26 July 2024 - Honningsvag, Norway

Today we woke to look out on the little town of Honningsvag. It is the Northernmost city (town) in mainland Norway and has a population of 2,245 (according to Wiki). Today our ship has brought somewhere in the region of 1400 people to it. And we weren't the only ones. Other, smaller cruising vessels similar to the Hurtigruten were docking too.

There isn't much to do in the town itself. It's pretty enough, with a little marina, restaurants and gift shops. But the main attraction of Honningsvag for cruise ships is that it is the starting point for bus tours up to the North Cape. We've been on this trip twice before. The first time failed due to blizzard conditions and during our second visit the rain was hitting us sideways and it was so cold we could hardly take our gloves off to take photo's before dashing back into the visitor centre.

Today was different though. Today was really warm, the scenery along the drive was stunning and we got to see reindeer.

At the visitor center we stood outside enjoying the warm wind and the sun. We even had time to find our way down to the Kings View - a platform carved into cliff accessed via a tunnel from the centre.

After the tour, we took a very short walk around the town. The water in the marina was mirror smooth and every corner presented another photo opportunity. In Peter's words "Everyone's a banger". Bonus sightings of a Black Guillemot and a couple of seals in the marina just added to the experience.

Now it is time for the us to make our way to Iceland. The ship has to sail past the North Cape on the way - more photographs.

And we got to see what I think might have been White-sided Dolphins whilst eating dinner - no photographs though. 😞

25 July 2024 - Tromso, Norway

We've been planning this visit since the last time we visited on 28th March this year on a Northern Lights cruise. Tromso in late March is covered in snow. Today it was gloriously warm and sunny.

The ship has run out of good bananas but we weren't worried as we know where the cafes are. We grabbed some water as we left the ship and got on the shuttle.

The shuttle bus driver turned out to be a mine of information, telling us where the botanical gardens were, where to see reindeers, tunnels, walking paths etc etc. I've filed most of it away in my memory for the next time.

Tromso in summer is full of building contractors who seemed to be repairing just about everything:- rooves, walls, roads and pavements. They were also repairing the bridge that joins the island of Tromso to the mainland and it was closed to traffic. Fortunately there is a tunnel a little further north.

The bridge wasn't closed to pedestrians though, so we were able to cross. There's a little ice-cream cafe on the other side near the cathedral, so we nipped in to get some chocolate and carried on to the cable car.

The cable car takes you up to 421m above sea level, which is about 2/3rds of the height of Floya mountain (671m). There's a cafe, loos, platforms picnic tables and plenty of space to walk around and enjoy the absolutely spectacular views. We pottered around for half an hour, loving the warm sun, soft breeze and amazing scenery.

And then it was time to start upwards.

It's not too difficult, but we were probably a little bit tired from our walk at Leknes. Getting to the top gave a sense of achievement.

What a wonderful place to be. We sat and ate our chocolate and tried to soak up as much as we could to take away with us. Photographs can never capture a view, and these views were magnificent.

Sadly, it was eventually time to go down, and we reversed our route.

Going down. You can just see the top of the cable car and the cafe ahead.

We enjoyed ice-creams and cold drinks from the cafe next to the cathedral before finally working our way back to the shuttle bus. T'was a brilliant day and we would happily do it again.

Tomorrow we will be at Honningsvag, the most northerly port of our cruise. We've been before, but not in the summer so this is gonna be another new experience. Awesome.

23 July 2024 Leknes, Lofoten Islands, Norway

We've been to Leknes before- the last time was on the CMV ship Marco Polo, when the ship ran aground. That was a bit of an experience! We eventually got ashore and escorted a tour to a replica Viking Longhouse, which was actually quite interesting.

The view from the cabin Balcony - the cruise ship on the left is the Aida Luna - 2100 passengers. Steinberget is the starred hill on the left, and Sundsheia on the right.

No tours planned today, a walk instead, and as we got closer to port we worked out the lay of the land in comparison to the paths we could see on Maps.me. We decided to head towards Gravdal, where we could see a small hill called Steinberget, which looked within easy walking distance.

The ship anchored out in the bay and we were tendered to a pier about a mile outside Leknes town.

We were the only two passengers in our tender (which is a lifeboat), on the way to the port.

Gridlock at the pier - Aida tenders on the left, Saga on the right.

Using Maps.me it seemed a long walk to the start of the climb, but we made good time (cos it's flat).

Ghostbusters at work in the Lofoten Islands

Through Gravdal to a point where we climbed over a fence stile behind a garage of parked ambulances, and then we were in the woods. It wasn't long before we the trees opened out.

Before we knew it, we could see the peak of Steinberget. At that point we decided that we wanted to do more and turned our attention to Sundsheia, about a mile away and about 400ft higher.

The Norwegians love being outside, and they make easy for themselves, and us as visitors, to cycle, walk, hike and climb. Today was no different, with wooden planks laid as paths in areas where the ground would be too boggy to walk on. The paths were well used and easy to follow, and of course we used Maps.me on our phones.

We loved it.

A couple of locals, although this pair were looking for sweet grass rather than Cloudberries.

As we'd walked up, I noticed loads of attractive bright orange berries on the ground, and wondered if they were edible, as the leaves reminded me of strawberries? On the way down, we met Norwegians carry small buckets of them, they explained that they were Cloudberries, often called “Mountain Gold” due to their golden skin and expensive price-tag. I should've sampled them.

The height and distance was just right considering our fitness levels and the time we had. We enjoyed a quick lunch of bananas and water, taking in the views and watching the clouds roll over and down the hills in the distance. We could see in all directions, just fantastic!

We could also see low clouds on distant hills getting closer.

We couldn't stay long if we didn't want to be soaked by mist and drizzle, so sadly it was time to go down. We did get rained on on the way back, but Peter was organised enough to have brought our waterproof jackets. We were back at the tender boats with easily an hour to spare. A good 6-7 mile walk all in all.

A seaday tomorrow, which is good cos it'll give our legs a rest. Our next Port is Tromso and another mountain.

21 July 2024 - Trondheim, Norway

We weren't quite sure what to do when we got to Trondheim. We like to walk, and looking at the map, we thought there was an area near the cruise port which looked promising. As we got off, we decided to catch the shuttle bus into town, have a look at Nidaros Cathedral, catch the shuttle bus back and then go for the walk we planned.

As usual, it didn't work out the way we thought. The shuttle bus dropped us off, we walked over to the cathedral and found it closed to tourists. Well, it's Sunday and there was a service on.

So we wandered through the Bishop's Palace grounds just next door, and then walked along the riverside to look at the Old Town Bridge (Gamle Bybro).

After that, we decided to walk up the hill to the Kristiansten Fortress. It turned out to a bit steeper than we'd imagined, and by the time we'd got to the top, we needed a sit down (We were still feeling the effects of yesterday's walk).

Resting under a tree I was delighted with several tiny Brassy Y moths flitting about. Pretty little things when you look close.

Entry to the fortress is free, it gives excellent views over the town, has a little cafe, a tower and loos. We took advantage of all.

By the time we'd finished, it was well past 1 o'clock. We walked back to the cathedral, paid our 120 krona (£8.41) each, and had a look round. The stonework is quite grey, but certain areas were painted black. Carefully placed lighting highlighted the masonry and gave the building a dramatic gothic feel. Quite awesome actually.

Outside again, we went back to the Bishop's Palace area again, where we were told there would be some sort of festival. There wasn't much for us, but Peter managed to demonstrate his stilt walking abilities, much to the envy of many younger visitors who just couldn't get the hang of it.

And suddenly it was 3 o'clock already, no time for the walk we had originally planned - so back to the shuttle bus and the ship. We planned to relax in the Brittania lounge, but it was closed, so we indulged in a self-service ice-cream from the Lido lounge. It will be a sea-day tomorrow, and after that, Leknes on the Lafoten Islands. Last time we were there, the ship, the Marco Polo, ran aground and got itself into the news (again). Let's see what this occasion will bring.

20 July 2024 - Kristiansund, Norway

Lie in this morning - excellent! Followed by a late and hearty breakfast. We weren't on tour, and I'd done a little research before we left the UK about Kristiansund. It's basically made up of four connected islands with a little ferry running between them. The cruise port is on Kirklandet, and I'd spotted a hill with a little tower (Varden Tower) surrounded by paths and woodland a little over 1km away from the port.

As we often see in Scandinavia - church architects like to branch away from the norm. This is Kirkelandet church.

The weather was glorious - 26 degrees C and sunny. Good ole Maps.me provided the route and we set off from the ship, through the town, meandering through parks and checking out sculptures on the way.

Kirklandet Church was worth a visit, the stained glass window is quite awesome!

We also checked out some lakes or ponds we saw on the map. They didn't have a lot to offer, but we were entertained by a herring gull just a few feet away as it was repeatedly screamed at and dive bombed by a very ferocious kittiwake. Peter has it on film.

Our aim was the tower, but we wandered in all directions, just wanting to look at this, or that, and took quite a few detours, walking through Loveparken and ending up on the west coast of the island at a place marked on the map as Klubba. We'd brought a couple of bananas and some water from the ship and sat enjoying the view.

We spotted this deer near the cemetery as we walked.  It didn't seem bothered by us or dogwalkers.

From there it was back through Loveparken, past a large, much used and well cared for cemetery, up the hill and finally we reached the tower.

Varden Tower

Not that high, just a couple of stories, but Oh My was it hot at the top! All those windows up there just intensified the heat of the day. We took a few photos and got out quick.

View from Varden Tower

From there we decided to take a look at the area around the marina as we'd been given a tip there would be "lots of rusty things". It was actually a boatyard museum which didn't look like a museum, and at one point we weren't even sure if we should be there. Good to walk through though.

We finally came back to the port. I decided we need a few Norwegian krona and we spent a while trying to find an ATM. Most of them seemed to be in banks, which were closed, but we did eventually find one in the shopping center right alongside the cruise terminal.

As we left port, we sailed out around the point we'd walked to.

Our lunchtime spot - at the end of the little sticky out bit of land.

Two other things to report:- Peter's trail shoes have been evicted to the balcony, they turn the air green when left in the cabin. And days are getting longer - it's light outside at 11.30pm - quite weird.

31 Mar 2024 - Flam

This is the last port of this cruise, and to be honest, it feels like we haven't seen that many places this time. Not that I'm complaining. Our cruises of a lot longer than 15 days, so this one has been relatively short. Overnight stops in Bergen and Alta were unusual, and spending two days in Alta was brilliant. But now we are at Flam.

Flam is a World Heritage site, and understandably so. The scenery is magnificently dramatic. Stood on the deck of the ship, we were surrounded by towering snow topped mountains, all lined with numerous waterfalls spilling down near vertical sides. Mist and wispy clouds rose near the tops, adding to the grey sky and giving everything an almost mystical air. The valley floor leading up from the fjord is scattered with brightly coloured wooden houses which look tiny against their surroundings, and if it wasn't for the lack of sun, it looked exactly like the pictures in the brochures.

We've been before. The main attraction here is the Flam railway. One day we should book ourselves on to it, it's not that expensive. I looked it up, it's about £46 per head, and involves a 1 hour journey each way to the Myrdal mountain station. But not today. Today we decided to walk up to the Brekkefossen Waterfall again.

We've done it before, and sort of remembered that we could walk on up past it. We are a little bit limited with regards to time, because Peter and I have been summoned to attend a tea party event in honour of one of a loyal passenger's 89th birthday. Peter had painted his gift (commissioned by Saga) and had to be in attendance during the presentation.

I really should get fitter again. My excuse is that I didn't walk much last year, Plantar fasciatis, and I'm sticking to it.

Still, we got to the top, took loads of photographs

After lunch we started to go further up. But the path was really quite scrambly and slippy. And we remembered that we had tried this before on our last visit and decided then that there was no benefit, so we turned and made our back to the waterfall, where ate lunch and talked to a couple of Norwegians with a three legged dog and a motorhome.

Out the bottom, we took a slightly different route back to the ship. A loud noise, like an incoming jet filled the valley, we looked up, trying to see an aeroplane, until Peter spotted the source of the sound. One of the many frozen waterfalls was having a mini avalanche. Really cool to see.

We were back well in time to change and make ourselves presentable for the birthday event. Then we had to change again to go back out on deck for the sail away. Flam is the longest fjord in the world, and takes a long time to sail out of. The captain announced that deck 7 forward would be opened to allow passengers to an excellent view as we cruised along the fjord. We were curious, so we had to go and find out where it was. The scenery was everything we expected it to be. Amazing.

We have a couple more days left on board now until we get back to Portsmouth. Barring anything out of the ordinary, that's it for this cruise. Next blog post should be for our next cruise in July; "An Arctic Summer" on the Spirit of Adventure. We'll be coming back to Norway, and then on to Iceland. Cooooool!