Lofoten
The islands of Lofoten sweep down into the Norwegian Sea from the Arctic coast of Norway like the shaggy tail of a great grey wolf. Few wolves remain in Norway today, but in the past many of them roamed the beautiful mountains surrounding the fjords and Norse mythology tells of Fenris, a monstrous wolf who is the son of Loki, the trickster god. Poetic Edda, the oldest extant source of these stories, relates how the gods grew fearful of Fenris’ tremendous size and bound him. Nonetheless, in events of Ragnarök, the battle at the end of the world, Odin will be killed by Fenris, but Odin’s son Baldr will avenge his father. Bearing all this in mind, we tread lightly during our visit to these spectacular mountainous islands.
This morning we crossed the windy waters between the Lofotens and the mainland and tied up to a dock in the beautiful fishing village of Reine. Clinging to rounded rocks at the edge of the sea, the town surrounds a perfect natural harbor, guarded by low islands and surrounded in turn by an incredible range of mountains. These peaks, which rise from the sea like legends of Valhalla, are the essence of Lofoten. Everywhere through the archipelago, homes can be constructed only close to the sea and dark gray walls of rock rise close behind them. It is a mirror image of the fjords. Behind us, on the mainland, the glaciers of the ice age carved tremendous valleys deep into the heart of the mountains, but here at the edge of the continent the last of the peaks stood above the ice and were carved by it’s passage into the teeth and crenellated battlements we saw today.
As soon as we disembarked the National Geographic Explorer we were surrounded by evidence of the second icon of the Lofotens: cod fishing. Supported on tall angled poles, rank after rank of drying racks ringed the little harbor. Empty now, they were waiting for the winter’s catch, which would be hung from them to dry in the spring, then taken down and shipped to market in the summer. Cod have been the heart of the islands’ economy and culture for many centuries. The great trading routes of the Hanseatic League were founded to bring cod, salted and dried, south to the peoples of Europe who eagerly traded tools and textiles and spices for it. In the Renaissance salt cod was one of the only reliably preserved foods, vitally important for winter sustenance and for following the dietary strictures of the Catholic Church. The trading empire founded on these fish, which stretched from Arctic Norway to Russia and the Mediterranean, rose to become more powerful than the kings and princes of the nations it served.
During lunch we cruised farther out the chain drowned mountaintops to Værøy, an isolated island near the tip of the wolf’s tail. Conditions in the open sea were growing unpleasant, but when we came into the anchorage at Værøy we found that it was reasonably protected and we had no trouble going ashore in the Zodiacs. Our landing was on a rocky beach below the abandoned fishing village of Måstad, which is now being rebuilt as a pretty collection of small summer cottages. Looking up the huge cliff behind the village we could see a tiny trail threading it’s way to the very top where the residents of Måstad would climb to catch the puffins that nest on the far side of the island. This route seemed more than a little daunting, so we chose another trail that set out through the meadows to the east, skirted the base of the cliff and reached the other side through a notch in the cliffs, only a few hundred feet above the sea. Though some lingered to enjoy the wild beach there, most of us accomplished the walk quickly and returned to learn more about the history of Måstad. In addition to puffins the fishermen of this remote village also caught sea eagles, snatching them by hand through a narrow opening in a stone blind. Karl Eric led some of us up the scree slopes to show us one of these unique eagle traps, which he and some other staff members had located the previous year.
Lofoten is one of the world’s most scenic archipelagos. The islands greeted us with sun and showers, quiet villages nestled into imposing mountains, beautiful late summer wildflowers and the history of strong people making their living from the cold surrounding sea. Fenris, the mythical wolf, remained bound during our visit.
