Day 7 Oslo

Alarm set for 6.00am this morning as we know we sail down a channel with nice views either side. Sharon did advise me it was 6am and I replied I’d see it on the way out !! The weather has broken slightly today, grey cloudy skies with little or no blue to them but the temperature still ok at around 20 degrees in the day.

We had a slight wobble this morning and couldn’t remember exactly how to get up the mountain to the 1952 Olympic bobsleigh track that has been turned in to a walk route. Oslo seemed slightly different to how we remembered it but after a trip to the tourist info, and a bit of trial and error we worked our way to the metro and we’re off. Line 1 to the end of the line at Frognersteren which is 469m above sea level.

Once off the train, it’s a 2 mile walk down to the dry ski slope, down what was once the 1952 Olympic bobsleigh track. It has been gravelled over and is a fabulous walk with the most beautiful ski lodge En route which has a cafe - today they were doing home made custard danishes, it would be terribly rude not to have one. The cake selection (and other food) is amazing and the views are spectacular. A bit if a shame it was so grey but we can’t have it all.

It was downhill from there - and in more ways than one. For some reason we can’t explain we had a bit of a wobble when walking down to the ski slope, it’s not well signposted and we had a couple of junctions where we were unsure which way to head. We asked a lovely lady who was out walking her dog if she could direct us to the ski jump, she kindly told us and said she was going that way and we could follow her. We did, just that, it felt like we were miles away !! We finally go to a church which by this time we knew all about which is where she announced “here you are”. I can only assume ski slope and church must sound very similar. We remained calm(ish) and carried on. We then got a torrential downpour whilst out in the middle of nowhere. But, fear not, we are intrepid and we found our way down to the ski slope where we needed to be, albeit time a little tight, underpants possibly in need of a change !! We jumped on the metro back to town and was chatting to a man who had just ski’d up the mountain on his road ski’s and was just going home. It looks very hard work, nice bloke though. With just an hour to spare before the ships departure we hot footed it back and headed to our cabin to dry ourselves off.

Early departure out of Oslo and apparently we need full speed ahead from today until Saturday to reach Southampton in time. Sailaway from our balcony again Sharon being nosey looking at anything and everything through the binoculars. It’s a spectacular sail away as there is land either side for a little over 2 hours.

A bit if time in the tub tonight on the open deck but other than that a quiet night for us. Tomorrow we are at sea all day so no comms, hence todays blog tonight just before we get cut off !!Read more