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Published: June 26th 2017
By the time we woke up we had already anchored off the shore of Hellesylt.
Hellesylt is a small community that lies on Storfjord. This fjord starts at Alesund, Norway's largest fishing port and winds 50 miles before hitting Hellesylt.
There are only 2 excursions scheduled at Hellesylt. The piers on Hellesyt are not big enough to accommodate a cruise ship so a tender service is provided. You could say that those who had a guided tour were taking the '
Fjord Escort!!!' Passengers not booked with an official tour were not allowed to disembark at this juncture. The ship would leave Hellesylt at approximately 11am and sail a further 10 miles to Geiranger where the Hellesylt tour parties would pick the tender back up.
Refurbishment watch: The panoramic lifts have not been working since we left Southampton so we took another (less panoramic) lift to the top deck and the view that met up was truly awe-inspiring. It is impossible to capture the feeling and sight by a few photos (especially the one's I took!!). My first observation is how narrow the fjord is. The sides of the mountains are so lofty and those that aren't a
sheer cliff face slope dramatically into the water and descend to the depths below. The grace of the snow capped mountains in the distance contracted with the lush greenery of the fauna strewn walls that towered above us is worthy of painting a thousand words by anyone's standards. In my case 106 words will have to do!!!
The weather at present was reasonably clear with a slight breeze. Perfect weather that will make me go ‘ooh and ahh!!' as each turning on our way to Geiranger reveals some new secret to this overwhelming odyssey.
The boat weighed anchor a little early at 10:30. See, even the captain must have been excited at the prospect and couldn't wait to get moving again!!
Geirangerfjord is said to be the ultimate. The fjord is over 300 metres deep and stretches 10 miles over chilly arctic waters. This is one of the deepest fjords in Norway as like most fjords, the deepest part is always inland and not near the coast. This was due to the tremendous weight of the glaciers that were heavier in the centre due to the sheer concentration of ice. We passed eleven hairpin bends that the
‘
Grand' seemed to take in her stride. There are waterfalls a plenty around every corner and they come in all shapes and sizes. The most famous of these is named ‘Seven Sisters'. Many of the roads serpentine their way across the mountains and have distinct names. One famous Road is called the Midwife pass. This is due to a story that in the middle of a blizzard one winter's eve, a midwife walked all the way up this zigzag road and along the cliff to a remote farmstead, where the farmer's wife was heavily in labour. This journey took her most of the night. When the midwife finally arrived at the farm, the baby had already been born and was in good heath. As the midwife was halfway down the treacherous road on her way home, the farmer stuck his head out the window and shouted, ‘
Hey! I thinks it's twins!!!' (I made the last bit up!!) From that day the region celebrate the heroics of the midwife by following in her footsteps every year on the same day.
By now we were approaching the popular tourist spot of Geiranger and the clouds were starting to form
across the highest peaks, some 2000 metres in the air.
After winning trivia with the aptly named team:
‘The Anglo-American Brain Trust with a bit of Maltese Magic' we received our magnetic note clip then headed to collect our ticket for the tender of go ashore and explore the area from the ground! The process for boarding the tender was simplicity. We walked straight in to the Explorers lounge, straight to the desk and obtained ‘green number 3' ticket. The lounge was practically empty. We didn't even have time to walk over to a table and sit and wait before they called our number.
These lifeboats have capacity to cater for150 people although a notice inside restricted the personnel to 128 when used as a tender.
On alighting the tender in Geiranger, the rain had finally arrived. It wasn't more than drizzle. Luckily we had our waterproofs so onward we went.
We were greeted by a giant size image of Wayne Rooney, as we got closer and I wiped my spectacles from the drizzle, Roisin turned to me and said,
"No, dear! I told you it is only a troll!!” We spent our time ashore
walking around the shore of the Fjord. We noticed a lot of the houses had grass growing on the roof. I bet mowing that lawn is a bit dangerous, I thought to myself! I understand the residents ‘turf' their roofs for added insulation. Imagine going to B & Q and asking for some turf.
"Yes, sir certainly. How big is the lawn?” “No it's not for me lawn. It's for me roof!!” At intervals along the side of the road, there are piles of rocks that have been placed one on top of another. We asked a few passers-by if they knew what these meant. Everyone was as baffled as we where. On our way back as we passed the camping site, we also passed a modern looking well kept building. This had clear writing on the entrance door that it is a retirement home.
“I bet that's pricey”, I said to Roisin. “
They'd probably have to pay for that view”. “Well what do they do when they die”, she asked.
“Perhaps that's what the rock formations are. Either runic symbology or an old peoples burial ground!!” The clouds were now coming in
very low. Those who were on the excursions from Hyllesylt to Geiranger may now have the best views from the mountains.
We got back to ship about 2pm and after our lunch in Horizon Court, met our trivia team in Explorers Lounge for the afternoon session. George, our new friend from Malta was absent as he had arranged a tour for his group. He is not a tour operator by profession. For his day job he imports wine and chocolate but as a sideline he arranges holidays for groups of Maltesers. At this point, I'll give you the chance to make up your own joke (here's a clue: He works with chocolate!!!)
Alice was proud of Ken's gold medal he won earlier today for the golf chipping contest on the sports deck 16. He did admit that he was the only contestant but nevertheless he managed to ‘strike' the ball on several occasions!!
Alice and Ken are from Fort Worth, Texas. Ken showed be a photo of some of the paintings he had done from places he had visited all around the world. It wasn't the painting that caught my eye, although they were very good. He
had hung them all on the fence that surrounded his swimming pool.
I suppose this comes down to stereotyping. A lot of Americans who partake in the afternoon tea onboard see waiters in white gloves serving dainty cakes and sandwiches from a silver platter whilst using silverware to pour the coffee and tea. They think that this is a normal ritual in British households. Not helped by the fact that I always play along telling them Jeeves often takes the Bentley to Wigan market for t'get tripe for us tea!!! In the same vein, one tends to think that all Americans have swimming pools in the back yard!!! One of these facts is more true than the other!!
Back to the trivia. Now whether it was that we were a man down or the rest of the trivia participants are ganging up on us (call me paranoid!!), we didn't win!! Never mind, the prize was another magnetic note clip. We have 2 of those already.
One question that (we got right) was:
‘What is the name for a warrior that comes from the Japanese word for invisible'. The answer is of course ‘
Ninja'. However, when giving out
the answers someone shouted out ‘Kamikaze'. Alice then whispered across that one of their neighbours was a Kamikaze pilot and he claims that he was the worst in the world.
“Why's that??” I asked
“
Because he is still alive”, came the reply!!
When we returned to our cabin to get ready for dinner, we were greeted by an invitation left on our bed. It was an invite to the captain's cocktail party on Thursday. It is a formal night so I will have to check what the captain will be wearing as I wouldn't want to clash!!
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marie and don
non-member comment
really enjoyed all the bloggs keep them comimg.