Day 15 (July 6): Lofoten

At breakfast we asked Roland who does all of the activities at the lodge why every reddish house throughout Norway is the exact same shade of red. Fishermen coming back from the sea long ago just saw the grey houses & wanted some color. The "paint" back then was water & oil. They added whale blood to the mix. These days you could go any shade of any color but most follow tradition and use this exact color.

This is a picture (during the winter) of the lodge we are staying in now.

We drove to Hauklandstranda and walked out to the end along the water then we hiked Mannen on Vestvågøy for great views of the beach. This was a beautiful hike recommended by Roland! After hiking back down, Jill went in the ocean while I walked in only knee deep. Numbingly cold water.

On the way back to the lodge we stopped by Lofoten Bakery for what you might call lunch or, given the hour before dinner, appetizer! Donut, chocolate goodness, and a cupcake with smile on top.

We showered for dinner and then drove East to Svolvær for an early dinner at Kjøkkenet. I had whale carpaccio and the color was a great match with the red colored houses mentioned earlier. I had duck for dinner while Jill tried the tørrfisk which is a naturally dried Atlantic cod.

We had a tee time at 8:30pm at Lofoten Links so we could golf ⛳ in the midnight sun! We spoke to someone at breakfast who played there a couple days ago. They only played 9 holes but bought 36 used balls & lost 18 of them. They also said the rental clubs were better than their own.

We got there about 45 minutes before our tee time. The golf shop had no decent shirts for men or women, zero hats whatsoever, and not much really to buy to commemorate the visit. We got our rental clubs and chipped/putted a little. It was a gorgeous night with little breeze to start. The twosome in front of us teed off about 20-30 minutes before us. So it was clear for a ways in front of us.

The first 3 holes had us moving our push/pull carts up crazy paths & stairs with wheel tracks. The start was beautifully on the water. We migrated slightly inland over time on the front & started the second nine uphill towards the mountain. By the 14th hole we were back near the ocean & approaching midnight. It had gotten cooler after 11pm but there was zero breeze so it was beautiful in the ever setting sun (that would change to a sunrise by 2am or so without going down).

We took several photos of holes and ourselves including shots of us at midnight on the 17th tee box. I teed off just before & hit it over the par 3 green. Jill teed off @ midnight & hit it on the green over mostly vegetation that had to be carried. She made the par putt (greens were the slowest I can ever remember).

We had caught the twosome in front of us by around #13 which is why we started taking many camera shots to slow down. I mostly kept my own score but more importantly recorded lost balls. 15 total for both of us with over 2/3 of that total coming from me. Jill hit a lot of great shots and several drives in the 175-200 yard range right down the middle.

I forgot to turn on the Garmin for the walk but got it for the back 9 for about 4 miles just on those holes. It was easily about 9 miles walking golf after over 5 miles of hiking earlier in the day.

We finished around 12:20, Jill filmed a Go Long video on the final green, then we drove an hour back to the lodge arriving around 1:30. The mountains all around were glowing in amber sunlight the entire drive back.

Viktor Hovland's best memory from 2022 was playing Lofoten Links!!! "I think the Lofoten trip was really cool. It probably has to be number 1." "Even more than The Open with Rory?" "Yes, I believe so."