We saved a cleaning fee at the lodging this morning, by doing it ourselves, which involved a bit more actual work than we’ve been used to, beyond the gathering of our stuff and fitting it into the car. Vacuuming, for instance. All of this was brightened by our cunning plan of going straight back to Anita’s fish shop for breakfast coffee and cinamon knot rolls. The overcast and first drops of rain did not dampen our spirits. Anita’s being closed until ten did though.
So we got back in the car to try the cafe that we’d seen in Reine. That was also closed until ten. By this stage it was about half past nine, and we decided that the best course of action was to go back to Anita’s and wait in the car. After all, the second part of the plan at Anita’s was to buy another sourdough loaf and some king crab to make crab sandwiches for lunch. To our great joy, Anitas was open when we arrived, at about ten to ten. Coffees and buns were scoffed, then a second coffee for me. Bread hadn’t been put on the shelves yet, but when asked the staff found that it had been delivered, so they put it out and we got the first loaf. Three legs of king crab amounted to a little over half a kilo, which I decided (correctly) was about right.
The plan for the day was to head to the top of Gimsøya, staying at a lodging associated with the Lofoten Links golf course. The course would take a right, to the east, at Leknes, and take the “B” roads around the southern coast of Vestagoy, via Valberg and Barstrand, rather than the main “E10” trunk road. We took it slow, because the road was narrow and windy, but there wasn’t much traffic either. The rain had set in though. Stopping at Valberg or Barstrand or anywhere else along the coast for lunch was not going to happen unless there was a picnic table under some shelter, or the rain stopped, and neither of those eventuated. So we pressed on to the end of our road, the Lofoten Links, to lunch on burgers in their cafe, and put the crab and bread asside for dinner. This plan meant that we arrived too early to check into our lodge/apartment (4PM), but by the time we had finished lunch it had pretty much stopped raining, so we went for a lovely long walk through and arround part of the golf course, which runs beside a cost of mixed beach and rocky headlands. Probably one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world, I suspect. I don’t know a whole lot about golf, but I suspect that the course designers here have a sense of humor, or just like a challenge. The lead photo is taken from the T61 tee of Hole 3, a 420m par-4. The catch is that the drive has to be most of that 420m, as it is all over water. (I discovered on further examination that there are several other tees for Hole 3, lesser distances, and with less or no ocean in the way. Not sure what that means for the game.)
Come dinner time, the crab was shelled, and eaten with freshly cut sourdough, artisnal butter and delight. And a delightful Chianti. Tough life.
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