Time to come home

Glasgow hop-on hop-off allowed us to maximise our city exploring so we spent the best part of the day looking around, including the impressive Glasgow university building that was used in part for Hogwarts, a National Trust tenement house and a general wander through the streets. 

As the trip draws to a close we have decided to spend two nights in the Lakes district and two nights in Yorkshire before driving down to Manchester to catch the first flight heading back to home. 

The drive down to Windermere in the Lakes was spectacular, particularly the dry stone walls that were going up hills that were seemingly impossible and stretched for miles. You had to admire the effort that had gone into their construction and I really doubt that the photos can do it justice. We have a nice little bnb for a couple of nights and there is another Tasmanian staying here! The first Tasmanian we have met in three months and we didn’t know her. She was however a retired teacher who lives in Austin’s Ferry and travelling alone so it was nice to talk about home.

We spent the day driving around the lake and took in a bit of Beatrix Potter by looking through her home and one of the properties she owned that was in original condition.

Our drive over to Pocklington was leisurely thanks to some tips from the BnB owner meaning we stayed off the motorway. The first town we stopped at was Harrogate for a wander and coffee. There were some lovely Roman Baths but not this time. Next stop Knaresborough a lovely medieval town that we stumbled across including Mother Shiptons Cave. Apparently she was a prophetess who lived in the cave and predicted the great fire of London and the end of the world when the “town bridge falls thrice” it has fallen twice already so particular attention is now paid to the current bridge that has been strengthened and is closely monitored. Adjacent to the cave was a limestone spring that has the highest mineral content in the water for all of Europe. Tradition was to hang objects under the dripping water and they were turned to stone in just three months. Hanging there today was rows of teddy bears and other interesting objects including shoes and hats. The museum next door has stone artefacts from celebrities including John Wayne’s hat that have been turned to stone. 

Lunch beside the river was entertaining thanks to the small row boats you can hire. Of particular mention were the Asians who had absolutely no idea and managed to get to the other side but kept rowing forward despite the bow being up against the bank. Other honerable mention goes to the attempts made to swap seats for photos. We climbed the hill to the ruins of yet another castle to get a good photo of a nice viaduct over the river and then wandered through the town and back to the car. Would recommend this little place to anyone in the region. 

Our AirBnB is 20 minutes out of York in a little town called Pocklington but a really lovely little cottage with fire, washing machine and cooking facilities - right up there with the best of them. A day in York was easily filled including a walk around the city walls, a stroll through the old alley ways of Shambles, poking your head into York Minster cathedral and a climb to Cliffords Tower. Exhausted would be a fair description of how we are feeling!

Our last day and we wake up to snow! Definitely must be time to go home..... en route to Manchester we stopped for a couple of hours at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. A lovely find and despite the weather we walked around the lake in awe of the sculptures and could easily have spent more time but it was time to get rid of the car and repack our bags ready for the early morning flight to Abu Dhabi. Bonus for us was the end of Daylight Savings so an extra hour in bed but still up at 5.30.

7 hours flight time and all went well until we were heading for the taxi....... yep we got scammed and ended up in a private taxi/limo and paid four times more than we should have but we were tired and hadn’t really done enough research or understood the conversion rate from Dirham to Aus dollars so it wasn’t until we were seated that we did the maths and realised we didn’t have enough local currency and credit card was not an option. Plan B was some Aussie dollars and then put it down to experience. 

Alcohol in the United Arab Emirates is up there with Norwegian prices so we immediately regretted not buying a couple of wines on our way through the terminal.

We are both pretty tired and therefore keen for an early night 9 30 pm local time but 5.30 UK time. Slept in as we are in a resort after all. Then a leisurely breakfast and a stroll to the beach for a dip in the ocean. Having left Manchester at 6 degrees it was nice to open the door to a balmy 30 degrees. And I believe the water temperature was also 30. Back to the pool at the hotel and then off on our desert safari for some 4 wheel driving , BBQ dinner and some entertainment. The pickup was in a Toyota Landcruiser and Robyn and I were initially put over the back with some snotty nosed arrogant Hungarian 14 Year old sitting in the front seat.... At the first stop the driver was pretty keen to swap us around as my knees were up around my ears and the bloody kid had slept most of the way! He cracked the shits and wouldn’t go over the back to let Robyn in the middle but at least I was able to sit in the front for the main game-  a thrilling 45 minutes playing around in the sand dunes with another 30 odd Landcruisers. Quite an adrenaline rush and heaps of fun. The dinner and show were good value and we were back in the hotel 5 hours after we left around 8.30.

A reasonably early start to day 2 just so we could fit in as much of the hop-on hop-off bus tour. The full circuit is close to 5 hours and the 24 hour pass comes in just under $100 each so we were keen to get as much in as possible. First stop was the Grand Mosque, simply stunning with the biggest dome on a Mosque in the world, one of the biggest Chandeliers in the world. 10 feet tall and 10 feet wide and over 4 million Swarovski crystal’s used in the 4 chandeliers. In keeping with the theme of bigger is better we were also treated to the worlds largest carpet (made by over 100 Iranian women and weighing 45 tons) and later in the day some rather impressive buildings including the  largest building with the greatest lean (purposely constructed)

All in all it was a good tour but we would have benefited from a second day but in reality we are too buggered to even consider another 5 hours doing the circuit again. Nice dinner but at $120 for a bottle of Wolf Blass RED label we passed on the wine....

Our last day was simply a sleep in followed by a trip to the beach and then lazing around the pool.

Well that’s it 100 days of adventure. Loved our first few couple of weeks in Ireland and the great little pubs with traditional and contemporary Irish folk music, gorgeous little towns, windy roads and a few castles.

Wales was beautiful and we could have easily spent some more time in the Snowdonia, the Brecon Beacons and explored more of the coastline. And a few castles.

England was great to catch up with friends I haven’t seen in a long time  (29 Years since I taught with Martin Allen and Mark Burks. A great week with Mike and Eilis in London. A bit of London sightseeing and a few castles.

Stunning scenery in Norway and the most incredible waterfalls, fiords, tunnels. The Hurtigruten was definitely worth the money and a bonus Aurora Borealis and wild Reindeer were two very special moments. Did I mention some castles?

Denmark will be remembered for it’s bridges, the Viking experiences. And more castles!

Sweden where we got to blow glass take in some Viking experiences including the Standing Stone Viking ship, a moose. And a castle or two!

Scotland was “Norway in widescreen “ stunning scenery, tourist drives and island experiences. The Isle of Lewis for the Standing Stones, Isle of Harris for Harris Tweed and the Isle of Sky. And yes a couple of castles including a personal favourite Doune castle where Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Outlander were filmed.

So much in such a short time but now it is time to go home. Just a short 14 hour flight!!!! To Melbourne. Up at 6am Thursday in Abu Dhabi - 14 hours later land in Melbourne at 4:30am Friday. Then just a short wait for our flight to Hobart at 8:25am. Think there will be a little catch up sleep required at some point. 

A fabulous adventure seeing so many amazing things but looking forward to getting home and seeing friends and family and of course sleeping in our own bed. 

Island hopping

Once again we find ourselves a few days behind in the blog. Since the last post we have done our best to fit as much in to a day as possible but as we close in on the finish line we can only dream of a few days in Dunalley doing absolutely nothing....

Our first stop was the Isle of Lewis off the west coast of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides, we were keen to check out the standing stones at Calanais on the other side of the Island from where the ferry docked at Stornaway. Not really a problem given the size of the island but it was definitely on a single vehicle track road with mostly conveniently placed, passing points. The stones themselves were pretty impressive. There were three main sites but as we have discovered there are sites dotted all over the Uk and Ireland. The origin and design are not clear but there are similarities to others but little is known. They were predominantly covered in Peat prior to being dug out and protected for future generations. We did all three sites as they were easily accessible and free......

Next stop was a Broche Round House ruin just up the road. An amazing example of Medieval architecture. All that is left is a shell of a building but still enough to give us an insight into the construction techniques including the twin walled rock structure with internal staircases and storage spaces. We finished the day with a wander through the Black House Village and a return to the port of Stornoway via a Northern loop of the island.

Leaving Lewis and heading to the Isle of Harris you would expect to travel over a bridge or via a ferry to transit from one Island to another but there was no distinction between the two “islands” other than a sign in the road on the mountain. Even the local tourist agency was unable to fill us in on why the two names were given for a single island! The only differentiation we were able to find was that Harris comes from a Gaelic word for mountains and there certainly is that differentiation between Lewis - largely flat and Harris _ very mountainous and hilly. We found ourselves driving from sea level to mountain top and back to sea level within minutes. The Isle of Harris is where Harris Tweed comes from, in fact, it can only be called Harris tweed if it is made on the Island. (given the fact I own a Range Rover it would be wrong of me not to get some appropriate attire for driving around Dunalley) We visited a Tweed shop in Stornoway as well as an exhibition centre on the History of Harris Tweed and it turned out to be a good decision because had we waited until we got to Harris we would have been even more disappointed than we were as one of the weavers (Yes there are many individual weavers who work from home under licence had passed away) so all the retail outlets and weaving showrooms were closed for the day!

Our accommodation on Harris was an old seaside fisherman’s cottage of the shore beside a small bay in Manish. Great little place but no windows on the shore side meaning you would have to sit outside in order to appreciate the rugged beauty of the bay. Too bloody cold and wet for that! But they did provide some outdoor chairs!

Early start for the 6.20 ferry that was 20 minutes up the road in pitch black on one of the windiest and narrow single lane roads ever known to mankind. (It is locally known as the Golden Road due to the cost to build but seriously it is one lane wide and follows the natural landscape. ) Plenty of sheep to navigate (not that they were at all bothered - mostly didn’t move) but thankfully no other cars. On arrival at the ferry terminal we got the text message from the ferry company that our sailing had been delayed by 2 hours.... Yep, our isolated accommodation was also without phone or wifi so we didn’t get the memo that everyone else had received. The town of Tarbert has a pub a grocery shop and a few Harris Tweed outlets but of course none of that is going to help you at 6.30 in the morning. We convinced the manager of the pub to get us a coffee and a bacon sandwich around 7.30 so at least we had something to eat and kill a bit of time.

Isle of Skye

The ferry comes in to Uig in the North and our accomodation is a little over half way down the East Coast at Broadford so the best option is to take in as much of the North and East as possible to avoid backtracking the following day. 1st stop the Fairy Glen for a lovely walk around some small mountains, very scenic but obviously a few other tourists around to get in the way of your photos. En-route to the Kilt Waterfall we stumbled on an Ironage farm structure - actually for storage - that hadn’t been in any of our guide books but it was discovered by a farmer when the tractor wheel broke through a lintel in a paddock and then followed a community project to dig it out and open it up for us to visit. Just a donation and no one anywhere to be seen. Unfortunately the rains that have been playing havoc on us lately had found there way into the entrance so that was as far as we got. Apparently it is 15 metres long and varies between 800 and 1500 mm high so we would have had to crawl through the mud in order to get inside. Next time! 

Kilt Waterfall was great although i did lose my sh*t with another tourist who pinched my car park so i gave him a serve and then put it behind me. 

Next was a scenic walk to an old site where they mined minerals used in production of dynamite, great little walk and very scenic but..... rain! And by the time we got back to the car we were soaked, bugger.

A little further down the road and just starting to dry out we came across the mountainous “old man of Stor” - an outcrop of basalt rock structures off to the side of the road but up a hill, do we or don’t we? It was only a Km, but it looked like more showers were coming. Bugger it, lets do it! Kilometre my ass, it had to be at least two miles and most of it uphill. 3/4 of the way up and the rains were getting stronger and the track looked never ending. We don’t normally let things beat us but i think we made the right decision to turn back. Lovely dinner at a seafood restaurant called Cleeries near the airbnb ( with a fire) and two weary little bodies but a great day out.

Day 2 on Skye was more adventure. The mountains are incredible and very reminiscent of Norway but the roads do take some getting used to.  We explored the main township of Portree - it didn’t take long as there really isn’t much to it, and then we headed west to take in a walk out to Coral Beach - underwhelming but it got us moving.

Time for a whisky? Talisker Whisky Distillery is the only on the island but they give a good tour and you get to taste/buy some samples and it killed a bit of time. Finally we headed out to the Fairy Ponds for a walk, more rain, and it was getting late but what the heck, its only a 30 minute walk each way! Stunning and you can only imagine what it might be like in the middle of summer as the waterfalls and crystal clear water which were actually shades of green/blue due to the mineral content were beautiful under the grey skies. I have actually been checking out the “shades of Grey” lately as we have certainly had our fair share of grey skies, seas, buildings etc over the last week. Back to the same restaurant again for dinner as we enjoyed it the night before and were just too tired to cook.

Another early start in order to get down to the bottom of the island for the 10.30 ferry, unfortunately the rain meant our early start was a bit wasted as there was no stopping and very little to see due to the conditions. An interesting Ferry trip and thankfully reasonably short at 45 minutes as it was rough and the ferry was being hammered by waves. I think we made the right decision to stay in the car.

Back to mainland Scotland and we are heading off on another of their scenic tourist routes with the end point being Fort William. The weather again was rainy and grey but the scenery didn’t disappoint. Not the greatest for photos but beautiful just there same. We stopped at Glenfinnan for a short walk (about 30 min each way) to view the train viaduct, still in use and featured in one of the Harry Potter films. Some lovely views along the way including of a monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie. 

Our stop for the night was a hotel in Fort William that looked far better in the photos than reality! The town was billed as the outdoor capital of the UK and it is where you would come if you were intending to climb Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK. It is surrounded by some spectacular scenery. But the town itself does. Not take long to explore and there were much better outdoor shops in Snowdonia. 

Next day, another tourist route that would take us through Loch Lomond national park enroute to Glasgow. A couple of photo stops along the way including an attempt, despite the weather the capture the beautiful reflections in the loch. A short stop in Luss on Loch Lomond for lunch and a look around before continuing on to Glasgow and another airbnb appartment on the river Clyde for the next three nights.

First day we decided to spend touring. First stop - “the Kelpies” - two spectacular metal sculptures of horses. Very impressive. They are part of a much larger complex of tourist attractions. Time restraints only allowed for photos before we continued on as we had two castles we need to bag! Next stop Stirling Castle - another castle that features very prominently in Scottish history. It’s early history saw lots of battles and serges, then once abandoned by kings and queens the military took over and gutted much of it because it might make the soldiers”soft”. It has since been taken into car by Historic Scotland and quite a bit of restoration has been completed. Great job!

Next stop Doune Castle - the site of some of the filming of Monty Python’s Holy Grail and the series “Outlander” as well as another new Netflix series on Robert the Bruce. The audio guide commentary was done by one of the Monty Python crew and was very entertaining including some short clips from the python skits as well as some bits of commentary bu non other than “Jamie Fraser” of Outlander fame. Very entertaining. Great visit.

Back to our accommodation for a bit of reorganisation, booking of the last of our accommodation and a night in!

Tomorrow- Glasgow city!

Scotland

Well this last week has literally raced by and we have managed to fit a lot in despite the weather.

Arrival in Edinburgh was straight forward although no duty free on arrival so probably should have purchased the bottle of gin before we left Sweden!

We left our gear at the hotel and headed out to explore the city on foot as the hotel we are staying in is only a short walk to the city centre. After a good walk around the new town area  (actually it looks like the old town) we then decided to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia. According to Lonely planet you should walk down from the city (Leith Walk) and then bus home so we trusted them and 3 miles later we were onboard with some tired feet. No doubt about it, it is a beautiful boat, tastefully decorated and an interesting insight into what life on board must have been like.

After a rest and allowing the feet to breath we decided to head out for some Scottish music at Au Bar and therefore a later night than we had anticipated particularly given the 5.45 start to catch the flight.

Day two and we were off reasonably early to take in Edinburgh Castle for our 9.30 booking. BLOODY GOOGLE MAPS..... yep once again we trusted google only to find ourselves under the walls of the castle and in need of some serious raiding ladders if we were going to scale the walls. This thing was built on this site because of the difficulty in penetrating the walls so nothing for it but back track and head around to the right entrance albeit 30 minutes behind schedule. We had a great look around, loved the history and continue to get confused by the complexity of the royal lineages- James the V1 and 1st...... Ah that’s right James the 6th of Scotland and 1st of England.After the castle - a walk down the Royal Mile so named because it was the route taken by the king from Holyrood Palace to the castle. Lots of fabulous old buildings with wonderful cobbled lanes heading off to the side, a bit of shopping along the way, a look at Parliament House from the outside because it wasn’t open - very interesting architecture. Finishing with a tour of Holyrood Palace. Still currently used including much of the original furniture. A quite understated palace as palaces go. But still impressive. The day was cold and the afternoon was wet so it was nice to get back to the hotel and rest some very weary legs!

Day 3  began with a 7am fire alarm whereby we pulled on some jeans and a jumper and headed out of the building. Many of our fellow guests appeared in dressing gowns and pj’s and thankfully we were able to wait in another hotel over the road but alas, no coffee. It is at this time you actually start to think about what you didn’t have with you if there was actually a fire including passports and photos- thankfully a false alarm..... the rest of the day was highlighted by a visit to Rosslyn Chapel  https://www.rosslynchapel.com/ 

This was right up there as far as visits were concerned and reminded us of the Jayne Temple we experienced in India. Magnificent stonework that has been well preserved and made famous by Dan Brown in the Da Vinci code. The trust looking after the Chapel have not looked back since the release of the book and the ten-fold increase in visitor numbers. The chapel is unique because it not only depicts religious scenes and icons but also scientific ideas and nature references. This is due to the interests of the person who designed and built the chapel. And yes there were also links to the stonemasons lodge. A perfect choice for Dan Brown. 

Another night and another Scottish music experience- this time a traditional Jam session at Sandy Bells and a new friend Paddy who had a very doubtful past that we decided to avoid as he had some significant links to the IRA (if he was to be believed)  and he had also had a significant amount of alcohol on board and we were there for the music after all. Minor problem trying to get a bus after midnight so back to walking and more tired legs.

Next day Aberdeen via the Argyll Coastal Tourist Route and a visit to Arbroath Abbey ruins.

Doesn’t look like much in this photo but it was an impressive building. You can certainly imagine what it must have been like when fully operational. 

We have a great little 2 bedroom flat close to the city in Aberdeen so it was nice to chill out for a couple of nights. 

We spent the morning at Dunotar Castle. Yes another ruin but once again very impressive. A stunning location on a cliff headland and whilst it has been left in ruins there are still significant buildings and you can not help but be impressed by the sheer scale of the site.

Back in Aberdeen and time to wander around the city centre. Rather underwhelming in most parts and the majority of buildings are constructed from a dull grey granite (that “sparkles” in the sunshine). There were however a few impressive buildings including a citadel and the university building right in the heart of the town.

Leaving Aberdeen we head to Inverness via another of Scotlands tourist drives. This time via the Craigorm National Park. Another stunning drive with beautiful autumnal scenes and winding roads. We decided to push on in order to get to the Culloden Battlefield and the Clava Cairns and standing stones burial site. If you have been watching Outander on Netflix you will appreciate why we wanted to go to both of these sites. The stones were the first stop and well worth the detour to be immersed in a small but significant site that includes a number of stone circles (not as big as Stone Henge but nowhere near the crowds and it was free!) The burial sites were large mounds of stone piles or cairns with an alleyway up the middle and into the centre aligned to the Summer Solstice. The CLAVA cairns were the inspiration for Craig Na Dun (the standing stones that transported Clare) in Outlander.

Culloden is the site of the largest battle ever held on British soil and was where the English took on the Scottish Jacobite rebels led by Bonnie Prince Charles who was trying to restore his father James, a Stewart, to the throne. Bouyed by their previous successes Bonnie Prince Charles decided to ignore advice from his advisors, clan leaders etc to return to Inverness where they could rest the men and reprovision before rengaging in battle. Bonnie Prince Charles, believing he could not be defeated, ignored this advice and after an ill fated march trough the night to try and mount a surprise attack the men returned to camp tired and hungry to receive the order to stand and fight. The battle was fought in difficult terrain and they were outmanned and outfought not being able to properly draw up battle formations. The battle was over within an hour with 1500 Jacobites dead and 300 English. Bonnie Prince Charles was whisked away to safety, later smuggled to France as a hero for his efforts. Another 1500 Scotts and Jacobite supporters were murdered in following months by Lord Cumberland who earned himself the title of Cumberland the Butcher for his ruthless attacks. The wearing of plaid and Scottish dress and the speaking of Scottish Gaelic was outlawed as the final assault to crush any future uprisings. The skill of the Scottish highlander fighters was embraced and used to their own advantage not many years later!!!

We had to do the drive to Loch Ness, you really can’t not come to Inverness and not go on a monster hunt! It was windy and cold so decided against the cruise/ hunt and opted for the visitor centre and then a circumnavigation around the Loch via Fort Augustus. An enjoyable day and great scenery.

We finished the day with a visit to Munlochy and Clootie Well just out of Inverness. A crazy tradition of tying strips of cloth (clooties) to branches in the forest.. for many this is a memorial to a lost loved one but I suspect some tourists get a bit caught up in the moment given the number of bras and nickers that had also been added 

Headed out for some live nusic and were treated to a great night out with some young lads going by the name of Tolqunon. High energy and great entertainment with traditional Scottish Folk. We have the CD to prove it.

What do you do on another wet and windy day in Northern Scotland? Go for a drive and see what you can see. We headed off back to the Craigorm National park with the intention of going on the funicular but too wet and too much cloud to be able to see anything. So a browse of the outdoor shops filled a bit of time then more sightseeing by car! We enjoyed the day. but it was really to wet to go walking (the locals didn’t seem to care but they were probably better prepared and used to the conditions) we just didn’t want to deal with wet jeans and shoes. We did however come across a paddock of these guys

I convinced Robyn to come into the paddock so we could get closer and managed to get a few good shots until the head bull decided to come our way so back on the other side of the fence we were given a serve by a rather angry mob that seemed to be far braver in numbers.

 Clootie Well

We were going to go out again but it really was too wet so we settled in for a night and put some washing on. Thankfully we stayed home as when Robyn got up to investigate the strange noises the washing machine was making she was confronted with a room full of smoke and I suspect another couple of minutes and there would have been flames...... the smoke alarm didn’t work but we managed to get our clothes out and put them in front of the heater to dry. Scary really when you consider that we always put the washing on at home and then leave it without giving a second thought. 

After leaving Inverness we headed to the West Coast at Ullapool to catch the ferry over to the Isle of Lewes. Our road trip today was another of their great tourist routes and instead of the 1 hour direct route we embarked on 7 hours of excitement. Narrow winding roads and spectacular scenery through Forrest, along Lochs, over mountains and around Fiords. The route is part of the 500 route named because it is 500 miles of coastline to do the full circuit. The lady at the Tourist Information Centre described it correctly as “Norway in Wide screen”

And right now we are on the ferry and approaching land after a two and a half hour trip.

An enjoyable last few days in Sweden

What a great few days to finish off our Scandinavian part of this incredible journey.....

Kosta started with a trip to a Moose Park to see the moose up close and personal. The males are bloody huge beasts with huge antlers that would require some significant strength. We saw a few early on that were being rather elusive but we were patient and managed a few photos but it was as we were heading out we came across a couple of others that were not so camera shy and were happy to pose for some photos at close range. Every October they have an annual Moose cull to remove around 100,000 or 20% of the population and therefore try to manage their numbers. Nearly everywhere we drove you could see the warning signs to be careful and I reckon they would do some major damage if you hit one on the road. One of the locals said they are particularly skittish at this time of the year as they know it is October and time for the cull. At the gift shop on the way out we purchased some moose sausages for dinner and hence a return to eating exotic foods. 

Next stop the glass factory to blow our own glass objects. Initially I had intended on a simple glass bauble for the Christmas tree but by the time I had checked in it had turned into a carafe for me and a bowl for Robyn. The blowing experience was fun and pretty straight forward as our instructor  was by our side the whole time to assist with the process and manage the technical stuff that would mean the difference between success and disaster. The whole thing only took 30 minutes but we had to return 3 hours later after they had been slowly cooled and were ready for collection. Our time was easily filled by a wander through some of the galleries and a factory tour to see how the experts worked. Kosta Boda glass is extremely thick and heavy so getting stuff home was going to prove too much of a challenge and freight prices seemed to double what we might have purchased, we did however see some truly beautiful glass art that would have been purchased if we lived nearby. Capped off the afternoon with a drink at the art glass hotel where they housed some lovely glass art pieces.

Next stop for another two nights was Örebro. Our digs were probably some of the best we had experienced, slightly out of town but a very nice Air BnB with good hosts and some thoughtful touches. Other ones we have stayed at lack the little things like cooking oil or salt and pepper but this one had it all. On the recommendation of Birgitta and Klas we headed into the town and climbed (elevated up) the water tower for city views and then a bit of a drive around to get some food and wine from the “System Boligalet”. It had been a long and beautiful drive from Kosta to Örebro with plenty to see and some beautiful autumn colours. We were both a little tired by the end of the day (Actually most days we are pretty tired - i think we might need a holiday when we get home)

A full day in and around Örebro included a walk in the Skaramboda (Troll) Nature Reserviet, a walk around a nature park, a recovered former tip site among other things called Naturens Hus, lunch and a wander through Wadkoping, an open air museum of an old village made up of relocated houses, where people can live if they are artisans and display and sell their craft in small gallery shops and then a walk up a hill to follow a sculpture trail on top of an old oil shale heap that is still smouldering 45 years after it was abandoned.

Next stop Stockholm!

The drive was quite straight forward on once again good quality roads. We decided a trip to `Sweden would not be complete without a visit to Ikea so included a detour on the outskirts of Stockholm to visit an extremely huge “blue box” IKEA. An hour and a half later we re-emerged! Next task check in and drop off the car. Now the driving got interesting - we lost GPS signal inside the tunnel so hence missed our exit which added a bit of drama to the journey once we got out of the tunnel but Siri got us back on track and we found our hotel - checked in and dropped off our luggage. Now the car. We had been told in Malmö that we could drop the car at any of the Europcar offices in Stockholm so wanting to avoid any more driving in the city than was necessary we googled the closet Europcar office and headed there - only around 10 min away - great! Refuel on the way and done but NO when we get there there is no Europcar office to be found. So we select the next closest only to discover this takes us into the heart of the city and we are now heading towards peak hour traffic, also lots of road works, tunnels and confusing exits etc. Needless to say we got lost, seemed to be driving in circles. We finally parked in a Raddison Blu car park (I think illegally but the stress levels were through the roof and we didn’t care) and walked to central station to try and get some advice on where we could leave the car. Armed with more directions we set off again and encountered more road works, probably drove the wrong way down a street that had been made one way by the road works but success - we found the Europcar office but where to park! I went in to ask while Stu waited in the car - mmm - more driving - we needed to go back down the street the right way and navigate around a couple of city blocks, dodge some road works to finally turn down past the Europcar office to access their multi story car park. Now just give back the keys!!!!! It had only taken about an hour and a half to return the car! Walking and public transport from here on! Purchased some 72hour transport passes, a couple of bottles of wine and headed back to our very spacious, comfortable apartment (we had been upgraded to a larger apartment - very nice!) Dinner at a little local restaurant just down the road from our accommodation - very nice. 

Day one - bus into the city and a self guided walking tour which started at the very impressive city hall, then a couple of churches and other significant old buildings, a meander through the cobbled streets of Gamla Stan which included a typical Swedish lunch of meatballs and finally the Palace and a look at the Crown Jewels.

Day two - off to one of the other islands that are part of Stockholm for a visit to the Vasa Museet to see the Vasa ship. It was a war ship commissioned by King Gustav Adolpheus built in the mid 1620’s meant to assist in the fighting in the 30 year war. It sank on it’s maiden voyage only about one and a half kilometres from where it was launched. It was truely impressive with hundreds of elaborate carvings and 64 cannons (designed for 72) all of which unfortunately added to its instability. It was too heavy, too high and too narrow with not enough ballast. A gust of wind caused it too wobble and water to come in through the cannon portholes which were all open for the great fanfare and ceremony that was too accompany the launch of this impressive ship. There were two cannon decks and the lower one was not far from the water line. Around 30 lives were lost. It was a major disaster in all respects and the king was not told for a couple of weeks! It lay on the bottom for 300 years. Several attempts were made to recover it but technology was not capable. Most of the cannons were recovered and sold around the world. It was raised in the mid 1960’s and restored over the following 30 odd years, including the building of a prup[ose built museum. It is remarkably well preserved and is 98% original. This was due to the brackish water, lack of oxygen and silt covering it. They have even been able to recover and reconstruct parts of some of the sails. An impressive and amazing sight. We spent two and a half hours which included 7 floors to see the ship from top to bottom and a 30min guided talk about the commissioning and sinking of the ship. Then on to find some lunch and a ferry ride to Sodermalm for a wander around a few streets and a visit to a photography museum (which included a “zillion” stairs to get down to the waterfront and the location of the exhibition.) enough walking - time for some rest (after we walk back up the “zillion” stairs) before we head to the airport at 7am and a two hour flight to Edinburgh.

In summary we have loved our few weeks in Scandinavia and are so pleased that we made the decision. Yes it was expensive but the scenery, the history, the Viking museums ,the people and the experiences that we have had have been well worth the effort. It has definitely been a highlight. One we would highly recommend. We 9or maybe our government) could certainly learn a lot if we had the will or the interest in doing things more efficiently and effectively for everyone. 

Sweden part 1

Two days in Gothenburg went quickly and without hassle. On arrival we navigated our way through the “burbs” Not sure how we ever managed without google and satellite navigation. (Occasionally we still manage to stuff up and turn too early or too late. Googles fault not mine!) accommodation is small but everything you need is there although we decided against cooking as the kitchen was tiny. 

We walked into town and visited the tourist information centre for confirmation on what to do tomorrow and then a bit of shopping before jumping on a local bus to see if we could get home. 

Day 2 was taken up with the city walking tour that you self navigate through and we explored the old Haga district where there were some lovely galleries but none of them open (10 or 11 seems to be the usual start time in most of Scandinavia), Fish markets and other nice old buildings including some nice artisan shops etc   Nothing out of the ordinary to report on the day but it was pleasant and rather exhaustive by the time late afternoon came around. 

Early start and drive to Malmö. Once again we marveled at the quality of the roads although I suspect Swedes are not quite as law abiding as their Norwegian and Danish cousins, these guys don’t wait for the pedestrian light to turn green before crossing the road and are a little faster than the speed limit in their Volvo’s but at least speed limits are marked so you can be compliant if you choose to! Unlike Denmark where you had to guess. (A n “end 60” sign can mean you have to slow to 30 or speed up to 130).

Malmö is about 3 hours drive but we had to return our car back to Copenhagen airport so after dropping the bags at the hotel we took the bridge and tunnel from Sweden to Denmark, great engineering and pretty easy to traverse despite the high winds that threatened to blow the truck in front of us over.  I was pretty sure I saw him go onto 2 wheels at one stage. We caught the train back to Sweden and had some time in Malmö to wander around and get a feel for what our second day might be like. It is a lovely old town with beautiful buildings and nice people so we spent our time strolling around and looking in some Swedish furniture design shops and galleries. We found one of Europe’s largest skate parks and had a couple of great restaurant meals. I am happy to report that our foray into exotic and endangered species including whale!and reindeer may have ended with a meal that included pigs head terrine and pigeon at a restaurant called Bastard. Great food and a nice night out. 

Day 3 in Malmö was a train trip down the coast to Ystad. A lovely old village and home to where Wallander and “the bridge “ were filmed. The village boasts the only complete block of half timber half brick houses, complete with internal courtyard area left in Sweden as well as a number of other beautiful old houses and buildings. The oldest house in the village dates from the early 1500s.

After my excitement at getting access to the AFL live screening of the grand final and then my disappointment at the final score it was time to Pick up another car this time a VW Golf with all the features you could imagine requiring me to steer but the speed is pretty well regulated by the vehicle in front of you and some smart cruise control buttons that just make sense. Unfortunately the guy at the rental company needed my passport so 20 minutes later I returned from the hotel with all the paperwork and we were on the road again. Our drive to Kosta was via the south coast to Ales stones  to look at a rather large stone ship that had been laid out by the Vikings many years ago. The rather large stones were laid out in the shape of a Vikings ship but in such a manner that you could map the months via the sun including the winter and summer solstice and the autumn and spring equinoxes. Interestingly they had even included a leap year into the design and adjusted the distance between some of the stones to accommodate longer months so the sunsets and sunrises were in line with each appropriate stone and the midpoint of the “ship”. Amazing stuff! 

 

The Kosta area is renowned for its glass blowing with many glass factories scattered around the area. One of the oldest glass factories is very close to where we are staying. So first stop before checking into our accommodation was a stop at the Kosta Boda art gallery to book in for a tour tomorrow and hopefully a chance to have a try at glass blowing. We were able to have a quick look inside one of the factories before they closed. Fascinating to watch! 

For the next couple of nights we have an entire house in a very quiet location that looks out onto a nature reserve or similar so it should be a very relaxing spot (although Stu is struggling with the TV at the moment - it seems it will only give him one channel in Swedish!!!) but nice to have some space, do some home cooking again and some much needed washing! 

Skagen to Sweden

Skagen was lovely once the weather decided to play nicely. When we arrived it was cold and wet so we had a wander around the town but being a Saturday afternoon there wasn’t much open so we stocked up on some groceries and headed to our accommodation for a lazy afternoon. First impression of our AirBnB was not good but once inside we were comfortable with enough room to cook and lounge around. We woke up to sunshine and we had a plan for what we wanted to see, the cape at Grenen where the two seas, Skagerrak and Kattegat meet as it is only a few kilometres north of Skagen at the northern most point of Jutland. To get to lands end you needed to take the 30 minute walk along the beach, Skagen Odde, considered to be one of the largest spits in the world. But once there you were well rewarded with the visual of the two seas meeting and crashing waves against each other. I seriously doubt the photos will do it justice and it is understandable why swimming is forbidden.  Next stop a large shifting sand dune that moves 20 metres per year with the wind pushing the sand around and quickly removing any trace of footprints. The sand is definitely fine. 

We had read about an old disused lighthouse that had been buried, abandoned and then re-exposed by the elements so off we headed down the west coast. They have built a new internal staircase and access is free after you do the kilometre walk through paddocks and over the dunes. It was necessary to keep the lens cap on the camera and your mouth closed for fear of sandblasting your lens and removing the enamel from your teeth. The lighthouse keepers residences have long gone with only foundations and bricks scattered around and the church that was also there was removed many years earlier. Again the dunes are moving inland and the lighthouse will eventually fall into the sea in a few years time.

Final stop and part of a recurring theme was a buried church, Dens Tilsandede Kirke, that had been abandoned due to sand migration. All that remains is the tower that they have again opened up to the public and you can climb to the top, - a great idea..... once at the top we looked out to see hoards of people heading towards us so thought we should make a run for it and get down the single access spiral stairwell before they started coming up but we were too late. I reckon 40 or 60 people came up before we could send a message down to stop coming up for fear of the whole upper platform collapsing! Once at the bottom we saw probably another 100 young people waiting to go up and another bus load arriving. I wonder if it is still standing as i reckon they would have all tried to head up at the same time and there was no exit until they stopped coming. Very irresponsible tour guides. A great day touring the countryside and both sides of the peninsula.

Heading to Gothenburg today on the ferry and kind of wondering if we may have made a mistake. Our thinking was to catch the ferry over rather than backtrack to Copenhagen. We would then have a couple of days exploring the city before driving down the west coast and across the bridge to Copenhagen in order to return the car and avoid the fees for dropping off in Sweden. The only problem with that plan was the £80 ferry fee and the wasted day sitting at the ferry terminal and three and a half hours on the ferry. Hindsight suggests we probably should have just driven back to Copenhagen on the motorway (after all you can do 130kph) and therefore saved on the ferry, bridge toll and train back to Malmo in Sweden. Not really a problem but ... local knowledge is a wonderful thing. 

Last few days in Denmark

Autumn is here or for those who watch Game of thrones “Winter is Coming” The days are getting shorter and we seem to be on the receiving end of some storm activity working its way through the UK and Northern Europe. 

After we left Odense in Fyn we made our move to the largest of Denmarks land masses - Jutland. The plan had been to go to Legoland in Billund but google insisted that it was on reduced operating hours for Autumn before closing for winter so we settled on a drive in the country enroute to Århus and made a stop in Jelling to check out the Unesco listed monuments and rune stones that were raised  by king Gorm and his son Harald Bluetooth (and yes this is where Bluetooth technology takes it name - the engineer developing the technology was a fan of Harald Bluetooth and in honour of his networking and communication skills in bringing the Viking nation together named the wireless technology Bluetooth! True story! The symbol used for Bluetooth technology is derived from the ancient rune symbols for H and B overlaid). Included in our visit were the two burial mounds, one for Harold and the other for an unknown Nobel man. Both had been robbed on previous occasions but there was definitely enough left behind to help unravel the mysteries that lay beneath. King Haralds claim to fame was to unite the Vikings and bring Christianity to the Danes and the oldest rune stone raised by king Gorm bears the first reference known to the name “Denmark”. Therefore King Gorm the old’s Rune stone is referred to as Denmarks name certificate and Haralds Rune stone considered Denmarks baptism certificate and the figure of Christ inscribed on the stone is now featured in all Danish passports.

We spent over an hour at the (FREE) museum with fantastic interactive displays that were lost on the school groups. What i do know is that i am still learning so much and that i need to get out my history books and study the Viking way of life. SBS has taught me a lot but i suspect the focus here was on the raping and pillaging vs the trade and resettlement. Within the site were two burial mounds and hundreds of “newly” erected white pillars marking the approximate location of the original palisade erected from approximately 4000 oak trees. They have also marked the outline of the 350 metre ship-shape which was once marked by stones. 

Our two nights in Aarhus are going to be comfortable as our AirBnB is actually someone’s house that she lets out while she is away. We might have had to make our own bed and leave the sheets in the laundry but we have a house! Washing machine, kitchen, lounge, tv ..... I couldn’t do it with my place but it was certainly nice to be able to spread out. 

Aarhus is a lovely area. We have checked out the town and wandered through the shops in the old Latin Quarter including some beautiful jewellery and artefacts made from horn. (we might have brought a few things but it would be a shame not to!) We  did a drive through the Lakes area that was really nice except for the rain storms but still worth it. Danish roads are probably the best designed roads that you could imagine, for a population less than 6 million they have totally nailed the motorway! Top speed is 130kph albeit somewhat confusing in towns where it could be 30, 40, 50 or 80 and they don’t necessarily tell you. Last year they had a total of 160 road deaths (Norway was around 120) so what does that say to us..... in Norway the roads aren’t so great due to the mountains but the speed limit is at a maximum of 80kph. In Denmark the extraordinarily low road trauma is because they have dual lane highways nearly everywhere. 

Tonight and tomorrow night we will spend in Skagen at the tip of Jutland where we will hopefully dip our toes in the water and explore the northern beaches. 

Couldn’t possibly sign off without mention of the mighty Collingwood Football Club. When we got back to the room yesterday i had to log in and check but had already prepared myself for the inevitable result and had promised Robyn I wouldn’t be crabby for the whole night. OMG crack another can and bring on the game next Saturday. We are going to be somewhere in Sweden to and my research so far tells me that it will be 6.30 am and there are no bars that are open..... i might however be able to find a local SwedishAFL club (they actually do exist) that are hosting an event.........GO PIES!

Denmark

Just had a lovely three days in Copenhagen and now on the island of Fyn (middle island) staying in Odense. We wandered around the old quarter of Copenhagen and did a lovely (touristy) canal cruise and a good introduction and orientation to the city. Food is still expensive but we can at least buy a drink in a supermarket that is comparable to home!

Day 2 involved a couple more museums and shops but as usual not enough time to see it all. The Copenhagen museum was intense to say the least with an impressive collection of early artefacts that were great to experience and intellectually challenging. So much so that it took us nearly 90 minutes to do the first of 4 floors and subsequently not as much time on the other 3 but well worth the visit. The Scandinavian design museum on the other hand was a little under- whelming but maybe we were just a little tired and “museumed out”   Our hotel is a budget one and therefore rather small with paper cups for your wine and not a lot of room for the ever increasing luggage (yes Robyn does have another new coat.... this time a rather delightful Helly Hanson number that will definitely impress the local Marion Bay community). Back to the hotel, we actually went back to reception after we checked in to enquire if they had made a mistake because there was only one single Donna and one towel in the room, it was correct , the others are under the bed in the pull out drawer....

Day 3 included some wandering around the shops! A visit to the  round tower and some general sightseeing before the legs had simply had enough. 

Today was spent driving to Odense. We first needed to find our way to the Metro with our luggage in tow to get out to the airport to pick up our next hire car. Once we found the metro station it was all very easy. Metro to the airport, free shuttle bus to the rental car centre, pick up our little diesel Renault and head out. First stop Roskilde and the Viking Ship Museum. Absolutely awesome! They recovered five Viking ships from the bottom of the Roskilde fjord which in itself was an amazing feat. They built a metal wall around the wrecks, pumped out the water and then began excavating, cataloging, processing and preserving every piece. Once this was done it took 25 years to reconstruct the ships in the purpose built museum. The museum harbour also houses reconstructed ships modelled on the wrecks as well as many other reconstructions all built using traditional Viking tools and methods. This is all done on site and you can visit the workshops and shipyard and see work in progress and talk to the craftsmen about the process and how everything is done. They sailed one of the reconstructed ships to Dublin to “test” it and try to work out how the ship would have functioned in Viking times. Really well worth the visit. 

From there onto Svenborg on the coast via an amazing bridge (18km) across the ocean linking the two islands. From Viking engineering to current! Both impressive! Svenborg was a lovely little seaside town, lots of boats - probably very nice to spend a few days relaxing by the sea but onwards to Odense after a short walk along the waterfront (and an ice cream for Stu). Small apartment tonight so “home cooked food”. Very nice - some steak and veggies. Much cheaper and nice to eat something simple.  

Is it just me or do others agree that there is something wrong with having to insert your Visa card into a slot just to open the toilet door? Not only that but you can’t use your card twice due to security reasons meaning only one of us can go to the toilet or you have to use a different card and therefore attract an international banking fee for the pleasure of a pee.....

Tusen Takk (a thousand thanks) Norway

After realising we  had a slight issue with our rental car needing to be returned by 9am on the same day we were checking out in Flåm with a 4 1/2 hour drive to Oslo - obviously this was not going to happen - we were on the road early! A call to the office once they opened and all was sorted - just an extra days rental to pay on drop off! The drive was nothing short of spectacular as everything else has been. We started with the usual mountains, fjords etc but soon found ourselves driving through snow dusted mountains with outside temperatures of 1 and 2 degrees. This gave way to pine forests and mor fjords and waterways - beautiful but not as high as previous ones. Just AWESOME in all. 

The drive into Oslo was quite stressful. We found our hotel and checked in then set off into the city to return the hire car. Stu was VERY ready to give the car back when we finally found the Hertz office. Car returned we set off to find a laundry and do other mundane tasks like find a vinmonopolet. 

Day 2 and off we went into town. Travelling like a local we decided not to “touch on” with our tickets and plead ignorance as our first line of defence. It worked. Had a great wander through the sculpture park despite the eleventy billion Asian tourists. (Check out the book “why mummy drinks “ if you want a good laugh and also to understand the way we might talk aka WTAF and FML) Toilet stop enroute required but where - once located it required 15Nkr to enter but not coins - a card was needed - travel card did not work so desperation necessitated using the visa! So 15Nkr and an international transaction fee and crisis averted!!!!! Just! 

Opera house next spoilt slightly by a fatality (thankfully we didn’t see it) but no denying it was right there. A short walk to the modern sculpture park was aborted once we realised how far it was and how uphill it was going to be so 23000 steps later it was time to take the shoes off!  

Culture night in Oslo woohoo we had made it. As luck would have it we were in town for the night of nights. Clocked into the Viking museum which was fantastic and then the folk museum that took us through some brilliantly relocated buildings from greater Norway and 2 hours was nowhere near enough but it was nice to catch up again with Maria and Manfred from Flåm (Austria) would recommend both of these to anyone. B

Now back to Culture Night - Underwhelming is a term I am prepared to use. Some bits were great but on the whole not what the 40 page brochure was talking up. A lot of time spent trekking or navigating badly on local transport between supposed venues/ events only to find nothing or very little! Not a problem really as we were flying out the next morning  and 23000 steps later we were ready for bed.... but not before a final drink in Norway in the hotel bar on the 9th floor (only drink available when you miss 5pm closing! At the Vinmopolet on Saturday!) Hardy’s Stamp. (Available at Dr Dans for $6.oo per 1 litre ) but a bargain at 95 nok or $15 per glass. 

We had made some initial inquiries at hotel reception about transport to the airport and were informed that a taxi would cost us a mere $170AUD or train would be $33/4 each plus about $10/11AUD to get to the train station. Despite the hassle of dragging bags up the overpass to the metro and then finding the right train, buying a ticket etc we couldn’t justify the $170 taxi fare! So we attempted to case out the train stations do ticketting for our journey to the airport before returning to our hotel - unsuccessfully! So before heading to the bar we enquirer about purchasing a ticket for the train to the airport the next morning only to be told (by a different person) not to take the train - the bus would be quicker and cheaper and we could pick it up virtually outside the hotel and they gave us 50% discount vouchers! Go figure! Lucky we made the second enquiry. 

Armed with our 50% discount vouchers we waited patiently by the side of the road hoping we were in the right spot and the bus would turn up. Success! $16/17 per person later and we were on our way to the airport! 

Airports in a Norway are quite automated - print your own boarding pass, bag tickets, attach them and then drop them at automated bag drops! Who need people! Or passports for that matter. None required on exit or entry to Denmark. 

More on Copenhagen to come. Will throw up some photos tomorrow 

We think we have sorted out the problem with not being able to comment out so please knock yourself out but remember my mum and dad can see what you have written!

Failing that just send us an email x

Norway in a nutshell

Bergen

It was raining when we docked in Bergen so instead of walking the 10 min to our hotel we opted for a taxi. About $20 later and we were at our hotel and presented the paperwork for our booking to reception only to find out our booking was for the following night - Oh *+*+ = but the hotel staff were very helpful and although they were fully booked for the night contacted their sister hotel just up the road (which was actually an upgrade) and organised two nights for us there for the same price. So armed with umbrellas lent to us by the hotel we set off a bit further up the road to find our accommodation which turned out to be very nice. And the upside was we got to spend an extra day in Bergen so we had time to explore the city. We spent our day taking the funicular up mount Floyon to check out the great views over the city and harbour (and many cruise ships) and then exploring Bryggan including the Hanseatic Museum, the Assembly Rooms (great expanses of architecture and life from the 1600’s) and Fish museum. After a bit of shopping (and possibly the purchase of a hand made moose leather jacket) we decided to visit the fish market to find something for dinner. Whale meat was on the menu - mmm! An ethical dilemma - we don’t support whaling - will we try it? We decided to try it and were very  surprised by the taste and texture - more like a game meat than fish! Now back to not supporting whaling!!!!! Apparently Norway claims they have sustainable quotas in place for the harvesting of Minki Whales as numbers have increased. Maybe they do! They don’t take any other whales.

Next day we picked up our hire car - now to try and remember to stay on the “right” side of the road! Off to Stavanger - it was a fantastic drive along fjords (strange i know), across bridges, through tunnels (some that went under the fjord) and beautiful little villages and rural countryside. Success - arrived in Stavanger without incident! Spent the afternoon wandering the cobbled streets (past a gay pride celebration in the park - lots of singing and rainbow colours etc). Found an Irish pub called the Irishman with live music so of course a visit was necessary - a couple of drinks later (and a mortgage on the house) we went in search of a meal and found a Thai restaurant - prices were reasonable comparatively - so all things not Norwegian this afternoon! 

Day two in Stavanger and we had a cruise out to Pulpit Rock organised - weather was not great but!!!! Again beautiful scenery despite the weather. Pulpit Rock was spectacular although we only saw it from the water. You could hike up to it but we hadn’t realised it would be a bus trip from the boat and then a two hour walk up and two hours back and then a bus trip back so we hadn’t really taken the gear we would need with us on the boat given the weather so we just enjoyed the view from the water (Pulpit Rock features in one of the mission impossible films with Tom Cruise dangling over the side). We spent the afternoon wandering the streets of the old city and taking photos but being a Sunday not much is open including the Vinmonopolet! OUCH! In fact you are not even allowed to buy beer in the supermarket on a Sunday (I think the Mormons. Might be running the joint ) We headed out in the rain for some dinner and ended up sharing a pizza. I had a beer and Robyn a glass of the wine, but only one as the starting price for a bottle of the house red was $85 and the average price, for average wine, was closer to $120. 

Early start to begin the drive to Flåm. What can we say but amazing!, beautiful scenery and the most amazing waterfalls that we have ever seen, right beside the road..... the power of the water coming down the mountain makes you wonder where it is all coming from, let alone, how did they build a bridge over it. And not just one waterfall, dozens, probably hundreds! Truly amazing! Norway really is a strip of coastline, fjords, mountains, waterfalls, beautiful little villages and countryside with a few towns thrown into the mix. 

Today we actually drove through two tunnels with roundabouts in them and roads going off in other directions! These two tunnels were connected by a bridge across the fjord - amazing! Out of one tunnel across the fjord and into the next!!!!

Flåm has been both beautiful and a little disappointing. Firstly our accommodation turned out to be a hostel with shared bathroom - slightly misrepresented on bookings,com!!!!! But we did meet a lovely young Austrian couple, Maria and Manfred, who were staying there also and spent a very pleasant evening drinking overpriced alcohol and chatting. Good fun! Also it has been grey and raining the whole time. Not great weather to do a cruise on the fjord or a train trip up the mountain. We decided instead to drive the zigzag road up the mountain to Stegastein and the lookout over the fjord only to be told the road was closed for maintenanace and we may have to wait an hour or more to get up there. And there was a massive cruise ship - about 13 stories high in the fjord so hoards of tourists! (Not us of course!) At this point we were considering forgoing our second nights accommodation and leaving but we decided to give the drive a try and after about a 20 min wait we were let up the mountain and it was well worth the wait. Spectacular despite the rain and the 3 degree temperature outside! We then drove across the mountain - more beautiful scenery, rock strewn landscapes, small lakes and ponds, pockets of ice and snow, rushing streams and waterfalls. Then on to Laerdal another lovely little village and back to Flåm via a 24km tunnel (which was lit up with blue, green and orange lights every 5 or 6kms) and another little village called Undredal with the smallest Stave church in Norway (about 40 seats) and where they also sold goats cheese locally made (which we of course needed to sample)

Tomorrow Oslo! 

Hurtigruten - sad to be leaving

What a highlight this trip was. 6 days, 5 nights of entertainment provided by Mother Nature. I am not sure how many photos we have taken but i am sure we will need to do a serious cull when we get home and look through them on the big screen but everywhere you look is just another kodak moment.  - a word of warning to you all, if we ask you around for a “slide night” - you might like to put some parameters on the time.

I think the boat docked in at lease 30 ports during the week, some for only 15 minutes and many throughout the night that we slept through. Where we could get off we did. Sometimes to visit a museum, or look for a shop to restock the soda and tonic water for our contraband Gin that we had smuggled on board. In Trondheim we found the Vinmonoplet - Government run wine and spirits shop so grabbed a couple of reds and three beers and proceeded to hide them in my backpack to allow for a “special” sneaky drink in the cabin. Beer and wine on board, in fact even on land in restaurants, is so dammed expensive that you would need to sell a kidney to afford the bottle so we restricted ourselves to a glass! The last time we made a wine last so long was when we drank my retirement bottle of Grange a couple of months ago! The comparison only extends as far as the time because the quality of the $25 per glass wine was average, in fact it was probably South American and something that we could buy for 6 pounds ($11) in the UK.

We did a couple of bus trips that were ok. You hop off the boat, board the bus and then rejoin it at the next stop. These trips were good for the commentary and we did a few stops for photos along the way but as with all bus trips you tend to drive quickly past everything and the photos out the window are often compromised by reflections off the glass. We managed to get the front seat on our first trip that really pissed off one woman travelling with her parents. She loudly said “ i tried to get the front seats but some people were just so selfish.....” “ i will make sure i reserve the front seats next time” AND she did. Wouldn’t have worried us except there was nothing wrong with her parents and they were quite capable of sitting in any seat... but clearly they were much more deserving than any other person paying the eaxact same amount and they of course should not have to que in order to get seats at the front of the bus. Bloody yanks!

Talking of Americans, the boat has more than there fair share of them. All loud, all very important and all wanting to tell you how great they are... Not one of them would admit to having voted for Donald! Interestingly though very few Asians. 

Apart from the stunning scenery  and a second Aurora show, we have learnt a few things about Norwegian culture and their economy. Engrained in their culture is a sense of equality. They have a word for it and basically it means “don’t think you are special or better than anyone else” you can see this even in their houses. While there is difference, obviously, nothing so far seems to be overly ostentatious! In fact when Kirkeness was rebuilding after the devastation of WW2 the government offered cheap loans to people if they wanted to build a house of specified design and size. This meant construction materials were standard and houses went up quickly and more people were able to housed in a shorter time frame. Over time people have made some individual changes but you can still see the basic design. People also all call each other by first name - doesn’t matter who - prime minister, street sweeper - all the same. They have roughly 50% women in their government including a female prime minister. Alcohol is very heavily taxed and they have an almost zero tolerance policy. Blood alcohol limit is 0.02 - if you are over the fine is heavy, you lose your licence and do jail time. They have special prisons for drink drivers and you are required to organise your own time there - book in when they have a vacancy and pay for it!!!

It seems they have some very strong social policies. They also seem to make very practical, long term decisions for the benefit of the country and people. For example when they were approached by various companies to search for gas and oil back in the 50’s and 60’s they realised they needed to have rules and guidelines before they allowed this. So after establishing boundaries, ownership etc they allowed exploration. Shortly after companies started operation and there were a few accidents etc they realised they needed much more stringent rules to protect the environment. The upshot is foreign companies are charged 78% tax. This money has been invested in a pension fund which invests in ethical companies and is worth a staggering amount of money. The website can be googled. Apparently they were smart enough to realise that at some point in the future when these natural resources are gone or the population is aging they may need this money to support people! And as governements have changed this policy has been maintained and the fund has continued to grow. The governement also decided it would be sensible for them to have their own company which they have. They have recently rebranded this as they have expanded into more renewable energy. The governement also reserves the right to have a 50% share in any foreign investment! (Fancy being able to have such a sensible long term approach that hasn’t flipped and flopped with change of government!) Despite all this wealth coming into the nation they maintained a sensible approach to internal economiocs and people were still required to pay taxes and work etc meaning they have maintained low unemployment - about 3% and good infrastructure etc. When they build new bridges and tunnels - of which they have many connecting small islands and small villages - there is often a toll but once the cost of the bridge or tunnel is paid for then the toll is removed and it is free! If you have an electric car - you don’t pay the toll. Farmers are supported which means that they can be viable with 50 cows. The only milk sold in the local shop is the local milk produced in that area. Imagine that! 

It seems that when they need a new school or hospital they don’t tinker around wasting money doing a bit of this and that. They simply build a new building and the old may be torn down or repurposed later! Imagine! Teacher/ student ratios are 16:1 but we were told they have been pushing them up as high as 24:1 in recent years (even 28:1 in higher grades) Imagine!

A couple of other quirky facts - one town we visited had made a decision to paint all their houses blue. If you painted your house blue the paint is supplied. Another town decided that you need to paint your house a different colour to your neighbour! The result is not a lot of hideously painted houses but a range of blues, greys, greens, reds and yellows that all blend very harmoniously. Traditionally, barns etc were painted red and farmhouses white. White paint was a symbol of wealth as it was the most expensive paint. 

An amazing few days

WOW!

Ok I probably need to backtrack a little and try to do the last few days justice..... On arrival at Heathrow on Thursday morning we hit a minor hitch, our ticket did not include checked bags! Somewhere along the way the airline had cancelled our booking, rebooked us, almost sent us to Singapore then rebooked our original flights but alas without baggage. £180 later and we were sorted... (and an email to our travel agent to sort it with the airline!) A couple of hours in the air and we landed at Oslo for a 5 hour stopover so decided to pay to get into the SAS airline lounge rather than hang out with the masses. This turned out to be a pretty good idea as not only were the chairs more comfortable, the food and drinks were free and our connecting flight was delayed by another hour or so. Once the flight opened we had a reasonable walk to the gate (they didn’t mention that) and we had to negotiate some strange ticket scanning setups just to get to the right part of the terminal, including verifying pictures of our luggage. 

When we arrived in Kirkeness we stood around for a while until the bags started coming around on the carousel and, you guessed it, no bags! No problem as only 80% of the people had left and the other locals just stood around patiently and waited for at least another 10/15 minutes for “round 2”. In the meantime Old mate from France started stressing and banging on windows, trying to force doors and rant and rave. Second round and still no bags for us, or old mate (more banging on windows, shouting and storming around - strangely security didn’t arrive to check out the ruckus) and a couple of others. Off we went to find someone who cares, tired and stressed we made a report, described the bags and collected our overnight emergency kit from the airline with assurances that our bags would be delivered to our hotel in the morning and old mates would go direct to the ship as he was leaving the next day.

Back at the hotel Robyn opened the ‘ladies bag” to find deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush etc and the lovely XL tshirt. - mine had the XXL and a razor. When we mentioned to the hotel reception that our bags had been lost they assured us all would be fine and they would be delivered the next day. It seems it is not uncommon! True to their word our bags were delivered to our hotel the next morning so all was good! (We have since met another couple on board who arrived the day the boat sailed and his bag has not been located yet - we donated him my Tshirt which I hadn’t used).

The unfortunate upshot of losing our bags was we were so tired from the delayed flight and filling in missing luggage reports etc - having left Twickenham at around 7.30am and arriving at our hotel to check in at 9.30pm and too focused on our missing luggage we had no time to organise activities for the next day and so were unable to do the King Crab safari - Oh well! Luckily we had 30min before their kitchen closed so were able to get something to eat before trying out our emergency supplies and getting some much needed sleep.

After breakfast (food in Norway is very good but expensive to eat in restaurants - luckily breakfast was included) we decided to explore Kirkeness which is quite a small town and book a sightseeing tour for the afternoon as the King Crab Tour was not an option. For a small town we managed some very good shopping at an outdoors store and clothing outlet. Only took us a couple of hours to wander the town and check out the shops of interest. The town, however has some very interesting history starting with conflicts over land back in the days of the Vikings and British through to the Second World War when the town was devastated. Apparently Kirkeness was the most bombed city in Europe so virtually completely destroyed. Norway had declared neutrality but Germany invaded anyway so the Russians bombed and blew up everything in attempt to thwart the Germans. They currently share a boarder with Russia which has an interesting history also. Boarder security is taken very seriously. We drove to an official boarder checkpoint where we were able to take photos but it is forbidden to step over “the line.” We met a Norwegian boarder patrol team at another point along the fenced boarder who generously posed for photos with us. Another two of the team returned from patrol with automatic rifles, dog etc and people are caught.

Back to the hotel for dinner - Steak or Salmon - $50 or King Crab or Reindeer $70 each and a glass of wine $20 to $25/ small glass or splash out on a bottle of average wine for around $70! Ouch! Alcohol is heavily taxed in Norway. You can purchase it cheaper in a store but it is still much more expensive than home.

September 1st - time for our Hurtigruten cruise. We had a couple of hours before pick up at the hotel so decided to check out the museum. Worth the visit and filled in a bit more of the story about the history of Kirkeness in WW2.

Off to the ship - on board - offered a cabin upgrade that would cost us an additional $3,150 so we declined and have a nice little cabin with ensuite and a window, plenty of storage, very comfortable and lots of places to sit and relax around the boat. Spectacular scenery!

The boats are working boats and stop at numerous places along the route sometimes for only 15 minutes and obviously longer in others to allow you to go on land and explore the small towns. The first two land stops have not delivered a bottle shop as I have a plan to smuggle some contraband on board to supplement the bottle of Gin I have already hidden in my luggage in a feeble attempt to minimise the “hit” on the wallet. 

First night on board and conditions were good for the Northern lights - Aurora. She had made an appearance the night before which was the first for the season so we could only hope. Alleluia, after several excursions outside we finally got the call that it could be seen on the horizon. Thankfully we were still dressed in our thermal gear so straight up to level 5 and out we go. As with our previous outings you could still see the twilight on the Northern horizon but there was a distinct glow of green light strengthening between the beautiful orange red and blue twilights that we had already seen. Just beautiful and then, shapes started appearing overhead that could almost resemble clouds but where did they come from? The camera worked a treat as the difference between the naked eye and the camera is significant and we started to get some great streaks and swirls of green light across the sky. An hour later and heaps of pictures it began to fade and so did we. I think it was around 1.30 but we were a little too excited to sleep. 

I woke around 5am and realised we were docking in another port so thought i should have a quick trip on deck for a few photos then back to bed.. Wasn’t going to happen as it was just too beautiful so I decided I needed to drag Robyn out and of course that meant we were unable to get back to sleep. Sorry honey. ( but it was worth it!)

Later in the morning we docked at Hammerfest for two hours. This is the Northern most town in the world so a great opportunity to set foot on land. The Polar Bear Insitute is next to the ship so a great place to start and some great examples of stuffed arctic animals, including, bears, arctic foxes, Reindeer, otters and birds. And if we thought the day was about as good as it can get, then think again, REINDEER! Woohoo. One in the street that we followed up into the scrub and watched him massage/clean/de-fur his antlers. The other just down the road in someone’s front yard grazing on the grass and flowers. We were able to get within a couple of feet and took far too many photos. But then again its not every day you get up close and personal with a Reindeer!

Back on board - lunch - more beautiful scenery, snow and ice pockets on some of the mountains but the scenery would have to wait for a bit as it was back to the cabin for a rest as we have booked the midnight concert in the cathedral at Tromso! Another late night (and if the clouds clear maybe another light show) - what to do - take it all in. Spectacular!

Yes it was only 6am! But still looking beautiful!

Northern Lights

Quick post from last night and will write something this afternoon 

We are currently on the Hurtigruten of the northern tip of Norway and were privileged last night with an Aurora display 

Hare a a few of the shots straight from the camera and as you can imagine we were pretty chuffed.