Glinting brightly in the sharp morning light, thousands of glassy eyes are looking down at me.

Yet not one of the vacant stares reveals the slightest hint of life.

It is an unnerving feeling to be standing beneath a canopy festooned with dead bodies, but at this time of year in Norway's remote Lofoten Islands, it's almost unavoidable.

One of the world's most important cod fisheries is in full swing. During winter months, thousands of Arctic cod migrate south from the Barents Sea to spawn and, like generations before them, fishermen from all over Norway come here to join the marine gold rush.

What I am standing under is a hjell, a large wooden triangular rack where fish are dried by sun and wind for 12 weeks.

There is no doubt these dead fish are - and always have been - a lifeline for residents on the Lofoten islands. Some of the earliest fishermen were the Vikings, and cod formed an important part of their diet. Legends abound about Norwegian Viking boats being seized in Europe and supplies of stockfish eagerly confiscated.

It is tales of these Norse warriors that have brought me to the wild archipelago in the Arctic Circle, which was once one of the most important Viking sites.

In 1983, archaeologists on the island of Vestvagoya uncovered ruins of what is believed to be the largest Viking longhouse ever found. A reconstruction of the 270ft building, established around 500AD, now exists as the Lofotr Visitor Centre in small village Borg, where costumed actors serve mead in a grand banqueting hall.

Made up of seven major islands and thousands of smaller islets, the Lofoten Islands lie just off the coast of northern Norway and are reached by three plane journeys from the UK.

My base for the next few days is Svolvaer, the archipelago's capital, where I book into one of the waterfront red timber cabins at Svinoya Rorbuer.

Draped with frayed fishing nets and weathered buoys, the cosy self-catering properties have been designed in the style of fishermen's houses. Modern replicas of oil lamps hang in the windows; a tradition practised by anxious wives waiting for the husbands to return home from often perilous days at sea. I even find my own hjell on the doorstep, although to my relief it has not yet been hung with fish.

To get an idea of what life at sea must have been like in the past, I visit Storvagan, one of the first fishing villages in Lofoten and an important European trading post in the 1300s.

A short film at the Lofotmuseet features many of the lighthouse keepers who, up until 20 years ago, lived with their families (and later alone) at the edge of the world.

Jann Engstad, from Lofoten Aktiv, whose family has lived on the islands since 1608, takes me on a Northern Lights hunt later that night, driving through snow-filled and icy valleys looking for a clear gap in the clouds. The full moon is so bright we do not need torches to find our way as we scramble along the rocky coastline.

"This is one of the best places to see Northern Lights," Jann tells me.

"We get the same displays as Tromso but do not have the packed busloads of people. What we have here is solitude and that's wonderful."

Northern Norway is home to the world's densest population of sea eagles, and a sea safari with Lofoten Charter Boat takes me to the Trollfjord and along an area of coastline where the birds regularly come to fish.

Within minutes they begin to circle, their 9ft wingspan casting shadows on the mountains.

Rugged, wild, fearsome and marvellous; the Vikings could not have chosen a more apt place to call home.

TRAVEL FACTS

Sarah was a guest of Visit Norway. Rooms at Svinoya Rorbuer (www.svinoya.no) start from £150 per night, per cabin (sleeps four).SAS (www.flysas.co.uk) flies from Edinburgh via Oslo for Svolvaer, the Lofoten Islands. Return flights from the UK to Norway start at £140.

Northern Lights trip with Lofoten Aktiv (www.lofoten-aktiv.no) is £55 per person. Nature safari with Lofoten Charter Boat (www.lofotencharterbat.no) is £150 per person.