Good morning  Olden!

Steps: 15,394

I don’t think they have heatwaves in Norway.  Outside, it is an Alaska-esque 9°C, and not likely to become very much warmer as the day progresses.  There’s a 20% chance of precipitation. These are the only negatives!  Having been here in September 2022 when Summer prevailed much better than now, I am reminded of how absolutely glorious and majestic this dramatic countryside actually is.

For some reason, I awoke much earlier than planned this morning, occasionally watching the gentle sailing towards our second of five ports of call on this round-trip from Southampton. I will have to contend with eyes like house-bricks for today, and opt for an early night this evening to catch up.  I am thankful not to have signed up for an organised trip.  However, I do plan not to waste the day. 

I do enjoy things like looking down from great heights.  As such, I was attracted to possibly trying the Loen Skylift, around a ten minute shuttle bus ride along the shores of the Nordfjord which we shall sail along when we leave Olden later this afternoon.  I hadn’t a clue how much I paid for a ticket to shuttle me to the base of the SkyLift, a ride to the summit of Mount Hoven, 3,317 ft above sea level.  I would ascertain the cost of this magnificent three or four hour trip, £75.09 – actually worth every penny, despite varying cloud cover at the top.  That it was not very warm didn’t matter a jot.  The views were even better than depicted in the brochures and the air as clean as freshly fallen snow.  No hay fever then! 

The views illustrated, like similar brochures don’t  quite portray the spectacular grandness of it all.  The views from the various summit points were spectacular.

What a magnificent day.

Many thanks for reading, David,  00.49 in his stateroom.