Safe Return Doubtful

On Sunday the various forecasts I use had all predicted a fine day, but the cloud didn’t listen, and refused to budge. Mid-morning we took on a hike to see the Monk of Senja, a rock that resembles a hooded monk. There is a child-friendly sign that hints at supernatural goings-on close to the rock. Personally, I would have made it a tad more terrifying..

The area bears the name Galia and is said to originate from the Hillside of the Gallows, an ancient site for executions in pre-Christian times. Perhaps The Monk took care of those who suffered an unkind fate out there for over a thousand years ago? A time when the fishermen in Mefjordar had to enforce law and judgment; who was allowed to live and who was to die. The Monk is still standing there watching our steps.

The clouds cleared this morning to fit in with the hike up to the Segla Hesten ridge that I had planned.

That meant a thirty minute drive round to the middle finger of the five spectacular peninsulas that make up the north of Senja. The roads are narrow with passing places; it’s useful to spot a motorhome from a distance away so as evasive action can be taken. There are several unlit tunnels, just as narrow and with passing places also. It’s busy, but not nearly as busy as Lofoten.

The Trail Head is from the town of Fjordgård which has organised itself well this summer in preparation for the many vehicles it will receive. It has stopped all parking near the Trail Heads (there are two) and directs people to two large car parks a kilometre north of town for which there is a fee. Payment can de on the EasyPark app, though there is no 4G signal in town, or at the payment machine, which, by chance, wasn’t working today.

The hike to Hesten summit is marked as red, or very difficult, because of the last thirty metres or so, which are steep and require some scrambling skills; not possible for dogs. The advantage with the hike is that it can be just to the ridge between the two iconic peaks, which is a cliff face on its west side and looks down on Mefjord, or like I did, it is possible to get up to about 520 metres by approaching Hesten, then skirting right to gain the ridge to Stavelitippen. Along the way there are plenty of viewpoints that show the peaks off to their best. It could be argued that when the sun later in the day casts a better sort of light on the magnificent peak of Segla.

It was a very sociable hike with other walkers in good moods caused I think by the recent low cloud clearing. I sat for some minutes with a Swedish couple, the guy also 62, and also with a new hip. With his binoculars he spotted two climbers just about to reach Segla summit and shared them with me.

We even met some English people, a rarity it seems.

The hike has some of the most incredible views I can recall. It will be up there with best I have done.

It is possible to stay the night at the car park at Fjordgård but the are better places, and later in the afternoon I drove over to the next finger, the next peninsula, to the town of Husøy, on its own little island. There’s parking here before the causeway across to the town.

It’s quite a new settlement, becoming a reasonable sized community only in 1946. It looks out across Øyfjord, which has a bountiful supply of fish. Prior to 1946 the fishing communities were at Breivika, across the fjord and to the north of Fjordgård, though accessible only by boat. There had been fishing communities around Breivika since the Stone Age, but they were regularly hit by some of the worst storms Norway suffered. After a particularly bad one, with much loss of life, in the 1940s the decision was taken to relocate across to the more sheltered side of the fjord.