MacGougan at Large

Notes on A Trip to Norway - 5

Hiking in the Lofotens - Day 1

We (three sisters and two brothers-in-law) were 5 out of 21 people who’d signed up for a week of hiking organized by a group called Backroads. We value our freedom and independence when we travel, and it’s only in the past few years that we’ve started to include this kind of group tour in our vacations.

Going with a group just seems to make sense for something like a hiking tour. It’s one thing to wander on your own through some European city. It’s something else to scout out a week’s worth of trails and transportation and lodging and meals in a remote part of the world. Plus the people tend to be congenial, and when you’re off the beaten path there’s some safety in numbers.

We spent our first night on the Lofotens in a hotel in Svolvaer. The next morning, we were all off for our first hike, which was described to us as a simple, local hike. Not the spectacular scenery we’d be seeing later in the week, but also not crowded with tourists. A chance for us to stretch our legs, and a chance for the leaders to see what we could handle.

The long version of the Svolvaer Lake hike was listed in our materials as being 11 kilometers long, with an elevation gain of 295 meters. Kilometers? Meters? For me, this was like shopping when the prices are all in Norwegian kroner. I figured it would become clear in retrospect whether or not those are big numbers.

We hiked around a lake, then up into some foothills. There was a simple boardwalk to provide footing through boggy terrain.

At the very end of one of the boardwalks, my boot slipped on some mud and I fell and banged my knee. A humbling start to a hiking week when you hurt yourself stepping off of a boardwalk on your beginner hike.

We hiked through some woods, including some pretty streams.

And eventually emerged to a view back to the town and the ocean - and some impending weather.

The top of the hill seemed to be a world to itself.

I put away my camera when the rain came, but all in all a very nice hike and much more beautiful than we’d been led to expect.

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LIVE EVENT ALERT!

If you’re in Fairfield County, Connecticut or environs this weekend, you’ll have a rare chance to see me perform stand-up comedy in a church. On Sunday, Sept. 14, I’ll be doing a routine about church services as the “Coffee Hour Forum” speaker after the 10 am service at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fairfield. Can a Netflix special be far behind? Come join us! (Sad to say, the performance won’t include any pretty pictures of Norway.)