The ferry took 5 and a quarter hours from Bodø to Værøy, with a stop at Røst for others to get on and off. It was a calm journey but felt long, and I was glad when we eventually arrived at 22.15. The campsite is just minutes from the ferry port so we soon settled in with a cup of tea.
This morning we’ve done some housework, which primarily means we did two loads of washing and hung it out in the sunshine and strong breeze to dry. The campsite is at the harbour, where there are dozens of racks used to air dry fish in winter. The smell of fish is still in the air although the racks are now empty. I hope it doesn’t permeate our washing!
After lunch, we got the scooter out and had a 5 minute ride to the trailhead for our walk up onto the mountains. We followed a steep stone path up towards our first peak, Hornet but, at the last minute, decided to detour to Gjerdheia. From here, we could look down on beautiful beaches and an old landing strip where we plan to park for our walk tomorrow.
We then retraced our steps and headed steeply up Hornet. It’s only 346m high but feels much higher because of the vertical drops to the ocean. The mountains here are so impressive… and also very pretty, covered in wild flowers.
We dropped to the col before climbing again along a grassy ridge to Håen, gradually gaining height until we reached the 438m summit. It’s been a beautiful sunny day but quite cold where we were exposed to the wind.
There are military buildings and a radar station on the summit of Håen with signs saying ‘no entry’ and ‘no photography’. We weren’t sure if we should pass through the buildings but I knew the viewpoint was beyond them. When we got there, there were plenty of other people taking photos of the wonderful cliffs of Måstadfjellet beyond.
Having enjoyed the views and taken photos, we headed down through colourful flower meadows. There was lots of purple Crane’s Bill, which we have in our garden at home.
We wanted to avoid walking down the road that winds its way up to the radar station and took a lower grassy path. This was fine to start with but ended up going through an area of boulders and bog rather steeply. This made me grumpy… I haven’t got my mountain legs yet and my calves and hamstrings are sore!
I was glad to get back to the scooter and ride back to the campsite. It was another lovely walk though and I’m looking forward to the next one, even if my legs aren’t!
We’ve showered and changed, had dinner and tidied Molly Moho. Tomorrow, we’ll drive round the island to walk up the mountain we could see from Håen, before we leave Våeroy and catch another ferry to Moskensøya, the next island on our journey. It’s a good job these ferries are cheap!
Ramblings 
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