October 16, 2006 by zankbennett.

Finished seeing all I could on the lofoten islands. Time to get back to the port city of Bodø and train-it south.

1. Sunday. Got the rental car back by 2 pm. Check.
2. Got to the ferry dock 2 hours early. Guy told me to but a ticket on boat. Went to nearby café to wait out of the rain. Check.
3. Got to the ferry 15 minutes early. It was pouring rain. 15 min was plenty. Wrong. Ferry was all full, about 10 people before me. Next one, late that night. No good. Next after that, 6:30 am Monday.
4. Get a hotel. Set alarm for 5:45.
5. 6:30 am, make ferry. Seas are HUGE. People are vomiting all over the place. Saw a mom throw up on her daughter, only to have the tyke return the favor minutes later. …for everything else there’s MasterCard.
6. Arrive Bodø, 9:30 am. Plenty of time for 12:30 pm train. Buy ticket at last minute for said train. Technically now I’ve been waiting for almost 24 hours.
7. 12:45, 15 min out of station, realize I forgot phone at train ticket counter.
8. Exit train at first stop. Cross tracks to road, hoist thumb.
9. Car finally stops. 20 min to train station.
10. Retrieve phone. Ask for lecture. Need it, don’t get one. Next train, 8 1/2 hours later.
11. But ticket for said train. Lady who just refused to lecture me, talks me into the train SEAT and not bed for the overnight trip.
12. Wait around all day. Everything to do’s too expensive. Go to library. Check bank accounts. Panic. Send threatening letters to WAMU. Consider doing the same to UBOC. Breathe.
13. Get pizza. Call hostel for Tue night (Mon night will be spent on train) reservation. Determine that the bus from the train stop to the hostel, gets to the hostel at 8 pm. Smile about that.
14. Make train in a panic that I’ve now forgotten something else essential.

Plan is to go surfing on the western coast of Norway. The place I’m going is called Hoddevik. It’s not in any of the travel guides. Not the town, not the village. Sweet!

Will arrive Tuesday night at 8 pm. Started Sun at 1:30. Nearly three complete days. And they’re ALL well over $100.

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October 16, 2006 by zankbennett.

Still north of Arctic Circle…

From Bodø took an amazing boat/ferry/cruise ship to my startingpoint on the islands.. Biggest I’ve ever been on.

 It was an uneventful 6 1/2 hour ride to Svolvær. Once there, checked in to a nice hotel and went out for a beer. There were only three choices for pubs, so I started at the closest place. There was an acoustic trio about to start. They sat on stools and the bass player used midi foot pedals to trigger kick drum and snare sounds. I guess it worked ok. People loved it. Bass, sax and acoustic. The singer had a great voice, but knew only about 85% of the lyrics. For the rest, it was phonetic meatloaf! Just throw in a nasaly adlib and viola, no one’s the wiser. It was hilarious…well, it was for me. I was sitting there enjoying my beer and he’d sing “and here’s to you, Mrs Robin-hun, Jesus onez wah more han you a know”. So, I’m trying to stay seated in my chair, tears streaming down my face. It’s really odd being the only one in a room laughing hysterically!

From there, went to spot #2. Big mistake! Death metal!!! Get this, Guitar/growler, bass, drummer, and SAX! It was one of the oddest things I’ve ever heard…or seen. Combined weight of sax player and guitar player… 450. And the sax player wasn’t an lb over 85! Took a picture. It was quite a site to see.

Woke up this morning and rented a car. That’s supposed to be the only way to see the islands/fjords/beaches here, and that’s absolutely true. It’s not worth explaining the sights here, so I’ll just post pictures and mention a few…

Among the many newly built imposters, I saw many original 1850’s fishing villages. The fish is mostly cod here. Saw massive fjords. Quiet inlets and vast white-sand beaches. Sheep wandering the roads.
Went 100 miles in 6 hours. Took an hour of video and more pictures than I care to admit.

These two were taken where the Nusfjord opens to the Atlantic Ocean.

Finally arrived in Å. The hostel/hotel there is run by the owner. He explained to me that out of the some 150-odd rooms at his disposal, I was the lone occupant. So, I got upgraded to the “Salterier”, the one that was previously used to hang all the dried, salted fish. Well, on thing I’m sure of from fishing a ton when I was a kid and working on fishing boats: there’s not much one can do about getting rid of the smell of fish. I’ll leave it at that.
The place is amazing…half on land and the front half on stilts over the ocean. There are lots of open lounge rooms with sofas and chairs…have it all to myself. Great place for relaxing and playing guitar.

Nap. Now I’m at the only pub for miles, waiting for “Kick Off” to kick off (!). 3 guitars and the rest is canned. I think it’s going to be a Jovi, Leppard, Ratt kind of night. Perfect.

Tomorrow…return car back where I got it and ferry back to mainland, then train to near Oslo? Who knows?!

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