The day has come. Today was the last bike ride under the sun in 2025 unless we move to lower latitudes. The all day moon over the snow scattered Lofoten mountains was more impressive than the hiding leftovers of the sun.
Nevertheless, I deeply breathed in the last 33 minutes of daylight of the year. The dopamine produced under these biking conditions is a bit scary. Pure joy.
We will now be moving from dawn to dusk with the long nights in between.
Fair winds…
The spirit for today’s ride was driven by a reading about the stone age caves in the middle ages estate Storvågan, both being important historical landmarks in the same place. As the public information on the caves is scarce, I ended up at the reception of the nearby Nyvågar Rorburhotel for more details. Two heads over one monitor screen, I got more clever than before but further exploration has to wait. It’s too wet.
Official daylight was limited to 61 mintues today and I did not want to miss the leftovers of the sun…
Tomorrow will be a biking day!
Fair winds…
The rain took most of the snow away and left a thin laminated layer of ice on the frozen roads. Daylight was forecasted at 1 hour plus for the day with little overcast. Perfect for our long pending trip to Henningsvær. Another bus and bike trip. Susan on four wheels, me on two. The funny thing is, that the bus is not much warmer at the time leaving Svolvær, coming fresh from the bus depot.
Our handicraft is now getting produced and will be a unique combination of form and colour. Let’s see.
Fair winds…
The North is known for rapid weather changes and I believe, the further you get North the more rapid and intense they can be.
We have been put in a 10 days comfort zone after the recent four days/four gales period went through but then Susan spotted a new colourful dot on the windmap.
A significant low pressure (LP) systsem between Iceland and Scotland was supposed to spin off a relatively small secondary low at the area around Cape Stad. Moving fast from Vestkap towards the Vestfjorden. It did.
Within less than 48h the music was on again, The Lady up for another round of waltz in moderate swell. We are glad it is waltz and not tango or even rock’n roll. This LP beast did bite itself fiercely into the mountain enclosed triangle (Vestfjorden) remaining quite persistent before it got dissolved on the spot turning back to light green, even blue on the windmap. Pouring rain comes as a free gift, as ususal from these southerly driven attacks.
We took the maximum out of this weather event and pushed our comfort zone a bit further. Our view: a snow cover, which cannot withstand forecasted gusts of 50+kn for Svolvær belongs into the bin. Admittedly nervous we were watching our top or flop approach and found out that there is nothing to really worry about. The heavy duty tarpaulin cover and its design becomes a valuable piece of equipment. We get a meassured 10-15kn discount on the forecasted wind due to our well protected location.
Then, it’s all over again, until…
Fair winds…
Susan discovered during a walk today, that new cod has been put up on the so far empty fish drying racks located just next door on nearby Svinøya. Although the fishing industry is not #1 anymore in terms of economy, it still plays a very significant role. Even before the reign of King Øystein (1103 to 1123), fish from Lofoten was Norway’s main source of income from export. His support is manifested in a statue overseeing Kabelvåg, which I passed by today during a short and pleasant ride in perfect winter conditions.
The sauna was mine! Lovely link.
Fair winds…
It was time to officially welcome the Christmas Season on the last Sunday in November. While Skrova and Kabelvåg had their turn earlier during the day, it was 5pm for the ceremony in Svolvær. Nicely supported by a local choir and band, people were showing respect to the huge fir tree through circling around it. The focus clearly lies on the tradition rather than the commerce.
Fair winds…
Four gales have now passed through at intervals of approximately twelve hours. Longer and shorter ones, with more or less intensitiy. Our special attention was on gales #2 and #4.
The first one had a forecasted max 4.7m swell into the harbour entry and we were not sure, how much of that will end up at our pontoon. So far, we have seen around 2m of swell which did not impress The Lady too much.
The latter and final gale #4 promised a 180° change in wind direction with forecasted gusts up to 80kn and a temperature drop of 6°C, all happening within less than one hour. It did, back from rain to snow.
Trusty locals told us “you will be all right” and we were.
Our spidernetwork of fifteen mooring lines for defence distributed the moderate swell fairly even onto five cleats. Six out of the fifteen lines got extra dampers at the more sensitive points. The wind gusts was not too much of a concern as our position is well protected towards all wind directions. Nevertheless, we took the snow cover down as a precaution and for peace of mind.
Finally, at the fade-out of this four days’ movie the barometric pressure jumped up 4-5mbar per hour over four hours. Relief, it was time for a Gin & Tonic.
After the storm is, as we know, before the storm but we are even more confident to be at the right spot for our Four-Season Lofoten Adventure at a time where flights and ferries get cancelled and even Hurtigruten takes adjustments to its regular schedule.
Fair winds…
The terms with Bua Vågan are on a 7 days period with a condition, that you cannot borrow the same type of equipment immediately again. This will not only ensure that everybody has access to all kind of sports but perhaps also get people to try new activities, e.g. ice skating, sledge, snowboard, downhill skiing, fishing, etc. to name a few for which they can support.
The upcoming weather was already indicated through the clouds building up along my quick ride to Kåbelvag.
It will be interesting.
Fair winds…
With the sun at max 1° above the horizon now, it is hard to call it sunrise or sunset as both have melted together over the official 3.25h only lenght of the daylight.
There was a low band without clouds at the horizon where the sun managed to throw in plenty of arrays making it an impressive light show.
Our first sunset, dipping into the sea at a bearing of 173°, not even getting beyond South. Impressive.
Fair winds…
Although the cross country skiing network connects Kabelvåg and Svolvær, my preferrence was a quick bike ride to Kabelvåg over a short walk in Svolvær to get to one of the main starting points of the prepared XC track. Same time I was keen to visit the ski hut operated by Kabelvåg locals to check it’s open or still closed.
By the time now, I have figured out how best to attach ski and poles to the bike to minimize impact on riding comfort and efficency. Some more optimization work needed to reduce the time spent getting overall ready in order not to get cold before setting off.
I got on the track and enjoyed a first glide on a perfectly prepared track, which suits both styles, classic and skating. While initially a lot of my attention was needed to stay on the track, it was not possible to hover through this winterized landscape without recognizing its shear unspoiled beauty.
Having been around here many times by now, in summer and autumn, winter comes as a novum to me. Magical, thanks to the current conditions.
I could not resist a hot chocolate and a traditional Norwegian waffle with brown cheese and strawberry jam next to the fireplace. Hard to get back on the track afterwards but the daylight helps to keep the schedule. Did not plan for lights.
We hear that the amount of snow received at this time of the year is unusual. Asking locals, if it will stay, the answer is pretty unisono: maybe, maybe not.
All we know is, that a weather change will happen next week towards warmer tempertaures but if the precipitation will be rain or snow…we will find out.
Fair winds…
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