These mountainous islands are close to the mainland of Northern Norway in the fylke (county) administered by Tromsø. They each have their own kommune, though are very different in size.
Rolla is the westernmost, reached by ferries from Harstad and tunnel from Andørja. The main road on the south side connects the two arrival points, and a road up the east coast took us to Astrid’s Oasis and later to a pleasant walk at the north end.
On Andørja there is agroup of steep sided mountains ranged around an inland valley with a glacial lake partly filled by daily tides, called Straumbotn. After admiring the old bridges by the outflow at Straumen (the stream), we drove up to the head of the lake.
Next day we made two explorations of the mountains. Judith went to Juliusvatnet (the lake) above the head of the fjord. Nic climbed Langlitinden (1276m). This is claimed to be the highest island peak in Northern Europe, presumably discounting Britain.
From where our routes diverged, Judith crossed steep wooded and rocky slopes to Juliusvatnet. Nic’s route took him up into snowfields by a lake and clouds above. Above that…
Then down to the idyllic loch shore, dips in the lake and another peaceful evening.
We seem to be drawn to Senja as if by magnets. Our trip was going very well, and we thought we had enough time for a couple of days revisiting old haunts. So next day, we drove to Finnsnes and over the bridge. We found our way to Hyttekroa camping and had a lovely evening walk in Anderdalen National Park.
For more about this place, see anderdalennasjonalpark.no/en/ it is truly magical.
We travelled over by Kaperdalen to Gjeska and Flakstadvag, on the west coast of Senja where the mountains appear improbably wild. From a layby on the road down to Flakstadvag, we found a waymarked trail to Norddalsvatnet (a lake). The neighbouring mountain of Husfjellet seemed a good prospect for a climb. Then there was a ridge running west to Aksjelstinden, but it appeared to run into rocky pinnacles. Was it feasible? Nothing on the internet suggested it was. There is no guidebook. So with no fore-knowledge or advice, we threaded our way anong the ridge and found hardly any path, and several places where we scrambled alongside the ridge, but we made it! We were euphoric.
That was as much as we had time for this year, but emboldened by this success, we will certainly be back for more explorations of these fascinating islands.
Exploring Norway 