. We booked onto the 4pm boat trip, hoping that there would be less crowds as the morning trip was already nearly full.

From then on it was a leisurely drive along the Andøya National Tourist Route. We considered the occasional carpark for the evening but there wasn’t much that particularly suited us and it was still early in the afternoon besides. The pattern was nearly broken when we drive past Stave Hot Pools and Camping and I spotted people in hot tubs at the top of conical mounds lazing about looking out to sea. Since the whale safari was costing us nearly half the weeks’ budget I quickly decided against any more decadent spending and we drove on.

Further along we passed a massive collection of antenna arrays, one particular set reminding me of hundreds of TV antennas stuck in the ground. Firm ‘No Photograph’ signs had us assuming it to be something military. Not much further on, around another costal curve, was a structure labeled something about a space centre. We were puzzled, not that we have any idea if Norway has a space-orientated agenda or not.

As we drove into Andenes, a motorhome service point was spotted. It was quite close to a camping ground but didn’t look like it was part of the campsite. A few motorhomes were lined up along the coastline here, if they payed for that location I felt sorry for them. The view may have been good but they could reach out a window and touch their neighbor. We toured Andenes, scoping out where we would have to be tomorrow and then cruised out again.

The evening was spent in a level gravel park with two other motorhomes. The view may not have included the sunset but that was shrouded in clouds again. There may have been others nearby but we didn’t notice them the way we were all parked. We watched the lake, ate fried rice for dinner and prepared the cameras for tomorrow.

Near Andenes