The Lofoten and Vesteralen Islands - The Wall in the West

On the western side of the fjord, the Lofoten and Vesteralen Islands form what appears to be an impenetrable and continuous wall of jagged peaks stretching away into the far distance to the north. One Norwegian term for the islands is the "Lofotveggen" (Lofoten Wall)



From a distance it looks like the Cuillin ridge of Skye, but much, much longer. The nautical charts show that Lofoten/Vesteralen is a tight-packed archipelago split by narrow fjords and channels. The whole archipelago is around 150km long.




In the clear air, it was difficult to work out how far away the islands were. Refractive effects made them seem very close, but they were in fact many kilometers away. Interestingly, this effect hasn't been replicated by the camera.

The whole area of Vestfjorden and the Lofoten & Vesteralen Islands looks like a wonderful place to explore by sea kayak.

One day maybe!