Lofoten

The Lofoten Islands are spread across the Norwegian Sea in Nordland county, above the Arctic Circle at about 68 degrees north. It is a landscape of pointed mountains rising straight from the shore, deep fjords, long beaches and small fishing villages. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, the climate is much milder than in other places at the same latitude, and the fishery is a main reason people have lived here for thousands of years.

One road does most of the work. The E10 is the single main artery that ties the islands together, and the Norwegian Scenic Route Lofoten follows it for around 230 kilometres between Raftsundet and Å, with detours to villages including Nusfjord and Henningsvær. Since 2007 the Lofast link has connected the islands to the mainland by road in the east; in the west, the Bodø to Moskenes ferry makes the other approach.

Reine, near the western end, shows the pattern clearly. The village is a chain of islands linked by bridges and winding roads, with Vestfjorden on one side and Reinefjorden and its high mountains on the other. About 300 people live there; it is the municipal centre for Moskenes, and fish reception and processing remain the primary industry. Further east, Henningsvær sits on skerries with the mountains behind it, its harbour now shared by fishing boats, galleries and restaurants.

The red cabins at the water's edge are the islands' signature building, and they began as shelter. A rorbu was lodging for the fishermen who came from across Norway for the Lofotfiske, the winter cod season, rented from the fishing station owner who held the village land. It was common for up to twelve men to share a cabin furnished with just four bunks. The oldest such cabin, Skrovabua, dates from 1797 and stands at the Lofoten Museum in Storvågan, at Kabelvåg. Many rorbuer are now let to travellers, in harbours the boats still use.

The fish is skrei, the Northeast Atlantic cod that migrates from the Barents Sea to spawn in the Vestfjord. Visit Lofoten dates the fishery from January to April, carried on in much this way since before the Viking Age. In season the restaurants build menus around the fresh catch, the cod itself and also the tongues, liver and roe. Along the shore, more of the catch hangs on wooden racks, the hjell, drying into stockfish, traded from here for a thousand years and still one of Norway's oldest export goods.

Above the villages, the calendar is set by light. The midnight sun runs from 28 May to 14 July, seen best from the outer, northern side of the islands or from a mountain top. At the other end of the year, the arctic night lasts from around 7 December to 5 January, when the sun does not rise and midday glows in the deep blue, rose and gold of the blue hour. Between those poles come the northern lights, visible from late August to early April beneath the auroral oval. The place rewards being read from the water as well as from the road: Lofoten under canvas follows the same islands under sail.