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Arctic Norway and the Hurtigruten

I was lucky enough to be invited along with a group of travel agents to sample ‘The world’s most beautiful voyage’ on board Hurtigruten ship, the MS Trollfjord. We flew into Tromso and were transferred to the Villmarkssentr on the outskirts of town for an evening of dog sledging. It was a fantastic experience and I was fortunate enough to be able to actually drive the dogs - an exhilarating experience at night with only head torches for light! We were then treated to a well earned traditional Norwegian meal of reindeer stew and chocolate cake – yum! And just when I thought nothing could cap the evening, we saw the Northern Lights - a green hue in the night sky, which was there one minute and gone the next.

We embarked the ship at midnight and started our sail south. Arriving in Harstad in the morning, we had a lovely excursion from Harstad to Sortland (where we picked up the ship again) driving through some dramatic scenery and visiting a church and museum.

I can highly recommend Hurtigurten - life on board is very low key, days spent on board are either on deck (weather permitting ) or relaxing in the lounges and watching the magnificent scenery pass by. The food on board was excellent, although drinks I found to be expensive - but that’s Norway for you.

We left the ship in Trondheim having had four glorious days on board.