Friday 16 September 2022--In the Norwegian alphabet, å is considered a separate letter from a. In fact, it's the last letter, coming after x, y, z, æ, and ø. It's pronounced sort of like the o in "hot", although it isn't really possible to replicate Norwegian vowel sounds in written English, or the other way around, either. There's a village in Lofoten called Å, and it's at the end, too, the end of the road running south through the archipelago, over bridges and through tunnels. I'm headed down there today. Get a late start, around midday, but it's only about two hours from Henningsvær to Å.

There isn't an awful lot of beach around Lofoten, but there are several reputed to be worth visiting. The one at Ramberg is right by the road. There are a few others that are only accessible by walking a few miles, and I'd love to visit one or two; somehow having to earn the view makes it all the more beautiful. But the view of jagged mountains from any Lofoten beach, or from any other random spot, is quite lovely enough. Rambergstranda is no exception.

I stop at a viewpoint looking over the town of Reine. I'd thought about spending part of my Lofoten stay here, but decided to stay the full time in Henningsvær. Standing in this spot, I feel a bit of regret...well, I'm satisfied with my choice. I ought to go down and have a look around, but don't want to take the time. I really should have started out earlier today.

Å may be at the end of the road, but it's not the end of Lofoten. There's another five miles of the island of Moskenesøya; the island of Værøy is ten miles out from there, and Røst is another twenty miles beyond that. But Å is as far as I can go. The village is not very big. There are two museums, the Norsk Fiskeværsmuseum (fishing village museum) and the Lofoten Tørrfiskmuseum (stockfish museum), that would be worth visiting, but they aren't open, and I haven't really allowed time, anyway. The restaurant down at the pier isn't open, either. I take a few photos and start back.

Just north of Reine, I stop at the famous Anita's Sjømat (seafood restaurant), on one of several small islands that the road winds over. There are racks around for drying stockfish, as there are at Å, Henningsvær, and every other fishing village. The stockfish season is in the spring. It would be interesting to see the fish hanging on the racks, but I imagine it's a smelly time of year. The menu at Anita's is fishburgers and, well, that's about it. They're really good fishburgers.

I get off the main road, the E10, at Leknes, and take the alternate coastal route, the 815, on the way back to Henningsvær. I'm treated to the light of the setting sun on the mountains across the water. I've had a good day, but I know it would have been a lot better if I'd gotten out early. All these years of thinking about this trip, and I'm not really on the beam here.