The ship didn't arrive into Leknes until 1pm today with departure being around 9pm. All tours were in the afternoon that made for a nice change of pace. Leknes is an unusual town because it doesn't rely primarily on fisheries and its town centre is not located by the sea. Leknes serves as trading and shopping hub because it is well connected with the European Route E10 running through it.
Leknes, on the island of Vestvågøy, has breathtaking natural surrounds with dramatic mountain peaks and pristine white sandy beaches. We are doing an Island Drive today and the first town we come to is Ballstad. This is a charming fishing village with the soaring mountains as its backdrop. It started to rain as soon as we left the bus and our guide tells us that this is the "land of the rainbow". The showers come regularly and leave in their wake lovely rainbows. We even had one on our tour but I didn't get an opportunity to photograph it. We have time on our own to explore Ballstad but 15 minutes is hardly enough.
We pass by large drying racks where the Norwegian speciality, Stockfish. The cod are un-salted and left to air-dry in the cold. The cod are dried for around three months and are rock hard when they are removed from the racks. Our guide tells us that to re-constitute the Stockfish takes 3-7 days of soaking in water that needs to be changed often. The Vikings were the first people to use this method of drying that gave them much needed protein for their long voyages.
Our bus driver now turns the bus in the direction of beautiful Haukland beach with its pristine white sand and turquoise blue water. The scenery on our drive is lovely and it's just a shame that the day wasn't a little less cloudier so that we could appreciate it at its very best. Still, we use our imagination as to what it would be like. Farmers are busy baling their grasses in readiness for the coming winter months that will sustain their stock that, in this area, are mostly sheep.
Einagen Viewpoint is our last stop and as we wind our way up the bendy narrow road to the very top, the view is spread out in front of us in all its splendour. But, my god, is it windy up here. Windy enough to almost blow us backwards. Our guide says that this is mild in comparison to the 80kmh winds that hit the area regularly.
Our guide on this tour was well informed and gave us some interesting insights into living in this area. She is not a local girl but fell in love with the place and stayed. Norwegian people are very active and love hiking. You will never see an obese Norwegian!
I imagine we won't be seeing too much more of the Northern Lights, that we have seen every night, as we head further south but you never know. At this time of the year we are only seeing "camera" northern lights. You have to be here in winter to see the full display that I imagine would be spectacular.
I took this last photo of Leknes from our balcony, just before sunset.
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