Vega pt. 2
After a quiet night on the Holmvatnet I stayed for a little longer there in the morning to hide from the rain and enjoy the wildlife, in particular the Curlews and their resounding songs. Eventually the sky cleared and I went to check out the UNESCO World Heritage center on a smaller island to the north of Vega.
To be completely honest it was an underwhelming experience. It was probably my earlier visits to the fabulous UNESCO site in Alta that raised my expectations, so the three rooms with like a dozen exhibits total and a few panels just felt lacking. The cafe and the lackluster shop area were about as large as the exhibition rooms taken together. Sure, most of the actual protected heritage is actually distributed across the northern part of the archipelago and you'd need a boat really get to see what the site is about. Perhaps they should include such a boat trip in the entry fee then? Cause 16 Euros for this a steep ask even by Norway standards.
South Helgeland
Back from Vega I went out on the island off the coast of Bronnoysund to visit Torghatten, the mountain with a hole which dominates the view from the coast in that part of Norway. Unfortunately when I arrived at its foot the weather had again turned miserable, covering the rock walls in thick fog. As much as I'd loved to to hike up to the hole, this wasn't the best day for it. I wasn't looking forward to getting cold in the chilly, humid conditions either. Thus I got back on the bike, leaving the hike for my next visit, and continued on my ride south.
The next waypoint was the Vennesund-Holm ferry which marked the end of the ferry hopping days on the Helgeland coast for me. There was one more ferry on the standard coastal route as layed out by the Eurovelo 1, however I had planned a different itinerary this time. Instead of following the coast I turned south early towards Foldafjorden, following the fjord into Trondelag county to its utmost tip and from there the river up to the watershed with the Namsen river.
Trondelag
Diverging from the canonical route proved to be one of the best decisions I made routing wise as the scenery around the Foldafjord was brilliant despite the heavy rain that I was exposed to all night. Norway's Vegvesen engineers seem to have taken some inspiration from Switzerland here: The moment when I rode out of a tunnel onto a suspension bridge will be burned into my mind forever. Traffic in the valley was only sporadic, mostly large trucks hauling timber from the woods and milk from the farms. Also compared to the past days the number of campervans on the road had dropped drastically.
Rolling down the Namsen towards Namsos, I noticed how the country side in that valley is dominated not by pine forests and rocks but by agriculture. Certainly a change from the rough coastline which only allows farming in a few bays that are shielded from the raw forces of the elements. Also in the town of Skogmo I think I encountered the first supermarket with an aisle dedicated to imports from Ukraine and Poland. There must be a sizeable diaspora from these countries living in the area.
gps tracks
gallery
