Norway // Sea | Kollektivnye

Having spent the best part of 72 hours on the Hurtigruten cruise liner going from Bodø to Tromsø then back down to Trondheim, I’d say in some sense of the word, I’ve earned a good pair of sea legs. As the train only goes up North as far as Bodø, and it was maybe -10 degrees when I arrived there, I had to think of an alternative method to get up to Tromsø that didn’t involve freezing with my thumb up outside a petrol station waiting for a lift. I had never heard of the Hurtigruten ferry before my train pulled into Bodø station alongside a massive red and white cruise liner, that from where I was stood with my comparatively tiny backpack and soaking boots, almost blocked out the sun.

The entire route of the ferry travels pretty much the entire distance along the West coast of Norway, starting in Bergen and ending in Kirkenes, stopping for various amounts of time at 34 various ports on the way up North. It goes right through all the Lofoten Islands on the way too, which were absolutely mind blowing. The scale of some of the mountains compared to what, at the time seemed like a toy boat was almost incomprehensible. The entire journey from South to North takes about a week, with most people on the cruise choosing to go the whole route and back again; a ridiculous amount of time to spend on a boat in my opinion. But either way, totally worth it as the amount of the country you get to see is absolutely astounding. I was chatting to a few other hobby photographers on the boat who had each paid around £1,500 to get the full works for the full two weeks; four-star rated food, a private cabin, numerous excursions, as well as a couple of extra bits to make the deal extra sweet. It did feel kind of scummy talking to these guys as I was going the cheapest way I physically could, no food, having to sleep on sofas lying around the boat and using my UK student card (that worked no problem at all over there because Norwegians are SO nice) to get as much discount off my trips as possible. It worked out at around £50 a day to go god-knows how many miles up the coast while seeing a side to the country I only ever got to see in leaflets and on desktop backgrounds.

I’d say the two massive highlights for me being on the boat were passing into and out of the Arctic Circle, both within 5 days of each other, and seeing the Northern Lights as we got further North nearer Tromsø. That was probably the most unbelievable experience I’ve ever had. Having only ever seen the Northern Lights against a backdrop of narration by David Attenborough and on various people’s desktop backgrounds, I wasn’t so convinced they’d be any good in ‘real-life’. When I say that, I mean there must have been some kind of editing/camera trickery in order to make them look so vivid and seemingly alien to anything else you will have seen on Earth. But then, I’m sceptical by most things I am amazed by until I see them in person.

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Andy Jones ©

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Andy Jones ©

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Andy Jones ©

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Andy Jones ©

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Andy Jones ©

direct lender payday loans

Andy Jones ©

direct lender payday loans

Andy Jones ©

direct lender payday loans

Andy Jones ©

direct lender payday loans

Andy Jones ©

direct lender payday loans

Andy Jones ©

direct lender payday loans

Andy Jones ©

direct lender payday loans

Andy Jones ©

direct lender payday loans

Andy Jones ©

A few hours after we left Tromsø on the Monday night, while I was at the bar watching the same guy I had seen every night cover various songs I shouldn’t know the words to, a call came over the boats tannoy system announcing that the Northern Lights were visible from the back of the boat. So without even thinking I grabbed my camera and ran outside to try and get a shot of them. Any other time this wouldn’t have been such a feat, but at the time it was probably about -15°C outside and I was in socks and a t-shirt (my boots and jacket were hidden under a sofa on the other side of the boat to secure my sleeping spot for the night). So I ran outside in my socks and t-shirt, taking my little digital camera with me, as with that I knew I wasn’t going to mess up the shot. And looked up at honestly one of the most incredible sights I have ever seen; A massive snake of bright green light streaking across pitch black but clear sky. It takes quite a lot to shock me, I guess due to my years of messing around on the Internet and looking through various photo-books, but I was almost moved to tears by what I saw. To get the whole streak in, I had to sit down on the deck and point my camera upwards it was that big. I got one good shot then had to put my camera down and just watch it weave in and out of the sky. It was incredible. The tour guide was saying that we were very lucky to be seeing the lights at all in April, which is why they were kind of faint, but to see them in person was something I thought I’d never get to see.

Another cool thing about being on the ferry was crossing into and out of the Arctic Circle within 5 days of each other. I knew at some point I’d be doing it, but wasn’t sure when, how, or if I’d even know if I had crossed it or not. I had hoped all through the first week I could get some kind of proof that I had been on the cusp of the Arctic, so after another tannoy announcement on the ship that we were about to cross the border I rushed outside to get a photo. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting in terms of a marker showing where the boarder was; a massive swinging gate perhaps, or some kind of marine service station like that one in the movie ‘Waterworld’. Instead it was a relatively tiny statue on top of a rock in the middle of the sea. Granted it wasn’t the most spectacular of statues, but still what it actually signified was real cool. Both to me personally in terms of how far I had travelled to have a snoop around within the Arctic Circle, and in terms of how something as simple as crossing a natural border is still a celebratory event.

After the second full day travelling back down South on the boat, things started to get all kinds of weird, I’m not sure whether I was becoming accustomed to ‘life at sea’ or trying to reject it. After bobbing around almost constantly for two days my legs were starting to feel like they weren’t there anymore and walking on dry land felt like my knees were constantly drunk on something or other. So after the last night, feeling like I was about to be sick in my sleeping bag for about 4 hours before getting any sleep, I was actually quite glad to be back in Trondheim and firmly on dry land. So after actually being sick in various bins across town and a good solid sit down in a coffee shop for about an hour I was all set.

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