It got a little too hard for me and without your support this trip would be over and I would not have seen magical Leka! Thank you!!!!!!!Day60 starts at in the tent outside of Nes boathouse where I take advantage of the shower for 20nok, it feels good to start the day warm but when I’m done and look out the rain is back again but I need to get going so I get I’m my kayak and head on north east. It’s a little windy and wavy and my body feels a little tiered so I make a small detour to the grocery store in Vallersund and stuck up on some sweets and backers. The sugar dos its job and I feel much better right away and I don’t slow down until I make it to Stokkøya where I do a little more shopping and find my camp for the night at a small island just passed the bridge. It’s a lot of vegetation here so I make my camp on the beach at 7pm. After less than an hour I wake up and the tent is full of tiny creepy crawlers and they have even made their way into my sleeping bag true the mosquito net. And I hit the tent so they fall down from my tent. I stay awake and hit the tent from time to time so they won’t make their way inn and when the time hits 1130pm its time for me to pack down and levee this bug infested beach!
Distance for the day nautical miles, trash in water x4 and on land x LOTS and its redy for pickup!
Day61 at 0005 I’m in my kayak ready to start the day and the weather forecast is sunny and no wind so I hope to make my first 100k day. As I make my way out of Stokkøya and head north I see millions of jellyfish and the sea is full of them for 15 minutes. Never have I seen them so tightly packed!
I keep going and I see an expected guest coming against me, it’s Hurtigruta, I turn on my lights so he can see me and he heads on close for a look, I snap some photos as she passes.
I keep going and its nice and calm waters until I get to Bessaker, here the wind and waves pick up and I’m getting sleepy so I find a nice bay to set up camp. I get some sleep but not long at the time, there is some bugs left in my sleeping bag. After some hours I have had some sleep and give up and take a small trip around the corner to the small town and do some shopping and eat while the locals are training for an act they are going to perform on the festival next week. It looks like a good show so I will recommend a trip to Bessaker next weekend!
After a nice talk to a sailor couple I’m once again on my way, I make my way passed an amazing lighthouse before I start looking for a camp site. I don’t make the distance I wanted for the day and I’m getting tiered so I make my camp at a nice beach on Kvaløya, on the way inn you go true a nice long bay and end up at a nice beach (except from the trash) where I set up my camp as fast as I can so I can get away from the black fly’s and enjoy some food before I get in my sleeping bag again. I have shaken it so it feels better but there are still some left that wakes me up zzzzzzzz
Distance for the day 35,1 nautical miles, trash in water x8 and on land x Lots but to much bugs!
Day62 I wake up with the tent full of black flies and mosquitos! The zipper is broken and I can’t fix it! I try to eat some food and pack down camp fast, in the hurry I forget to chew properly and choke on my breakfast and it takes me some time to free my airways again but I survive this too. I get in my kayak and I truly believe this is the end of the trip, I don’t have much cash left ether and I just fund that my backup phone, power bank and some other equipment I had in a dry bag has water damaged. Tired and frustrated I make my announcement that I can’t continue the trip unless a miracle happens!
I then make my way from Kvaløya between islets and reefs where I see an otter, seal and some really small wales no bigger than a meter, guess they are children and mom is probably right under them after this my spirit is growing and I start thinking about maybe trying to get a job for a month and then return and continue my trip. On the way I take to my mom and she reminds me that her aunt lives not so far away and wonder if I want to stop there on the way. I say yes but my mom is not the best at geography so first she thinks it is on the north side on Jøa facing the main land, then its south west facing the main land, then I tell her that it’s an island and by the time we figure it out she finds out she is not there hahahah. I love you mom but I’m happy I get my navigation skills from my day. I make my way passed Jøa and over to Abelvær where I stop by a nice little port and enter the club house. Here they ask if I came from under the sea hahahah I tell them I kayaked from Oslo and they are amazed and offer me coffee and waffles. I also get to a good shower for 30nok wash and dry my sleeping bag and cloths for 120nok and they also have beads for rent for 250nok in the second floor. This is also where I meet the Swedish kayaker Andreas that I have been talking to the last month he is an experienced kayaker and he gives me lots of good tips and I feel I am an better kayaker after talking to him. With us is also Arne how is taking some photos and notes for the local newspaper. A really nice and engaged man. After about an hour Andreas has to keep going and I stay here for the night so I get all my stuff dry before I fall asleep zzzzzzzzzz
Distance for the day 26,2 nautical miles, trash in water x2 and on land x2
Day63 I get a long nights sleep and I don’t bother getting out of bead before 09am, I start packing down, make some oats and prepare my kayak. I also meet a fisherman that has made his own electric wheelbarrow with a screwdriver! and just before I am reedy my friend Arne is back and wants to buy me another round of coffee and waffles and I can’t say no to that! But after a little talk I get going and he takes some photos as I kayak against Rørvik.
I feel good and the trip goes good, I make my way to the port and find
where Torgeir from
and
have sent me an extra set of paddles and a good life jacket, Thank you so much again! Here I also ask about the tent and he tells me I need to change the hole zipper part and they don’t do that and it will take time but he give me a good price on a new tent, I also get an thermo pert for my sleeping bag that makes it better resistant for the cold, some lights for night kayaking, a new pink cap for better visibility, dry bag and he also manage to sell me a mosquito repellent machine. Thank you for the discount and good service!!!!! I send my old tent to mom so I can get it fixed and do some food shopping and visit the
where you take a walk true the Norwegian costal history from the first man, Viking age, how fishing has evolved to the business we have today and they also focus on the plastic trouble at the end of the track.
After my history lesson that I will recommend you to visit if you are in the area I get going again. On the way I meet first Redningelskapet and then Hurtigruta Lofoten and inform my dad that I am passing Lofoten, he ask if I get a ride there? Then I send him a photo of the ship, I get some smiles back. I see a nice place to set up camp at Sandvika where they have built a nice social area where I set up camp and are greeted by some local and one of them have been following me on marine traffic for some days. I get in my new tent but I can’t get the mosquito machine to work so they are attacking me once again!
Distance for the day 17,8 nautical miles, trash in water x2 and on land x0
And thank you all for your support! At writing moment the collection at Spleis has reached 8700nok!
Day64 I get the machine to work in the morning so I don’t have any problems, the tent is good but there is a lot of condensation in the tent I have heard that a candle light will help so I will try that next. As I get up some locals in tractors show up for a nice talk and one of them give me some fresh mackerel for my breakfast. I grill them and after the big breakfast and packing down I head for Leka making my way passed Risværet and other beautiful islands on the way.
I make it into the sandy beach of Aardalstranda on the south side of Leka where I meet a nice family while I have my lunch and after I set out in my kayak again and making my way around the island by the west and north side, the south to west is nice and calm and but the more north I get on the west side the harder it gets, winds are at 5ms, currents and waves are all trying to send me back but I keep pushing and after three hours of kayaking I make it passed the north point where I am protected by some islands and can finally stop to pee, I make my way passed the north east corner and head on south to Skei harbor where I find a place to charge and camp for the night. The trip around the island takes me 5 hours and the last part would take me around one hour, this island is well marked for kayakers and have a lot of places to go inn and camp. For the whole island the recommend to set off 2 days and you can find recommendations and routes
I hope you get sun on your day! Then you will see the rocks turn from yellow to red at sundown just like in the old western movies!
This is an island I have been recommended since before I started my trip! Perfect for kayaking from beginner to advanced and you have Viking burials site Herlaugshaugen, Dramatic rock formations on the west side that you don’t find anywhere else on this continent! Bare red and yellow rocs that normally is found deep in the earth and you can take a hike and find crust at
, and on the south side you will find cave paintings dating from around year 500 bc or older and was the first cave paintings to be discovered in north Europe when they was found in 1912! You can also visit where they found little Svanhild, a little girl of 3,5 years age was taken by an eagle on the 5th of June 1932 and taken to the nest and it took the search party 7 hours to find her! You might have heard the story before and this is where it happened!
Distance for the day 23,1 nautical miles, trash in water x6 and on land x0
Day65 I decide to have a resting day and explore the island so I pack down my tent and head to joker for some breakfast where they have a nice coffee area I can sit down and eat, super nice please! After I just start walking and I pass the local church and some cows
Before I see the sign to MOHO I decide to go for it and it’s an amazing trip it start with a normal Norwegian forest vegetation but then it changes to a type of rock I have never seen before (serpentinite and olivine stone). The rocks are perfect for no shoe hiking! And at the end of the trail you will find a complete cut through the seabed crust and all the way down to the mantle. It is really fascinating and I understand why this is a geologist whet dream.
I didn’t look at the time but I think I used less than one hour from the road. I sit down here and just enjoy the view for a while and instead of going back down I just keep going up and down, there are some yellow markings here but I just went where I wanted, for the most of the time it’s just rock but from time to time you find vegetation and it’s a lot of cool mountaintops to explore!
Just be careful they can fall down at any time.
They have a lot of marked trails on this island so it’s really not necessary to go off-track but you will not get lost here, it is an island with roads along the shoreline so just keep one direction and you will find a road. I ended up right before the eagle kidnapping sight at 430pm and I wanted to go to the sight where they found her!
But I needed to do some shopping so I turn back to joker and then back to the harbor and the Viking burials site Herlaugshaugen
And then do some editing and relaxing. The next time I come here I will set of one week minimum! And I will be back! Thank you so much people of Leka for making it to the place it is! Lots of Love!
Distance for the day 0 nautical miles, trash in water x0 and on land x32
And tomorrow Ida Marie aka
will head on to Brønnøysund where I will meet someone how finaly wants to kayak with us!
And thank you all for your support! At writing moment the collection at Spleis
has reached 8700nok!
See where I am on
Thank you for reading!
Lots of Love
Joachim the ShibbyTraveler
https://www.visitleka.no/
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