Lofoten – Road Trip to the “North of the Sun” Beach
On the fifth day we drove on. The weather was perfect for a hike over a mountain to a remote beach. At the top two Canadians told me that two guys had once lived on the beach down there for nine months in winter and kept it clean. As a fan of the EOFT, the European Outdoor Film Tour, I knew immediately what they were talking about. Two or three years ago a short film was shown there about two young Norwegians who spent nine months through the dark winter on this beach living on expired food, cleaning up the beach and surfing in the cold water. In the end, thanks partly to Greenpeace, it drew a lot of attention. Incredible how much washed-up rubbish the two collected during that time. For me it was the best film of the whole tour back then. You can watch the film “North of the Sun” on Vimeo here, among other places.
Down on the beach the light was magnificent: dense clouds through which the sun kept breaking. At the far end of the beach stood the hut the two had built back then. Wow! I sent the drone up in the morning and evening – a real highlight of the trip.
With the drone: a steep rocky mountain by the fjord, only a few pale houses on the shore.From the air: yellow rorbuer on stilts are reflected in front of the mountains.Above the causeway: the road links small islands, the mountains on the left.Clouds on the steep mountain, red huts and a small white boat below.Crash barriers on both sides, the wet road disappearing into the fog.A small red hut stands on the rocky shore, mountains in the fog behind.The mountain islands are only a silhouette, the sun standing directly behind them.Conifers in the foreground, rugged ridges behind them, the valley full of fog.A sea of clouds lies in the valleys between the rugged ridges.A person in a blue jacket sits on the rocks above the sea of clouds.Large boulders and a grassy steep slope, both in dense fog.Shallow pools on the rocky plateau, the rest vanishing into the fog.Towards the beach of „North of the Sun“: sand between grassy dunes, two figures further back.Wooden sign on the beach: „What are 30 minutes of your Life?“ – please pick up the rubbish.Washed-up rubbish among the rocks – the kind the two Norwegians spent nine months collecting.Fog over the beach, with a small frame standing far out.Still on the beach, the hut from the film „North of the Sun“, with a round wooden door in the rock.A round grey ball in a wooden frame with red paint, the round door behind it.Inside the hut, a bunk with a red blanket and an orange coat hanger.Three printed photos on the beam, with a fourth one cut off on the right.A note, wooden spoons and a pot lid hang on the plank wall.Four photos on the beam, with green aurora visible on one of them.Pale horizontal bands: waves between the sand and an almost white sky.Low waves roll towards the beach in the fog.Small tracks and a few holes show in the pale sand.A net hammock hangs between two posts in the fog on the beach.The sun breaks through the fog, a figure by the water beneath the mountain.A green hollow in the fog, the sea opening up further back.Only a few thin wisps of cirrus in the light blue sky.On the right, a rugged rock face rises from the white sea of clouds.To finish: a boat draws its long wake through the fjord between the steep mountains.
