Scandiroads #6 Catch me if you can

After Reinebringen I had to sleep in, I had to put away my phone so the time wasn’t torturing me by proving how much precious lofoten-time I was wasting. But I had to lock myself away from this beautiful world and drool away on my pillow. I was exhausted, and whenever I quickly woke up I felt disoriented and clueless on what the time was, and the definition of time at all. Besides, my legs were burning, I could feel my muscles recovering from yesterday’s stair-crawling now that they were forced to rest. Still, it was pretty hard for me to imagine I was facing another challenging hike today. With a goofy smile on my face I realized I had the perfect holiday: a healthy workout, a beautiful experience and a challenging adventure.

Around 1 I left the bed, slightly ashamed, for a way too long shower, ashamed again, to pack my hiking gear. Only 1 hour and 45 minutes, the shortest distance so far. Such small islands on the map, compared to gigantic Norway, yet this distance helps you almost all the way trough the Netherlands. One impressive world this is, but to me Lofoten still didn’t belong to that same world. The emerald green waters with their blue spots, the crystal clear lakes reflecting the gloomy skies, carrying their spongy clouds along the island to unleash some raindrops here and there. The little sandy beaches that were only reachable by defying a pointy rocky surface. The unbelievable rough and high, yet green mountains around us whose tops were covered by the sponges. Every now and then I was closed in between these mountains and a cristalclear lake filled up by the mountains. And then again, I found myself in endlessly far stretching plains interrupted by tiny deepblue lakes or interchanged by some bunchy, deep green hills. It was so beautiful how these small roads stretched endlessly onto the next mountains, into the next valleys.

Surprisingly fast I arrived at Kvalvika beach’s starting point. Hiking was the only way to reach the gates to this heaven. The clouds were hanging around so low that I couldn’t get a clue on where I’d end up. God, how was I going to get this done after Reinebringen, my legs were still on fire, I laughed hopelessly. As far as I could see, the trail started with the same damn stone steps as yesterday, the ones forcing my legs to make little jumps. But I went for it, and at some point I guess my legs accepted my stubbornness and quit the fight. The stone steps ended rather soon and converted into a small sandy pathway, filled with ankle breakers such as slippery stones and teasing tree trunks. I now officially decided that this was so much better than stairs, I could carefully enjoy the deeply green grass around me, rolling up to the same mountain as me. This path went on for a long time, and finally brought me to a little platform where there was plenty of space for a break and I let my eyes take in another amazing view. Below me I could see the black ocean with some small uninhabited islands showing trough the fog like the still silhouettes they were. In front of me, I saw a deep green valley filled with bush-bush. With a surprising speed a thick grey cloud raced up to the mountain, covering the valley from my side not even a minute after I could see all of its flora.

The pathway changed again, it now became a wooden trail that kept me safe from the unstable grounds below me and forced me to keep my focus as it was a little bit wobbly. Going up was not as exhausting now as the mountain wasn’t very steep anymore, but it was still a long way to the top. I had no clue what to expect on the other side of the mountain and that excitement just banned all of the tiredness and kept me going happily. I felt like I was making my way into heaven, as the higher I got, the thicker the clouds got. At some point I could barely see the green grass besides me going upwards, I could only see the clouds closing in on me. Feel them, as I could feel the chills causing goosebumps on my skin. Yet my skin was burning with passion and sweat, as I felt so happy here. I didn’t see anybody right now but there was only one way to go, this wooden trail keeping my feet dry and safe from the swampy, rough mountain surface. The silence was deafening, I could hear my heart beating heavily as I kept going upwards until the wooden trail stopped, and I continued on a sandy small path between some massive rocks. How did they even get here so perfectly, creating some mysterious labyrinth that made the hike even more mysterious, as if the clouds closing in on me, the incredible silence and the completely abandoned green mountain, didn’t yet do the trick. It was too perfect to be true. Now I really had to pay attention to what was happening in front of me, as a lot of loose little rocks formed the only pathway down. Going down was the only way, but I couldn’t see where I was going as a few rocks blocked my view. But I could hear the ocean, smell its breeze, so I trusted on those instincts and descended carefully.

It was very frustrating to feel the sun break through, to sense the light flooding into my eyes and hear the seabreeze whispering. But I had to descend a little further before I could let myself be distracted. I literally stumbled up a big rock that saved my ass when one little rock underneath me got loose. It was incredible how scary this pathway down was, it was nothing but loose and slippery rocks, when lucky you could hold onto one of the many massive rocks gathering on the green mountain, softly sliding downwards, downwards to the place to be: kvalvika beach. It still was almost one kilometre downwards, one had to keep following the rocky road to get there. But I decided I was perfectly fine here, and in slowmotion it seemed, I slid down with my back against the rock and stared, completely amazed. The mountains around me all came together here and created a valley that was so green that it seemed to be glowing, it didn’t seem real. Like some smooth slide it came downwards and gathered at one tiny, shiny white beach. The sand was so white it was shining in the sparkling sun that now found its way through the clouds. The sky was clearblue all of sudden and the contrast between the green mountainvalley, the white beach and the blue sky almost became to much. But then the water also started to sparkle blue sparkles now that the sunrays touched it’s surface. It was too good to be true. I really wanted to go down there but my legs felt like pudding, and to be fair, the view was much better from here. The valley was so steep, so hidden, such a perfect treasure. So I just stared, photographed, and enjoyed the seabreeze messing up my hair, sometimes interrupted by the chilly mountainwind. This view was incredible, the fact that this place was a reward only for those concurring this hike, made the place even more suitable in some fairytale.

After a quick lunch to gain strength at world’s best lunch spot, I regained my energy, and going up may be more exhausting, it’s definitely easier on such a slippery pathway, so quite fast I found my way back to the heart of the hike, the perfect middle. A place where the mountain surface became flat as it was sort of a bridge inbetween 2 mountainridges. The clouds ascended again but I had never seen them like this before. They seemed blue, purple almost, as they carefully rolled over the mountaintops around me and let some strange golden sunlight, trough to my eyes. The silence was so intense I could hear the blood pumping through my veins enthusiastically. I was all alone here, staring at the golden glow, creating a foggy light through the purple clouds that were fiercely on their way to the beach and started ascending behind me like a peaceful river. It was an absolute magical moment and it made me really emotional. It’s one of those moments, those places, that you’re going to be longing for sometime again in your life. A place to escape reality, to enter a fantasy world, to live your dream. As I descended again I hurt my ankle quite bad which made that I had to stumble down the last part, but I couldn’t get the dumb smile of my face. I was so lucky to have had another magical experience, that would never abandon me. And having all these incredible, happy memories, made me feel like the richest person in the world.

- It's an amazing life