Vesteralen

After Hastad, Rene and I reach a group of islands called "Vesteralen". We decide to visit the city of Andenes on the northernmost tip. Reaching far out into the Atlantic Ocean, Andenes is a center for satellite and rocket science. There are antennaes of all kinds and shapes everywhere...

Just before Andenes, we stay a night on the beautiful beach of Bleik - hundreds of meters of white sand. We are tempted to go swimming but back off as the wind starts to pick up and it is 4 degrees Celsius in and outside the water...

After Andenes, Rene decides to head back north. His plan is still to cycle to the north cap and to the Russian border. He wants to explore Lake Inari, a massive Lake between Finnland and Russia.
We spend a last night in Risoyhamn where Rene will take the ferry (Hurtigruten) back to Harstad. Hurtigruten is a coastal service that was established around 1900 and mainly used for transporting post and goods. Today, a lot of tourists make use of it and the 11 day cruise along the coast of Norway is a costy but rich experience.



The problem with Hurtigruten is: in some harbours they stop in the middle of the night. One of those is Risoyhamn. We decide to camp close to the pier and find shelter next to a closed restaurant. We start off with reasonably good weather but soon the wind gets fresh and it starts to hail. We soon learn that the weather in Norway is very unpredictable during the month of May - sunshine, rain, sunshine, hail, snowfall, sunshine, hail... it all comes in intervalls of 15 to 30 minutes.
We manage to cramp together and stay dry until the ferry arrives. It is 4:30am. The sun is already up.

There goes Rene. And I am on my own again.