It’s been a strange sort of day, we were due to check out of our Villa around 10.00 hrs but really couldn’t think of much to do between 10.00 hrs and15.00 hrs, the earliest time we could check in for the Hurtigruten cruise. We dragged our heels a bit at breakfast and headed back to the room to pack up. Terry did a last minute thorough check that we hadn’t left anything in the room before heading to reception where we were going to leave our suitcases until later on. We had worked out that it would take about 25 mins max to walk from the hotel to the Hurtigruten Terminal.

We discovered a huge shopping mall, four or five storeys high just over the road from our hotel which we spent some time walking around. Terry bought some pull on spikes for our walking boots and I bought some Pukka ‘Night-Time’ tea bags (£6 for a box of 20 thank you very much) as had had a terrible nights sleep, or lack of it, the previous night. After the mall we walked again into the city and took root in a small bakery; from there we walked to Bryggen and went into a few shops. I had helped myself to some hand cream (tester) the first day we had arrived and decided I would treat myself to a bottle. We found the shop easy enough but as the hand cream was £59, I just couldn’t justify buying it, so took enough of the tester to smother my entire top body and left the shop empty handed.

We returned to the hotel around 15:00 hrs and collected the suitcase. I was a bit worried that the wheels might fall off as Terry bounced it along the cobbled streets somewhat less than precariously but we arrived at the Hurtigruten Terminal all intact. The ship, Polarlys, was in port and we stood for a moment and watched goods being loaded and unloaded.

The ‘checking in’ was seamless and within minutes of arriving at the Terminal, we were upstairs in the Terminal lounge enjoying a glass of wine, well, me anyway. The young male attendant who checked us in asked us whether we had lost any luggage – for a minute I panicked, had we lost luggage….no, I was sure we had only packed one suitcase and hand luggage. He seemed surprised when we said ‘No’ and commended us on our ability to travel lightly. Terry was pleased with that.

We embarked around 15.30 hrs but were told our cabins wouldn’t be ready until around 18.00 hrs. We weren’t really bothered, we were both pretty tired so went and found some comfy seats on the 5th deck ‘explorer longe’ and sat with our books. Our package included free tea and coffee so we took full advantage of this immediately. Just before 18.00 hrs we walked down to our cabin, took in our suitcase (left outside the door), dumped our other luggage and went back upstairs for dinner.

Dinner tonight was buffet style and there was plenty to choose from. I had Fish and Terry, a chicken main. I had some gorgeous ice cream for dessert and Terry opted for chocolate mousse – if tonight’s food was anything to go by, we are going to have to watch what we eat over the next 6 days or we will balloon!

After dinner, we decided to go back to our cabin to unpack. We were still in Port and not due to set sail until 22.00 hrs. My phone battery had been dead all day so this would be a good chance to charge it, while we put stuff away. We opened the case and I guess it was at this point Terry said……’did you pull the charger out of the wall at the Villa?’, to which I replied ‘No’, I thought you had ……..’, I guess you know where this is going? 2 x IPhones (1 completely dead) ; 2 x IPads (1 at 16%); 0 x chargers. 6 day cruise ahead.

Well, we were in a bit of a panic. Terry left the cabin to establish whether the ships shop sold chargers but unfortunately, they didn’t. Their merchandise seems primarily that of extremely expensive Norwegian expedition clothing and Trolls. By the time he returned to the cabin, he had decided he would return to the hotel and see whether they had the charger there, if not, he would try to find a shop that was open in Bergen, which sold IPhone chargers, before returning to the ship.

He left the ship @ 20.20 hrs and from the minute the cabin door closed, time flew. I tried to busy myself by hanging up the clothes and making ‘home’ of the cabin but all the while I was thinking, what if he doesn’t make it back before we set sail or, what if he gets back before we sail but they don’t let him back on as they have battened down the hatches or whatever they do….. I gazed out of the portholes a couple of times hoping to catch a glimpse of him in the distance but snow was thundering down and I couldn’t see a thing. ‘That’s not going to help’ I thought.

By the time he cruised back in, just before 21.00 hrs, with the charger, I had convinced myself I would be cruising alone. The cabin was clean and tidy, spic and span with everything put away in the right place. I had utilised the time wisely.

That’s Mt Fløyen, we walked/slid down yesterday, just to emphasise the height…..