Leka

Leka looks wrong: much of the island is a rust-orange and brown rock quite unlike anything around it, because it is an ophiolite, a slice of oceanic crust and the mantle below it that was thrust up onto the continent during the Caledonian mountain building around four hundred million years ago. The iron in the peridotite weathers to that colour, and the ground is so poor in nutrients that vegetation struggles, leaving bare rust-red slopes. It was voted Norway's geological national monument in 2010 and forms part of the Trollfjell UNESCO Global Geopark. The island also holds Norway's largest Iron Age burial mound, a cave with prehistoric paintings at Solsem, and the story of a girl carried off by an eagle in 1932.

Highlights

• The rust-red rock - exposed mantle and ocean crust weathered orange.
• The ophiolite geology - a slice of seafloor pushed onto the continent.
• Herlaugshaugen - a large Iron Age burial mound on the island.
• Solsem cave - a cave with prehistoric paintings on the coast.

When to go

May to September, when the ferry runs frequently and the light shows the rock colour; the red is strongest in sunshine. Winter service continues but daylight is short at this latitude and facilities close.

Good to know

Facilities are minimal, with limited accommodation and eating that must be arranged ahead. The geology is genuinely remarkable but needs context to appreciate, and interpretation on the ground is thin. Ferry timetables constrain a day visit.

Nearby

Rorvik and the Vikna archipelago lie south; the Helgeland coast and Bronnoysund begin north.