Sunday 13 October

In some ways we are sad to leave Tromso, mainly because the experience at the hotel has been so pleasant from start to finish, and of course being blessed with such an unforgettable Northern Lights experience. Clearly, on holiday accommodation is more to us than just a place to sleep. For us it really sets the scene for the area and affects our overall stay. We had a big drive ahead, so didn’t dally at breakfast too long before finalising our pack down and walking to the tunnels where Lexus was parked.

It was a bit breezy to start with, but blue skies with some cloud and the scenery around Tromso was stunning. Again, sheer and dramatic snow capped mountains and fjords everywhere. Half way along the journey we crossed a mountain range – plateau which had snow on the ground to road level. The road was swept clean so driving was easy on nice two carriage E8 and E10 main roads.

This time of year, the routes to Lofoten are limited to the central ‘less’ scenic route as the ferries north of Tromso do not run. The E10 takes you over a bridge to the top island of the Lofoten group and then it was a further 3 hrs southwards to where we are staying at Ballstad. The distance in KM is not too far in southern hemisphere terms, however the roads are windy and sometimes a bit narrow, so your speed ranges from 60th to 90kph at most. The speed limits in Norway are also lower than at home, and no one seems in a hurry, therefore it takes longer to cover the distance.

The northern part of the Lofoten Islands is not as scenic as the middle part or Western coast. The E10 weaves it’s way on both the west and east coasts as it makes its path between the multiple islands, fjords and coastal areas. Generally you follow the coast line as the mountains are just too sheer and make up the bulk of the island land mass. There are many bridges, causeways and tunnels.

On the route we saw an elk in the low land next to the road, unfortunately he was too quick and by the time we had turned around and found a spot to park he was gone. A large magnificent animal against the backdrop of a mountain was a majestic and tranquil sight.

The light started to get low quite quickly as we progressed to the central part of the islands, however we saw some beautiful scenery of high jagged mountains rising out of the water, hoping to come back to this part later in the week.

Once it got dark after Svolvær, the navigation took us off the E10 to follow the eastern peninsula. We did not enjoy the back road in the dark and light rain for the next hour.

We eventually found our accommodation at Solsiden Brygge, Ballstad. We are having a splurge stay in a modernised fisherman’s hut. Unfortunately they mucked up our booking and put us in one of their upmarket ‘hotel’ rooms. The restaurant-reception cover could not attend to the matter in the evening, and assured us no 1 bedroom apartment was available, instead advising us to see reception in the morning at 0800 and they would sort it.

We had little choice but to have dinner in the restaurant and worry about it in the morning. We were both quite tired after the 7hr journey and were looking forward to sleep. The in-house restaurant had a limited menu on Sunday night and majored in Pizza. We had the special at 285NOK – about 37NZD for one pizza. It was nice, even if the price was painful.

The room was very smart to look at, however not very practical for example the shower had nowhere to put your soap or shower gel and the shower rose was split between a rain shower and one at mid chest height. Neither of them could be height adjusted or removed from the rail. There was a nice big ranch sliding doors on one wall with a view to a little harbour, however, no balcony. I couldn’t work out why you woul have doors with no balcony? One redeeming factor was the soft Norwegian bed.