Stavanger

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6th October

Stavanger

After a nothing sort of day yesterday it was lovely to now be in Norway. Our first port of call Stavanger.

It was still getting light as we arrived, all the white wooden buildings looking so pretty in the morning light.

Our tour today was a boat trip cruising The Lysefjord. Sadly we hadn’t been on board for very long before the rain started. There was the opportunity to go up onto the top deck which I did do a couple of times but it was no fun in the heavy rain.

The boat slowed down at several points of interest along the way. Pulpit rock, towering 1982 feet above the fjord- it’s bare rock tabletop shape is in stark contrast the the green slopes and mountainsides that surround it. There were 3 helicopter tours to view the pulpit Rick from the air but not sure in the poor weather if they went ahead, we might hear later from any passengers on board.

We also stopped to view the Vagabond’s Cave, then to a huge waterfall (I decided it was just too wet to go outside in the rain) the boat got up very close to the tumbling cascade.

One of the staff on the boat had a bowl full of dried weetabix which she fed to some local goats who are now familiar with the tourists boats that ply up and down the fjord.

We heard how seals have a habit of sunbathing on the rocks along the fjord- no chance of spotting them today !

We had a short stop at a tea room beside the fjord where a nice hot drink and Norwegian waffle was served which was delicious.

Returning to the port the rain started to ease and a few patches of blue sky emerged.

It stayed dry so I poodled off for a quick walk around Stavanger with its colourful houses and quirky pieces of art.

We sailed out at 4.30pm heading back into the North Sea which the captain announced was going to be a bit rough until we reached the next fjord & onto Flam.

We enjoyed dinner with a friend but the boat was swaying quite a bit so we opted for an early night.

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