Cruising in Norway - Part 3

The last leg of our journey saw us travelling back south from Finnsnes to Bergen and it was this part of the trip that made me realise just how different the landscape it between this mid-section of Norway and the north.

Day 9 was another day of double excursions for me starting with a hike with the Expedition Team at Vesterålen, which was a little bus ride, followed by a little ferry ride, another little bus ride, and then a really good hike where I got to try snow boots for the first time.  The snow boots were definitely an interesting experience, but once you got used to the new feel and new way that you need to walk it actually became quite fun.  

The views from the top of the hill were as beautiful as we were beginning to expect on this trip and we even got to look at some dry large moose hoof prints in the snow.  Thy are absolutely massive.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see any on the actual walk, but did get a glimpse of one as we were driving back to the ship.  

We also got to hear a little bit about Vesterålen, which is a group of islands that, slightly unusually for Norway, has a large amount of land that can be used for farming.  Apparently they grow really good strawberries there as well and are famous for it.  Maybe we should return in the summer to test this out.

The lecture for the day was on the history of Hurtigruten.  Not really something I would normally go to but more interesting then I was expecting.

We also got to attempt another look at Trollfjorden, this time with more natural light.  It still wasn't possible to get a good photo of it but it was much easier to see all the way down to the end this time.  We also got to hear the troll story, involving a troll king who kept lossing his one eye and didn't listen to his daughter, connected to the formation of this fjord.

After an early dinner I set off for my last trip which was called 'Lofoten by Horse', Icelandic ponies to be precise.  These are an interesting breed with tough, stocky little legs and a good thick coat.  Their gallop is also very different from other horses in that they always keep one hoof on the ground at all times, making it a bizarrely smooth run.  There's no bumping up and down, and you feel quite safe on the saddle.  I had quite a stubborn boy who was sweet enough but really didn't want to go very fast at all, but instead wanted to go down every route no one else was taking (and which suspiciously looked like it led back to the barn).  They also showed me footage of him working out how to get out of his harness.  He required quite a lot of cajoling, but I liked his personality.  The only downside to this trip was that it was dark, cloudy, and snowy so you didn't really get a good view of the land around you or the night sky.  So whilst it was interesting getting to know more about this interesting breed and remembering how natural riding feels, maybe summer time is a better time to do this.  Especially as the circuit you take is quite a closed circuit.

Day 10 tooks us back from Bodø to Rørvik, and therefore back over the Arctic Circle.  The ceremony this time was a spoonful of cod liver oil.  

As a vegetarian this obviously wasn't something I could have but my Mum very kindly took two teaspoons of cod liver oil so that I could get a free Hurtigruten teaspoon as well (thanks Mum!).  This teaspoon now sits proudly with the few bits of cutlery I have.  

The Point of Interest was the mountains labelled the Seven Sisters with the Suitor waterfall on the opposite side (unfortunately this waterfall isn't that obvious this time of year).  This is my favourite troll story and is, as you would expect, very weird.  It also, as you would expect with Norwegian folk stories, has a very sad and dark ending, that just seems to be how they go.

After lunch there was an opportunity to learn some Norwegian Folk dancing, which my Mum and me jumped on as we love that sort of thing.  Not surprisingly there wasn't a lot of men, but we didn't really need any and had a good laugh trying out some traditional and some children's dances.  The first dance did seem a little sedate, but when you picture it with their traditional costumes it would actually look quite fluid.

Our longest stop was at Brønnøysund.  My Mum had a trip booked but I didn't.  However, she did give me the task of trying to find a couple of books were looking for.  Unfortunately it was Sunday again which meant there wasn't that many places open and after an unsuccessful potter around the centre I shot off towards where the quiet seemed to be.  

I found a nice little treed hillock beside an inlet all covered in snow and ice, and so so quiet.  After 10 days on a ship surrounded by people the whole time this was a nice, much needed break.  I stayed there as long as I dared before heading back.

Our last full day was day 11, starting at Trondheim and ending the day a Ålesund.  As before, our longest stay was at Trondheim and this time we got to see it with all the shops open.  To be honest it wasn't that much different then when it was Sunday.  

We tried to find another book shop for some of the art books we were looking for but had no luck this time either (it obviously wasn't meant to be).  However, we did pop into a souvenir shop to buy some gifts for friends and family, and where I basically spent £50 on trolls.

The Point of Interest was the Munkholmen island again, but I just went up to look at the view as the day was so clear.  There was also a talk about how to fillet a salmon.  I went as I thought there might be some interesting facts, but there wasn't much for a non-fish eating individual, so I went back to staring at the scenery.

The highlight of this day was the talk on 'Norwegian History in a Nutshell'.  It covered a lot of information pretty quickly, including previous Kings, how Norway is such a young country, and its current relationship with Europe (interesting information from a Brexit point of view).

And so began the start of 'the last time'.  Dinner was the last time we would sit and eat with our fellow table 25-ers (a great bunch of humans).  As well as the last time we would get to be out on desk 7 staring up at the night sky.  Due to that I wrapped up really warm and, despite the cold, sat outside on a desk chair, with a warm cup of tea, for as long as I could handle.  I've never felt so British. 

The last day was the sail from Torvik to our end point of Bergen.  We packed up our bags in the morning and left when outside to be collected and taken off the ship for us.  This was followed by what was probably the best lecture of the whole trip, 'A Typical Norwegian'.  Full of information, including the unexpected, very funny, and an interesting look at how Norwegian's see themselves.

The last thing we did was to go and stand out on desk 7 as we passed through Steinsundet for a listening section of Norwegian classical and contemporary music.  

It was a lovely way to end the trip, especially as there was a lot of sunshine and clear skies in which to view the sea and mountains.  

I think I can safely say that I am not a traditional cruise person and won't be doing any real cruises any time soon.  But this was a great trip and I really enjoyed my time on board.  The staff were great and really helpful (with so much work clearly going on behind the scenes), and the Expedition Team really put in a lot of work in taking expeditions, giving talks and information, as well as answering all our very many strange and wonderful questions (and there were a lot).  Not a job that I could do for the length of time that they do.  Definitely a big thank you to those guys.

One of the things I liked most about the Hurtigruten Cruise was the Hurtigruten Foundation they had set up which donates to a select number of organizations and causes with an environmental agenda.  Your able to contribute to this cause directly or just by requesting your room not be cleaned on a regular basis (you can also apply for funding from this foundation if your work is in one of the areas they operate in).  It could just be green wash, but I'm trying not to be too cynical about these things and at least it's something.

And now to leave you with my favourite song that I got from this trip as a thank you for making it this far.

Path Work - March (Balmoral Estate)

March saw me working back in the Cairngorms National Park, this time on a path on the Balmoral Estate.  It has definitely been an interesting month weather wise, with some hot days and clear skies feeling almost like a Scottish summer to so much snow and wind we weren't even able to actually get to the work site.

Our location was a path that meanders through the Ballochbuie Forest on the north west side of the Estate.  This seems quite an underused path (I think we saw one person on the path that month) which is a real shame as it's a beautiful walk through one of the largest remaining Caledonian Forest.  You just don't get to walk through so many matured pines very often (the ages are supposed to range from 150 to 300 years) and it's easy to forget that this is actually what large sections of Scotland used to look like.  The size and feel of them is definitely worth visiting for, but luckily for me I get to work here.

The first work we did on this site was on the mid section of the path, just where the forest begins to thin out a little.  The path here has a pretty obvious line and is in relatively good condition but it needed some features to help move the water off the path and back onto the surrounding landscape.

Before

After

Reinstated crossdrain

This meant adding in a couple of cross drains, reinstating a cross drain which had gotten lost in vegetation and sediment, adding some anchor bars to hold the surfacing in place, adding additional surfacing, and digging a lot of ditching.

Anchor bar

Before

After

We had pretty much finished most the work here, apart from the landscaping, before the snow started.  However, it did mean that we had to wait until the snow melted before we could complete it as landscaping is one of the jobs where you do really need to see the area to get it right.

Before

Before

After

After

The second section was higher up the path and here the path was basically just behaving as a ditch.  To counteract this and keep the same path line we would have had to dig the same length of ditch as there was path and, as the path was now the lowest point in the land, this wouldn't guarantee that the path would remain even vaguely dry.  So, instead, we moved the path line to a higher section and made a few changes to the old path to make it a fully functioning path. 

For the new path line we cut back the vegetation, dug a tray, added coble where needed, and then used the material that came out of the ditch as surfacing.  It turned out to be pretty good material which hardened particularly well.  We then used the vegetation we had dug from the tray to re-landscape the ditch.  Not all of the plants will survive being emerged in so much water for such a length of time, but it will provide a good base for other species to settle and grow in the future.   We also left some sections deep and without any vegetation to act as small pools for wildlife.  This tuned out to be much more effective then we were expecting with frog spawn being laid in one pool just days after we had finished creating it.

We also added quite a few cross drains to this section to ensure that the same even amount of water was flowing to the landscape on the down hill side of the path similar to what it would be if there was no path at all.  This not only reduced the chances of the path getting flooded again but also reduces any changes to the ecosystem which might occur if water was removed from this section entirely.  This is obviously a side effect you want to prevent from happening as much as possible.

Before

During

After

A little further down there was a section where the path was still level with the ground but still had water running on it producing a large, muddy pool.  There wasn't a good place to redirect the water via a ditch so instead we built a double waterbar to take the water off the path and added a revetment down one side to lift the path up slightly and to produce a ditch down the side section of the path.

Uphill

Uphill

Downhill

We then headed back down the path towards the river crossing to where there was an overgrown ditch which took the water across the path at a low point.  This section had some bed rock directing the water but no other stone features and it had also turned into a large muddy section, causing people to walk off path to avoid it.  We added more stones, incorporating the bed rock stone (no easy task), to produce a cross drain and lifted the path by revetting down one side and adding cobble and surfacing from the ditch.  Once made deeper and wider to accommodate the amount of water flowing down it, the ditch was then landscaped using turfs taken when widening the path and widening the ditch itself.  Nothing is ever wasted in this job.

I was interested to see how I would feel about working in the cold and snow.  Especially in this slightly more exposed area and especially when snowy cold days are usually seen as being times you stay bundled up in doors or doing activities like skiing which are active but never far away from a warm cafe or bar.   But actually I enjoyed it.  Sure there was a day or two where we had to dig a little to get the what we wanted to work on.  Sure there were a couple of times we couldn't remember or actually see where we put the stone the day before which we were going to use today.  And sure break times did get a little bit cold at the end (I'm so grateful for rechargeable hand warmers and thermos flasks).  However that didn't stop me from feeling very relaxed and comfortable in the environment I was working in, more so then I felt when I was cooped up in an office, or enjoying the amazing views I was actually working in rather than viewing from afar.

We also got to see quite a bit of wildlife, mainly frogs and frog spawn, as everything started to gear up for spring time.  What more could you ask for.