A recce of Bergen

The ferry boarded at 7am. We were a little concerned when the 'final' boarding time came and went and the gates hadn't opened. Were we on the wrong wharf?  Around 6:30 they opened to a sigh of relief. The ship was pretty empty of vehicles and when we  boarded there were very few of us to be seen. However, the cabins had to be empty by 10pm so the lounges filled to bursting. Amazing how many must have thought they'd leave their comfortable cabins and still be able to get a prime seat with a view!

Our fjord cruise liner awaits - finally

A whole table to ourselves, and not many others to be seen

J sunbathing

Storm clouds brewing. We were a little surprised to be going through the islands as we had assumed we would swing out to sea. No complaints other than we  missed seeing Utsira of the shipping forecast fame. North Utsira, west or northwest gale 8 to storm 10, imminent.

Looks fine there

Kids playing with their VR devices on the Holograph deck

Why are there so many songs about rainbows?

Here comes the rain again

Can't think of an oil rig song. Six months on a leaky boat? Or was there a Cold Chisel song that mentioned them?

Must be near Bergen. That's the bridge we'll cross to get to Taelavag

A few more folks blocking our view now the cabins have emptied

Welcome to Bergen

We got in at midday and went to our campsite. It was full so we had to go to another nearby. That was just a rough carpark, partly flooded, the toilets literally covered in shit, the pay machine out of order, and no other facilities. Worth what we paid - nothing.

Part of the reason for visiting  Bergen - though we would have visited anyway - is to take photos for two articles for the AtB editor. One on a ship that exploded in 1944, the other on a village that was razed in reprisal for aiding the resistance. We did a bit of a recce into the city in preparation for the 'big push'.

Bryggen,  the old waterfront area. 

All these are wood - imagine the fire risk! How did they survive the explosion?

A cablecar/funicular took us up the mountain behind Bergen. (Note the tiny dot in the harbour to the right of picture. That's a ship. Remember it for tomorrow's blog.)

The 19th/20th C city centre

The old city. The Bryggen are the red roofs at centre-left. The Voorbode was moored where the small blue-hulled cruise liner is past the Bryggen, so that is 'ground zero'.

The 'people's restaurant' at the top of the cablecar.

Sydney is signposted. A wee way from here then.

Where trolls live (when they're not on the internet)

J pointing at something

Do these look like eyes to you? How spooky would they be at night?

What goes up must come down

We got back to camp and discovered we had another power crisis. Because we had free camped at Stavanger and then only driven Reggie off the ferry and to the carpark the batteries had not charged. Solar panels don't work at night or in a ship's hold so no charging for over 12 hours. That meant no lights, but more importantly no camera, no phones, no laptop! Disaster!

However, we figured out a plan. Take everything to town in the morning, and charge it all up there.