Home again

We’re safely home. Clearly it has been raining while we’ve been away. As we did the long drive over to Newcastle, passing the Lakeland fells & through the northern Pennines, you couldn’t help but struck by the yellowness of the grass, more straw-like than grass-like. On the return trip, fresh green shoots were coming through. Fields once more were predominantly green, something for the sheep to get some goodness out of.

The Norwegian fjords were absolutely fabulous. Our first stop was Bergen which was just a deluge of rain. We gather it rains more often than not there. After that we moved north into sunshine & warmth. Visibility was good so we could really appreciate the sheer height of the mountains & the great drops of the waterfalls on them as we passed.

Apart from Bergen the only other place we got off the ship was Hellesylt. The Fox managed to get off at Flåm. It was a tender so I remained on ship. At Olden the gangway was steps but too narrow & rickety for my wheelchair.

There is an attraction to the idea of visiting the fjords again at a different season. To see the fabulous scenery under snow, or when the snow is melting so the waterfalls would be in full flow. Unfortunately the only way seems to be by ship as there is no direct flight from the north of England to Norway.

However, we have returned still not being convinced that cruising is for us. My wheelchair sank into the thick carpets making it very heavy work pushing along the long corridors from restaurants to entertainment lounges. As for going outside even the fittest of people were struggling to open & close the doors to go out on deck. And they didn’t have a steep ramp on either side & a wheelchair to push through as well!

On this particular cruise we found the food okay rather than exciting. (After a fish & chip dinner with soggy batter & vinegary mushy peas on board, we really enjoyed the crisp batter, huge pieces of gleaming white cod & mushy peas at our local pub for dinner last night.) The activities didn’t do much for us. Much as I enjoy a quiz, I don’t want to do them three times a day. The talks on the whole seemed irrelevant, though we did go to one on Grieg & his music which we did enjoy. The music played on ship was generally second rate to our minds, & often too loud when it was played in bars, so it was difficult to talk to another other over it.

Our friends were good. It turned out it was nice to see friendly faces. They ended up on the same dining table as us. Surprise surprise. Much as they say they didn’t arrange that we have our suspicions. However, most of the time they happily did their own thing & we did ours, only meeting at dinnertime & occasionally bumping into one another during the day. We would consider going away with them again on such a basis. However, I suspect they would want to go cruising & it will be a while before we consider cruising again.

We’ve returned home almost as tired as we left. I’m not sure if the Fox isn’t more tired. However, he has at least got his appetite back. He’s still not walking well, but he’s due to see the doctor about that later this week. Hopefully something can be done to help him. It may just be some exercise regime. It may be something else. We’ll see. It’s no use speculating until we’ve got some facts.