Summer vacation, day 14
Continued from day 13
| Date | Peak/Place | Height | PF | Location |
| 01.08.2020 | Borga Eggum | – | – | Vestvågøy, Norway |
| 01.08.2020 | Saupstadtinden | 558m | 73m | Vestvågøy, Norway |
| 01.08.2020 | Lille Skrådalstind | 584m | 187m | Vestvågøy, Norway |
| 01.08.2020 | Himmeltindan | 962m | 962m | Vestvågøy, Norway |
| 01.08.2020 | Himmeltindan Sør | 931m | 33m | Vestvågøy, Norway |
| 01.08.2020 | Molheia | 830m | 22m | Vestvågøy, Norway |
Borga Eggum
We woke up early morning at Daljorda near the Gimsøystraumbrua bridge. For reasons mentioned in my previous report, we just wanted to get away from this place where we didn’t feel welcome.
After a number of sunny days, the clouds had come in. It was a misty morning as we headed for the bridge.
As we passed Haveren above Steirapollen, I remembered the fog we got on our hike to Haveren back in 2016. I sincerely hoped that the fog hadn’t come to stay. Reine, Lofoten in fog was very different from Reine in sunshine.
But, we didn’t have to be in Reine today and we started looking for things to see and do along the way.
Anne wanted to drive to Eggum and said that we could bike to the Unstadvika bay. This was an idea I didn’t particularly fancied. But we drove out there to see the place.
Perhaps it was the weather, I don’t know. But none of us found the inspiration to stay there for long and we just moved on.
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone):
Saupstadtinden (558m), Lille Skrådalstinden (584m)
Anne wanted to visit Unstadvika bay, which sounded like a place worth seeing. Moreover, we could stop by my cousin Mia’s place along the way. We hadn’t seen each other for 20 years and it was due time. Unfortunately, she wasn’t home today but we would meet twice before we left Lofoten.
Anne chose the local cafe over a hike. I was too restless to join her and quickly found that I could visit both Saupstadtinden and Lille Skrådalstinden without being away for too long. Especially since I could go on a bike-trip from Unstad and up to the mountain pass.
After a somewhat boring bike-trip, I reached the pass and prepared myself for a fast walk up the steep ridge.
I was heading into the fog and stopped to take a picture of Unstadvika before it all turned grey.
I enjoyed the steep hike up to Saupstadtinden and “logged” my first top 50 minutes after leaving Anne.
My next goal was Lille Skrådalstinden. That’s actually not the official map name. There are two tops both called Skrådalstinden. In order to separate the two, peakbook.org has called the south top “Lille” (the smaller).
The fog didn’t lift and there was no reason to hang around and I took a short-cut towards the Saupstadtinden ridge. Sheep tracks made crossing the steepest terrain easier and eventually I connected with my ascent route, not too far away from the bike.
On my way up from Unstad, I biked the easternmost old road. On my descent, I biked another old road that zig-zagged down to Unstadveien road.
Anne and Karma had left the cafe and I found them down by the sea. Then we left Unstad and headed for Leknes to buy groceries.
Trip statistics: 5,6km on bike, 3,4km on foot, 660 vertical meters, 1h:58m
Pictures from the trip (Iphone):
Himmeltindan (962m)
The fog lifted and the weather was just great again. I felt a strong need to visit Himmeltindan, primarily because it was the highest top on Vestvågøy island, but also because of the name itself. I’m not sure how to translate it, but I think “peaks touching the sky” isn’t too far off.
Anne wanted to take the bike and explore the area and the beaches. When we got to Haukland, we had the first encounter of traffic chaos this summer. A German monster of a vehicle had big problems turning around. Bringing such a vehicle on narrow roads like this is … I don’t know. Disrespectful was the first word that came to mind.
There were seemingly no places left for parking, but then Anne noticed that there was a grassland where we could park for a fee of NOK 100,-. Problem solved, and Karma and I could head for Himmeltindan…
The first part of the route was a zig-zag trail up to the pass between Mannen and Himmeltindan.
Just after the lake in the pass, I saw the “Himmeltindan” signpost and followed the trail going into the Durmålsdalen valley. This valley seemed like it touched the sky and I knew this would be a tough ascent. Mainly because my hike earlier in the day involved 660 vertical meters, but also because it was a really hot afternoon. Karma’s tongue revealed how she was doing, but fortunately she found water in the stream coming down the mountain.
The view was already spectacular, and I hoped that Anne was enjoying herself on her bike-trip!
Eventually, the trail took us up to a small plateau below Molheia. From here, the trail seemed to go in the “wrong direction” (away from the mountain). I understood that the trail followed the easiest terrain up to the higher ridge, but I was wondering – why can’t I just head straight for the main summit from here?
And so we did. The terrain was fairly uncomplicated, and Karma had access to snow.
As we closed in on the main summit, we passed military-looking installations. I had no information about this mountain on beforehand, other than it was the highest top on the island and that there was a path to the top. But, as I hadn’t seen any signposts with “access prohibited“, we moved on.
We had left the car 4:08pm and reached the high point 5:58pm. There was a huge radar on top and we took shelter behind an installation of some sort to minimize exposure to radiation.
I took a couple of pictures (oh, the views!) but I didn’t feel like wandering around up there and decided to save my photography activities for later.
After securing a GPS waypoint, we moved on – in the direction of the lower top. Which is the top that most people go to. Along the way, the only natural route was blocked by some sheep seeking shelter from the sun.
I didn’t want to chase them off and considered my options. I then found that if I could get Karma on a slightly steep scramble, we could hopefully get past the sheep and get back on track. That worked out quite well.
And then we reached the “official” main top.
NOW – I could safely go berserk with my camera.
Vågakallen is 30km to the west, and is a peak that I really, really wanted to visit. Some friends of us were also in Lofoten and we had (vaguely) discussed the possibility to go there, opportunity and weather permitted. As I stood on Himmeltindan and took a picture of Vågakallen, I had absolutely no idea that I would be standing on top of this beauty two days later…
But now it was time to move on. We followed the path across Molheia before joining our ascent route down by the plateau.
The upper descent of the valley was strenuous. The scree made the hillside extremely slippery but it got easier halfway down. Anne waited for us down by the road to Solstadvatnet and told me about her bike trip to Uttakleiv and visiting the beautiful beaches. Below are some pictures she took from her trip:
Then it was time to find a place to stay for the night. By now, we had gained some experience in where and how to find good places, and we decided to try our luck on the road to Myrland – on Flakstadøya. This was a very good decision. There were no houses, no farmlands and lots of places where one could park without being in anyone’s way or on someone’s land. Furthermore, we could see directly over to Himmeltindan and a beautiful sunset was in progress.
Well worth a celebration!
Another marvelous day in the north was coming to an end…
Trip statistics: 8,6km, 1030 vertical meters, 3h:26m
Pictures from the trip (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8):
