Reflecting on the Holiday

So we come to the last blog post of the holiday. I wonder what image best sums up an amazing three weeks away. 

I think it is the awe of seeing the West Wall of Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim.

Even now the details of the various images on the West Wall surprise and thrill me.

Highlights

 

As I look back there are a few things which stand out, but in mentioning them I realise there are loads that I could include which space would not allow. 

After the impressiveness of Trondheim, the one that comes first to mind is arriving in Olden and seeing Drew in his 'home' element

with the rushing water at the centre of the valley

and getting that sense that in this town everything is very Drewish, even down to the sparkling water.

Then there was walking on the top of the Opera House in Oslo, which even know seems like a crazy idea, but was great fun.

Also Drew meeting a friendly troll (and a whole woodland of them) in Bergen.

In terms of achieving a long term aim, crossing into the Artic Circle for the first time in our lives has to be at the top of them.

Seeing a Church rolling from one place to another in Kiruna is also a memory you couldn't plan for, but thoroughly enjoyed at the time. It still seems unbelievable that you can load a church onto a trailer and move it, ever so slowly for two miles.

Finally, the pleasure of feeling we were coming 'home' as we arrived at the Thon Partner Hotel Kungsborn hotel right next to Central Station in Stockholm.

To Note

It was also impressive to note Drew's courage in overcoming his fear of heights (or as says: of drops) in the funicular in Bergan, in the cable car in Loen, 

on the bridge and the cable car in Tromsø 

Unexpected delights

There were also the unexpected delights which brought brightness to the whole holiday. One that comes to mind is the two ferry journeys that the bus took between Bergen and Olden - who knew a standard service bus would use a small ferry boat to cross the Fjords and what a delight each of those little unexpected journeys would be for us.

The delight of seeing a Cruise Ship leaving Olden as we arrived. It turns out, I found out later, that a former student of mine, Stephanie Richards, who studied with Linda (one of our regular blog commenters) on the Moodle in Schools project, taught by Professor Norah Jones, Catherine Naamani and I, was on that ship; with them being forced to make an unplanned stop in Olden due to the Storm Floris which was battering the UK and Norway at the time. That was a relief for Drew too, as he now knows why this, unscheduled ship was in the Fjord on that day. 

The comfort of the trains both the Oslo to Bergen and the Trondheim to Bodø ones was another real pleasure of the trip.

A special mention also has to go to Thon Hotels, who in no small part made the holiday, by providing great quality accommodation, in excellent locations with brilliant breakfasts. The hotels became a key part of our successful enjoyment of the trip and getting to sit next to the founder (at least of his statue) was also great fun.

Though the window in Room 502 of the Radisson Blu in Tromsø has to win the prize of the best view from an hotel in the holiday, by day

or by twilight

though the balcony of the Olden Fjord Hotel gave it a good run for its money. 

Memorable Meal

While all four of the Michelin starred restaurants were excellent, for me it is Fagn, in Trondheim, that stands out as the most memorable as the Head Chef took the effort to engage with us and explain what had inspired him in his cooking, that with the quality of the whole service, makes it the great foody find of the holiday for me.

That being said only one of the meals we had disappointed, the lack of heat in the Vietnamese meal at Lille Saigon was a disappointment, 

but one out of twenty two is a remarkable record. [Co-pilot's note: I must, dear readers, give an honourable mention to the delights of Bastard Burger - I know some people don't like burgers on principle, but it was a damn good tasty bit of dinner.]

Travel 

In the 22 days of the holiday we travelled a total of 2,500 miles (excluding flights). It was 1,354 miles by train, 867 miles by coach/bus, 188 miles by ferry and 20 miles on the underground.

In addition we walked 144 miles, an average of 5.75 miles a day which is equivalent to 12,450 steps per day, well above the somewhat random target of 10k a day.  Our longest walk day was 13 miles or 28,000 steps on the Sunday in Oslo. Our shortest walk day was .83 of a mile i.e. 1,800 steps, this was the day we travelled from Olden to Trondheim and, after two long bus rides, walked one block to the amazing meal at Fagn. 

Thankfully, our walking helped balance with our food consumption. I left Wales at 12 stone 10 lbs (80.74 kg) and returned at 13 stone 6 lbs (85.28 kg) - I reckon it would have been a lot more than that without the walking. 

Issues

We had a remarkably easy holiday in terms of what went wrong. Most years there have been somethings which have not worked - this year was so much easier than some of the past ones. Everything seemed to work as well, indeed better, than we might have expected in advance. 

The only challenges: 

(a) the inability to get photos off the camara 

(b) the absence of a functioning launderette in Trondheim.

were both annoyances rather than major problems and were solved in one day in Trondheim. Though I suspect I'd have finished the blog a day or two earlier if I hadn't had that big catch-up with photos, it didn't spoil any aspect of the holiday.

Overall it has been fabulous.

Thanks

Thanks to all of you who have made this journey with us, with comments on the blog, on Flickr and on Facebook/BlueSky - they have been a great help and encouragement both for informing the journey and for correcting my mistyping/misspelling. I suspect there are many more spelling errors to catch, so if you see any please let me know.

So, until next year, when we seem to be heading towards Portugal following Richard Sharpe in Wellington's Peninsular Campaign, farewell and see you soon. 

All aboard the Nordland Line - From Trondheim to Bodø

Today's the day that we pass into the Arctic Circle for the first time in our lives. We were exited enough when we were 196 miles away from it in Fairbanks, Alaska. But today we pass it and continue north. [Captain's Comment: Arrgggg, TO THE NORTH!!!]

But before I describe that, let's go back to the beginning of the day.

Waking Up

I wake up at 2.15am, a do-nothing active day yesterday combined with an early travel day today was likely to see an early rise - so here I am starting to add Sunday's photos to Flickr.

The first 147 photos went up by 3.30am and the second 271 (mainly of Nidaros Cathedral and its museums - with lots of stained glass for Robin to identity!) were named and added by 5.00am.

Drew also wakes at 5.00am and gently coughs to hint he wants his Nespresso Coffee, by this time, so do I!

I load the final set of photos that we downloaded from the camera yesterday and began to edit them. Once they are up all 1182 will be complete along with a few that Drew took yesterday - it feels like a real achievement. 

I go in to the shower this morning at 5.30am, the shower here in Thon Hotel Nidaros is really lovely, one of those with two heads, the American style, static upper flow and the European style, side on but flexible flow. I have often commented on showers in previous years' blogs, especially when limited to American style types. I whinge a lot about them. Up until now you haven't heard anything as they have all been European style showers, but here they have the ultimate form - double heads, so you get the advantages of both, without the disadvantages of one or the other.

 Drew goes in at 5.50am after I have completed my ablutions. 

Breakfast

Cases packed and hand luggage prepared we go down to breakfast at 6.27am.

I start with my regular yogurt with fruit and nuts

Drew goes for a fry, using toast to catch the drippy parts of the egg yolk.

I have Oatmeal, there is a cinnamon shaker there and I'm happy to use it. 

My main course with rugbrød, Norwegian blue, herring, mackerel and salmon with pickles. Is it's usual delight, it includes pickled cherry tomatoes, which is something I've not thought of pickling (and by me I mean Drew who does the hard work on this front at home)

Drew finishes with pancakes and raisins, after he'd had another fried breakfast plate that didn't get photoed.

We go up to the room for final bits and bobs and check out on the app at 7.10am. and drop my keys at reception 

Trondheim Central Station

We arrive at the station at 7.14am, even walking slowly and with traffic lights holding us up at the crossing it is still only four minutes from one to another - a well located hotel.

The departure board tells us that we should go to the platform for the train which departs in 30 minutes.

Apologies for the quality of the picture - I'm not good at taking photos while walking!

We go down to the platform and their is our train - the F7 to Bodø.

It is run and managed by by SJ Nord the Norwegian subsidary of the Swedish Train network. 

The engine looks quite old - it is as we will see a little later.

Drew boards the train at 7.23am

And gets to try our seats.

This time they are Premium Pluss - like the Pluss level on the Oslo to Bergen train but with posher seats, as I demonstrate.

They also have USC-C, USB-A and electric sockets in the arm of the seat, 

along with a tray in the other arm. 

The luggage is even closer to us than before, right above our heads in large luggage racks. 

On the Nordlandsbanen 

As mentioned earlier the Nordlandsbanen is not provided by VY - the Norwegian Train company, but by SJ Nord, the Norwegian branch of Swedish Rail. When we board I read about some of the challenges of the line, its engines and its future.

On our way

Our router today looks like this

and these are the timings. This is the longest Norwegian train line, and it shows.

As on the previous train there are free coffee and tea on this journey and in addition little chocolates and apples and pears. 

The route begins with pretty Fjords, large lakes, huge mountains and forests plus loads and loads of tunnels.

Harran

We stop at all the stations on the route. I note Harran as it is at 100 meters above sea level, and the route takes a distinct change in scenery from that point on.

Mosjøen 

From Mosjøen on we are again in the fjords, but this time the Northern Fjords, having become familiar with the Western ones previously. Vefsnfjorden alongside us the first of the Northern Fjord. 

At 1.45pm, I have a snooze in the comfortable seats for 15 minutes.

The train then runs around Ranfjorden. We arrive in Mo I Rana at 2.31pm right on time. Impressive after this long journey. 

We have our fourth coffee but this time also water and an apple for me and chocolate for Drew. 

I want to know how Drew takes such great photos while on a moving train and mine all jump and become blurred!

At 3pm we know we are approaching the Arctic Circle, it will be our first time north of it and we are getting very excited. Drew is sitting looking out the window with camera poised. 

We climb the steep Saltfjellveien and at 3.33pm we begin to head down, at the bottom of the hill we will have reached the Circle. The train has an announcement on its board. 

And at 3.36pm we pass into the Arctic circle where we will be until next Wednesday. 

The train continues on its route and the topography changes again

Bodø

At 5.44pm we arrive in Bodø and we leave the train

We are straight out of the station at at 5.50pm and we walk to the Thon Hotel Nordlys, arriving at 6.02pm. 

Thon Hotel Nordlys

We arrive in the hotel and go to our room 617 on the top floor of the hotel.

As we were arriving here in the evening and departing on the Ferry tomorrow, I didn't upgrade this room as I have with the other Thon Hotels. So we see the first 'regular' room from Thon. A fair bit smaller than a superior room (and a lot smaller than the business room in Trondheim) but comfortable enough. Less coffee and tea too - but there is plenty in the lobby anyway.

Dinner

We haven't booked anywhere in Bodø for food, leaving it to our arrival. So we went out for a wander along the side of the dock, just outside the hotel.

We found a place about 200 meters from the hotel called Bryggerikaia, we'd identified it via Google Maps on our way up and it was great.

We ordered sparkling water to start and it was the Eira brand that we have had at many places before. The national park where it is produced is quite near here.

Drew decided to have a Ginger Beer with his starter. It was a surprise to find that it had come here from Hexham in the North East of England, but actually that isn't a huge distance from here, by sea of course.

We began with a plate of Focaccia, I expected it with oil and perhaps balsamic vinegar, but it came with whipped butter, something that is often seen on menus in Norway. [Co-pilot's note: I have tried, dear readers, to explain the difficulties in growing olives north of the Arctic Circle!!]

The bread was delightful, I'll say nothing for the butter.

At this point my phone decided to have a funny few minutes, where photos I saw were taken not getting stored. This effected my photo of the Hvalskinke - Whale Ham, so I have had to borrow this from a internet source who had visited here 3 months ago.

It looked just like this and was fresh and vibrant with the beetroot working well with the almost meaty flavour of the whale ham. I'd certainly try whale again.

Drew had Ost Og Karamelisert Fiken - Raw Marinated Scallops and Salmon - Drew's scallops and salmon photo really wasn't great either, though it hadn't disappeared all together

They then provided Rundstykke og smør - Roll and Butter, everyone seems to get this just for ordering, so after out focaccia we had some more bread - this one a seeded wholemeal. Crunchy and good for dipping.

Trying to keep a local flavour to my food I opted for Grillet Tørrfisk - Grilled Stockfish - this is the fish that made this coast rich. A fish not dried with salt but naturally dried by the sun and wind, it is normally the abundant cod from this water, but Tørr means dried, so it can be any other type of while fish, like haddock. 

It was very tasty and no sense of it being de-dried to make it edible had any effect on the tasty fish.

Drew choose Fisk Og Skalldyr - Fish and Chips - this is often associated with Britain, but the UK (especially Scotland has lots of connections with this part of Norway, so whether we got the idea from the Norwegians or the Norwegians got it from the Scots, history does not recall. 

Drew was really pleased with his fish, it had breadcrumbs which were crunchy and with a good solid amount of fish, the chips were real chips and salted to perfection.

Drew finished the meal with Sjokoladekrem - Chocolate Cream - this dessert was made up of good individual components, it was chocolaty, the pastry was perfect, the creams really tasty - but it didn't seem to achieve coherence, it didn't gel together. He felt there should be more to it.

I was treated to Ost og kjeks - Cheese and crackers

These were all local cheeses - one tasting like Brie, one like Manchego and the regular companion of this holiday a lovely Norwegian Blue form Stavanger.

We finished the meal with a double espresso each.

 

We went back to the hotel and were in bed at 10.30pm, the train might have been very comfortable, but the journey had still made us tired.