Day 25 - Svolvaer to Trondheim on Hurtigruten

Because of the lack of an internet connection on the ferry we have just taken from Svolvaer to Trondheim, I have a bit of catching up to do.

Firstly, here are three more photos that Wendy and I took just before we left Svolvaer on the Hurtigruten ferry.

Here is Kenny fishing off the landing platform at the hotel and the 'giant' cod he caught. There were a lot of jokes about it being smaller and limper than Bob's, from the previous evening!

 

Secondly, our great waitress at the Rica Hotel Svolvaer, Camilla, who had the most wonderful sense of humour and kept on smiling even when we were giving her a hard time ordering our meal!

Finally, our boat, the Trollfjord, entering Svolvaer harbour.

We boarded the boat at about 7pm. It took ages to load the cars on to the ferry as each car was loaded individually. It most certainly was not a roll-on/roll-off ferry!

We pulled out of Svolvaer harbour right on schedule. We then heard that Reza and Ahmad had upgraded their cabin to a suite. When we saw their room, it provoked a few mutterings about 'how the other half lives'!!

We had boarded just in time for the second dinner sitting. The food was much better than I had expected, though the wines cost the normal Norwegian price of around £50 a bottle. It will be great to get back to the prices we pay for alcohol in the UK, and I always thought they were expensive - no more!!!

As we sailed down the south side of the island, we had some lovely views in the late evening.

 

The boat's first stop was at Stamsund, a small town near the end of the Lofoten Islands and a place we had bypassed on our way through the islands to A. During the night, we called into Bodo and Ones.

We both had a reasonable night's sleep and, apart from the noise of the engines, there was nothing to disturb us as the sea was as calm as a millpond. We met up with the others for breakfast and then spent the morning enjoying the scenery as further stops were made at Nesna, Sandnessjoen and Bronnoysund. You had the opportunity to get off the boat at each stop while it was being unloaded and loaded with cargo. I stayed onboard, but Wendy took a walk through Sandnessjoen.

One highlight was when we crossed the Arctic Circle at 66 degrees North. There is a globe placed on a small island to mark the line.

As we crossed the Circle, I took this shot of my Garmin showing the latitude. 

I couldn't understand why it was 1 degree further south than I thought it should be. Later, when we were on the bridge, I asked the navigation officer about this and he explained that the Arctic Circle is moving south each year, and will continue to do this for many years to come. It will then reverse and move back north. You learn something new every day!

The crew laid on cod liver oil and cloudberry wine. You needed the cloudberry wine to take away the taste of the cod liver oil! The oil was served on a stainless steel spoon engraved by Hurtigruten to celebrate crossing the Arctic Circle. 

 

 

After being north of the Arctic Circle for nine days, I'll be sad to leave. The light nights and the wide open spaces have been a wonderful experience.

The boat is a very large ferry, in fact the largest I have been on. To give a sense of its size, Wendy took this photo looking down into the central atrium, with its glass elevators.

The cabin corridor leading to our cabin and yes, that is me coming towards the camera.

On the upper deck are two hot tubs, one of which Kenny used last night at midnight. Perhaps that explains the happy look on his face as he smokes one of his giant Cuban cigars.

 

Kenny and me talking about our different cameras.

Approaching Bronnoysund and the bridge crossing the fjord In the background.

Docking at Bronnoysund.

I've spent some of the time today planning tomorrow's drive south from Trondheim, where the ferry docks. We have three ferries to catch along the route and, making sure we don't arrive just after a ferry has departed, is quite important, as we have another 500kms to go before we get to our hotel in Stryn.

This afternoon we visited the bridge of the Trollfjord. It cost us 80kr each and I wondered if it would be worth it. In the event it was. The Captain explained a lot about the ship and how it was steered. It was interesting to learn about the ship's propellers that can be rotated through 360 degrees, giving the ship great manoeuverability . We ended the tour receiving certificates of the visit from the Captain and then having a Captain's cocktail.

Our captain.

Two shots of famous Norwegian island mountains. Their names escape me at the moment! The second mountain has a cave which goes right through it and you can see the sky beyond.

Late in the afternoon the sun came out and I took this photo of the sea and islands lit up by the sunlight.

We have just heard that the ship is putting on a live showing of the Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona, in the conference centre. As Manchester knocked out Chelsea in the semi-finals, I think I'll cheer for Barcelona!

Before our evening meal, Reza and Ahmad hosted drinks in their suite, which had the curious name of 'Optimist'. It gave us an opportunity to take this group photo, with, from left to right: Bob, Lynn, Reza, Thelma (seated), Ahmad, Wendy, DeeAnne, me, Eric and Kenny.

We then had our evening meal and finished in time to watch the second half of the Barcelona v Manchester United match and, I am delighted to say, the best side won!

An early start tomorrow for our drive to Stryn, via the famous Atlantic Road. I just hope it lives up to all the hype of its being one of the great roads in the world.