Bergen to Molde

Our cabin is a suite! What a treat but quite right for celebrating Lin’s special birthday.

After boarding, we find our suite, unpack and have a good dinner with a notably unremarkable bottle of house rosé, supplied courtesy of Hurtigruten’s ‘wine package’.

Very tired, we fall into bed. The faint background hum of diesel electric motors and the gentle swaying of the boat give us a good night’s sleep.

Watching

It’s still dark when we awake, but standing on our aft facing balcony there’s enough reflected star light to show us we’re weaving our way through narrow winding channels between islands and rocky reefs.

Although the temperature is around freezing point it doesn’t feel cold. Maybe because the air is dry. Maybe because there’s no wind.

Aside from breakfast and lunch, we spend most of the day watching. When it’s a trifle chilly on our balcony we retreat to our lounge and watch from behind the glass wall in the comfort of armchairs.

It seems the route we take is deliberately close to the land, sometimes no more than 100 metres. It’s breathtaking. To see the land rising sharply to a thousand feet or so, snowcapped, is a wondrous spectacle.

So we watch the mountains. We watch the distant rain heavy clouds, the townships and villages which seem to float by as if we’re stationary and they’re not.

It’s impressive how the MS Midnatsol can be navigated through tiny, narrow channels. Pulling into the small harbours and docking against such small quays is a masterpiece of helming.

How I’d love to have a go.

Aurora Borealis

We attend an afternoon scientific briefing on the Northern Lights in the theatre and marvel at the creation of the earth’s magnetic field which shields us from the sun’s solar wind.

The wind’s charged ions hurtle toward us at unimaginable speeds, which, when caught in the magnetic field cause the spectacular light show called the Northern Lights.

Will the skies be clear for us? Will the full moon be too bright? Will the Aurora come and show off her splendour of reds, greens and the rare blues?

It’s nearly six o’clock and we’re about to moor in Molde. Dinner is at six-thirty so showers and G and Ts, beckon.

Facts

We have 32 ports to visit in six days en route to Kirkenes, north of the Arctic Circle. Stopovers range from a quick 20 minutes to a leisurely six hours allowing for snowmobiling and husky sledding, both of which we are doing.

Today we had five stops. Floro, Maloy, Torvik, Alesund and Molde before dinner. When we wake tomorrow, we will be in Trondheim having docked in Kristiansund en route.

This is goodnight from me, and goodnight from her,

Piers and Lin
from the balcony of
MS Midnatsol

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We weave between small inhabited reefs click to enlarge

A trawler leaves Torvik as we arrive click to enlarge

The tiny quay at Torvik click to enlarge

The sun sets as we approach Alesund click to enlarge