Travel Blog 4

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Part 1 - Beaches and Breakfast and Bikes

We awoke in our little hobbit beds in our little hobbit house to SUNSHINE ☀️....not a lot but there were patches of blue sky to be seen and most definitely sun! Breakfast wasn’t until 8:30 and we all must have been up before 6am. Isabelle got up and opened the shade part way to a blinding light. We hadn’t seen that thing in the sky for a few days so it was time to get up and start enjoying it! Peggy was up and getting ready to head for a walk. Lois was eager to head to the beach with Isabelle. I was too but I had to go mail some postcards I had gotten the night before at the store off to my grandkids. After numerous head bumps on the doorway and at the sides of the room before we headed out at various times and in various directions. Please not I did NOT hit my head at all this day because the fresh lump on my head reminded me to duck!

After delivering my mail I caught up with Lois and Isabelle on the way to the beach. Almost to the pitch I caught up to them. They had stopped to look at something in the yard of a cabin and it looked like Lois was taking pictures. I was trying to figure out what the thing was as I approached. Was it a tortoise? Hmmm...OMG it was a robot lawnmower. Seriously a Roomba for the yard. We shook our heads and walked on. Lois immediately took of here shoes and took a little run in the sand and the surf. I followed suit minus the run. The water was only slightly colder than the Sound. We still need to check but we believe we were at the Norwegian Sea. The 3 of us joined together for some beach combing prior to breakfast. Isabelle had spotted Peggy walking over on the other side from us. I was able to collect a couple cool shells and a rock off the beach for Colin. His mother, my rock collecting daughter (I believe I still have a egg carton of her rocks from childhood), suggested I bring him a rock or shell so I got both!

Soon it was time to head to breakfast. We walked thru the camp ground and past the restaurant where we’d had dinner the previous night. On the way there we noticed some fish hanging at the side of a house just like what we have been seeing all over the countryside only minus their heads - the stock fish. I reminded the ladies I wanted to stop at the large racks of drying fish on the way out of town. I am really quite curious about this whole fish drying thing and wanted to look at the arrangement up close and personal!

Peggy was waiting for us in the cute little dining room of our hobbit house. He had a spread for us to enjoy... bacon that looked raw but was delicious and amazing fresh made bread and butter and jam so good you could eat them by theirselves. There was a platter of meats and cheeses and eggs as well. It was a lovely meal! When we had eaten our fill we went back up to our little hobbit room and loaded up to depart this enchanting place. Oh and the sun was still shining dimly!

We had decided, as we headed back the way we had come, to take a side trip to Sund to a museum there. Our bike guy had suggested it and then we might see a few new sites as well. As we loaded up our bikes it sprinkled on us for a hot second but then that was it for the day!

As I requested we stopped at the drying racks to more closer check out the fish drying! As I had suspected what was there was all heads! In fact that’s what we had been seeing most of the trip. Check out the picks. We couldn’t figure out what they did with just the heads and where were the bodies? And then we were off!

Part 2 - Sund: We Met Thor!
Or - There’s a Museum Where?!

The ride to the turn off to Sund was fairly quiet this Sunday morning. It is amazing all you notice when it isn’t dumping rain on you! We enjoyed a leisurely ride and soon turned on the road to our destination. It was a beautiful route winding thru the countryside on a road less traveled. We road up and around rock formations, small hills and lakes. We arrived at Sund, a quaint Norwegian town spread out through windy roads until you once again reach the shore. Remember we are biking islands! We say an actual pub as we went thru town. It was the first we had seen. The museum was built right by the shore and also housed a working blacksmith and a quaint little cafe. Peggy discovered a glass jewelry craftsman in a little shop across the street and we went there before we went into the museum. That is where we met Thor! The shop was his and he had many fine baubles. He had these glass hearts he’d made in various colors with sand in them from the beach at Ramberg. Lois, Peggy and I had a great conversation with Thor and bought several of his pieces.

Meanwhile Isabelle had a bit of a scare as she couldn’t find her wallet. A nice couple had found it and turned it in to the ticket office. All was well and we headed into the museum which was comprised of sheds spread out the grounds filled with all types of engines and other often odd but interesting pieces from another age. The best part was the blacksmith and the cafe on the shore.

Peggy struck up a grand conversation with the blacksmith and she was able to learn some about her grandfather’s heritage and learn a bit of his story thru the blacksmith. Her grandfather had been a blacksmith in Norway and had come to Hoquiam, Washington via Australia. The blacksmith was able to give her insight on the history of that era and how it might have been for him and how he probably landed in Australia. It was so amazing to listen to this dialogue and also learn some about his art work with metals and watch him craft a piece. Peggy ended up getting one of his pieces of course.

Isabelle had since wandered over to the cafe and saved a lovely seat on the porch for us. We basked in the sunshine while enjoying freshly made waffles with amazing strawberry jam and brown goat cheese called Gjetost (it’s brown Norwegian cheese made of goat's milk or a blend of goat and cow's milk. Gjetost Cheese from Norway is produced by slowly heating a vat of whey, cream and milk. ... The caramel brown color of Gjetost Cheese is a result of the caramelization of the milk's sugars during this heating process). We sat for a while over coffee and conversation and contemplated a new route back to Sakrisøya and Tind via the Jesus route. A joke made by Thor when we told him we wanted to return to Sakrisøya a different. He chuckled and said - oh you can go the Jesus route meaning we could bike over the water. I thought it would be a great way to return - new scenery on a different route! Needless to say we returned the way we came by the road lol ?!

Part 3 - The Sun Shines - back to the beginning!

Leaving Sund we returned via the roads cycled yesterday. It was a beautiful pleasant ride with the sun still shining! We once again stopped at our friendly bike shop and visited with them. We had to drop off some items and do some adjustments. The owner explain to us about the drying fish. We asked why most all the fish drying at that time were the fish heads. He said yes they do keep the fish heads and ship them to Nigeria. By this time the bodies have been stripped off of most of them and used.

We left there to head to our accommodations in Solvagen. Our bike guy was to meet us at our room at 5:30 to pick up the bikes. We had arranged for our friendly Lofoten cabbie to pick us up at 6:15 the next morning. We had to be at the ferry terminal and Moskenes a little before seven. The ferry left at seven.

We stayed in a more hotel type arrangement this time just down a path along the lake to our favorite restaurant - he Maren Anna. We stopped there before going to our rooms to have a beer and our favorite waitress Jenny was there. She wasn’t going to be waiting tables that night but the lovely blonde German girl would be our waitress. We made reservations for 630. We enjoyed a nice beer out on the deck in the sunshine. Then realizing the time we scurried off so that we could make it to our room in time to meet our bike guy. Payments made, luggage picked up, bikes returned and finally settled into our rooms we headed out for dinner. The other three ladies all opted for steak that night but I had to try another fish dish of course. As you might guess I once again had a dish with cod… I had contemplated having the whale because I always want to try local but was really struggling with the idea of eating a whale. When Lois reminded me that whales are similar in intelligence to us I definitely made up my mind there would be no whale. My fish was delicious as usual but not as good as the one I’d had there two nights ago or was it three nights ago… Time kind of runs together here. The height of the evening however were the fish cheeks that Lois, Peggy and I tried for an appetizer. Our bike guy had told us that the fish cheeks were considered a delicacy and they do remove those before they ship the dried fish heads in most cases. They really were amazing and I highly recommend them if made correctly. We had also told our bike friend about duck farts and he told us about Lofocoffee. So of course Peggy and I had to have Lofocoffee with our fish cheeks. It really was another wonderful magical evening.

It was time to return to our room and get some rest for the night since it would be an early morning. I went out to the common kitchen area to have tea but the Polish, Danish, Dutch gentleman was in there trying to do woo another woman stating there … A.k.a. seduce her . We’re really not sure what Hank was but he was most likely from Holland. We had met him earlier in the day and actually he was on the ferry with us the next day. I retired from the back porch to Reed in peace so that I would not have to witness the scene. Lois join me about 11 o’clock that night for tea at the table after they had left. I found out the next day that Lois and Peggy had snuck off for a hike around the lake that night and found this amazing waterfall. At this point I am still not speaking to them LOL!

Goodnight! ??
Tomorrow we embark on a new adventure in a new place. Thanks for coming along!We

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