Safe Return Doubtful

The beach at Sandvika on the north coast of Gjerøya, recommended to me by Anders the farmer on the island, was an excellent place for a couple of days. Gjerøya is 9 square kilometres in size, and its year-round population, which is almost all based on the harbour on the west coast, is 77.

I saw hardly anyone. Three women drove down to the beach in a VW Caddy yesterday afternoon. They were marine biologists from the university at Bodø on a lunchbreak. They got their van stuck while trying to turn around, but between us, we managed to push the car free from the wet sand.

Rain had been forecast the day I arrived, and yesterday also, but never really materialised. The cloud was low, and there was some drizzle on and off, enough to dampen the ground, but nothing substantial. It did lower the temperature quite significantly though, hovering around 10C most of the day.

Yesterday, along with Roja, I explored the little bays around Sandvika beach. I was looking for the sea eagle we had seen when we arrived, but I couldn’t spot it.

When Anders had spoken to me and recommended his island on Sunday, he showed me a hiking route that took in the ridge of the mountains that run from north to south. That was my real reason to come here, and this morning we took on that route.

The mountains here are smaller in stature than those on Rangsundøya, the peaks at 170 metres or so, but nonetheless magnificent in their splendour.

The trail also was rewarding as it was by no means straightforward, several times fixed ropes were in place for aid, though Roja shunned them all. It was a ‘cloud clearing’ sort of day, but slowly. At least it was high cloud while we were out.

There are two ferries a day back to the mainland, 7:15 am, and the one I took, at 5 pm. That got us back to Jektvik an hour later, after which we drove on for 40 minutes or so, keeping an eye out for a place for the night. It is now high season, and there are plenty of motorhomes and campervans around. Almost every roadside Park4Night place has lots of vans, especially those with a toilet. As with a lot of routes, get slightly off the main drag, and it’s very different.

I follow the signs to a museum from the main highway at Tjong, thinking it would be closed for the night, and it was actually closed permanently, ideal.