Last Days at Sea

Wednesday 30^th May

We stopped at two ports in the early morning, Bodo and Ornes and at 9:16 we crossed over the Arctic Circle so we are, theoretically, back in temperate waters.  After the crossing, it was explained that being in Arctic waters we would have been lacking in Vitamin D and we had to line up for a dose of Cod Liver Oil and received an engraved fish shaped spoon as a souvenir.  The waitress and the tour director seemed to enjoy everyone’s dislike of the oil so after the ceremony was completed we grabbed them and gave them a dose of their own “medicine”.

After crossing the Arctic Circle we made a brief stop at Nesna but no one went ashore.  After lunch we went ashore at Sandnessjoen, the sun was shining as we docked but within two minute of setting foot on the dock it started hailing so we had a quick walk around town before returning to the ship for lunch.

Shortly after lunch we passed a mountain range known as the Seven Sisters, who were rather shy as they had covered their head with a veil of clouds and snow, these peaks are part of the Helgeland mountains and legend has it that seven sisters were dancing naked in the fjord but they forgot the sunrise and were turned to stone.

 

Sailing on we saw the ancient Alstahaug church dating from the 1100s with extensions added in 1865, the ship didn’t sail in close to the shore so we needed binoculars and a telephoto lens to view it.  Two hours later we docked at Bronnoysund with enough time for quick walk around the town, again in the rain.

After leaving the town, the Captain made a detour to allow us to view Torghatten Mountain which has a hole through it.  When the seven sisters escaped from their father, the king, he shot an arrow but the king of Bronnoy Island saw and threw his hat in the air to intercept the arrow and the hat fell in the sea and turned to stone and the hole is still visible.

Shortly after, we had our farewell dinner as a lot of passengers, including ourselves, are leaving tomorrow at Trondheim.  All the ship’s officers, the kitchen and dining room staff, joined with us in a toast to MS Vesteralen and we all enjoyed a “last supper” with the friends we had made during the trip.

Our last port of call today was Rorvick, the port that had all the wind generator parts stacked up on the wharf at our visit while travelling north, today there were only three blades left, so the others must have been assembled on the towers, we saw on a nearby island.  Walking around the town we noticed many gulls nesting on the sloping roofs of the houses, we’re not sure how they remained anchored but they usually nest on a cliff face soit may be easier to build a nest on a slope.

We returned to our cabin to pack as we have to vacate it by 8:00 tomorrow but only have to leave the ship before it sails at 10:00.

Dining Companions on the Vesteralen.

 

Thursday 31^st May

Because we had two hours before the ship sailed we took our time over breakfast saying goodbye to our new friends before we left the ship for the last time to drag our cases for 25 minutes to our hotel. 

As we were leaving the ship the Cunard liner, Queen Victoria was docking, not as big as the QM2.  Further out in the harbour we could see Monkholmen, The Monk’s Island, which was once Trondheim’s execution ground in ancient times before Benedictine Monks built a monastery in the 11^th century, later in the 17^th century a fort was built on the island.

Two years ago whilst in Copenhagen in the town hall we saw a lift labelled Gods elevator, in Trondheim it appears that you can also use a bike to get there as we saw a sign, “Godsterminal” with a bike illustration attached.  Funny people these Scandinavians!

Even though check in is not till 3:00 we were given the keys to our room at 10:30, a bonus.  The hotel doesn’t provide meals but it has a kitchen for its guests so we walked to a supermarket, a block away, and purchased our supplies for the next four days.

After lunch we went for a walk to the station to buy our tickets to Oslo on Monday and received a shock with the price.  When we checked on the web two days ago the Mini Pris, the cheapest ticket, was 199 Kroner, when we went to pay it was 399, apparently there are limits to the number of cheap tickets and when these are sold they jump to 299 Kroner and then 399, pity we didn’t know as we could have booked online.

Walking around the town it started to rain again and the wind was icy so we decided to have a quiet afternoon in our room and plan our next three days.