The Molly

The island

Mollyholmen. Four hundred and twenty metres of black rock in the Norwegian Sea, inside the Arctic and seventy minutes out from Bodø.

Whole islet from the sea at night, the lighthouse beams turning under green aurora.

The rock is gneiss, smoothed by ice and painted with rust-coloured lichen. Nothing grows on it taller than heather. The highest point is fourteen metres above the tide and the lighthouse stands on it.

To the east, on a clear day, the mainland mountains make a jagged white line. To the north, the Lofoten Wall. To the west there is nothing until Greenland.

Position
67°06′N 13°18′E
Length
420 m
Highest point
14 m
The light
Fl(2) W 20s 19m 16M
Trees
None

The chart

Chart of MollyholmenA hand-drawn nautical chart of the invented islet of Mollyholmen, showing the lighthouse at the south-west end, the row of Lantern Cabins along the north-west shore, the Long House at the north-east end and the jetty and sauna on the sheltered south-east side.3428521262192214692688411165249648721217425213729412762The LightLong HouseLantern CabinsSaunaMOLLYHOLMEN14Fl(2) W 20s 19m 16MNorskehavetLillesundetLandingVar 3°E (2027)13°18′E67°06′N0100200 mMollyholmenDepths in metres. Drawn for The Molly, 2026.Not to be used for navigation.
The islet, drawn for the hotel. Depths are in metres; the magenta flare marks the Light.

Three kinds of light

  • Aurora season

    September to March

    Dark early, and for a long time. Clear nights bring the lights. For three weeks in December the sun does not rise at all, and noon is a long blue hour.

  • The quiet months

    April, May and August

    The sea birds come back. The light stretches. Fewer boats, lower rates, the island mostly to yourself.

  • Midnight sun

    Late May to mid July

    The sun goes round instead of down. People row at two in the morning because they can. The lofts have blinds.

Islet in low golden midnight sun, two people rowing past.
A quarter past one in the morning, late June.
A couple walking the boardwalk past a row of lit Lantern Cabins.
The boardwalk, north shore.

How a lighthouse became a hotel

It took one hundred and sixteen years, most of them spent keeping ships off the rock.

  1. The Light is lit: a red iron tower on the highest point of the rock, and a keeper's house the sea later took back.

  2. The last keeper leaves. The lamp is automated and the rock is left to the cormorants.

  3. We take on the lease, and spend the first summer doing nothing but measuring the wind.

  4. The Light is restored. New lantern glass, eighty-four steps relaid, the watch room made into one bedroom.

  5. The Long House goes up on its steel legs. The cabins come out by barge, two at a time.

  6. Lillemor finishes her sea trials in October. Molly goes on watch.

  7. The first guests step off the boat.

Seventy minutes on Lillemor

You fly to Bodø. A host meets you at the airport, the boat is ten minutes away, and she sails twice a day. The crossing is in every rate.

The whole journey, step by step

Come when the weather does.

Opening 1 February 2027. The diary is open now. Two nights or more.