Skjolden

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8th October

It was only 50 miles from Flam to Skjolden so at 7pm last night the Captain decided to leave Flam earlier than scheduled which meant we arrived in Skjolden around 11pm. All passengers were over the moon because it meant we were not moving through the night.

We woke to a dry day, blue skies & beautiful snow capped mountains.

Our tour today was not until the afternoon, so a late breakfast and then going on deck to the enjoy the magestic fjord scenery.

We often don’t go to the restaurant for lunch but go to the lounge called the ‘Living Room’ where they serve small open sandwich & little fruit tarts, so along with a coffee that’s just enough.



1.15pm we head to the playhouse to have our tickets checked and receive our coach number, it is very well organised and seeing David with his walking stick the staff asked if he wanted to board the coach first before the main group, there were more deserving passengers so he declined this time.



We set off with the Lustrafjord on our left and mountains to the right, leaving our ship behind it took about an hour to get to the Jostedal National Park.



The mountains were so green and with the changing colours of the leaves and the colours of the rocks it made a fabulous tapestry effect to the landscape.



We continued through the valley along a wonderful river which flowed from the glacier and finally into the fjord.



Our coach stopped alongside the Nigardsbreen lake where the glacier was feeding the milky turquoise lake, there was plenty of opportunity for photos and yes you’ve guessed I took a lot.



We also made a stop at the information centre, it wasn’t open but it’s design was interesting and of course the views of the glacier once again were wonderful.

The glacier spreads over 300 square miles & ice cubes formed in the ice age haven’t defrosted since !

I spotted a very large toadstool, probably poisonous, it looked beautiful but menacing too.

On the way back to the ship we passed lovely waterfalls cascading down into the river and fjord.



Our captain has just announced that due to rough seas expected that we will not be going to Bergen as scheduled tomorrow but will be heading back across the North Sea to Dover to hopefully miss the storm, so this means the next two days we will be at sea so this may be the last of my entries.

It’s been a lovely cruise and we have met some interesting fellow passengers, all with plenty of holiday experiences to share.

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