Lofoten Islands 4K - Norway - Å, Kvalvika Beach, Nusfjord

Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolvær and Leknes – the latter is approximately 169 km (105 mi) north of the Arctic Circle and approximately 2,420 km (1,500 mi) away from the North Pole. The archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.

History

According to Robert M. D'Anjou and others: "There is evidence of human settlement extending back at least 11,000 years in Lofoten, and the earliest archaeological sites ... are only about 5,500 years old, at the transition from the early to late Stone Age". Iron Age agriculture, livestock, and significant human habitation can be traced back to c. 250 BC.

The town of Vågan is the first known town formation in northern Norway. It existed in the early Viking Age, maybe earlier, and was located on the southern coast on eastern Lofoten, near today's village Kabelvåg in Vågan Municipality. The Lofotr Viking Museum with the reconstructed 83-metre-long (272 ft) longhouse (the largest known) is located near Borg on Vestvågøya, which has many archeological finds from the Iron Age and Viking Age.

The islands have for more than 1,000 years been the centre of great cod fisheries, especially in winter, when the cod migrate south from the Barents Sea and gather in Lofoten to spawn. Bergen in southwestern Norway was for a long time the hub for further export of cod south to different parts of Europe, particularly so when trade was controlled by the Hanseatic League. In the lowland areas, particularly Vestvågøy, agriculture plays a significant role, as it has done since the Bronze Age.

In March 1941 the islands were raided by British Commandos during Operation Claymore, and in a subsequent diversionary attack to support the Vaagso raid in December.

As of 2017, the islands attract one million tourists a year.

Wildlife
The sea is rich with life, and the world's largest deep water coral reef, called the Røst Reef, is located west of Røst. Approximately 70% of all fish caught in the Norwegian and Barents seas use its islands' waters as a breeding ground. Otters are common, and there are elk on the largest islands. There are some woodlands with downy birch and rowan. There are no native conifer forests in Lofoten, but some small areas with private spruce plantations. Hedlundia hybrida and Malus sylvestris occur in Lofoten, but not further north.

Birds
Some 27,000 hectares (100 sq mi) of marine waters along the north-western coasts and fjords of the Lofoten Islands have been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International (BLI) because it supports overwintering populations of common eiders and yellow-billed loons. The IBA contains or overlaps with the Seløya, Morfjorden, Laukvikøyene, Eggum and Borgværet nature reserves, as well as the Laukvikøyene Ramsar site. Lofoten has a high density of sea eagles and cormorants, and millions of other sea birds, among them the colourful puffin. It has mainland Europe's largest seabird colony.[8] The birds once mistaken for the extinct great auk turned out to be some of the nine king penguins released around Norway's Lofoten Islands in August 1936, there until at least 1944.

Cycling

There is a well-marked cycling route that goes from Å in the south and continues past Fiskebøl in the north. The route is part public road, part cycle path with the option to bypass all of the tunnels by either cycle path (tunnels through mountains) or boat. Traffic is generally light, although in July there may be a lot of campervans. Some of the more remote sections are on gravel roads. There is a dedicated cycling ferry that sails between Ballstad and Nusfjord, allowing cyclists to avoid the long, steep Nappstraum tunnel. The route hugs the coastline for most of its length where it is generally flat. As it turns inland through the mountain passes there are a couple of 300–400-metre (980–1,310-foot) climbs.

The Lofoten Insomnia Cycling Race takes place every year around midsummer, possible in the midnight sun, but certainly in 24-hour daylight, along the whole Lofoten archipelago.

The Arctic Race of Norway, the world's northernmost professional stage race on road bike which takes place every year in Northern Norway, crossed the Lofoten islands during its first edition in August 2013. As of 2015, the race was planned to be back in 2019 from Thursday 15 August to Sunday 18 August. The first two stages will cross the Lofoten archipelago from west to east.

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