Hurtigruten (by Kieran)

Part 2: we boarded the boat in Bergen in time for dinner. It was a self-service buffet, i.e. all you can eat. Unfortunately, I am not very good at these. Firstly, rather than picking 2 or 3 things to eat and having a decent serve of each of them. I try little bits of about 20 diffrent things, and end up with a real mix of stuff. Secondly, I somehow think I'm getting better value if I eat more, even if I stopped being hungry a long time ago. A week of these, and they'll have to roll me off the ship!

The Hurtigruten is a coastal ferry, that leaves daily from Bergen and takes 6 nights to go all the way up the coast of Norway, calling at lots of small towns on the way to the last town before Russia, Kirkenes. some people just do little bits to get from one town to another, but foreign tourists usually do the whole lot (and some do the return leg, too). So it's also a cruise ship, with various excursions organised. Unsurprisingly, then, we were amongst the youngest on the ship - I haven't seen so many walking frames and knitting needles in a while!

Our first night was the roughest night as we crossed some open water in the aftermath of a storm, but I still slept reaonably well. The next day was unfortunately cloudy and wet, which turned out to be the default weather setting, so we made the most of the few hours of sun we did get by sitting out on deck, or getting out into the town if the boat was docked. The weather meant we didn't get the best views of the beautiful geraingerfjord, but it was atmospheric, and supplied penty of water for the waterfalls streaming down the sides of the fjord. At the end, we got into a coach to see some of the interior of fjordland, while the boat turned around and went back to the mouth of the fjord. The tour was a little bit of sit in the coach, get out to look around and take photos for a few minutes, then get back on the bus, which got a bit frustrating after a while - I wanted to get out and walk in this stunning landscape (although preferably in better weather), but it was a good opportunity to see a lot in one afternoon - lots of waterfalls, mountains, lakes and rivers, with the most dramatic being the 1500m high sheer cliff the Trollwall. Trolls are popular in Norway (our ship was the MS Trollfjord) and all the souvenir shops have various "cute" troll figures for sale. We had dinner in Molde, home to a big jazz festival each year, before the ship caught up with us.

Next day was Trondheim, and its impressive cathedral, though we didn't have much time spare to really explore. My concern about the effects of eating 3 huge meals a day whilst lounging around a ship sent me to the ship's gym. Running on a treadmill on a moving ship is not so easy, plus while I had a great view, it was odd that I was running forward but the view was going by sideways. The following morning, Adrienne and I woke up to an announcement over the ship's PA that we were about to cross the Arctic circle. We rushed out to see the little globe on a headland that marks the latitude and take a picture. This was now the furthest North either of us had ever been, and still 2 more days of heading north to go. At the town of Bodo, I tried running on dry land - well it was rather wet land, but that just made me feel all the more virtuous. In the late afternoon, we approached the Lofoten islands and disembarked for our Viking feast. This, whilst not entirely serious was good fun with good food and mead to drink, whilst a few actors dressed as vikings played out a little domestic scene. The chief's wife brother was not yet married and was searching for a suitable wife - since he was camp as Christmas, we thought we knew why he'd not got around to getting married... There was some singing and dancing, and then we had a look around the building, which was a moreorless faithful reconstruction of a longhouse, the remains of which had been found on this site.

Next day, we had a full day of good weather, which was handy as we were spending a few hours at Tromso, which was easily the most likeable and interesting town since Bergen. It has a stunning modern Arctic cathedral, triangular in cross-section, with one end entirely taken up with a massive stained glass window. We also visited various polar exhibitions, and learned about the exploits, of Norwegian explorers like Amundssen (first person to reach the South pole) and Nansen, who had the bright idea of trying to get to the North pole by deliberately getting his ship stuck in winter ice and waiting for it to drift over the pole. It didn't work, and he and a colleague spent a year on a tiny island north of russia after they tried sledging to the pole. He got back to Norway just before the rest of his crew as their ship finally came loose.

Our final excursion was to the North cape (Nordkapp), which represents the north point of europe, even though technically it's on a separate island, and is not the northernmost point of that island. The visitor centre had many things to see, including a Thai museum, which was a surprise, an excellent panoramic short film, and an interesting chapel where people can get married if they wanted to be married very far north. This was just as well, because you couldn't see anything outside at all, thanks to the mist. We saw some reindeer though. The next day was due to be the start of the slaughtering season, but they got a reprieve because the farmers couldn't find them all in the mist!

We celebrated our last night on the boat with a feast of seafood including king crab, which are about a metre or more across and some reindeer (last season's presumably). I ate my own body weight in seafood. The next morning we got off the ship for the last time at Kirkenes, ready for our Russian adventure.