Måstad sits on the far side of Værøy's mountain ridge, on the wild western coast that faces the open Atlantic rather than the sheltered channel toward the Lofoten mainland. To reach it you hike over or around the ridge from Sørland — a route that takes two to three hours depending on conditions and fitness — or you come by boat around the island's western coast. The hike is the more common approach, and it's worth it: the path takes you through the landscape that shaped the people who once lived here, and the arrival at the ruins from the ridge above has a particular quality to it.
About 150 people once called Måstad home, surviving on fishing and, most distinctively, on puffins. The hunting method was inseparable from the Lundehund, a dog breed developed specifically for this island. With six fully functional toes on each foot and joints flexible enough to navigate near-vertical cliff ledges, the Lundehund could flush puffins from their burrows in places no other animal — or person — could reach. The dogs were a prized possession; losing one was a serious loss.
The village was evacuated after World War II. The isolation that had always defined Måstad became impossible to sustain once the outside world had changed enough that the contrast was unbearable. The families left, the houses were abandoned, and the ruins settled into the hillside. Today the stone walls and foundations are still visible, half-hidden in the grass. The puffins have returned in force, nesting in the same cliff burrows their ancestors dug out while the Lundehund waited above. You can sit among the ruins in summer and watch them coming and going.
The Lundehund breed nearly went extinct in the 20th century — at one point, only a handful of dogs remained. Recovery efforts pulled it back from the edge, and the breed is now maintained by dedicated breeders, though it remains rare. The connection to Måstad and Værøy is central to how the breed is understood and celebrated in Norway.