Back From Lofoten

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Lofoten islands winter ice, Norway

Photo: Winter Ice, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Feb 2012

I was fading in and out of sleep as the car made it’s way through the winding roads of the Welsh Marches just before midnight last night (no, I wasn’t driving).  24+ hours of travel had taken the last energy I had.  This trip was exhausting, more so that any other time I’ve been there before.  The weather was chaotic, to put it nicely.  I was often cold, sleeping in my car and rocked by gales as if it were a boat at sea.  Rain.  More rain than snow.  Dark days and darker nights.  Endless winds.

I started the trip with a few visualizations of images I wanted; nice snowy mountain landscapes and seascapes with pastel pink and blue skies. None of these really appeared.  I hardly even took out the camera at my old favorite locations and found myself being forced to look at the islands almost completely anew.  I’ve only barely put the images on the computer now, but I think I managed fairly well all in all.  I’ll see more as I get to editing over the next weeks…

Lofoten Islands – Winter Days

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Olstinden lofoten islands norway

Photo: Winter Light on Olstinden, Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Jan 2010

Starting from the darkness of the new year, the daylight hours of the Lofoten Islands lengthen at at phenomenal pace throughout the early months of winter.  Over the course of a week daylight increases by about an hour, making a noticeable difference to the observer.  And for the photographer waking for sunrise, it means having to adjust ones alarm clock earlier and earlier every few days.   By the middle of February the days still feel a bit short, but are approaching some feeling of normality for wintertime at lower latitudes.  By late March the length of the days have passed places lower down on the continent and are well on their way to a summer of endless sunlight.

Here are a few sunrise – sunset times for the first few months of the year (based on Leknes):

Jan 1:  No sunrise
Jan 15:  10:45 – 13:45
Feb 1:  9:27 – 15:12
Feb 15:  8:27 – 16:14
Mar 1:  7:24 – 17:13
Mar 15:  6:25 – 18:06

In planning for a trip to the islands, I think it’s important that one pay attention to the length of day.  While the darkness of midwinter is a beautiful time on the islands, and should be experienced at some point.  It is perhaps not the best time to visit if you’re planning a ski touring or climbing trip, as longer days for outdoor activities would be preferable.  For the photographer who wishes to catch up on sleep after a busy finish of the year, mid January is a perfect time for a visit.

Lofoten Islands – Kjerkfjord Winter Panoramic

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winter view across Kjerkfjorden towards Vindstad, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Kjerkfjord panoramic, Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Jan 2010

View across Kjerkfjord towards Vindstad.  If I get a good enough forecast hopefully I will take the ferry across and camp for a couple nights at Bunes beach.  Would probably be the perfect spot for one of those cliche photos of a tent at night with northern lights in the sky above.

Lofoten Islands – Winter

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Lofoten islands winter hiking

Photo: Self portrait hiking on Stamsundsheia, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  March 2009

I should be somewhere on the Lofoten Islands about now.  Hopefully conditions are good and I can head up into the hills.  I’ve been paying close attention to the current weather conditions and forecast over the last weeks.  Other than a few cold spells here and there, the conditions are quite mild for this time of year and webcams show quite a high snow line at many places.  The longterm forecast shows things cooling to around -5˚ C by Friday, so hopefully that will bring some fresh snow cover.  Otherwise, I’ll probably just end up taking stockfish photos the whole time, which isn’t necessarily bad.  But with 2 weeks on the islands I’m sure I’ll see a fair amount of snow at some point.  And hopefully I wont get my car stuck as often as last time.  In fact, the fist thing I might do is go buy a shovel and a bag of grit.

If by rare chance anyone is interested updates on how the trip is going, you can follow me HERE on Twitter.  I’ll probably just be complaining about bad weather and cold the whole time – so it wont be anything too interesting…

Journey to Lofoten Islands

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Ice on Haukland beach in winter, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Winter dawn at Haukland Beach, Vestvagoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Jan 2010

Tuesday I’ll be heading 2,000 kilometres north to the Lofoten Islands.  While Wales is relatively close to Norway, it is always a fairly long journey to get to Lofoten.  I’ll leave Wales at 3:30am for the 3.5 hour drive to Gatwick airport.  I then catch a flight at 9:00am and after a long layover in Oslo, I’ll finally arrive in Bodø at 6:30pm.  In Bodø I’ll do a bit of shopping for food and stove fuel then sit around the ferry terminal until 1:30am when I take the ferry to Moskenes and finally arrive on the islands.  The ferry building is open 24 hours and heated.  I’ve spent many a night here and it’s a saving grace for a cheapo like me.  Normally the ferry takes around 3 hours, but this boat will also be stopping on the island of Røst, so I wont get to Moskenes until around 6:30am Wednesday.  Though this means that I should at least get a few hours of sleep so I wont be too wrecked after 27 hours of travel.

If the weather is good when I arrive I might walk to Reine and catch the ferry over to Vindstad and hike out to Bunes beach for a few days.  Or my other option could be to hike up Reinebringen and camp up there – one of my goals for this trip.  If the weather is crap, the most likely scenario, I’ll probably try and get to Stamsund to rent a car which will also be my home for the next weeks.

 

Lofoten islands winter landscape photo, Norway

Photo: Stormy winter landscape, near Kvalnes, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Jan 2010

Lofoten Islands – Maervoll

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Maervoll, Vestvagoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Evening light over Maervoll, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct. 2011

Lofoten Coast

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Coastal scenery, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Rocky coastline, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Sometimes I think the Lofoten Islands are the ultimate lazy man’s photo destination.  This scene is about 5 meters from where I stopped my car along the E10.  Doesn’t get much simpler than that…

Return to Lofoten Islands Feb 2012

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Winter storm over snow covered beach, Unstad, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Unstad beach in winter, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Jan 2010

At the End of January I’ll be heading beck north to Norway’s Lofoten Islands for another two week visit.  Seems I can’t stay away very long these days, with my last trip being this past October.

In reference to seasons though, January 2010 was my last winter visit.  So in this respect, it’s been over two years since I saw the islands with a good coating of snow.  Time of year means everything in the north, even no two months are really the same.  Though I’m slightly worried about the warmer than average temperatures the islands have had so far this winter.  I’m hoping February sees a return to normal, or there might not be any snow at all.

While early January has only a few short hours of light, the days are already fairly long by February.  At the start of my trip sunrise will be around 9:15am and sunset 3:20pm.  When I leave two weeks later sunrise will be 8:25am and sunset 4:05.  That’s nearly 1:45 hours more of daylight over a two week period.  The days grow quite fast above the arctic circle.  But the sun will still remain low in the horizon, reaching around 9˚ by the time I leave, so I should still have hours and hours of nice light to work with, weather permitting.

It’s also looking like it will be a good year for the northern lights, so as much as I was looking forward to 14 hours of sleep per night, I think I’ll end up wandering around late at night and looking towards the sky, assuming it’s clear of course.

 

view across Kjerkfjorden in winter

Photo: Winter view over Kjerkfjord, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Jan 2010

 

Snow covered rocks at Unstad beach, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Clearing winter storm at Unstad beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Jan 2010

Haukland Beach – Lofoten Islands

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Haukland Beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Haukland Beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct. 2011

I usually end up with interesting conditions at Haukland.  It’s immediately before the tunnel to Utakleiv and sheltered by fairly high peaks, making it a good, calmer, backup when Utakleiv is just too stormy to work with.   The beach faces southwest, so it can be a decent sunset location for early spring or late autumn.

Rolvsfjord – Lofoten Islands

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Rolvsfjord, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Mountain reflection at Rolvsfjord, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Sept. 2011

One of the cool things about the Lofoten Islands is how localized the weather can be.  This is from a day I was driving along the southern coast from Stamsund towards Valberg and further towards the E-10.  It had been raining with a pretty strong breeze until I went around another turn and found this.  Perfect calm.  A bit further down the road and the rain and wind were back.  I think it looks a bit Lord of the Rings-ish.