It’s 7 in the morning. It’s raining. We open our eyes, move pillows closer to our beloved camper window and watch others running to the water. Yes, we are in the Northern surf paradise Hoddevik – the main and most awaited destination in our journey. It might be cold and rainy point up in the North, but it always, always will be very warm place in our hearts.

With it’s almost secret destination and crazy steep, narrow and curvy road leading to it. With it’s tiny streets perfectly made for longboarding. With lovely small beach surrounded by green mountain walls that makes you feel like surfing in natures lap. As different we are, different are our feelings about this little village.

When breeze of the cold Northern wind enters tiny, rocky and always foggy beach surfing isn’t the first thing that comes to your mind. When you live in tropics it’s quite logic, that you surf, but in Norway surfing is your choice. Your determination, your strong will and your passion.

We were admiring surfers living in tents, putting on cold always leaking wetsuits and cooking on bonfire, when rain pours over their heads. For Aija it wasn’t as significant to catch her best wave ever as to be amongst them who fear no cold, no wind, no rain.

Hoddevik was the place where Sibilla discovered hiking and Oko the Labrador discovered his shepherd instinct. One morning there were no waves to surf so we decided to climb one of the green mountain walls right next to the beach.

It was windy, wet and slippery. It was steep and misty but definitely worth it. Since that day we see Sibilla happy running in front of us every walk we make. And we see Oko the Labrador running after every sheep he sees. Actually, that hike changed all of us. Later that night we enjoyed our first surf session in the dawn looking to that mountain like never before. Others found us screaming to each other through the waves: “Look up there. We climbed it! We did it!” And next day some Norwegian girls came to ask for suggestions how to climb that mountain.

It was Zanda, who could tell them the most. It’s her thing to find the craziest offroad and to make it till the end no matter what the weather is. She was the one who didn’t let us stop on our hike that day when the cloud came over our heads and sky touched the ground. And it paid off with clear blue-sky just few moments after. She went surfing later that night, but came out of the water realizing that she will stick to kiteboarding and mountain climbing. Even if she failed in catching the waves, she loved to dive out of the water and to see the majesty of the cliffs surrounding tiny beach. Cliffs she climbed earlier that day.

As they say that the first cut is the deepest, Hoddevik will always be deep in my heart and in my knee (literally). It was first place, where I managed to surf with no guy holding my hand, pushing me or pointing to the right wave. I did it on my own from the beginning till the end. I don’t remember the place and day when I learned to walk, but I will always remember one of the happiest days in my life when I stood up and surfed my first wave till the end. Thank you Hoddevik!


Photo credit: Aija Morica