Down the outer coast of Andøya, between the bird cliffs of the north and the fishing village of Myre, the scenery gets quieter and more intimate. The road runs past a string of small settlements like Stave and Nordmela, each a cluster of houses, a few boats and a fish rack or two, and between them a coast of pale beaches, rocks polished by the surf and mountains that rise abruptly from the shore. It is one of those stretches where you want to stop every few minutes, and nobody minds if you do.
The geology here is unusual. Andøya contains rocks and fossils from the age of the dinosaurs, which is rare in Norway, where most of the bedrock is far older, and there are layers of coal and shale on the island that once raised hopes of mining. The island was also one of the few places in northern Scandinavia that stayed partly free of ice in the last glaciation, and scientists come to study the old lake sediments and bogs for that reason.
The riding is a pleasure of the slow kind. The road is narrow in places, with blind crests and a few tight bends where it squeezes past cliffs, and the surface varies from good to patched. There is little traffic outside the summer weeks, but you will meet camper vans, cyclists and the odd tractor. The wind is the factor that matters most: on a calm day the sea lies flat and reflects the peaks, and on a windy one it hurls spray across the road at the exposed points. The best light, especially in the endless days of June and July, is late in the evening, when the sun swings north and lights the beaches from the sea side.
Myre, on the eastern side of the island near the Andfjord, is the main fishing village of the area and the place for shops, a cafe or two and fuel. It has a busy harbour where boats land cod and other whitefish, and in late winter the fish racks around the village fill with drying stockfish. Andenes, at the northern tip, is the other base. Between them there is little except small settlements, so plan accordingly, and remember that even in summer the temperature here can stay in single figures.