Day 15 At Sea Again

By morning, things have calmed down considerably and as usual, I join the regular early morning crafters. I can see myself doing more of this at home. Today, it is ribbon braiding, which, once you get the hang of it, is easier than some of our other projects. There’s another talk from the retired detective. This time, we are trying to solve a genuine unsolved murder from the 1930s. This has me wanting to utilise my family history skills to look up details of the main characters. Ron the detective says the name Qualtrough, which comes into the story, is common on the Isle of Wight. I doubt this at the time and it turns out is centred on the Liverpool area, so perhaps he meant Isle of Man.

There was hail on our balcony at lunchtime but we are all grateful for the calmer seas. Some of the lifts are playing up, so more exercise, rather than playing guess the lift, as we wonder which of the three in each bank of lifts will arrive first.

There was just time before craft to have a quick go at onboard curling. Winter Olympics this was not. It was not helped by the lurching boat as everyone’s ‘stone’ curved distinctly to the port. It was sad to attend my final craft session and say goodbye to my crafting buddies, Sandra and Barbara. We achieve our second ribbon braided card.

Day 16 Yes, Still At Sea

When we wake up, we are off the coast of Yorkshire, that would be quite a long way off but we see oil and gas rigs, as well as the occasional ship. When we go to breakfast, we can look to the east and see a large wind farm. I am my mother’s daughter, so I can pack efficiently in under ten minutes. I also travel light, so my single bag is under 13kg. I will admit though that I got the balance of thick and thin clothes wrong. We go to see the craft and art exhibition and our crafting efforts are getting a lot of positive attention; I think quite a few people now wish they’d joined us. I am still basking in and surprised by, Pam’s praise of my crafting skills and certainly, I seemed to get the hang of the various projects more quickly than most. Together with Sandra, I had been able to help others when the afternoon groups were a bit large for Pam and Paul.

We have plans to acquire enough for a packed lunch tomorrow and begin with bananas from the lunch offerings. I also have rather a large teabag stash, ready for teabag folding. We manage to squeeze in a talk about the wildlife of Norway from the Orca team and still have time for tea. This concentrates on birds. The fjords, which are 400-1300 metres deep, encourage wildlife that thrive in deep waters to come close to the coast in an area that is protected from the most severe storms. Phytoplankton, which are the bottom of the food chain, thrive. Phytoplankton produce 50% of our oxygen and absorb 40% of our carbon dioxide, so are critical to our survival. The over-fishing of herring in the 1960s had a devastating impact on seabirds. This can also allow jelly fish to bloom, which has a negative impact on the ecosystem.

We watch the sunset over the Essex coast, sad that our trip is over, although looking forward to a fully functioning shower and getting to grips with over 100 emails that I haven’t been able to just delete using my phone as they require some kind of action.

Day 17 Back Home

We have to vacate our cabin by 7.30. As we have opted to take our own luggage off in order not to miss our coach, we breakfast first. There are signs everywhere warning us that we can’t take our purloined sandwiches off the ship, so we have to abandon them in the cabin fridge. It turns out that you can wheel a one wheeled suitcase. We have travelled 3295 nautical miles and the 556 crew, predominantly from India and Indonesia, have looked after us very well.

Our lovely friends meet us once again and we are driven back past the sights of London to Victoria coach station. This looks very different to when we were here last time, in 2019. Our coach does not appear. It seems that, due to a different coach having a wheel issue, coaches are being swapped around. In the end a coach is found, a cheer goes up and we leave, half an hour after time. The drivers manage to make this up and after a 7½ hour journey we are back in Bideford on time. I can’t work out why the journey in this direction is an hour longer than the outgoing journey, even though the stops are slightly different. A taxi and then home to the piles of washing, a decent shower, a bed that doesn’t sway and a lot of work to catch up on.

Day 13 Not at Narvik

Today we should have been at Narvik looking at breathtaking nature. Instead, we are somewhere between Norway and Iceland, looking at a churning grey sea. The port we aren’t going to see was controlled by the Germans in 1940, as it enabled them to access Swedish iron ore. This strategically important location was the site of a sixty-two-day battle, the largest to take place on Norwegian soil. Allied British, French and Polish troops were victorious but there were 8500 casualties. We will get refunds for the cancelled excursion but those who opted to do their own thing will not. This is one advantage of going on the official trips, which are usually more expensive than making your own arrangements but the cruise-organised excursions have been quite reasonably priced on this cruise.

The weather overnight is truly awful, or possibly it feels worst because it is at night. I get very little sleep amongst the lurching, banging and crashing. I do take one of my emergency seasickness tablets ‘just in case’. People are ending up with porridge in their laps and Ambience’s crockery supply is rapidly diminishing. Chris retires to the cabin with a headache.

Today’s craft is frosted angels. There craft activities are very reasonably priced and great fun. I go back for more and I and another craft regular end up trying to help one of life’s moaners. We have already encountered this passenger on one of our excursions. She begins by reciting a long list of things that she is going to complain about. This craft is obviously going to be added to the list. She can’t see the beads properly but of course she doesn’t need glasses. It is making her headache, the whole thing is stressful. She’s intelligent she shouldn’t be so far behind but it seems that threading beads on to filament in a specific order is beyond her.

Although we are still encountering rough seas, things are calmer than they were last night, not that that is saying much. By this time most people have found their favourite positions in Borough Market, ours is near to the decaff coffee machine, as it is harder to get liquid safely from source to table than it is food. I consume vegetable curry.

Day 14 At Sea

After a much better night’s sleep, I am back for my 9.30am craft activity. Only the hardened crafters turn up for the early morning session, although afternoon sessions are usually full. Today, we are making bracelets to match the necklace that we made earlier in the cruise. After this, we listen to the retired detective, this time talking about his experiences as a hostage negotiator.

The captain is continually changing course to try to avoid the worst of the continuing storm but it is still pretty choppy. Whilst waiting at the reception desk, we encounter a passenger who is demanding that the captain be asked to stop the ship so that he can get off. He does look a bit rough but as he is dressed and out of his cabin and not in the medical facility, it doesn’t appear to be life threatening. We are currently somewhere between the Faeroes and Norway, I have no idea where he thinks the ship could stop.

Up in the casual dining at Borough Market, we have all become adept at catching crockery as it whizzes up and down tables, reminiscent of pints being flung along a bar in a Western. Today is something else, there’s an enormous lurch and heavy bar stools slide across the deck and tables crash over. A new on-board game of pick the cutlery off the floor multiple times is underway. A wheelchair user has tipped over and there’s an announcement for a stretcher party to attend the main restaurant. The weather is now worse than ever and Borough Market give up all attempts to safely provide meals and close early. The ship then has to slow right down an alter course slightly to allow two passengers to be helicoptered off. We are a long way from any coast, still equidistant between Norway, Iceland and the Faeroes, so this may be about the limit of a helicopter’s fuel capacity to get to us and then back to shore.

Day 11 Alta

Our excursion this morning is a cruise up the Altafjord, on the Sea Runner. Our guide is Valerie from Germany. We are quite a select group and the boat’s capacity is only forty-five. As we walk round to board, there are some white-beaked dolphin playing round the cruise ship. There are several sightings of them during our trip and I manage to get a photograph where they are recognisable as dolphin, along with plenty of pictures of the sea where they were a few seconds earlier. Again, it is not as cold as our multiple layers have prepared us for.

Valerie tells us of the access problems for some of the islands that only have a handful of inhabitants. Alta’s airport, which is right next to our ship, only has a short runway and cannot be extended. The harbour’s capacity is limited and ours is the largest ship that it can accommodate. Alta is expanding rapidly and there are issues getting construction materials to the city. It is popular with young families and the average age of the inhabitants is thirty. Valerie points out a reindeer boat. One of the Sami families uses this to take their reindeer herd to summer pasture. Previously, the reindeer would swim but they are often weak after the winter, so are now taken by boat. They are in much better condition after summer grazing and so can easily swim back.

We are back on board Ambience by lunchtime and have a lazy afternoon in the cabin, with occasional dolphin sightings. A leaflet is delivered to our cabin giving us our disembarkation time. We had based our coach booking on the time that the ship was due to dock. We should be ok but it would be a bit tight. We enquire about the options, thinking that we could perhaps book on the shuttle bus, which leaves earlier. This may or may not be possible. We then see that there is an option to leave the ship as soon as it is cleared by the port, if we carry our own luggage off. The first person we asked made no mention of this, thinking perhaps that no sane person would want to lift a case. We travel light and Chris’ heaviest item, his boots, will not be coming back with us as they’ve sprung a leak, so this should be easy. The weather is now what the captain calls ‘lively’ and free sea sickness tablets are being dispensed, which does not bode well. There are sick bags in strategic locations but it is unclear how these might be disposed of after use.

Day 12 At Sea

 It has indeed been lively overnight and only the hardy Few, that does of course include me, are in the restaurants for breakfast. Plates, cups and passengers are slipping and sliding and outside decks have been closed. I collect an emergency seasickness tablet and sick bag but don’t feel the need to use them. Chris heads off to the church service and I am back with Pam for more craft. This time, cool little pouches to hold a mirror and a clip thingy that will hold your bag on a table. I return to hear the astronomer in residence talk about the shipping forecast. This had the feel of ‘I need to cobble together another vaguely relevant talk, what can I find on Google?’. He tells us that the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux, are thought to guide ships to safety. Admiral Fitzroy, of barometer fame, gets a mention as does the Marconi Station built at Poldhu in 1901, which blew down a month later. The first radio telegraph station was set up at Bolt Head, Kingsbridge in 1908. The code for an emergency was initially CQD (Come Quick Danger), before it was replaced by SOS. Some shipping areas have been discontinued or merged and there are now thirty-one. The regular broadcast has a 350-word limit; at 00.48, when Trafalgar is included, an additional thirty words are allowed. The areas are always reported in the same order.

At lunchtime, comes the announcement that we will not be making our scheduled stop tomorrow as we’ve had to go more slowly than normal and have taken a more westerly route to try to avoid the worst of the weather. I have some concerns that I told my nearest and dearest that I’d be in touch tomorrow and now I won’t but there’s nothing I can do.

I go back for the repeat craft session and manage to make two more pouches, so have some for gifts.

The weather is increasingly rough and staff members are heard to say that it is the worst they’ve ever known.

Day 9 Tromsǿ

I’ll admit that a late-night trip followed by an early start wasn’t great planning; this is exacerbated by the fact that I’ve had a really bad night, so have been awake since about 3am. It is raining as we set out at 8.30am for a trip billed as ‘Idyllic Sommarǿy’. This time we are in group one led by Lucia who is studying both history and marine biology at the university, which seems an unusual combination. Sommarǿy was an area that was used for summer cattle grazing, hence the name. It is also a busy fishing village, located on an island to the west of Tromsø.

We pass the large hospital, that is the biggest employer in the city; the next nearest hospital is a seventeen-hour drive away. We cross the Sandnessund Bridge that links the island of Troms to Kvaløy or Whale Island, heading for the Arctic island of Sommarøy. We are driving through some beautiful scenery, which is somewhat marred by mist and rain. Tromsǿ was a centre for the export of salt cod, which predominantly went to Catholic countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. We are excited to see three sea otters and later some reindeer. Reindeer are free range but are owned by Sami groups. There are 500 wild bears in Norway, all of which are recorded and protected. This contrasts with 5000 in neighbouring Finland. ‘Viking’ is now sometimes erroneously regarded as an ethnicity but it is really an activity carried out by the Norse or North men. It literally means to travel from bay to bay in order to trade. It is pointed out that, if we have bought souvenirs on our trip, we have been a-Viking.

There are fewer than 600 inhabitants on Sommarǿy. We arrive at the hotel and despite the rain, I fully intend to go on the forty-minute guided walk that is on offer. On getting out of the coach, I discover that the wind is so strong that I can barely keep on my feet, so I abandon this idea and after a quick look at the fishing fleet, we remain in the hotel and the coach. As we head back to port, a message comes through to say that we have left someone behind. To be fair to this person, we did leave slightly early, having been counted and deemed to all be present. We begin to retrace our steps. Fortunately though, a second trip has arrived at Sommarǿy and the missing passenger can return with them. I suspect that the Ambassador representative who counted us on our trip may be in trouble.

There is more to learn about the area. There is a significance to the traditional painted houses. Red is the predominant colour, dating from when the wood was preserved by coating it with fish blood. White was reserved for the most prestigious homes, as it was imported. The more of your home that was painted white, the higher your status. Historically, the traders were wealthier than the farmers and fishermen, now the money is in fishing. Present generations are likely to live in houses that are the same colour as those of their ancestors, even if they are now of a different social standing. Some houses in northern Norway are built with vertical planks and some with horizontal. This reflects the building style in the ports with which they traded. Bergen is very wet, so horizontal planks are used. This means that, when the bottom of the houses start to rot, one or two planks can be replaced. Vertical planks would mean that every plank would need to be renewed. Ports that regularly traded with Bergen copy this style. We also see duck houses, which are built to encourage eider ducks to nest, so that their feathers can be used. Like us, Norway’s royal family are under a bit of a cloud at the moment, with the step-son of the crown prince in court and Epstein links also tainting the Norwegian royals.

We make a photo stop to see some rock carvings that are between 4000 and 6000 years old. When they were discovered in the 1950s and 1960s, the outlines were coloured in to make them easier to see, this impacts on their authenticity and the paint is not now renewed. We are already running a little late due to starting to return for the missing passenger and there are further delays when we are pulled over for a spot check by the police. It seems that there have been instances of, for example, drivers not having the equivalent of the PSV licence and of coaches being sub-standard.

After lunch, I catch up on some sleep in the cabin. Evening meal today was salad for me and roast turkey for Chris.

Day 6 Monday Trondheim

We arrive in Trondheim about 7.00am. This was Norway’s first capital and is its third largest city. It was founded in 997 by King Olaf Haraldson who was later sanctified. It was an ideal situation for a capital and trading station, as it is equidistant between the north and south of the country but also accessible to Sweden and Britain. The settlement was initially named Nidaros but became Trondheim during the four hundred years of Danish occupation. After independence, in 1814, the inhabitants were given the choice of which name they wanted to adopt and Trondheim narrowly won, on the understanding that signage would be in Norwegian and not Danish. Much of Trondheim was rebuilt after a fire in 1842 and tiled roofs replaced turf and planks. Trondheim was fortunate to escape World War 2 bombing.

More coffee machine struggles at breakfast and I indulge in my first cooked breakfast of the cruise. A slightly later start for us today but at 10.30am, we join Jonathan in group 4A. Jonathan is one of 45,000 students at Trondheim university, Norway’s largest, studying pure maths. He moved to Norway from the Congo some years ago. One of the marine conservationists on board is accompanying our tour as the representative of Ambassador. It turns out that she was born in Croydon, as was I.

We are guided around Trondheim on a two hour walk and learn of its history. I was concerned that this might be chilly, so have donned my thermal leggings and fluffy boots. All I can say is that it is a good job I didn’t opt for the thermal top and thick trousers as well. I am saving those for when we get above the arctic circle. For the first part of our walk, the sun was shining and I was slowly melting. At no point did I feel the need for my hat or gloves.

As parts of Norway are very inaccessible, several dialects are spoken. Now there are two main languages and ‘New Norwegian’ was developed after research into the various dialects. We pass the Stiftsgården royal residence, built in the 1770s in a baroque style. Although this is not designated as a palace, it does contain a throne room, as, traditionally, coronations take place in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, after which the new monarch has to sit on a throne. With 140 rooms, it is Europe’s largest wooden royal residence. At the end of Danish occupation, Norway had no surviving royal family, so Denmark gave them their ‘spare’ who became king.

Our walk takes us along Munkegata, which leads to Munkholmen Island, the site of a former monastery that became a prison after the Reformation. The road was a direct route from the island to the cathedral. I am fascinated by the elaborate manhole covers. There is a statue of Olaf Tryggvason, the city’s founder, in the large market square; this is actually a sundial. There are spectacular carvings on the outside of Nidaros Cathedral, which was begun in 1070 and was built over King Olaf’s grave. It became a place of pilgrimage. Our arrival coincides with the lengthy chiming for midday, which holds up Jonathan’s spiel somewhat. Some of the cathedral’s builders were British and French, which accounts for the cathedral’s style. The building was deliberately never completed as legend says that the world will end when it is finished.

We cross the Red Bridge, known as the ‘portal of happiness’. You are supposed to kiss in the centre to ensure a lengthy relationship; we neglect to do this. We also see the world’s only bicycle elevator, designed to take bicycles up a very steep hill, with the rider still in the saddle; this is only operational in summer.

We the board an open, wooden boat, Freya, built in 1994 and piloted by Siri, for a trip along the River Nidelva, passing the colourful wharves, some of which date from the eighteenth century. These are now mostly luxury apartments or restaurants and survived the fire by virtue of being on the far side of the river, in an area known as Bakklandet. There are open spaces between the wharves where non-citizens were allowed to trade. The cruise ends at Ravnkloa, which is the site of an historic fish market, unfortunately there is no sign of this now.

We arrive back onboard in time for a lateish lunch and I was looking forward to another siesta. It was not to be. As I am still in port, I have email access on my phone. I am being invited to apply for an additional role in connection with the job that we must not mention. The closing date is before I return home. This means that I have to make the application, including a 500 word personal statement, using my phone. I have fat fingers and avoid typing on my phone if I can, so this is a nightmare. Added pressure is that the ship has sailed and unless I can finish this before we exit the fjord, I will lose signal and have to start again. There is no way to save a half-started application. I find this out the hard way and have already had three false starts, necessitating repeatedly answering questions about nationality, sexuality and disability. By the time I’ve composed the statement on my laptop and laboriously and one fingeredly copied it into my phone, I feel in need of a stiff gin; just a shame that I almost never drink.

I am not very inspired by the evening meal options and have ham and chips, while Chris has roast pork. We have decided to try out some evening entertainment for once. This takes place in the Purple Turtle bar, which I keep referring to as the Purple Penguin or the Purple Parrot. None of those creatures are purple anyway. First is a trivia quiz. We come joint second with 12/15, which they like to call 120/150 for some reason. I was helped by two hints from the people sharing our table and the fact that a third of the quiz was on the specialist subject of board games. One question was where did chess originate? Thanks to Edward, I am able to put India, rather than China, which is what most people have said. My failures were the name of the actor who played Ken in the Barbie movies, nope, no clue and the most popular Dickens book. I, along with most people, put A Christmas Carol but it was A Tale of Two Cities.

Next, was what was billed as a murder mystery and in the spirit of throwing myself into things, I volunteered to be a suspect. This basically meant trying to remember what various witnesses had said, until I was voted out by the murderer. This was all very much end of the pier, slapstick type stuff and although the young actors did their best, it wasn’t really our thing, especially as there was a long gap between the quiz and the murder and we’d probably both rather have been asleep. I suspect this may be our last attempt at an evening activity.

Day 5 Åndalsnes, Romsdalsfjord

We are travelling up Romsdalsfjord as we wake up and soon, we anchor at Åndalsnes, surrounded by mountains. In April 1940, British troops landed here and 160 buildings were destroyed during the bombing raids. Twenty-six tons of Norwegian gold were shipped out of Oslo, via Åndalsnes, during the war, to be stored in Britain and then North America. Åndalsnes was the railway terminus. Now, the significant industry is furniture and textiles.

Our tour group today is group one, with Roxanne from Michigan. While we are waiting to depart, we watch the ship’s windows being cleaned; this looks like a precarious process. We board the coach near the unusual-shaped building that houses the climbing wall museum. We drive alongside the Rauma river, noted for salmon, with towering mountains on either side. The river is still frozen in places. Mount Romsdalshorn is on our left and the Trolltindane peaks are on our right; both are over 5000 feet high. The HEP infrastructure can be seen. We stop at Slettafossen waterfall, perhaps less impressive than it might be, as it is frozen. I intended to change my shoes from my softer trainers to my more substantial trainers before leaving the ship but I have neglected to do this. It is eight degrees and a little icy underfoot but fortunately we don’t have to walk far today. Silver birch, Scot’s Pine and golden coloured grass are features of the landscape. The tree line stops at 600 metres. The area is renowned for its strawberries and farming. I drag the word transhumance from the O level geography depths of my mind. Goats in particularly are kept for their milk and cheese making.  

Having passed the Trollveggen (Troll Wall), a vertical, overhanging rock face over 3000 foot high, on the way out, we pause here for a photo stop on the way back. The legend is that the king of the trolls held a wedding party for his daughter on the top of the cliffs and so distracted were they with dancing that the dawn came up and they turned to stone, creating the peaks on the top of the cliffs. Here, we are in the Reinheimen National Park, which was created in 2006 to protect the biological diversity that is found in the area; it is the third largest national park in Norway. The name means home of the reindeer but we don’t see any. The reindeer were vital to the hunter gatherers who first settled here after the end of the last ice age, about 8000-9000 years ago.

Photographs taken, we cross the Sogge Bridge into the Isterdal Valley, viewing the King, Queen and Bishop peaks. We were supposed to view the Trollstigen (Trolls’ Path), a winding road with eleven narrow, hairpin bends carved into the mountainside. This feat of engineering won awards when it was constructed in 1901. Unfortunately, the road has been blocked by a fall of snow, so we can’t see this and the coach driver has to reverse more than a mile back up a single-track road before he is able to turn. We stop at the Trollstigen holiday complex, with its carved wooden trolls.

The area is noted for its stave churches, constructed from wood in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, often without the use of nails and incorporating wooden staves but these are as elusive as the reindeer. Returning to the port, we have a quick look round but almost everything is shut as it is Sunday. We see the iconic Golden Train and a chapel that is an old railway carriage. Inside, the crucifix is fashioned from pieces of track and the altar is made from sleepers. The altarpiece is symbolic; a tear of blood represents sacrifice and the lifegiving force, the fountainhead of the river of life. Continuing the eating too much theme, I have something that passes for a meal at lunchtime, a rather odd vegetable patty and chips, whilst my companion has roast beef. I also have a kiwi cheesecake that I am counting as one of my five a day. The decaff coffee machine is on the blink; this was also an issue yesterday but it seems to give up its hissy fit after a while. We are thankful that we opted for a cabin with a balcony; we’ve never had so much as a window on previous cruises, mainly because we were busy on sea days and spent very little time in our cabin. This time, the balcony has definitely been worth the additional money. It is even sunny and warm enough for Chris to sit out there for a short while. I confess to having a siesta in the afternoon, followed by beef bourginon for an evening meal, as well as more wrestling with the coffee machine. This time, Chris has bream. 

Just as a warning to those who are following along, there were seventeen days to this holiday and you may need to hold on to your seats,

Day 4 Ålesund

We wake up in time to see us drifting into the first port, which is Ålesund. Today, we are part of group three and our designated trip takes us through Ålesund, via a series of tunnels and bridges, to the islands of Giske and Godǿy. To be honest, I am not the world’s greatest fan of tunnels and some of these are quite long but I manage. We learn that blasting tunnels proved to be cheaper than building bridges. The tunnels are seventy-four metres below the level of the fjord. When they were first built in the 1990s, tolls were payable on both bridges and tunnels but once the construction costs were paid for, they became free. Taxes are at twenty-three percent, half of which goes to central government and half is local taxes, the equivalent of council tax. Good use was made of the excess granite from creating the tunnels, including as the basis for reclaimed land.

Our guide is Rudolph, of German and South African extraction and he asks us not to mention reindeer.  Ålesund is renowned for its Art Nouveau architecture, as much of the town was rebuilt after a serious fire in 1904, which fortunately resulted in only one casualty. One house, known as ‘the miracle house’ did not burn. Kaiser Wilhelm frequently holidayed here, so sent aid after the fire. It was stipulated that rebuilding must not be of wood but there was a lack of knowledge about building with alternatives. Expertise came from other European nations, notably France, hence the adoption of the Baroque, Art Nouveau style. Carvings of fish and dragons are a testament to old Norse heritage.

Rudolph imparts various nuggets of information about Norway. The population is about 5·8 million, 43,000 of whom live on the seven islands that make up Ålesund. It is Norway’s largest fishing harbour, with fifty percent of Norwegian salt cod exports leaving from here. Salmon is also exported, mostly to Japan. You are only able to buy up to 4·5 proof beer and cider in Norwegian supermarkets; anything stronger has to come from the equivalent of an off licence and these are government owned. There is also no ‘to the door’ postal delivery; letters are collected from boxes at the end of the street and parcels from the post office. Displaying flags is common in Norway but they have to be taken down by 9pm. There is no charge for water, only for waste water, when tanks are emptied. With the benefit of hydro-electric power, much of Norway’s power and transport is electric. The country was relatively poor until the discovery of North Sea oil and gas in the 1970s. Brown cheese is popular; it is made from goat and cow milk and is caramelised, hence the colour. Here, silage is wrapped in white plastic, giving the bales the nickname Trolls’ marshmallows, or alternatively, tractor eggs.

Giske, pronounced Yishker, is known as the ‘Saga Island’ and is famous for being the birthplace of the Viking Chieftain, Rollo, who was given Normandy by Charles the Simple of France in the hope that he would protect France from incursions by other Northmen. Rollo is potentially an originator of the Braund family. Giske is very flat, with just one hill at twenty-five metres above sea level. We arrive at Giske Church, which was built about 1130. It is Norway’s only marble church. Some of the marble is local, some came from Italy. It was probably ballast when ships returned from selling fish. The marble is covered in plaster to protect it from the salt air.

Enid is waiting to tell us about the impressive wooden carvings inside the church. By the eighteenth century, the church had fallen into disrepair and restoration began in 1756. A twenty-two-year-old man carved the altarpiece depicting scenes from the crucifixion to the ascension. The same carver, Jacob, produced the pulpit in the 1790s and both these were painted in 1801, using paint mixed by ‘Altarpieces Jacob’, who also carved altars elsewhere. They were later over painted in white, as the colours were thought to be a distraction but in the 1930s, the colours were redone, using Jacob’s recipes. There is also an altar cloth that dates from 1688 but this is too fragile to display. Outside, there is one of only six of the country’s protected gravestones, thought to belong to the church’s builder. Giske was a place of pilgrimage and crosses on the outside wall are believed to have been carved by fourteenth century pilgrims. The church has been Lutheran since the Reformation in 1536. Graveyards can’t be reused in Norway but fortunately there is space to spread. Rudolph is of the opinion that the idea of Viking boat funerals is a myth.

We see a few of the historic, turf-roofed houses. Next, a brief sighting of some reindeer as we drive to the island of Godøy and the small fishing village of Alnes, site of the twenty-two-metre-high lighthouse, built in 1937. Then it was home via the island of Heissa. We go back to the ship for lunch and then walk round the town by ourselves, managing to acquire some sew on badges for my collection. There are several carved, plaster or wooden trolls on street corners.

Having sampled afternoon tea yesterday, it seemed rude not to do so again. My companion has what is billed as a cream tea, although the clotted cream isn’t quite what he is used to. Definitely more by luck than as a result of any informed choice, we have picked what for us seems to be an ideal cabin up the blunt end of deck 10, two floor down from the casual dining and three floors up from the main lecture hall. Despite no longer having stairs at home, three floors worth of stairs seems doable and helps to counteract the effects of the amount we seem to be eating. It is four floors down to the craft room, that’s when I decide that I prefer to take the lift.