Day 6 (Fri 15th Mar) - Hammerfest to Berlevag

I've realised I forgot to mention the captains's little lesson which took place outside on deck 8 last night. We have seen fish drying on racks as we have been travelling around - the captain wanted to teach us a little more about this. He explained how the fish is gutted and hung up to dry in February/March and left there until May. After that it is taken down and salted. He showed us how hard the fish becomes by banging it on a table and joked that the police use them as truncheons. Then one of the crew members demonstrated exactly how hard it is .. by chopping it with an axe as if it was wood! However, despite all the joking around, when they passed round samples it was surprisingly tasty :-)

Something else I forgot to mention is some of the characters you meet on cruises. There was one guy I christened "Mr Tour Guide". I think he left the ship at Tromso as I have not seen him for a day or two. But he seemed to wander around with a sheaf of papers under his arm and behaved as if he was in charge, collaring people to speak to them. If you caught his eye he would buttonhole you to pass on whatever gems of information he thought you might need to know. It must have been a very good act as I heard more than one person ask him if he WAS a tour guide.

We have also bumped into someone a couple of times who I have christened "Mr Been there, seen that, done that, eaten that". He and his wife .. mostly referred to by him as "the wife" .. are keen walkers. He was interested in hearing how we had walked the Thames Path and were planning to walk The Ridgeway. But was much more keen to tell me how he has walked the Pennine Way and how 'hard' it was compared to what I have done. He is ex-Army and if given the chance he will regale you with tales of where he has been, what he has seen and what he has eaten. We have ended up at the same table over lunch a couple of times and had to listen to his tales. And each time he finishes off by asking . "Do you think this ship is too hot as well?". 

We docked at Honningsvag earlier today and our excursion was to North Cape. This is the most northerly part of mainland Europe. It is a 30km drive from the port and on a plateau 300 metres above the sea. As you can imagine, with the amount of snow they have here the journey could be difficult if not impossible at times. But we were blessed with brilliant sunshine and light winds. I heard one of the guides saying how lucky we were as only last week the conditions were blizzards. But even with the good weather, our five coaches had to travel the last 10kms up the road in a tight convoy behind a snow plough.

The scenery all around was stunning and I took the obligatory photos of the globe on the cliff of North Cape. With the sun shining in my eyes and the cold wind, I'll be surprised if I managed to smile .. it's more likely to be a grimace of some sort. While I was having a hot chocolate afterwards some people nearby seemed to be getting excited and were pointing out to sea. They were too far away to see them properly but from the spouts of water shooting into the air it was obvious this was a group of whales just offshore. The tour guide said afterwards it is the first time he has ever seen whales offshore at North Cape in the 39 years he has been here and the locals thought they were minke whales.

We should be passing a spectacular sea cliff called "Finn Church" in around 15 minutes time. And then we are promised the "cardinal" of the church will be coming aboard with some king crabs.

(to be continued ...)

Well, the sun had almost set as we reached Finn Church so the photos weren't quite as spectacular as hoped because the light was fading. And the "cardinal" of the church was obviously just one of the local fishermen. However, the king crabs were just as big as expected .. their body the size of a mans outstretched hand and each of the legs almost a foot long.

As it's Friday night I decided after dinner it must be time to go shopping. So I have just been to spend my complimentary NOK 250 for taking part in the focus group yesterday. Some "Hunting The Light" t-shirts caught my eye and I managed to find the only one in XL size. Just in time as it happened .. as I was paying I heard an American lady behind me enquiring if they had any t-shirts in XL??

The forecast for the northern lights has improved from 2 to 3 (on a scale of 1 to 9). So shortly I will be organising my outdoors gear and getting it ready at the end of the bed in case the lights appear again tonight.