A few kilometres south of Andenes the road along the west side of Andøya drops to the shore at Bleik, and the view changes from flat bog to something close to the edge of the world. A long white beach curves away under steep peaks, the sea is a cold, startling turquoise on a bright day, and just offshore sits Bleiksøya, a steep pyramid of an island that holds one of the busiest puffin colonies on the Norwegian coast. In summer the birds wheel around it in thousands, and the boat trips from Andenes go out to see them.
Andøya is the northernmost island of Vesterålen, and its northern tip is low and open, with bogs where cloudberries ripen in late summer and a sky that seems far too big. Andenes itself is a working fishing town with a red lighthouse, a harbour, a rocket range down the coast that launches scientific sounding rockets into the aurora, and whale safaris that head out to the deep Bleik Canyon, where sperm whales feed close to the shelf edge. That canyon is the reason this small town has a big name among people who want to see whales.
The riding on the west coast is gentle in shape and wild in mood. The road hugs the shore, squeezed between mountain and sea, with long open views and a handful of tight bends where it rounds a headland. The surface is generally good, but the wind off the Norwegian Sea can be fierce, pushing hard in gusts on the exposed stretches, and the weather can turn from glittering sun to driving rain in an hour. Sheep wander onto the road. In midsummer the sun never sets, and riding this coast at midnight, with the light low and gold across the water, is the thing people remember for years.
Andenes, a few minutes north, has the shops, cafes and fuel for this end of the island, and a summer ferry crosses from there to Gryllefjord on Senja, which makes a fine way to link two scenic routes. Down the island, Risøyhamn and Sortland are the next larger places. Bleik itself has a small community and the beach, which is a lovely place to walk on firm sand and listen to the surf. Bring layers, even in July.