Excursion to Rekkedal Gjestehus ~ Up the Hjorundfjord, part one

 November 6, 2022

On my first night aboard, there was an announcement of a brand new excursion that would be available in the morning.  Since I hadn't booked any excursions for the northbound portion of the trip, I decided to take a chance on it.  All I knew is that it would be partly by boat, and partly by bus, and that it would be to an old farm.  When we docked in the city of Alesund, I bundled up for the stormy looking weather, and then scanned my boarding card as I headed down the steps.

Our group of 30 or so was ushered down the dock just a short ways and then told to board a small boat.  Small compared to the MS Richard With, but still with a cozy cabin both up and downstairs, and a rainy deck for walking about in the fresh air.

We headed out of the Alesund Harbor under clouds, pregnant with rain. Scooting under a pretty bridge, we headed west, and then south, curving around a few of many islands along the coast, before heading east into the Hjorundfjord.  

There was a free tea and coffee available downstairs.  I took a chance on the caffeine, though it was past my self-imposed cut off time. There was a bowl of sugar lumps that I have fond memories of from my grandparent's table.  I ate a few like candy.  

I've met an American couple on this smaller boat named Shawn and Kathryn.  I asked her to take my picture.  She did, and then offered to repeatedly throughout the trip.  They are younger than me, really nice, have five kids, and two grandkids.  

I'm lightening up a few of these pictures so they are easier to see, but the truth is, it was quite dark out.

We had a guide for the boat portion of the trip.  She was a sweet elderly lady that was dressed rather elegantly, with a silk scarf.  She never came out on deck so didn't need the bulky layers the rest of us were wearing.  I can't recall her name, and I guess I didn't get her picture either.  She was very soft spoken and couldn't always be heard outdoors through the speaker, but she had some interesting stories to tell about everything we passed.  One story was regarding the photo below of a shipping yard.  This is like a boat hospital, where big boats go to be fixed or refurbished.  It's where the Hurtigruten ships have gone for the work that needs to be done.  

There was a guy along with us on the return trip that was a guide of sorts.  When we passed the shipping yard on our return, he said that there used to be Russian boats there.  While being repaired, they would weld them to the dock so that they couldn't leave without paying.  He said that give current events, they have kicked the Russian boats out.  

Despite the less than pleasant weather, there was much to see outdoors, so I wanted to be outside most of the time.  As you can see in the above photo, the foredeck door was triple latched closed.  So the easier way to get from the cabin to the foredeck was to go downstairs to the galley, cross to the front and go up the front stairs and outside.  And to cross from front to back, reverse and go up the back stairs to the aft deck.  So I got plenty of exercise just riding a boat.

One of my favorite things to see were the little boat houses all lined up.  I took so many pictures of them, but I'll just post a few favorites.

  

The mountains surrounding this fjord are referred to as the Sunnmore Alps.  This area is considered like a hidden gem to outdoor enthusiasts as it is challenging to get to so not so populated.  It's easy to see where it gets its name.

The further into the fjord we went, the larger the peaks became.  The tops were lightly dusted with snow.  There were a few glaciers as well as an occasional waterfall.

A driving rain began about an hour into the ride.  Soon the only ones outside were Shawn and Kathryn, Tommy (a professional photographer from Scotland) and his wife, Emma, our Hurtigruten excursion guide, Roman (from Spain) and me.  We were pretty soaked, but it was so exhilarating being out in the weather.

Roman, from the Hurtigruten excursion team

One awesome thing about the rain and low clouds was that it added such dimension to our photos.  The mountains stood in layers from one another, as though torn from colored paper.

After a two hour boat ride, we reached the tiny town of Saebo.  There we disembarked and rode a bus for about ten minutes to our final destination, The Rekkedal Farm and Guesthouse.