Day 13 - Day excursion to Briksdal Glacier
Early start again - 6.30 alarm, 7.30 breakfast, and down to the Delphi Theatre to meet before we head off on our excursion to the Briksdal Glacier.
The ship docked in Hellesylt and is only allowing passengers who have excursions booked to depart, it will then continue onto to Geiranger while the excursion participants will meet the ship there. It was a bit like herding cats with hundreds meeting, getting ready for their excursion number to be called and following the guide with the paddle of your excursion number off the ship and onto the waiting bus. We were excursion #53 and although we were amongst the first to leave the lounge for that excursion, by the time we got to our bus it was already half full .. and we are fast walkers. Obviously cruise hardened excursion goers who knew how the system worked were already there !
It was a very pleasant drive through the Norwegian countryside through quaint villages and rural farm holdings, as well as river, waterfall and mountain scenery. Early morning there was low cloud hanging over the fiord and visibility was limited for a while but we were told today the weather was going to be great. It did clear up later in the morning and was clear by the time we arrived at Briksdal. There were glaciers on the plateaus and forests as well along the way.
We arrived at the base of Briksdal Glacier at around 11.00 and were given 90 minutes to hike to the base of the glacier (about 40 mins) and return (about 20 mins) for the faster walkers. The hike included some steep sections and Tania had to wait a few times for Graeme to catch his breath. On the way, there were sign posts showing where the face of the glacier had been for the last 200 or so years. It is amazing just how far it has regressed in that short time. There is a continual stream of chilly melt water coming down off the Glacier.
We returned to one of the villages we had passed through for lunch. It was a small village called Stryn and we had a tasty soup, salmon with potato, and lemon cake for lunch. Afterwards we started the drive back to Geiranger with many stops at lookouts and waterfalls, and finally a spectacular lookout over the Geiranger town and fiord where our cruise ship was docked, arriving at around 17:30.
We had time to explore Geiranger, but it was mainly tourist shopping, and ourselves being tourists, managed to buy a new jacket each...Tania's, think safety yellow and back to the history of Breton fishermen, being ready now for any rough seas should she fall overboard and will be easily spotted ! Graeme's, think blue, the colour of the cold water so let's hope he can swim through the ship's wake ! Back on the boat by 19:00 after a long day.
We looked for a coffee in town before we embarked but couldn’t find one, so we headed to the hot chocolate shop on board and shouted ourselves a speciality hot chocolate drink. They were both very decadent, each topped with whipped cream which now means extra steps tomorrow to burn off the liquid calories !
Tania was quite tired and could not face any more food so returned to our cabin, showered and went to bed early. Graeme attended dinner solo for the 20:00 sitting at the Colorado Restaurant and once again was thwarted with menu choices because I had nominated my nut allergy when we booked. Graeme was back in the room by 21:30 and straight to bed.