Safe Return Doubtful

By the time I left Retska island at 3 pm on Wednesday I think I had met all of the 30 of residents. I didn’t go looking for them, but I think they did for me. In the morning I wanted to get some height, but the two peaks further north on the island involved some hands on the rock, and my hip isn’t up to that yet. Of the three peaks, the furthest south is most straightforward, though the smallest, at 143 metres. The weather was fine, and as I passed through the village of Rognaldsvåg many of the population were attending their gardens or fishing huts, most said hello and wanted a chat.

There are a couple of families on the island, with their children at secondary school age, getting to school with the ferry each day, leaving on the 6:30 am, and returning at 3 pm.

I remember in the less populated islands I visited in Shetland, Fetlar and Papa Stour, everyone knew each other’s business; it seemed more difficult to live a solitary existence there than in a vastly bigger town or village.

I took the 3pm ferry, which has no other islands to call to on its return journey, so I was at Floro for 3:30 pm. We then drove north on the spectacular 616 road, getting to the ferry across the fjord to Måløy for the 6:15 pm crossing. There are very few other campervans or motorhomes on the road at the moment. Those that are, are Norwegian and usually out for just a weekend. I have seen hardly any vans with international plates. On the ferry crossing however, were three motorcyclists from the Netherlands, and we chatted about our respective journeys on route. They were away for just a week, and like several other motorcyclists I have met, are covering huge distances, and with large amounts of kit also, considering they were staying in hotels. They were headed up to Trondheim, then east, and back south through Sweden. They were a lawyer, a high court judge and a dentist, and probably about my age.

A hundred metres or so vertically up the mountain from Måløy is its stadium and outdoor exercise area. Most towns this far north have a floodlit track of three or four miles for winter exercise. Here, it goes around Lake Skramsvatnet. This was a great place for a stopover, and an hour’s walk, with a good view of the fjord and town below.

Today, Thursday, was a rain day, as forecast. The forecasts I had seen had it lifting about 11 am, but that actually didn’t happen until about 5 hours later. Unable, as ever, to detain Roja any longer, we headed out in lighter rain just after 11, for another circuit of the lake, before leaving around midday. It’s a public holiday here, the second of four in successive weeks in May, Ascension Day, though from what I’ve seen and heard, Norway doesn’t seem to be a very religious country. As opposed to last week’s bank holiday, when the weather was fine and many people were out, most were indoors today with the rain, and a maximum of 9C.

My destination was the Leivanger peninsula, though I was unsure of exactly where. The peninsula is very popular in season, as it has two of Norway’s best surf beaches, and the infrastructure that goes with it. I headed for Ervik beach, where in the last few summers a Spanish guy has set up a very dodgy camping operation, by which he ‘permits’ motorhomes / vans / tents a place on the grassy land next to the beach for 250 kroner, around £20. There are no facilities at all. Last year rumour was that he had been told by a combination of the locals and police to leave, but as I arrived today, it was clear his operation was still in existence.

Unlike other places around the coast there are plenty of ‘no camping’ signs up here, probably because the beaches attract so many visitors in the summer. Today, with a cold northerly and rain that had abated to a heavy drizzle, there were two old VW surfing vans only, parked at the old church, and ignoring the sign.

Instead I went further north on the peninsula again, to the fishing port of Honningsvåg, atmospherically surrounded by mountains. Here, I found a good place to stop and wait out the rain, which as I write, in the late afternoon, looks like it maybe relenting, though the cloud and mist is still low. This is the end of the road, and there’s is hardly anyone else here. There seem to be a couple of attractive hikes, so the place could be good for a couple of days.