Wednesday
A windy wet night and misty this morning, although the sun has just appeared and ......disappeared.
We are now driving south from Ardenes, the northern tip of the Vesteralen Isles, a good overnight spot where we watched 2 pair of white tailed Eagles until boredom set in - for us and possibly them, gooseanders, a skylark, Raven ......all in a misty haze. This morning a female elk was sat in a field, as we approached she quickly moved on but a good sighting. Also a golden plover and now when cooking a late breakfast a seal is bobbing around in front of the van.

Hurtigruten
As I cooked bacon and eggs we could vaguely see a Hertigruten appearing through the mist, a ferry system that sails around the islands covering the west coast and far north of Norway. She has pulled in next to our stop after announcing herself with a loud blast. We watched the loading and unloading of a couple cars and walking passengers and the unloading and loading of tons of bags of peat or turf by a fork lift truck onto a conveyor system on the vessel. The whole operation of docking was very tidy, the gangway for passengers lifted out from the ship on the pier, the same for vehicles.

Taken from a book: The Hurtigruten coastal ferry was founded in Stokmarknes in 1893 by Richard With. Originally a single ship the SS Vesteralen sailed to nine ports carrying post, passengers and supplies. The line now has eleven ships, carries half a million passengers each year and serves thirty five towns and villages.

The collage show her arrival, docking and departing under the road bridge. A wet afternoon of driving through tunnels and over bridges arriving onto the Lofoten islands. We turned off the E10 onto a small road at Fiskebol, a terrific diversion. A Narrow quiet road alongside water. A good overnight spot with another seal to entertain us, also two dozen gooseanders and three mergansers. Gradually the cloud lifted and a beautiful late night sun, a picture was taken at 23.15 also bird song late into the night. (The extra)