In fact, we've been home for a couple of days now and having access to much greater data bandwidth than was economical on the phone, has allowed me to put some video in the last entries.
I've also gone back and edited the Friday 10th August entry (An important event) and put a short bit of video in there in place of the photo of Barbara throwing the roses overboard.
And as a last entry, here's a nice view that sort of sums it all up:
There's quite a lot of detail in the photo, so to see it at its best, click on it to open it up in a window on its own at full size.
I (Charlie) was up before dawn for a last look around the ship. It was rather nice having the ship to myself with hardly any crew in evidence and definitely no fellow passengers. To aid visibility (I think), they leave lots of lights on all over the outside of the ship so that it's as obvious as possible to other vessels of all sizes. Despite all the local light pollution, it was a clear night and I could see lots of stars, and Venus is even visible (see arrow) in this view over the (now empty) pool:
Looking the other way across the pool, the blue tiles on the changing rooms add a bit more colour ...
Up a few decks the deserted bar, small pool and jacuzzis glow in the night ....
and near the top of the ship, a strange figure presides over the unused ranks of sun-loungers:
The ship's name is brightly illuminated in large letters on both sides:
While on the quiet stairs the mirrors glow colourfully ...
And the library is even quieter than usual:
Dawn now creeping through the library windows ....
illuminates the green baize card tables and matching chairs through the decorative portholes:
Outside, the daylight wasn't nearly as bright as it might have been and the visibility was now extremely poor. Harbour walls suddenly loomed up right in front of us:
But we managed to miss them all (just!) .......
By now, a few other passengers were sharing the drama of the final few furlongs into Dover's Cruise Terminal ...
Then a tug came up and shoved us unceremoniously against the quayside:
Soon enough we were secure and the cranes started unloading all our luggage and stuff and we all found places to sit until we were called by group.
Many of us were on the National Express services to London and were amongst the first to be called, and sadly, that was it. No more pampering, back to our ordinary ways of life, but lots of great memories of a beautiful ship and friendly crew.
While cruising past all the North Sea oil rigs on our way back from Bergen, I expect most people were, like us, frantically trying to fit everything back into their cases along with the duty-free and the souvenirs. The crew of course though would have been failing in their duty to keep us entertained if they'd had any fewer shows than normal, so for those with enough time, there were various entertainments.
One that we thought might provide a laugh, was the 'guest talent show'. They were braver than me to get up on stage in front a quite a good sized audience, and some were surprisingly good. Here they are receiving their awards:
We'd noticed that Fred Olsen had taken the trouble to ensure that their carpets matched one of Barbara's skirts - very thoughtful of them:
And they helpfully put an unusual sculpture thingy right outside our room to make it easy to find while walking down the long corridors with so many similar doors:
There's not much more to say about Sunday. We were amazingly lucky with the weather again. Really calm seas and warm sunny conditions. Here's another view from our cabin:
We'd moored early in Bergen and although it seemed a reasonably busy port, we were the only cruise ship there. A relatively early start as we had a longish bus ride followed by two train journeys. The trip we'd chosen for today was called 'Norway in a Nutshell' and was supposed to feature all the best bits of Norway. After breakfast (spoilt for choice as always), we checked out of the ship by having our identity cards scanned as normal (so that they always knew who was aboard) then a short walk in dull but dry weather to the buses that were waiting for us. Time to admire the driver's collection of trolls before we set off:
Then off through the streets of Bergen which had a nice mix of old and new buildings. It's only my personal view, but most of the modern buildings (with a few rare exceptions) were desperately lacking in any style - just boring rectangular boxes with windows!
A first stop in a small town was a welcome break for everyone to stretch their legs and use a hotel's loos if they needed - we just went for a walk and admired the turf-roofed café by the lake. This one needed mowing; the normal method apparently is to borrow a goat and allow it to graze the roof until the grass is the right length or it falls off!!
After a while with the scenery getting ever more spectacular, we stopped for another comfort break, leg stretch and retail opportunity:
The first of many spectacular waterfalls the Tvindefossen (or Tvinde Waterfalls):
And we just had to get one of these for Jessica:
Moving on, the weather got wetter and the views, where we could see through the clouds, even better ...
Until we eventually got right up into the clouds where we stopped at a hotel for lunch. Quoting from the blurb for our trip: 'At the Stalheim Hotel, spectacularly perched upon a cliff 550 metres (1,800 feet) high, overlooking waterfalls and the valley below, we shall have a buffet lunch. We should also have a little free time here to enjoy the view from the garden behind the hotel, or purchase souvenirs in the small shop.'
It wasn't immediately obvious as we walked into the hotel from the bus, just how spectacular the hotel's situation was, due to the clouds swirling around:
But the garden looked nice:
And inside the lounge was very comfortable ...
And to Barbara's delight, in a display case alongside what looked like the Crown Jewels, they had an eight-string Hardanger fiddle, just like hers:
The dining room was pleasant and would have had good views had it not been cloudy and our buses in the way, but the food was good and plentiful ...
Then there was plenty of time to stroll around the gardens and admire the views. Looking across a small valley to the left were some other houses in Stalheim:
Then the clouds cleared a little and we got a bit of a view down into the valley:
And, to our surprise, other clouds cleared and we realised that we weren't anything like as high as we could be:
Then it was back to the buses and off down a rather narrow road which was just wide enough for our sizeable vehicles. Past a memorial of some sort:
On Google's streetview, it's even possible to read what's written on the stone, though you do need to understand Norwegian.
Dropping down into the valley, a series of hairpin bends caused more than a few 'ooh's and 'aah's and 'oh-oh's as the driver skilfully manoeuvred the bus around the tight curves, just centimetres from the narrow wall that was our only protection from a long drop:
We were probably told the name of the waterfall we kept passing each loop of the bends, but if so we don't remember. It seemed to have quite a good drop:
This short bit of video gives a better idea of the excitement of this part of the trip:
Given the narrowness of the road, it was good that it was one-way going down so we shouldn't meet anyone coming up. On some previous roads, we'd met quite a few motorists who seemed to think there was room for them as well as our very long buses on tight bends such as these - they always had to reverse out of the way as our bus most certainly wasn't going to!
Down in the valley we pulled into the railway station at Flåm with yet another spectacular waterfall visible through the windows:
And boarded our train:
After various stops at tiny stations, another stop with the train half into a tunnel provided another chance for a walk around - for everyone on the train, probably about 500 people at least. The fine spray has cleared a few in this shot:
And this is what we're all looking at (and getting wet from), the Kjosfossen Waterfall:
We became aware of something resembling singing, and then noticed a young lady (presumably with a radio-mic) doing a strange dance with exaggerated movements, whilst singing near the ruined house visible in the previous photo:
Hopefully she wasn't getting as wet as we were! Back on the train we moved on through tunnels and past more waterfalls to Myrdal where we changed trains for Bergen. Our tour guides were kept very much on their toes at these points in the trip, making sure that they hadn't lost any of their flock (62 of us):
Passing through some small and curiously named stations:
We eventually got back to Bergen where our buses were waiting to take us back to the ship from the railway station. A long day but very rewarding. It would have been even better had it been sunny, but we'd been generally lucky with excellent weather for most of the trips we'd been on.
Back aboard the Black Watch, our arrival only just before the ship's departure left little time for changing into our finery for a formal dress night. Sadly, we weren't in time for 'cocktails with the captain', as it would have been nice to actually meet him and say thank-you for taking us right through the area where Ken's plane crashed in 1941. Anyway, we had a nice dinner and then a bit later, were invited back to the Glentanar Restaurant for an exhibition from the chefs:
It might not be obvious, but this eagle is made of bread.
Once everyone had filed past and been thoroughly amazed at what can be done with food, we were told it would be available for eating, though at about 11pm and having had a good dinner, we certainly didn't need or want any more food, no matter how appealing.
