Straumfjorden

02/10/2025

We were now in October and couldn’t quite believe it. We’d deliberately kept our weather expectations so low for this trip, but it was October and the sun was shining. All of the people we’d spoken to had warned us that this would be the turning point. We had to expect rain and strong winds, so today we wanted to make the most of the sunshine.

Straume Horseshoe walk

We drove to the west of Langøya island and the village of Straume. Our destination was the parking for the small ski area on the inland side of the village where some hiking paths lead up to the hills. We had to start by walking straight up the side of the ski slope where the drag lift was ready and waiting for winter.

Facing the ski slope

A couple of minor tops above the ski slopes had cairns and visitor books. I assume the plaques are humorous although the humour may be a little lost in translation.

Then we were up onto the horseshoe ridge. This was beautifully rocky but not too exposed and we couldn’t stop taking photos of the marvellous far reaching views in all directions.

The final part of the walk was a descent through boggy woodland until we reached the cross country ski track which took us back to the van.

Overnight at Vesterålen Rorbuer

Rorbuer are Norwegian fishing huts, usually situated by a harbour where the clientele can easily access fishing boats. I get the impression that more and more rorbuer owners are starting to branch out and provide motorhome parking as well. This was certainly true at Vesterålen Rorbuer, at the head of the short Straumfjorden, just north of Straume.

The camper facility boasted a neat set of pitches with shiny new tarmac and views out into the bay. There were services and a facilities block protected with a coded entry system. Down below the pitches was a rocky pier and an industrial fishing warehouse/refrigeration plant. We watched the wooden hulled fishing boats go out that evening and return after dark.

When we arrived we tried to work out how to pay and get the code for the facilities. Many Norwegian sites take advantage of technology to cut out the need for anyone to man parking areas. Not here though. The QR code on the wall of the services block didn’t take us to any useful information but we did eventually find a website which gave us an email address. So we sent an email into the ether and waited.

A couple of hours later we were still waiting when a lady turned up to clean a couple of the holiday lodges behind the motorhome parking. I wandered over to ask if she knew how we should pay. She probably spoke the least English of any person we’d met in Norway, which meant that she spoke better English than I speak any foreign language. She found me a phone number and the owner, who seemed a bit nonplussed at someone wanting to use the parking at this time of year, asked me to come over to the cafe on the other side of the bay. There was a lot of work going on at the cafe with workbenches and timber in the small yard and several people milling around. I tracked down the owner who found a card machine and wrote down the code for the facilities block.

The facilities block was lovely, modern and clean. Even better, and the reason we were here, was that the washer and dryer were included in the price. It was already getting dark but I was determined to make the most of it and get our smelly clothes and towels washed.

That night we had aurora again, although the colours were quite tricky to see with the strong lights on the pier, we had to go and hide behind some other buildings to block out their glow.