Daily timetable for Hurtigruten 12 day coastal voyage.

I am attaching the following for the people who may be considering the trip we did this February (2017). The following are scans of the timetable we received every day outlining each days itinerary for our 12 day Hurtigruten coastal voyage along the coast of Norway from Bergen to Kirkenes and back again.

They clearly show the nature of the trip with the many stops along the way. The Hurtigruten ships play a vital role as the coastal link for the small communities along the Norwegian Fjords during winter and you can stay on them (for a price). This is not cruising as you may think of it but it is a wonderful way to get a taste of life in the Northern most parts of Europe.

How to photograph the Northern Lights

I cannot take credit for this - I am simply sharing the handout provided by Hurtigruten during our 12 day voyage with them in February. 

What I can take credit for is these - taken following the above instructions....

Hurtigruten Norwegian Coastal Trip Day 10, 11 and 12

Thought I'd better finish off the trip blog so you know I returned safe and sound 😉

Day 10

The return trip seemed to have fewer long stops and we didn't get off the ship at all today. Also - the fact that we experienced a Force 8 storm during the night and there was torrential rain today didn't give us much of an incentive to get off anywhere.

We saw some spectacular scenery along the way though

and I did quite a lot of this.....

and when I got bored of that - I did a bit of this....

As I have nothing insightful to share with you about Norway today let me tell you about my Zyliss Cafetiere hot mug which you can see in the photos above. Those of you that know me will be well aware I love my coffee in the morning and that I am a real coffee snob - I love my filter coffee, preferably Lavazza. In the past, as well as taking a kettle on holiday with us we have also taken a full size cafetiere - told you I love my coffee! These mugs were a real find. Cafetiere and thermal mug in one.

Here's some close up photo's - I did tell you I did nothing else today.

Another thing I love about them is that one of these mugs starred in Avatar (it was a non credited role)

Day 11

Sunrise looked like this

Sadly it was our last full day and we had to pack. We did get off the ship a few times but literally for 10 minutes at a time. If you are thinking of doing this trip I would recommend you do the Bergen to Kirkenes part of the trip (The Northbound leg) then fly out from Kirkenes. The Southbound section of the trip had far fewer longer stops and some of the longer stops were very early in the morning. There were a lot more people getting off on the Southbound leg - particularly at Tromso and Trondheim. I took a photo of empty cabins to show what they are like. The top photo is a (just vacated) three berth cabin - we had one of these. Because it was made up for 3 we had extra pillows and towels which was a bonus. Also the bunks fold away during the day - one becomes a sofa. The bottom photo is a (vacant) 2 berth cabin on Deck 5 showing how they looked made up for the day. NB I took that photo through the window because the cabins on deck 5 have their window looking onto the deck that you can walk all the way round. A very good reason for not having a cabin on deck 5 - unless you don't object to having people wandering in front of your cabin.

Night time looked like this

 Day 12

Luggage out by 9.00 am and cabin vacated by 10.00 am. Then we mooched around the ship until we docked in Bergen at 14.30 pm. The stretch of coast into Bergen is particularly stunning - you can see where Disney got the inspiration for Frozen. 

Bergen itself is also picturesque..

Then we flew home and started planning our next trip!

Hurtigruten Norwegian Coastal Trip Day 8 and 9

Day 8

In case you hadn't realised - or I didn't make clear- we are on the return leg of the journey now. We are visiting some ports again and some for the first time as they must do a slightly different route on the way back (or South bound as they say).

It is well and truly clouded over now and we have had a little bit of rain and some snow so our chances of seeing the Northern Lights are nil. In a way I'm a bit relieved as it means we can relax a bit more as we're not waiting for the call to get on deck at all times of the night. We did see them for 4 nights on the run at the start of the holiday so can't complain.

Today we were treated (if that's the right word) to a display from the Norwegian rescue service who were practising rescues from ships with a Sea King helicopter. It wasn't put on for our benefit - I think our ship just happened to be scheduled to be part of this manoeuvre. It was fabulous to watch though and obviously they take the whole thing really seriously, the deck was closed off, the life boats were set ready to go in case anyone fell in. Sadly they didn't ask for volunteers as I would happily have volunteered Hubby 😉

I say they take it seriously -and they did - but they still managed to do a fast fly by waving to us all on deck when they'd finished - show offs!

Stopped at Hammerfest today - we got off and did our usual wander around. Came across the Polar Bear Society - which is more about survival in the Northern-most city of Europe than it is about polar bears. I liked the range of souvenirs - hubby liked the free wifi! 

 http://www.nordnorge.com/other-scenic-routes/?News=201

Day 9

Another day of frequent shorter stops.

We stopped at Stokmarknes for an hour where you had the opportunity to visit the Hurtigruten Museum - which is actually an old Hurtigruten ship and looked quite interesting - we didn't feel we had enough time to do it justice for the 50 K entry fee but I'm sure it would be worth a look if you had more time.

Luckily the ship has docked in the centre of all the towns we've stopped at and there's always time to pop into a local supermarket for some beer or pop. A beer on the ship is £10 - it's £3 in the shop. A 500ml bottle of diet Sprite is £4 on the ship but you can get 1500 mls for £3.20 in the Co-op. Just to show you we don't have to go far for a shop ....

FYI -The shop is on the right 🛍

Part of the trip we have really enjoyed is the watching what goes on when we dock in the small towns. Some have a population of less than 2000 people.

One night we watched a car drive off then a mini bus drive on, joyful reunions as people got off the ship and were met at the foot of the gangplank and tearful farewells as people got on leaving their families behind. Here's a typical quayside scene -

There always seems to be only one person on the quayside who is responsible for tying off the ropes fore and aft, driving the fork lift truck to unload and load the freight then untying the mooring ropes when the ship sets off. This night we watched them loading a snow mobile, on a pallet, into the cargo hold. It took about 4 different manoeuvres to get it on board and would have been amusing if it didn't involve a £10,000 piece of machinery. Didn't get photo's as I was mesmerised just watching it all.