In the spirit of making the journey itself interesting, we decided not to fly the Oslo-Bodo leg, though we could have flown from Oslo to Bodo in less than two hours. But Sara had never been on an overnight train, so we decided to take a train from Oslo to Bodo.
Sara was thrilled with the overnight accommodations, she wasted no time texting about the experience
For Sara, this was the realization of a bucket list item. The idea of our own cabin for an overnight trip was sort of romantic. Of course the cabins were tiny, with small bunks ...the the single kind. How romantic is that? I think my summer camp bunk, built for a kid, was larger than the one in the train cabin.
An Apple maps screenshot showing our final destination in Reine on the end of the Lofoten Island chain
As you can see, Oslo to Bodø is not a short jaunt. Bodo (not marked) lies directly across the bay from our final destination at Reine (red pin). This leg of our journey had us departing Oslo at 16:00 and arriving Bodo at 9 or so the next morning, with a change in Trondheim to get on the sleeper car. As you might imagine of the Scandinavians, trains are clean, efficient and depart with hair-trigger accuracy. A few hours north of Oslo, I saw this lake (or fjord?) and just had enough time to snatch & click the camera for this moody, dusk scene.
It ended up being quite a bit of time on the train in order to fulfill a bucket list wish. But, the spectacular early morning views approaching Bodo along Skjerstadfjorden made up for the long train bound hours. This capture from OpenStreetMaps shows the fjord along which the train approaches Bodø.
OpenStreetMaps showing the fjord, Skjerstadfjorden, which the train skirts on approach to Bodø
One things about photography and trains - it's really difficult to snap photos from a moving train. You never know when scenery will flash by next, what nearby obstacles will impede a distant view, if the reflections in the window are too strong or the dirty window too dirty. I tried nonetheless. After all, digital photography is about nothing if not experimentation. And, despite constantly changing light, reflections, etc... I got a few that I like.
This is tidal water and it's out
Since it carries the word 'fjorden' as part of the name, I expected to somehow be riding around the edge of steep, glacially carved walls jutting up from the water. Instead, the train skirts around a gently, even pastorally sloping shoreline of Skjerstadfjorden. It was actually more delightful than dramatic.
In the next post: Spending the day in Bodø