Today was an extra special day on this trip, sort of a VIP day, and one of the best days of my life. Today our 3hour drive was heading towards Lofoten, the tropics of the North. Bounty beaches, pointy mountains, cristalclear water and little islands of forest, spread over many tiny islands connected by little bridges. And every now and then a humble little fishermen’s town, harmless and nothing compared to the inmense amount of nature as well as its beauty, at the Lofoten islands. That was were this day was going to take me: the absolute number 1 on my endless bucketlist.
It was a little rainy and grey while I tucked my big pink suitcase in the little car who by now I considered my absolute best friend, already it’d helped me discovering beauty that otherwise would’ve been a secret forever. I abandoned the little hilly neighbourhood and as the clouds dropped to the same level and completely hid the pitchblack lake by my side, I let the windscreen wipers remove the drippling rain drops, so I could be on my way. It didn’t’ last too long before my addiction to be outdoors, emerge with nature, turned into me suddenly parking my car by the road. My attention had been drawn by the thing that simply never gets boring, as it’s forever wild: a waterfall. As far as my eyes allowed me to look up, it went further and further, up until a mountain top I could probably never, ever reach. But I was more than happy to see how far my little legs would get me, so I reunited myself with my backpack and starting following a small track besides the waterfall, covered by little creeks, tree stumps and rocks to ensure I was paying attention during every step. Of course I simply couldn’t the entire time so I had to deal with my ancle ending up painfully sometimes, as it allowed me to stare into the water next to me. A silvery river spectaculary found its way downwards, smashing against the steep rocky shores, sliding over slippery rocks, creating a watery fog whose tiny drops reflected the sunlight, creating beautiful rainbowdrops. I don’t know if it is actually possible to smell the water, or if my nose was just completely covered in it, but it felt fresh. I could smell the trees around me unleashing their greatest treasures: their smell. The smell of nature, is the best damn smell in the world, turning it into a parfume might actually convince me to start using it.
As I kept going upwards the road challenged me more, and got so steep that I had to climb up monkey-style to finally be rewarded by a viewpoint. And so it came, and rewarding it was. It was as if I walked in slowmotion while I found my way to the viewpoint, as far as it still felt safe, and looked upon the water violence beneath me. Silvery, swirling water fell down meters and meters, splashed apart on rocks and turned into endlessly repeating rhythyms, being whirls, waves or waterfalls in smaller proportions. As I heard nothing but the violence beneath me I gazed upon the endless green landscape beneath me, the little valley where I saw my car patiently waiting for me. How could it be that I was all alone here, that a place so beautiful was mine only now ? I folded my legs comfortably and just sat there for a while, listening to the little thunderstorm beneath me and smelling both the water (still convinced) and the bush, seeing but the valley and the violence. As the sky started turning suspiciously grey, I carefully slided my way back down.
And now it was time to continue this delicious journey to today’s dessert: the lofoten islands. I could have known that this 3 hour trip was extended largely by all the necessary stops along the way, I have zero resistance for the beauty of this country and I don’t even try resisting. A little further down the road I found myself on a perfect natural seat, a surpsringly comfortable rock laying by the lakeside, the totally smooth, deep blue lake. Its edges existed out of the clearest water possible, showing off the little rocks and seaweed softly floating on the sandy bottom. The mountains surrounding this perfect picture seemed to be fake, it was nothing but a blue gaze, silent and motionless, peaceful. The curvy roads led me further up and down hills, endlessly passing by the rocky pointy mountains, covered in little creeks turning into waterfalls, carrying water to the ocean as we like to say in the Netherlands, meaning they’re absolutely not adding anything to the massive lakes, but extra beauty. This landscape went on endlessly, every now and then a new ‘kommune’ (region) popped up which existed out of very few but very lovely wooden coloured house, all rising up on a little hill where their porches allowed them to forever enjoy their views. And every now and then a gas station, supermarket or some industry popped up, but that was really it. This was a place where nature ruled and humans adjusted, even this poor little road had to go trough the most extreme circumstances. But for real, nothing made me happier then the realiziation that humans adored nature here and didn’t try to rule it, they adjusted to it, added good to it where possible. I kept driving, trough deep valleys, over high mountains, trough tight forests. Little treasures such as emerald green lakes, mountains so high that they shined silvery in their endless snow covers, or softly rolling green hills covered in colourful wooden houses, kept surprising me over and over.
I would never get tired of this and this car was all I needed now. The road went on and on but not a second did I want for it to stop, I simply started laughing a little whenever I spotted cars again as less and less roundabouts or exits appeared, and the road became the only way to go, no possibility to leave it or turn, all I could do was keep going and itw as the only thing I wanted to do anyway. My heart skipped a few beats as suddenly the sign Lofoten popped up, that 1 simple word filled my heart with warmth and as if it was a movie the sun broke trough the gray clouds. As if lofoten welcomed me a deeply green valley rose up besides me, nothing but the deepest green was used for the grass, the softly rollings hills, and finally the mountainsides. Only the thuggest little trees and bush managed to climb these sides until then finally it became to much of a challenge and the mountainside turned rocky and steep, and went on endlessly to the point that I almost had to throw my neck at my back to catch a glimpse of the knifesharp tops.
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