VIKING CHIEFTAINS IN NORWAY'S MOST SOUGHT-AFTER ARCHIPELAGO HAD A NOVEL WAY OF ENSURING THEIR GATHERINGS PASSED OFF WITHOUT THE CUSTOMARY BLOODSHED
Swords were left on one island, shields on another, with the power talks themselves staged on a third landmass, broadly equidistant between the two.
That this is being explained to me with the trio of islands within eyeshot, and by a man with a robust resemblance to a Viking warrior, lends the point a splendid indelibility. With his imposing bulk and long russet beard, one could well imagine Vidar Hansen riding the prow of an advancing longship brandishing a double-edged sword and unleashing the odd ice-meltingly fearsome roar.
Alas, today the guide is wielding nothing more offensive than a kayak paddle, and the only pillaging on his mind is the snack bag stowed in the little hatch just behind his seat.
We're on a four-day kayaking expedition in the Lofoten Islands, a destination that - as those Vikings knew only too well - is tailor-made for seafarers. This ostentatiously proportioned island chain probes nearly 100 miles into the Norwegian Sea: a bafflingly intricate network of inlets, skerries, natural harbours and gargantuan monoliths partitioned by abyssal depths. Through these slender channels, the longships that once terrorised the North Atlantic as far afield as today's Nova Scotia maneuvered with skill and (fratricidal bloodletting aside) impunity.
Setting off from the teeny settlement of Tennstrand an hour's drive from the islands' unofficial capital, Svolvær - we're following a 25-mile, broadly north east to south west trajectory. The area is what's known as the 'inside' of Lofoten: the southern flanks that face the mainland, sheltered from the full force of the Arctic currents and storms from the north.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January/February 2025 من National Geographic Traveller (UK).
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January/February 2025 من National Geographic Traveller (UK).
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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