18th Paris-North Cape Photo Adventure
25th July to 25th August 2017

Å- Storfjell- Årstein J-10

• July 16
• 18H07

Our participants finally set foot on the Lofoten Islands, many of them green about the gills and very happy to be back on land after an extremely rough, 3-hour ferry ride across a raging sea. Some had to spend the whole of the interminable voyage lying down, while others found themselves catapulted back and forth from one side of the deck to the other. The captain didn’t cancel the crossing despite the 5-metre waves – in France, such conditions would have confined to port any ship less storm-worthy than the Abeille Bourbon emergency tugboat!

Their ordeal behind them, the participants set off to explore the tiny, twisting roads that wind through the fabulous countryside of the Lofoten Islands, an archipelago to the north of the Arctic Circle whose precipitous mountains plunge straight into the turquoise waters of the Arctic Ocean.
The “Parrains” used the time to work on their documentary about the Lofoten Islands’ fishermen, meeting one of them to find out more about his experiences and the difficulties of living on the islands.
The “Pau du Lyon” team decided to visit the village of Storfjell, which is well known in Norway thanks to four grandmothers who fought for the construction of a road so their grandchildren could live in the village and work in Svolvear, the “capital” of the Lofotens. The team met one of these amazing women, whose strength of character is as impressive as that of the surrounding mountains.

Towards the end of the day our teams met up again in Årstein, on a campsite with a magnificent view of the sea. However, the rainy weather and “fresh” temperatures led a few participants to head off in search of a cabin or hotel for the night as soon as they had handed in their photos for the following day’s Grand Trophy.

The only people not to make the checkpoint in time were a team that went to the wrong village (yes, there are two Årsteins on the island!), requiring them to make a long detour (200-km, no less) to get to the camp, which they reached 3 hours late. It also meant they missed the night hike, which started at 10 pm. In fact, only two courageous souls, Angélique from team 6 and Alexandre from team 25, decided to brave the inclement weather and head off with organisers Philippe, Olivier and Emilie for this nocturnal “stroll”.