Explore More Issue 18

TRAVEL
PHOTOS: © ISTOCK/CATHERINE COLLINS
the rush of mountain streams,
small vertiginous fields bursting
with multi-coloured wildflowers;
campions, bog cotton (here it has
had an upgrade to Arctic cotton),
buttercups, cornflowers, saxifrage,
sedums and poppies. If all that
hadn’t been enough, the sudden
appearance of a pack of llamas
and herd of bell-ringing goats
on the track in front of us just
seemed normal for Norway. In
retrospect they were just another
wonderful surprise in one of the
most beautiful and individual
countries in the world.
Every day the surprises came
when you least expected them, like
a chain of beautiful bridges in the
Arctic Sea linking one remote tiny
island with a handful of humans
and some sheep to another tiny
and remote island with a handful
of humans and some sheep. I am
positive that if you could look
down on it from space they would
create a linking pattern as beautiful
as the DNA helix.
In every port we had the joy
of experiencing the seductive
attraction of a new place; the
smells, the prices, unfathomable
things in shops, hummus as a snack
for customers in a high end clothes
shop, confident Scandinavian
friendliness, unheard of brands
of confectionery, ancient paving
stones, the odd tram rattling
politely past or the terrifying ski
jump high above TromsØ, a town
inside the Arctic Circle at the top
of the world and the middle of
nowhere. Norway was both just like
home and like nowhere else.
Other surprise highlights? Being
beaten by birch twigs in the spa
(really, try it!), eating king crab
fresh from the sea and cooked in
a yurt, huge rapacious sea eagles
being attacked by furious, tiny terns
in the Lofotens. Shetland, part
of Scotland, but with an ancient
Norwegian soul, the lush treeless
greenness of Orkney and the
standing stones that made me stand
and weep. All never to be forgotten
and just when I thought none of
these could be beaten – they were.
Like all great hosts Viking saved the
best surprise til last.
The last night of a cruise is
always a bittersweet affair, not only
is there the sadness of it being over,
and goodbyes to be said, but far, far
worse – the horror of packing.
Why did I not realise that I really
didn’t need two huge reindeer skins
from TromsØ, and how on earth
was I going to deal with the
25 Viking helmets (plus horns)
for everyone at work, then there
was the orange and green superkingsize
‘limited-edition’ blanket
from the art gallery in Orkney.
My last night was turning into
a disaster.
Mercifully I am easily distracted,
and a medley of hits from Elvis,
Little Eva, The Beatles, Chubby
Checker and The Supremes drifting
down from the top deck saved me.
Anything was better than wrestling
the with Viking helmets so I legged
it up to Deck 7 to see what was
happening. Nothing prepared
me for what was happening. A
Happening was happening.
The house band was setting
the night on fire, the singers
were belting out hits from the
sixties, and the passengers were
dancing. Boy were they dancing.
The Locomotion, The Swim,
The Mashed Potato, The Twist,
The Frug – they still had all the
moves, maybe a bit slower and less
exuberant than in their prime, but
they were giving it everything.
Watching them dance, was life
affirming and joyous. I will never
forget it, and I suspect nor will
they. For about an hour at the end
of their cruise they were all sweet
sixteen once more and in that
moment somewhere in the North
Sea had their whole lives ahead of
them again.
That really is a money-can’t-buy
experience and ‘surprising’ really
doesn’t touch the sides. But then,
that’s a Viking cruise for you.
A 15-day Into the Midnight Sun
trip in 2021 starts from £5,290pp.
vikingcruises.co.uk
Clockwise, from
far left: A view
of the Lofoten
Islands in Norway;
one of the bridges
linking isolated
islands; Fi meets
a Giant Crab; the
Arctic Cathedral
in Tromsø
WINTER 2019 | VIKINGCRUISES.CO.UK 15
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