Two fishing villages
Hovden
and Nykvåg are Langøya’s fist, brandished towards The Norwegian Sea.
The sand dunes are substantial. They have resisted the open sea for
thousands of years. The 3,5 km long pebble beach between the fishing
village of Nykvåg and Hovden is one of the larges and most beautiful in
Nordland. Living on the borderline between unruly
oceans and cliff-like mountains offers food for fantasy. Draugen – the
ghost of the sea – and the supernatural thrive out there, to the
consernation of generations of dark-fearing souls, but to the satisfaction
of the tour operator of today. The bustling environment on the
bird rocks at Nykvåg during nesting season is an experience. As "guest"
here, you must show a certain amount of discretion. This is the nesting
place of kittiwakes, razorbills, guillemots, puffins and several other
types of ocean birds.
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The day after,
when the fishing fleet reached the nets; it seemed as though the sea
was strewn with wooden coffin boards and enormous tngles of seaweed.
And those who could interpret hidden meanings saw at once that here,
in the dead of night, there had been a battle between those dead on
land and those taken by the sea, and it was not difficult to see
that the draug had won.
From "Might against might" by Regine Normann |
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The pebble beach below the road between Nykvåg and Hovden is worth a stop. It is the outer edge of a large moraine ridge that become a three-kilometre long shoreline covered with stones worn smooth by several milleniums of crashing waves. The seaward side of Vesterålen and Lofoten has been ice free for some 18000 years, as comared with only 7000 – 8000 years of the rest of Norway, making this moraine one of the oldest in this country. |
