From Bodo the train line does not continue north, so we took a ferry to the Lofoten islands - a spectacular submerged mountain chain. It also has many small fishing towns along it's coast, like the one we landed at; Moskenes.
We decided to try hitchiking, as buses around the island were quite expensive, and we had stayed with some couchsurfing hosts who had done amazing distances by hitching. Every car on the ferry saw our sign, and none stopped to pick us up, but a northern Norweigan man who had stopped at the cafe obviously felt sorry for us and offered a lift to exactly where we wanted to stop for the night. We shared the lounge area of his campervan with his slightly nervous dog.
He was a keen photographer, and stopped frequently to take pictures. I gladly joined him as the scenery was stunning. He also took us off the main road to show us art installations, like this curved mirror.
It was great to get a lift, but it did take over 5 hours to travel 100km, as his camper was slow and stops numerous. We didn't mind so much because it allowed us to jump out where we thought it looked pretty and pitch our tent - following the free wild camping (link to wild camping) rules.
I cooked up a simple asian one-pot meal, glad to use the camping equipment we had been carrying around for over a month.
Our sleeping location was wonderful for views and serenity, but it proved a terrible spot for hitchiking, as so few cars went past. We both got a bit despondent.
Luckily two Italian women picked us up and took us to the main highway that connects the islands. I tried hitching on this epic stretch of road, but we gave up after half an hour when the bus pulled up. Perhaps it would have been easier on the mainland, but the drivers we saw were mostly middle aged and affluent - a terrible combination for hitching.
We made it to Narvik though, and saved some money by catching a few lifts, as well as having some interesting chats. Unfortunately Narvik proved to be a bit rainy, so we just explored a little bit as we said our goodbyes to Norway. I finally got around to taking a picture of this classic Norweigan style house, which I had always thought was purely American. It turns out many things in America have been strongly influenced by Norway.
