Hurtigruten; Monday, 28 January, 2013

Several hours to kill in the morning, so first stop, after dropping off bags, was the Fløibanen to take in the views of Bergen, including the slightly disturbing sign of a Hurtigruten ship tied up in the harbour when there shouldn’t have been one there.

We had a wander through the Bryggen before stopping for a cup of coffee, also as a way of getting out of a particularly spectacular downpour.

As the rain didn’t show any sign of letting up we headed back to the hotel to collect our luggage and then headed down to the Hurtigruten terminal.

There we were updated that our ship was running fine without a problem, but there might be a slight delay as there was a ship moored up that was late back from repairs in Hamburg, and was supposed to have sailed the previous evening.

Eventually, 30 minutes after our ship was supposed to have docked at the end of its journey from Kirkenes, the other ship slipped its moorings and headed off into the rapidly setting sun.

In the end, as our ship was pretty empty, they didn’t need to delay the safety briefing or boarding that much, but cleaning and scheduled maintenance meant that we didn’t depart until about 15 minutes after we were supposed to. However, by then I was stuffed from the excellent evening buffet meal.

As Bergen faded into the distance I headed back to my cabin for some sleep…