Closing on the Arctic Circle

Having gotten rid of our tents, with prejudice, after our miserable night at Torghatten, we face a problem: My (in hindsight optimistic) plan was to camp for the night outside Bodø and then again in Lofoten.

The White Whale is floating us comfortably, satiated and happy courtesy of Trixie, along the E6 towards Saltfjellet and the Arctic Circle.

This stretch is a welcome relief after days spent on narrow ribbons of asphalt strung between frigid water on one side and jagged rock faces on the other: Comofortably wide and relatively straight. It's also familiar. As a kid, on my family's many trips up north, it meant we were closing in on the mountain crossing at Saltfjellet, which in turn meant we were getting close to our destination.

So also now; I can practically smell Lofoten. Right now, however, I have accommodations to drum up, or we're spending the next three days sleeping in the car. There's not that much to gawk at on this stretch, unless you haven't seen enough spruce forest …

… and spruce forest with snow-covered peaks …

… yet.

No, while Traci takes the helm I hit the Internet (thanks, Internet and smartphones!) and rustle up one remaining cabin on a campground outside Bodø, at Saltstraumen, no less — exactly what I wanted to see. All that time up north and I've never seen it? About time. The plan is to rest there for the night and get on the ferry from Bodø to Moskenes in Lofoten fresh and early in the morning.

Oh, but Lofoten … shit. We don't have a place to stay there, either, and the islands are packed in the summer. Booking.com to the rescue. Tucked away in the listings is a rorbu, a fisherman's cabin, that'll squeeze in the lot of us. It's clearly rustic, and fortunately for us the host isn't that savvy at marketing his rentals, so the three nights we need are open. A quick call to the host, a friendly gentleman named Kjell whose dialect tells me his roots are firmly planted on the islands, confirms that yes, indeed, there'll be room for us. It's not even expensive.

Done. Relief.

Lesson, fellow travellers? You can rustle up accommodations even in the thick of tourist season, even in popular spots like Lofoten, if you just dig around in the various sites and scroll down the listings a bit. And don't be too picky. It's going to be better than spending the night outside in the North Norwegian climate, I guarantee it.