The Frozen North

After laying out breakfast our butler drew the curtains so that we could start the day without any manual labour. Sitting up in bed the view through the patio windows was like Lanzarote in winter. The town of NY Alesund consisted mainly of wooden huts scattered across a rocky outcrop and what we saw didn't really seem worth the journey. Since leaving Trondheim we had steamed (or dieseled?) about 1000 miles, most of them due north, to reach the island of Svalbard or Spitzbergen as it is generally known in the UK. NY Alesund is an international centre for research into subjects like global warming and is about as far north as you can get in comfort and without huskies. In summer it's well past the point where the sun never sets although it's not averse to hiding behind thick banks of cloud. The temperature was just above freezing which did make me wonder what all the scientists in the huts were complaining about.

Venturing on to our balcony we realised that the town had been built, for obvious reasons like roads and foundations, on a flat plateau of exposed rock next to the water. All around were snow capped mountains separated by glaciers melting into the sea. It was unlike anything we'd seen before. It actually felt like we were at the top of the world. It was surreal and it was magnificent.

Arcadia was too big for the landing stage and we had to get ashore on tenders. Our butler had given us tickets that allowed us to jump the queue but, rather than risk being torn to pieces by irate inside cabin people, we played it cool and waited until after lunch. There wasn't much to do anyway – ropes and strategically placed scientists made sure that we didn't wander off the paths. I got the distinct feeling that the resident scientists and the owners of the most northerly post office in the world and the most northerly gift shop in the world had different views on the desirability of using the town as a cruise ship destination. We did have our picture taken by a young ship's photographer. He had been there for several hours and had discovered that there really was something worse than taking hundreds of pictures of old people at formal dinners.

Just before we sailed at about 5.00 pm the captain announced that he would take the ship up an adjoining fjord before starting on the return journey. Suitably attired we gathered on the balcony to admire the view and to have a few drinks. It was spectacular. Patches of blue appeared between the streaks of dark cloud and the sunlight illuminated the snow fields at the tops of the glaciers. Bits of the previously black mountains shone dark red and purple and the edges of the glaciers glowed bright blue where they hit the water. The fjord ended with a huge glacier and small chunks of ice were breaking off and floating past the ship. There was one much larger than the rest that made us appreciate the fact that the Captain had been prepared to make this unscheduled detour. I'm not talking here about the sort of iceberg that the ill fated Titanic encountered. This one was very small as icebergs go but it would have been big enough to make a nasty dent in the side of the ship and god knows how much the no claims bonus is worth on one of these things.

Dave C