Land of the Midnight Murk

Whisper it: we went alcohol-free yesterday. Yes, Nick and Gabrielle dipped out on the dipsomania and stuck to the H2O. It was a combination of hangover, Gabrielle feeling queasy from the ship’s motion and a feeling that, after a week of drinking every evening and sometimes a glass at lunchtime as well, we should perhaps rein it in a bit! (The picture from the night before tells its own story.)

Dinner therefore was much more sedate, with glasses of water to wash down our meals and, as usual, the food was stunning. The highlight on Gabrielle’s plate, was Arctic Char which is a fish in the salmon and trout family. It thrives in Arctic waters and this one had been caught in Sigerfjord. We had also decided that we needed to have a little celebration meal on Saturday. Why? Who needs an excuse? So, we booked, on the Hurtigruten app, a table for two at Røst (specialist restaurant on board) on Sunday, as Saturday was not available. The screen flashed Saturday at us and then confirmed Sunday, all of which aroused our suspicions. Seeking clarification, we visited the restaurant, to be told that our booking was not there at all. Moreover, “We ignore the app, it doesn’t work!” So we got booked in on Saturday and found that a) the price quoted on the app was wrong. And b) so was the menu!

From about 2pm on Friday, the skies lowered and the ship was encased in a cocoon of fog. It lifted around 9pm, but the skies were still leaden and there was certainly no sign of the midnight sun. We chugged our way, steadily northwards towards Svalbard and our first stop of Longyearbyen where, as Gabrielle noted, there were no trips that caught our fancy. We went to bed with the same monotonous grey as we’ve had all afternoon. Not darker. Not lighter. Just grey and definitely not what you’d call midnight sun.

The morning’s mandatory briefing on the day of landing at Longyearbyen was quite surreal on a number of levels. It related to our activities in Ny-Ålesund the following day, which is a tiny settlement and research station. The objective was to warn us about the dangers of wandering around on the island, unattended (polar bears) and the vital necessity for total radio silence from mobile phones and other devices (delicate polar research instruments). We were after all in a barely inhabited part of the world - the Arctic tundra - where wild creatures roam and man is not welcome. We were only 1,316 km from the North Pole and Longyearbyen is the world’s northernmost permanent settlement. The surreal part was that we were urgently reminded that we should stick to the settlement, not stray from the paths, stay in groups and, if we see a polar bear, to head for safety. Better still, if you are attacked by an Arctic Tern (does that make it a “nasty tern”?) you should put your hand in the air and back slowly away from your original route. People venturing out in a group to a radio mast would be accompanied by a man with a rifle, who was to join the ship at Longyearbyen. Will he carry the rifle around on the boat? Does he shoot unruly passengers? Where will he put the rifle when he has his dinner?

We had a lovely walk around the deck (10 circuits) that morning with the mountains, glaciers and scenery of Svalbard surrounding us. It’s quite exquisite, this Arctic wilderness. As time rolls on towards lunch, we can see our destination of Longyearbyen. From a distance, it’s sort of like Immingham, but not as pretty. The scenic context in which it sits though is magnificent. Once you get up close though, it’s much nicer, though very functional and rugged.

The Norwegian navy was on guard to protect us as we caught the shuttle bus from the ship into the town and then proceeded to explore. One shop featured a huge polar bear among its many animal skins and products: not PC but, nonetheless, beautiful. One coat was well over £2000. This is a strangely well-serviced town with a huge supermarket selling anything and everything you could need. The shops are obviously for tourist consumption but are charming if eye-wateringly expensive. Many have a sign in the door forbidding guns inside. The only polar bear was the one Gabrielle frightened in a shop but there’s evidently a risk involved in going off the beaten track.

Weather-wise, it was warm, comparatively, and we didn’t have to completely trug ourselves up with layers. The bus took us from the ship to the town and back again, not because we were lazy but it was walking through an industrial area which didn’t look much fun.

There are abandoned mine workings in the mountains, but there’s evidently still activity in that area. The housing looks modern and cozy and most appear to be served with district heating systems, as far as we could see. All-in-all, Longyearbyen was much more attractive and interesting than we expected. Not particularly a place to linger, unless you are a hardcore mountaineer or extreme sports enthusiast, but another to tick off the list of remote places visited.