FLAM

Today, we arrived in our final port; Flam. or to be more precise… Flåm

While many passengers had booked to take the famous train ride up the valley, we’d already decided we were going to go for a walk up to Brekkefossen Waterfall, a trek that would require a lunchtime sandwich. At breakfast, I ordered an extra sausage and bacon, and an extra slice of toast with which to make such a sandwich.

As we headed for the gangway, after breakfasting, we bumped into Rolando, who told us that we had been invited to attend someone’s 89th birthday party. I say ‘invited’… it was more like an instruction to attend… with a note to be in The Grill by 3:55pm.

Being invited to the party was a surprise. About a week ago, I’d been approached by Judi, the Shore Excursions manager, asking if I would be willing to paint a picture for a very special, and treasured, passenger. Naturally, I was more than happy to oblige. My only mild concern was that it should be something representative of the cruise, and preferably feature the Northern Lights and the ship. The Aurora Borealis is probably one of the hardest subjects I’ve ever painted in watercolour.

Once ashore, we began our walk to the Brekkefossen waterfall. Flam is situated in a steep-sided, glacial valley; the tops of the surrounding mountains were covered in snow, and clouds clung to the mid-height slopes. It was quite breaktaking.

The trail to the waterfall was clearly marked from the road and the route, as it winds its way up the side of the hill, is easy to follow. In fact, after a while, the rough path is replaced by carefully laid stone steps… the Norwegians really know how to look after their hikers…

A small plateau provides a great viewpoint for both the waterfall and the view back down into the valley, and being Easter Sunday, we met several hikers who had come out to enjoy all the views.

After spending some time taking photographs, we returned to the main trail leading higher up the mountain. In fact, the marked trail stretches for 15km into the higher summits. As we climbed higher, however, the path got decidedly steeper, rougher, wetter and much trickier to navigate. After a while, we decided enough was enough and headed back down to the earlier viewpoint to sit and eat our lunchtime sandwiches while taking in the view.

As we ate, we got talking to a couple who were on a motorhoming adventure. In fact, we’d already spotted their motorhome parked at the foot of the mountain, and it was interesting to exchange thoughts and observations on campervanning life from the perspective of our two different countries.

On our return to the valley floor, we opted for a slightly different route back to the village, one that took us on the opposite side of the river and alongside the railway (ideal for filimng it as it chugged past us).

At one point, we were stopped in our tracks by a thunderous rumbling sound, one that we both believed was an approaching aircraft, which we fully expected to see emerging from over the ridgeline at any moment. But it was only after a moment or two, as the rumbling continued, and no such plane appeared, that we realised what it was that was actually making the noise… a small avalanche was in progress, pushing huge piles of snow down one of the gullies, and cascading dramatically over crags. After a few minutes it had all settled down… but it was still quite exhilarating to see.

On our return to the ship, we headed up to the cabin to make ourselves presentable, and then on to the Grill for our birthday party appointment. I’m very pleased (and quite relieved) to say that the painting went down extremely well. A member of the crew had made an excellent job of framing it, and the recipient was overjoyed with it.

I’d painted the Northern Lights with the Spirit of Adventure just sailing into the scene in one corner and some snowy mountains – loosely based upon the mountains we saw on our arrival at Alta a few days prveiously, in the background. Mission accomplished!…

We left Flam at about 5pm and sailed down what I believe is one of the longest fjords in Norway. We joined the large crowd of passengers who had congregated on the forward deck (deck 7) to enjoy the spectacular scenery. These are surely mountains at their very best.