The beauty of Vega Island has simply blown me off the bike, in a positive and safe sense. Without any bike stand at armlenght – as shown in the photo above – the bike just glides out of my hands and drops with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and respect.
The ride across Vega took me to different parts and included an attemp to hike Vegatrappa (see below). Arriving with the early morning Express Boat at 7:25am, I followed the circle of the sun again. Heading first from Rørøy southeastwards to Eiden, then crossing with the sun at my back through the heartland of the island and finally having a good “Brotzeit” around lunchtime at the western part of the island at Vegatrappa enjoying this unreal view towards outstanding Søla Island. Heading back to Rørøy was straight forward. The weather on this hand-picked day played fully into my hands. 14°C plus sun. Hardly any wind.
The breathtaking scenery of Vega puts it to the top of my most beautiful islands list for Norway, next to Skrova. I am also tempted to conclude that May is probably a good month to experience top notch scenery with intense colours at long daylight hours. You can get all this for your own, nobody running over your bike lying on the road. Leaving it unlocked behind the bush while hiking.
My hike up the Vegatrappa got stopped twice. First by a closed signboard Stengt/Closed and second on an alternative route by a destroyed stairway. I was already puzzeled by leaving the Komoot track wandering about the right direction but as you can only follow the stairs I attributed the deviations to the level of correctness the App can provide. Wrong!
Reality is, massive rock slides have destroyed the upper part of the stairways making it unwise to proceed.
There is hardly any conclusive public information available to make people aware of the same. Sad! Understanding, that Vegatrappa plays a major part in attracting tourists to the island might contribute to the media silence on this fact. However, I have to emphasis, that a good part of the stairway is still in excellent conditions and offers great distance views not only towards Søla Island. Perfect place for a Coffee & Cake break (BYO).
For some reasons, I feel, that the ROI of the bike investment has reached breakeven today! Great value and fun out of the X-Root.
Probably my last bike ride in Helgeland but highly tempted to return…
PixelMania on Komoot.
Fair winds…
