Hurtigruten norsk tur: første del

To Norway to take THE Hurtigruten trip. Billed as the 'world's most beautiful voyage', our expectations are high. As are they for seeing the Northern Lights. We get our money back if they don't turn up. But the omens are good. We flew from Bristol to Bergen and let's let a few photographs take up the story for here.....

Our route is basically up and down the Norwegian coast from Bergen to Kirkenes, almost on the border with Russia. It's a distance of around 2500 nautical miles and calls in at 34 ports - what we don't visit on the way up, we call in on the way down. Roughly half of our time will be spent above the Artic Circle.

The harbour lights in Bergen. They play havoc with the autofocus of the camera and it was too cold for me to fiddle around with the manual settings without gloves.

But there was a single spot on the side of a building that stood out. I like the lines and quiet feel of this shot.

Man on mini-scooter. So what? It was pouring with rain/sleet and this chap has the job of untying the mooring ropes to allow us to get underway. He whistled as he worked.

Leaving Bergen at around 11 pm.

Every direction you look, unless it's towards the open sea, there is scenery. We don't see a lot of mountains or snow in Cornwall so it's something different for us.

The bridge at Maloy under which the ship sailed. Apparently, when the wind blows from a certain direction the bridge produces its own sound pitched at a High C. Fancy that.

In 1904, most of Alesund was burnt to the ground in a devastating fire. The town was rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style. Not my favourite period but the rebuilt has left a legacy of some very attractive buildings.

The styling extends to many buildings with decorative plasterwork.

Wherever we were in Alesund, a lifting of the head produced a glimpse of the surrounding snow-capped mountains. It elevates the most prosaic of street scenes.

I suppose there was a certain inevitability about the fact that we would end up in a graveyard! This was is associated with the kirk in Alesund. Extremely tidy and most graves had flowers on them and, in many, a lantern of one form or another. Are they ever lit in unison? If so, it would be quite a sight in the dark. Spooky even.

Well wrapped up from the cold. Five layers on top and four below. More layers than the Michelin Man.