Well, let’s face it: a massive perk of working in the outdoors is summer. All the carefree, warm, sunny blue skies of summer really make those wet, cold and windy days over the winter worth it. This year though, I’ll be honest, I’m feeling slightly short changed.
I have been lucky enough to spend the last week of May and beginning of June on an adventure in Norway with my wonderful partner. Carrying everything we needed on our backs, we headed for the Lofoten archipelago, which is so far north it’s in the arctic circle. We had been checking the weather forecast there for weeks prior to our trip as it’s common to still have snow falling in the spring. We packed our ice axe and crampons to help us summit some of the snow capped peaks, but what we hadn’t packed was suncream – that was a mistake! We hit the shops for the last few bits we needed before heading into the wilderness. Our first couple of days were spent hiking in glorious sunshine and temperature of 25°c. We chose this time of year as it has the least amount of precipitation on average.
It was an interesting few days to begin with. As the sun was shining, the snow was melting, and we heard a lot of rockfall and the booming echoes of avalanches. The thing about being outdoors is you have to be constantly dynamically risk assessing and have plan A, B, C, D, and E ready to go and be willing to back off any one of those plans isn’t going to work. This was definitely the case on our first attempt to summit Stovla (824m), when it ended up being
a no-go due to a precarious snow pack we were unwilling to cross, especially with our heavy backpacks on. We turned around after much scouting and we even got the binoculars out. Onwards and upwards, though, and we went on to summit the island’s tallest peak: Hermannsdalstinden (1029m) as well as a few other smaller peaks.
Whilst we were keen to get up high, we were also just keen to experience the wilderness and landscape of Lofoten. We spent a few nights at a remote beach, which, in order to get there, you either had to walk up over a mountain pass at around 500m or sail to it. There we foraged mussels to cook and eat. I wasn’t super keen, what with being vegan, but I was convinced into trying a few! To help with the flavour I foraged some sheep’s sorrel which has a tangy lemony taste which I thought would go well. There was also lots of meadow sweet around which made a wonderful cup of herbal tea. It was nice to eat some fresh food. It made a change from the dehydrated meal packs!
Whilst there, we walked over 100km and took in some amazing views and challenging terrain. Being allowed to wild camp was an absolute blessing as we found a great spot for the tent each night. What was quite interesting though, was experiencing midnight sun. Yep – that’s right, the whole time we were there the sun didn’t set once! Waking up in the middle of the night was quite disorientating. The wildflowers were in full swing in Norway. It all had a very familiar feeling and aside from the vast epicness of the mountains and cliff faces rising up out of the fjords every which way you looked, if someone had told me I was in Wales, it wouldn’t have been so hard to believe. All the familiar plants surrounded us as well, like the coverings of heather, bilberry and ferns. It did seem odd to be enjoying such great weather when all we had heard from home was how cold and miserable it was.
Having been back at work at home the last few weeks, it has felt pretty bonkers to be concerned about my group of young people getting too cold in June. Usually by this time of year we are off to the cliffs of Anglesey for a day long coaster session, however this year we’re lucky to last half a day!
Fingers crossed that as we welcome in the solstice, we also welcome in some better weather.
