Day 5-Narvik
Because of the clocks going back we woke very early and are currently watching our arrival in Narvik.
However we still managed to get it wrong! We thought we were really early so we were waiting for the cafe to open at 7.00. But Steve got bored waiting so headed down early. He came back with the coffees saying they’d been open for ages. That of course made me panic so I turned on the tv to check the time and we were an hour out. It was nearly 8.00 not 7.00 and we had to leave at 8.30!! Goodness know how that had happened. We had adjusted our clocks manually as they were all on airplane mode so would not update manually. But they did!! And we then put them back another hour. How on earth did that happen??!! Fortunately having checked, we were able to move quickly and were off the ship well in time for our excursion which today was the Polar Park.
During the day yesterday we had learnt that we will be going to Bodø tomorrow and staying through Tuesday.
I have checked this morning and there is a nice message from the organisers of our cancelled trip. I have replied and asked if we could rebook for Tuesday. Yes they have a space so we have re-booked. Great!
Now, back to today and our trip to the Polar Park.
It’s about 60mins from Narvik by coach going through some lovely countryside.
The Polar Park is magnificent. It is absolutely huge and is home to the largest predatory animals in Norway, brown bear, wolf, wolverine and lynx, as well as many Nordic deer, including reindeer, moose and musk ox as well as the cutest Arctic foxes. It is also the most northerly animal park in Europe.
What a wonderful place! We were lucky enough to see all the animals with the exception of the wolverine. We were particularly lucky with the bears as they would normally have started to hibernate by now. There is a photo in gallery 2. The wolves were difficult to spot as they were so well camouflaged. The lynx were beautiful. They have two, one of which, the father, Frost, is 17 years old and his son, Lille Brun. He looked cuddly but really wasn’t. However the Arctic foxes were gorgeous and jumped on our guide’s back for food.
We walked for a couple of hours and then went back to the cafe for coffee and waffles which were very necessary as it was so cold. Having left temperatures in the late 20’s in Portugal, it was down to 8 degrees today. BUT NO RAIN! Result!
The coach back to the ship dropped us at the Narvik War Museum which was fascinating. Some spent some time there and then walked back to the ship for a short recovery as tonight we are off hunting the Northern Lights. We will leave the ship again in time for our departure at 8.00 pm. With a 4 hour hunting period I hope we have a chance of seeing them.
Before we go we can’t be bothered to dress up tonight so if we want to wear jeans it will have to be the buffet. That also allows us to eat in our own time but sadly no wine as we don’t want to fall asleep searching for the lights.
I’m excited but realise it’s not guaranteed
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