Sleep in a fisherman's cabin on stilts over the sea

A rorbu is a fisherman's cabin standing on poles at the edge of the water, partly out over it, so the sea is underneath the floor. The word is two Norwegian ones put together: ro, to row, and bu, a little house. They were built for the men who rowed out to these islands every winter for the cod, and the red cabins around Reine and Hamnøy are their descendants.

The way in is the ferry across Vestfjorden, where Lofoten starts as a gray line on the horizon and turns into mountains. It lands a few minutes from Å, the village where the E10 runs out of road, and Reine is a short way on.

Two nights, and the afternoon after the maelstrom boat is left empty on purpose: Reine, Hamnøy and the bridges between them are all a short walk apart. It does not get dark at this time of year, so the water under the cabin is there to look at whatever hour somebody wakes up.

The first rorbuer in Lofoten were commissioned by King Øystein in about 1120, at Kabelvåg, as housing for the fishermen during the winter cod season.