Flam, Norway

After leaving Oslo, a 380 mile voyage to this beautiful ‘village’, nestling at the end of the Aurslandfjord.  It lies almost 100 miles inland and to get to it requires an 8-hour journey down the Sognefjord.  Taking 2 pilots at the entrance at midnight, we set off in darkness towards our destination, a World Heritage site for its beauty.  I got to bed at 1 a.m. and was called at 4:30, my turn on the Bridge at 5; this had the advantage that I could, at the least, start the GoPro and get the camera out. These are taken during the last 1½ hours of our journey.

All fast on a pier, considerably shorter than us, however it had good bollards for sending our ropes to. 

The berth ahead

The town from the berth

The railway is almost next door

Gangway in and off everyone went.  My 2nd-in-command had asked for the day off, to go on tour and I couldn’t really deny him, he had done several duties for me.  The main attraction is the railway, a trip which takes passengers 830 metres upwards, with panoramic views on the way.  So it was, that I relied on Karen for photos and videos, she didn’t let me down and here are a selection.

 The train stopped at a halfway point and believe it or not, although Karen captured the “fairy”, many of the guests never saw it; she was “airdropping” it to many of them, back on the ship.

In the late afternoon I managed a short jaunt ashore, (camera in hand of course).

Food trucks as well!

I thought this was an old, original church, however, upon opening the door to photograph the interior. I found it was a bar!!

One could hire electric cars, not only these, but bicycles too. The ferries here run on LNG, (liquid natural gas)

I write as we round the north coast of Scotland, having passed between the Shetland and Orkney Islands earlier.  We are in a force-8 gale, high winds and a reasonable swell.  She’s taking it well though, she’s a wonderful ship for taking seas.  Tomorrow morning we are trying for Portree on the Isle of Skye.  I write “trying’ because the weather forecast is not very good; wind, rain showers, (possibly even snow)!  I’ll let you know the outcome on a later post……