16. Day Eleven

Today's ports of call:

Departed Rorvik 21.30 arrive Trondheim  06.30

Depart Trondheim 10.00, arrive Kristainsund 16.30

Depart Kristainsund  17.30 arrive Molde 21.00

Depart Molde 21.30

Weather at 11.00am, partly cloudy skies, recent snow showers, wind calm, temperature +1C

An early morning arrival into Trondheim and some light snow showers. Today is as much of a sea day as it is possible get on this trip as the next port of call was not until late afternoon and we had an excursion booked in Kristainsund.

The first part of this was a drive through the second deepest road tunnel in the world. It goes nearly 1,000 feet belo sea level and although this might not sound very much there is something a little unnerving about traveling along a road tunnel that just seem to stop going downwards. Any moment you expected Old Nick himself to appear out of the shadows and hitch a ride.

The next section of the route was along the famed Atlantic Highway, a road five miles or so long which twists and turns and ascends and descends over impossible bridges along a section of the coast. It is quite spectacular even on a calm day such as we had, goodness knows how much more dramatic it must look on a stormy day.

The final stop was at the Bergtatt marble mine. The coach turned off the main highway and climbed along a snow covered track until it reached the mine entrance and then drove another mile or so into the depths of the mountain. We donned helmets and life jackets and were taken on a little boat ride into the water filled caverns, but not stopping until we reached a chandelier lit area where we were given a talk about the history of the mine. We half expected Blofeld to emerge from the shadows of his secret underground headquarters with an "Ah, Mr Bond....I've been expecting you."

On a more serious note I did learn that finely crushed marble is the major constituent of high quality glossy paper.

Rather than return to Kristainsund, the coach drove us onwards to Molde where we rejoined the ship.