Day 14 - Leisurely day sailing the fjords

Leisurely day

The sea was very rough overnight as we sailed from the Lofoten Islands towards Bodo on the mainland and there was a lot of noise as things moved about in cupboards and as the ship hit large waves.  Therefore it took a long time to get any sleep as it felt like we were on a roller coaster at times.  The high winds and waves continued until mid afternoon and we were later told that the wind speed had been an average of 7 on the Beaufort scale and had risen at times to 10 which seems to be quite high as the maximum is 12.

There was another ceremony as we crossed the arctic circle but this time it did not involve any ice.  We were offered a spoonful of cod liver oil, which they marketed as the “Viagra of the north”.  Paul had initially refused to take part until he saw that all those taking part were being given a very nice Hurtigruten spoon and soon realised that he would never hear the end of it if I took mine and he didn’t.  So we are coming home with 2 new spoons.

Ships officers waiting for the moment we cross south 

from the arctic circle

The arctic circle marker - no snow on the island now

Paul taking his cod liver oil

There were no long stops scheduled for today and we had no excursions booked which was just as well as it has been extremely windy today.  Not a cold wind as it was quite comfortable to go outside without a coat, but a very strong wind which forced the ship to cancel the stops at Nesna, Sandnessjaen and Bronnoysund so any photos of these ports are from a long distance.  Bronnoysund is exactly halfway between the most northerly point (North cape) and the most southerly (Lindesnes) in Norway.  Todays talk was on Myths, Legends and Folklore of Norway which, as usual, was very interesting and funny at times.

We did see the 7 sister mountain range near Sandnessjaen although there was quite a lot of cloud on the mountain tops.  There were 2 mountains in the sunshine on the opposite side of the ship which looked very impressive.  What we did notice as we moved south today was the gradual reduction of snow as we are now seeing more grass and bare rock on the islands and on the shoreline.

The seven sisters mountain range

Mountains opposite the seven
 sisters

We also saw a mountain with a hole right through it called Torghatten.  The hole is 160m long and around 30m high and 22 m wide.  Norwegian folklore says that this was the Kings hat that he had thrown towards the seven sisters to protect them from an evil troll who was looking for a wife.  An angry troll who was woken by the noise fired an arrow at the hat and all were turned to stone.  The more logical reason is that the mountain was pushed upwards after a period sitting at a lower level during which time the sea had gradually worn a hole through its layers of rock.

Torghatten - mountain with hole through the middle

The farewell dinner was held this evening as some guests are leaving tomorrow at Trondheim.  We were given a glass of champagne on arrival and were joined by the Captain and many of the staff.


Rorvik - our only stop today
We did stop at Rorvik this evening - the only stop of the day so we got off the ship and had a walk around the town which seems to thrive on the Cod fishing industry.  The town is spread over a large area and there wasnt a lot to see near the Hurtigruten dock except for several supermarkets and a pub which was closed.  We found a few shops but not what you would call a town centre.  We also got caught in a short sharp snow storm which was almost like hail at times.  It left a covering on the ground within 30 seconds.

Rorvik Town Centre

Bench outside of town after short snow storm