Lofoten Islands Expedition 2019
“The Famous Five visit Lofoten” by Enid Blyton
Day 01 – Orsvagen campsite to Henningsvaer (shop) to Lyngvaeret Island (9th August) by Anne “The Famous Five and The Riddle of the Missing Bag”
Anne was feeling most perturbed. Those beastly people at the airline had failed to put her bag on the right aeroplane to Lofoten, and that meant that she had no clothes or camping 
equipment or food for the holiday. She was so looking forward to lashings of ginger beer and bags of tomatoes around the campfire with her chums, but now it seemed that she would have to spend all her pocket money to buy more food. She would also have to rent camping gear from Uncle Jann (the kayak-hire man), although Timmy had offered to share his kennel with her so that she didn’t have to rent a tent. This was very kind, but Timmy was going a bit mangy (he had already lost the fur from his head) and Anne thought that she might prefer her own little tent. How Anne wished that her bag of things had made it to Lofoten.
Just then, Uncle Jann turned up and said “Anne, I have just been speaking to the airline. Your bag will be on the 7:00pm flight from Oslo. You must camp near the village of Lyngvaraet tonight. Your bag will be delivered to you at Lyngvaraet by courier at 7:45pm.” And with that he was gone.
Anne was sure that this was a clue, but what did it mean? Could the Famous Five possibly solve the riddle and find Anne’s missing bag? Anne continued to ponder the riddle as she packed her boat, which contained nothing much at all. She then paddled with the rest of the group along the coast to the south west, towards the island of Henningsvaer. They had learned of an old Norse legend that said there was a supermarket on the island that Timmy, George, Dick and Julian hoped to find so that they could top-up on ginger beer and bags of tomatoes.
The scenery was stunning – mountains as high as any in Scotland shot straight from the sea, and rocky islands lay scattered around like a bag of spilt marbles.
“Blimey, feast yer mince pies on that lot” said Julian.
“What did he say?” said George.
“I think he’s practicing Norwegian” said Dick “something about apricots I think”
“Or maybe trout?” said Anne, helpfully.
The famous Five were soon at the island of Henningsvaer and split up to find the legendary supermarket. Anne soon thought she had found it, and persuaded Timmy that the small corner shop was indeed the fabled supermarket of Henningsvaer. Timmy bought some very expensive food, only to find out later that Dick, George and Julian had found the real supermarket, where the food was much cheaper. Timmy didn’t usually bite, but Anne thought that she had better keep her distance from him for a while, just in case.
They were then ready to leave and get on their way, with boats bursting at the seams with hampers of (you’ve guessed it) ginger beer and bags of tomatoes. They were heading for another small island, this one uninhabited, not far from the coast. They were planning to stay there for their first wild camp. Anne stared at the map. What was the island’s name? It was Lyngvaraet! And it was just offshore of a village with the same name. The words of Uncle Jann came back to her…”You must camp near the village of Lyngvaraet tonight”…Could this be the first part of Jann’s cryptic clue to be broken?
Once they reached Lyngvaraet island the Famous Five picked through the rest of Uncle Jann’s riddle. What did he mean when he said, “Your bag will be delivered to you at Lyngvaraet by courier at 7:45pm.”?
“Woof” said Timmy “Woof woof”
“I think Timmy’s trying to tell us something” said George
“Yes” said Anne “I think he’s saying that someone connected with a courier company will visit Lyngvaraet tonight, sometime after 7:40 but before 7:50”
“And that person will have Anne’s bag!” Shrieked Dick.
The Famous Five quickly developed a plan. Anne was to paddle to Lyngvaraet with Julian, where they would lie in wait and spring a trap on the courier. Anne and Julian swiftly put the plan into action and set off at blistering speed in their kayaks to the mainland. They arrived in plenty of time to set their trap and sat down to wait. Anne had brought along some ginger beer, and they were so engrossed in drinking it that they almost failed to notice the arrival of the courier. Quick as a flash they leapt up and approached him
“A package from SAS Airlines for Ms Anne Garland” the courier snarled.
“Yes, that’s me. Thank you ever so much. I’m exceedingly grateful” said Anne in a most English manner.
Anne loaded the contents of her bag into her kayak and she and Julian paddled back to the island to meet the others. They were jubilant! The riddle had been solved! They decided to crack open another bottle of ginger beer to celebrate.
“My ginger beer is all brown” said Dick.
“and I feel squiffy” said George
“I’m feelin’ a bit Brahms and Liszt meself” said Julian.
“Is he speaking Norwegian again?” asked Anne
“Woof” said Timmy.
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