Leben im Rudel: Tour de Nord

Part 15: Senja

Next stop of my journey was the island Senja. I had seen some pretty pictures on the internet, and decided to go see for myself. :) We took the ferry from Andenes to Gryllefjord. It was the last day the ferry operated between Vesterålen and Senja before the winter break - I had it all planned out. :)

It was a very stormy day, and considering my seasickness experience the day before, I was a bit worried that it might happen again - to me or the dogs. But everything went fine - nobody puked. ;)

Leaving Andenes behind...

The boys nicely stayed close to me. :)

❤

In general, very well behaving dogs on that ferry. :)

NOT amused about the wind on deck... :-D

We arrived early on Senja, with the whole day still ahead of us. I slowly cruised around, stopping here, stopping there. And without me searching, it didn't take long until I found the places I had seen pictures of before. The weather changed a lot. Sometimes it was very sunny, sometimes very cloudy. The only consistency was the storm. At times, I had even trouble to stand straight.

arrival on Senja

my travelling car...

looks somewhat smaller in Norway :)

The landscape on Senja was very beautiful, too. Obviously. :)

At this sight, I was literally scared I could be blown away... :-D

For safety reasons, I kept the dogs in the car... They're too light. ;)

I had come to Senja for this mountain formation... :-D

Can you rest in peace at a more beautiful spot than this?

Senjahopen

In Stonglandseidet

Art/Sight in Stonglandseidet ;)

In Stonglandseidet, we had another AirBnb accommodation. I never met the host, but he sent me messages, describing the way to his house and giving me the password for the internet as well as for the house. Yeah, that's right. In order to enter the house, you had to enter a digital code, which then miraculously opened the door. When I arrived, nobody was home. It felt strange to enter somebody's home and wonder around like a burglar. I sent my host a message, saying that I had arrived, but he just replied that I should make myself at home and that I could freely choose any room... I stayed 3 nights in this house, and barely dared to leave my room. :-D It was just too weird. It was an entire house, a family house with photographs on the walls, fully equipped with everything one could wish for. The only thing missing was the family. ;-)

On the second day, the host send me another message saying that I could really switch on the lights on the terrace and that I could use the entire house, not just one room... :-D I felt like a burglar AND being watched. :-D But he was really kind and surprisingly welcoming - considering that I haven't even ever seen him. :) He gave me some recommendations of what to see on his beautiful island - and so I followed his advice. :)

The first day, we climbed a mountain close by: Mount Sjursviktinden (837 m). The weather was sunny when we started, but still very windy. The hike was nice, but at times quite difficult with some climbing over rocks. It was in fact too much climbing for the boys. Almost! In higher, more demanding terrain, I went first, so that the boys wouldn't go the wrong way (they cannot recognise the red dots along the path for what they are ;) ). At some point, the boys were too scared to follow me (you can imagine how much climbing we're talking here...). They just stood still and looked up to me. But Charlie trusted me enough to follow my instructions and I could guide him from above all the way up to me. He is such a smart guy! :-)

But Stöpseli, Stöpseli... he was too scared. He didn't move an inch and just stayed right where he was, looking miserable. So I climbed back down and went up together with him - step by step. If I went too fast, he stood still again. Luckily, the trail was very diverse, and the steep climbing sections were not too long. So in the end - as always - the boys climbed all the way to the summit with me! :-)