I boarded the Hurtigruten at 1 am on Saturday morning and I was due into Sortland on the Lofoten Islands at 1 pm on Sunday, so had a day and a half to occupy myself. As I had booked the cheapest cabin (without a window), I woke in total darkness (something I hadn’t experienced for weeks) and was a little confused. It turned out to be 8:00 in the morning, so went off in search of breakfast and to work out the system. The Hurtigruten has a bit of a mix of passengers with (I think) the majority taking a week-long cruise between Bergen in the south, and Kirkenes in the north next to the Russian border, or vice versa (as in this case) or even both ways for two weeks.  There are others like myself using it as transport between various ports. The price included breakfast and I had treated myself to the evening dinner as an extra. Because of the cruise passengers, breakfast was a grand affair and I enjoyed multiple courses trying not to look like I have lived out of a pannier for the last week and never seen food before (with the exception of bread, cheese and pasta).

My next job was laundry, most of the Hurtigruten ships have washing machines and the Lofoten’s one was located at the back in the noisy part of the ship. A wash and dry was 30 NOK – a bargain in anyone’s book. I went to pay, which turned out to be just for the detergent rather than any tokens, gathered all my clothes together and headed down to the laundry. I washed everything I could, leaving me wearing a pair of leggings and my best shirt, which looked a bit strange, and set the machine going.

The first shock was the wash was due to take 2 hours 15 minutes, and we were due to dock in Hammerfest in just over an hour’s time for a two hour stay – very bad planning. The next bomb shell was that I’d left the key card for my room in my trouser pocket in the washing machine, so I was stuck in the bar with my strange outfit for two hours. Luckily I had a book to read and just ignored all the looks, and the number of passengers reduced after we docked. Eventually the wash finished and I could liberate a pair of socks and my key. I put everything in the dryer, grabbed a coat and headed into Hammerfest for some lunch, dressed like a nutter. I managed to get a quick look around town and visit the Ancient Polar Bear Society (although I’m none the wiser as to what it is).

Back on board and the drying was finished, leaving me with absolutely nothing to do until dinner at six. I don’t think cruising is for me!
I sat on deck for a bit, looked out the window a bit, slept a bit and read a bit – eventually I started this blog! After the freedom of cycling it felt like being in a noisy vibrating prison.

Anyway, dinner was more enthralling with good conversation with a Danish couple, and a Norwegian guy, with many subjects covered and the dinner was good. I then whiled away more hours until we docked in Tromso at 11:45pm. I was chatting to a fellow cyclist who was getting off the boat at Tromso, he had cycled to the North Cape from Belgium and was flying home from Tromso. He seemed very pleased to be going home and cited the poor weather as disillusioning him, and blowing his budget as he couldn’t camp every night. I wondered whether I would be as pleased as him to finish and go home.

I went into Tromso and it was just like Brighton with drunk students (rather than hen parties) everywhere, the only other difference was that it was still daylight at midnight. I suspect most towns with universities are the same on a Saturday night.

Back to the boat and sleep. It’s been a different day with a lot to get used to, from the wide open spaces, the freedom to dictate my own pace and the general peace of cycling, to a vibrating windowless box.

Saturday 21 June 2015, Distance Cycled 0 km, Total Distance 727 km