Summer Travels – Sandnessjøen

The third stop in our travels around Helgeland, Norway last summer was in the small town of Sandnessjøen, which is a a gateway to many of the islands in the area via its ferry services. We stayed for only one night but spent our time exploring the island of Alsta, on which Sandnessjøen is located, as well as some of the surrounding areas.

We drove around, exploring the large Helgelandsbrua that connects Altsa with the mainland to the north as well as some beaches, including one near the Petter Dass Museum which also hosts some old buildings,

We spent the evening hiking up between two of the Seven Sisters (a mountain range) to an area called Markvollkulpen where one can take take a refreshing dip in one of a few pools of water while enjoying the view.

Sandnessjøen itself wasn’t much to write home about and the only things of note we saw there were a few small flocks of young gulls trying to make it in the city during a heatwave.

Here are images of some of our exploits in and around Sandnessjøen back in July.

One of the many scruffy, sad-looking juvenile gulls hanging about the town
Looking at Helgelandsbrua from under the “other side” of the bridge
A beautiful little bay we found on the mainland after driving over the bridge
A side view of the bridge
We could just make out part of the “face” of the Dønnamannen on the island of Dønna (which we traveled to later in our trip)
A more abstract view of Helgelandsbrua
An old medieval church, Alstahaug kirke, from the 12th century
The old parsonage at Alstahaug with a fun-patterned door
A marshy area closer to Sandnessjøen
An old barn over the water
At the beginning of our hike up to Markvollkulpen, we came across this sort of surreal scene
There is a marked path up to Markvollkulpen (and a view)
We made it to Markvollkulpten, here looking up from the large pool of water to one of the Seven Sisters, Tvillingene (The Twins)
Another small bathing pool has a lovely view
Here is the peak Skjæringen reflected in the larger pool
The sun starts to set at 10pm
Although the sun dips below the horizon, it never gets dark this far north in July

Published by kewtiebird

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I am a photography enthusiast living in Oslo, Norway. My favourite subjects tend to be landscapes and nature - but I enjoy photographing urban scenes, architecture, abstract shapes and street images as well. Welcome!

11 thoughts on “Summer Travels – Sandnessjøen”

    1. Thank you! We were in a heatwave during our visit so maybe it affected the young gulls. Then again, juvenile birds do go through a sort of “ugly duckling” phase when their feathers molt and transition and they don’t look their best.

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