Right after the last exam of this semester, me and two girls from our course's "hiking crew" decided to go to Lofoten for some days. Well, I had decided to do so weeks before, my companions joined me the afternoon before I set off :)
The two guys who had been with me on the last winter hiking weekend left Kiruna too early for coming, so unfortunately they missed a great trip without (much) snow. Hope I can repeat that journey with you two!

Anyway, Kiruna might not be so far away from the southernmost island on Lofoten, but let me tell you it is a really, really long journey. To be exact, we started off in Kiruna around 9 am, catching the bus to the station and the train to Narvik, where we had a good pizza in town before entering the "Lofotekspress" - the bus going all the way to Leknes i Lofoten. Even though the bus was comfortable, quiet and empty and the views were amazing all the way, it seemed like a neverending journey. After switching buses in Leknes, we finally arrived at our destination in Sørvågen - around 11 pm, after 14 hours of travel.

From there, we started to hike into the mountains looking for a place to camp, midnight sun lighting our way. After the first lake and an ascent secured with steel chains, we reached a flat area where camping was not forbidden anymore, but still we had some trouble finding a campsite which was not extremely muddy. A rocky outcrop over the dark lake below proved to be alright, and we finally went to sleep. Unfortunately both our cameras didn't like the lighting conditions too much as it was quite cloudy

After the first dayhikers had passed our small camp already, we also continued our way towards the Munkebu hut. Still swampy in parts, the terrain changed to a rocky ascent with some snowfields near the flat peak of a small mountain between Munken and Merraflestinden. From there, the view kept being incredible for the rest of the day. After a break at the hut we continued around the lake Tennesvatnet, up a snowfield and following the ridge to the peak (448) above Forsfjorden. It's amazing to see the different colors of the sea and the lake just beside each other. On the way, we met a French guy, who we would meet again on the campsite in Ramberg at the end of the journey; as well as a French-British couple who we met the day before on the bus already and who we would meet again the next day. All of them are studying in Sweden just like we are :)

The following descent was pretty slippery and took some time - first scrambling down to the lake, then further down to the fjord. It was way longer and more exhausting than expected, but the views over the turquoise water, the colorful houses and pointed peaks of the islands is just stunning.
Down at water level, we had dinner break at the hydro power station and discussed how to go on. The plan was to continue along the coast to the village of Windstad and then further on to the Bunes beach, but we were pretty exhausted already. Still, the beach promised good camping locations - and down here between the mountains surrounding the fjord it was pretty dark, cold and lacking good campsites.

So we decided to continue, even though the "path" looked to be really rocky, involving a lot of climbing and scrambing. Calculating two hours for those two hard kilometers, we would still reach the beach at an acceptable 10 pm.

Anyway, after the first third went pretty well, Laura hit her knee at one of the numerous rocks and took a short break. We had lost the tiny path some time ago anyway, so I went scouting for a bit and even found the way again. Eager to see where it continues, I scrambled over the mostly car-sized rocks and jumped down into the moss - bad idea. Of course the was a rock underneath, and of course it was not flat at all... my ankle snapped over and I heard something tear or crack, needed an extended break after that. When my head was clear again, we were happily all able to continue to Vindstad, all of us lagging and exhausted.

Without any good camping opportunities at hand, we worked our way to the beach and arrived there after midnight - no wonder, injured and exhausted. At the beach, the midnight sun was just disappearing around the mountain, what an awesome moment!

The day after, it was rainy and windy as hell. Our plan to hike up Helvetestinden beside the beach was abandoned the day before already (nobody of us being too unhappy about it), seeing the weather now it wouldn't have been possible anyway - way too slippery and nothing to see anyway.
So we basically just tried to wait out the bad weather in our tents, until we had to pack up to catch the ferry from Vindstad to Reine. Of course it was still raining, and the wind was so strong one of the tents didn't look too stable anymore (I have to admit to not anchoring it well the night before, weather didn't look too bad). One of the ladies even dared a short swim in the damn cold water before we went.
Slowly we crept up the hill behind the beach (figuratively) and down on the other side, reaching the pier together with some other hikers who came this morning. The boat ride across Reinefjorden was short, but nice - we even saw a rainbow! Plus the weather on the other side was considerably better.

As a last station of this trip we planned a night on the campsite in Ramberg, as we didn't want to be too stinky and dirty for the long bus ride back home. After setting up our tents there, we took a (short) swim in the deeply turquoise water at the white beach just in front of the campsite. And afterwards a nice warm shower of course :D
An awesome dinner (combination of all leftovers) later we crawled into our sleeping bags. The last day was basically just the damn long journey back home, with a lot of sleeping on the way. The weather kept being awful for a few more days, so our injuries didn't make us miss too much after all.

- photos partly by Laura -