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Skjolden, Norway
Weather: Rain, heavy at times
Sea: Calm
We awoke this morning as we were pulling into Skjolden. It takes about 8 hours to sail along the fjord to reach Skjolden at the very end of the fjord. It’s a few branches further long the Flam.
We had a wander into the center of the town. It was your typical Norwegian fjord village … Plenty of character buildings, a hotel, co-op and visitor centre … plus alpacas and sheep!!
We got about 100 metres down the road and it started to rain – only light to start with. We stopped in the visitor centre for a coffee and by the time we left, it was getting much heavier.
Mum started to walk back to the ship and told us to catch her up. We walked a little further around to get some photos of the ship and the fjord. We caught Mum back up and by now the rain was bouncing of the road and we were soaked.
A bit of a queue to get back onto the ship as passengers were also trying to disembark for their tours. The lucky ones were able to queuing in the building – the others were soaked … and would be sat on a tour bus for a couple of hours!
Back on ship … I was soaked through so jumped in the shower. No point getting wet and drying myself off twice in one day!!
Lunch we went to Costa for a hot chocolate / latte and a prawn roll. Callum was still hungry so we then went up to the buffet before retiring to the cabin for a siesta.
Whilst the rain had eased by the time we sailed away from Skjolden, the clouds were lying low above the fjord. A little sunshine would have made for a stunning sail-out through the fjord.
We decided to eat early tonight with the England playing Netherlands in the Euro semi-finals.
We opted for the Glass House … tasting plates of Tempura Prawns, Scallops, Oxtail Bonbons and Popcorn Chicken. This was followed by Fillet Steak with King Prawns for Jon, Karen and Audrey whilst Callum went for the Rib-Eye Steak.
At 8pm we headed to Carmen’s for the England quiz before the football match. It was being shown live in Carmen’s, The Playhouse, Champions Bar and in the cabins … Or so we thought.
We were sailing through Sognefjord and as the ship was flanked by high mountains on either side, getting signal was a problem. A few fleeting glimpses of the team and national anthems before kick-off but technology had let the ship and passengers down. Do we head back to the cabin or do we stay in Carmen’s and keep fingers crossed the signal came back?
The match was in full swing and we hadn’t a clue what was happening. No-one really had any mobile signal at this point. We thought the bar staff were winding us all up when they said Netherlands had scored after 7 minutes … and alas, when the signal kicked back in 11 minutes into the match, we realised they weren’t.
Shortly after the signal jittered again when Harry Kane’s penalty appeal was reviewed. We didn’t think it was a penalty but very happily took the referees decision. Not often these decisions go our way!
Signal held throughout most of the second half but with three minutes to go, the signal went again. Very faint commentary could be heard and then we heard a massive cheer from the speakers. Was it England or Netherlands that scored. Screen still blank until a chap at the front stood up, hands aloft and started cheering. We could now get signal on our mobiles, so a quick look on the BBC sports website confirmed that Ollie Watkins had scored the winner. The screen sprung back into life and it was a nervy 2 minutes to see if England could hold on to reach the finals.
Go England. Flags and bunting can stay up for a couple more days. Let’s just hope the hills flanking the fjord heading out of Grundarfjord aren’t as high as those in Sognefjord.
