Rainbows, rorbuer and rambles...

Day 67 & 68, Thursday 16th July & Friday 17th July, 2026.

Reine

Both days were mizzly grey days with the briefest of patches of blue sky and sunlight, which gave us two mornings of magical rainbows...

On Thursday we had a gentle amble around the village streets of Reine...

...and visited the Reine Cultural Centre, which had two exhibitions with films about the Lofoten Islands natural seasonal cycles and its connections with farming the sea and the land ...as well as talking about plastic pollution and how one local artist collects the plastic flotsam and jetsam and transforms it into piece of functional art.

The main space is the Gallery of Eva Harr - displaying a permanent collection of her works that span 40 years. Before her death in 2024 she spent most summers here creating these large paintings being inspired by the amazing Arctic scenery around her and the midnight sun and moon.

On Friday, I partook in a fabulous vinyasa yoga class held in the early morning at Catogarden - a newly renovated guesthouse that offers a lovely relaxed, warm and comfortable space to enjoy yoga and gym sessions , as well kayaking and the use of their sauna and hot tub...

...So after 90 minutes of stretchy strong bliss I rejoined the Captain aboard for breakfast and then donned our walking gear and set out to hike the 448 metres and 1978 steps to the top of Reinebringen...

...and although it was a tad crowded and sweaty to ascend, the view from the top was pretty good!....

...so back down we went just as the heavier rain looked set to come in...

...and made our way back to the boat for a well earned lunch and bun...

...and happily looked back at the mountain we had just successfully scaled...

...and got the boat ready for its departure from these magical islands and a return to the mainland tomorrow.