The Arctic Circle - Rorvik

Sunday 30^th September - Day 10

Today is another all weather day. We start with mist and as the day progresses we go through cloud, rain and sunshine. You get the feeling that this happens a lot in Norway with it’s changeable climate.

Today we leave the Arctic Circle and I feel sad about it in many ways. I have grown interested in the lives of the people who live in these dramatic conditions. I also felt part of something. Being in the Arctic Circle was a bit liking being in a special club and now that we have left it behind, I no longer feel part of the gang.

Today is the day that I thought we would have yesterday. There really are no stops to write home about. The places we stop have very little of interest to talk about and we have very little time to find out more. We get off the boat at Sandnessjoen. It’s a Sunday and the only people out and about in town are are fellow passengers. The tourist shop is the only thing open and I get the feeling that it is likely to close 5 minutes after the boat departs. This really is a one horse town. It doesn’t even get a mention in our outdated Lonely Planet Guide book. I do like the fact that a local knitting entrepreneur and her friend have set up a small stall right in the port and are displaying hats and scarves that are all hand knitted. In fact the lady who runs it, is actually knitting at the dock keen to keep production going.
 

Back on board the scenery is no less interesting and people still leave their houses and park up their cars on bridges to wave and take our photograph. I wonder how many Norwegian photographs I will appear in over the next few days and weeks as I stand on deck 7 waving back.

We pass a gaint rock formation which has a hole through the middle. We are told that this was caused during the Ice-age. I prefer to think it was made by bored trolls.
 

Many of our fellow passengers will leave the boat tomorrow in Trondheim and so there is a farewell dinner tonight. There are some nice gestures during dinner which I won’t share just in case you are coming on this trip.

And the surprises keep on coming. At just after 3 am we get the call to let us know that you can see the Northern Lights. We run around at lightening speed pulling on clothes that we’ve laid out (as we did every night – just in case). When we get up on deck, the lights are everything we dreamed of – an arc of green dances across the sky flicking rays of light into some of the cloud below. I stand next to one of the ship’s staff who exclaims, “Wow and this is amazing,” every few seconds and I do nothing other than agree. We feel truly blessed being this early in the season and this far South to see such wonder. We stand on deck and watch like excited children as new patterns and shapes form in the sky above us. No wonder people want to experience this. It is absolutely fantastic and so beautiful.