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Welcome to our diary of our participation in the Norwegian Woodturning Cruise in August 2008 organised by our Norwegian stockist www.verktoy as
This was very much a working holiday for us, giving us the opportunity to show off our products whilst having a break from the normal routine.
We hope this blog will be interesting and will give you an insight into what the cruise is about. It is written very much from a tourist’s point of view; we’re not woodturners (is it safe to admit that?) and whilst we enjoyed watching the demos in the workshop area we didn’t spend a great deal of time there so whilst there was a lot of woodturning going on you won’t read too much about it here, sorry. We’d welcome a contribution from another passenger to give more of an insight into the turning on the cruise, please contact us!

With luck this blog will also give potential future visitors an idea of what to expect; having had the experience for ourselves we’d heartily recommend it.

Day 0 - 11 August 2008

We arrived at Stavanger airport from Heathrow via a stopover in Oslo; the journey was uneventful which is probably a good thing and although we weren’t met at the airport as expected it was a simple matter to get on the bus there and after a tour of the town (which I think was the normal bus route but we couldn’t be sure) we were dropped practically at the gangplank for the MS Gann.
We knew the ship is a training ship, dedicated to training and educating future seamen in engine and deck studies (it says on the welcome letter) and we weren’t sure exactly what to expect.
To be honest, the ship has surpassed our expectations and whilst it’s not a luxury liner it is fitted out to a very high standard and certainly looks the part. It’s also a lot bigger than we expected and we reckon we’ll get lost on board a few times in the next couple of days.

We met up with Nick Agar and his girlfriend Chloe from the UK and after a simple meal on board we headed back into Stavanger for a quick look around before the ship sailed.
We didn’t really see much of the town - and it was raining which didn’t help - but we were all impressed by how clean and tidy it was. We were also struck by how deserted it seemed, we don’t know where everyone was but there weren’t many people to be seen.

We got back on board in plenty of time to sail at 11o’clock that night and met up in one of the lounges for a chat.

Day 1 - 12 August 2008

There was a welcome meeting today after breakfast during which all of the demonstrators were introduced and questions were answered about the format of the cruise. This was a pleasant and informal time with a lot of banter between the demonstrators.
We spent most of the rest of the morning trying to sort out about the excursions we wanted to go on as there had been some confusion about them, but we got some of it sorted out in the end.

The ship docked at Sandane at almost exactly 5 o’clcok in the evening as per schedule and we went off the ship to go investigating the village, which was pretty with a lovely clean square and some unusual sculptures.

The onboard shop opens whilst the ship is in dock and local -and not so local- woodworkers are welcomed aboard to watch the demonstrations and stock up from the shop.
Lunch today was a very tasty lasagne; meals are buffet style and there is always plenty of food available, the trays are constantly refilled even if the restaurant is about to close so I think my waistline is going to suffer over the next couple of weeks.
We left Sandane promptly at 11 o’clock to sail through the night.

Day 2 - 13 August 2008 

We arrived at Gerainger a little early today and left for our first excursion pretty much straight away; we started off on a small ferry boat that took us to the dock to get on a coach. The MS Gann had left port before we even got off the ferry but that was according to plan so we didn’t panic too much.
We were introduced to Alf who as well as being our driver for the day also had a good line in bad jokes. He also plays the trumpet as well and serenaded us at most of our stops during the day.

This was a day of beautiful scenery, snowcapped mountains, amazing waterfalls, sheer rockfaces…and roads built with hairpin curves and steep drops; not for the nervous, but Alf was a good driver and didn’t lose any of us.

Our first stop was at a small farm situated at 450m above sea level where we had coffee and pancakes and the first real photo stop of the day.

After that we were driven across to Molde with several stops for photos, lunch, and two ferry crossings.
It’s difficult to describe the day in full, suffice to say it was very enjoyable and we’re glad we didn’t miss it.

We met the ship again in Molde, a lovely town that was devasted by bombing during the Second World War and has been rebuilt to become the Town of Roses.

Day 3 - 14 August 2008

We left Molde at 10.00 last night and sailed overnight and part of the day to Namsos, arriving at 1pm.

The shop and demonstration area is open pretty much all the time and passengers are welcome to use the lathes there; many of the demonstrators are also on hand to give tips and demonstrations of their skills; there is a formal rota set up so there is something for passengers to do but some of the demonstrators don’t seem to be able to keep away!

We had a look around the town which was decked out in flags and bunting, checked out some of the shops but the weather was a bit miserable so we headed back to the ship and in true Brits-on-holiday fashion tried out the hot tub on the ‘sun deck’ even though it was raining, albeit only lightly. I’m pleased to say the hot tub was indeed very hot!

We finished the evening with a bit of karoake in the Panorama Lounge; not many people could be persuaded to take part, although Judith and Odd Erik’s rendition of ‘Summer Nights’ from Grease was only surpassed in the surreal stakes by Nick Agar and Arthur Aveling (from King Arthur’s Tools in the USA) singing Elvis’s ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love With You’ whilst gazing into each other’s eyes…

Luckily for us (I think) we have managed to obtain a recording of Odd Erik’s performance from that night; bootleg copies are expected to appear on eBay any day now with a reserve of…well, who can say? Click the link here to hear for yourself: odd-erik-on-karaoke - make sure your speakers are turned up high!

Day 4 - 15 August 2008

This morning we crossed into the Arctic Circle and curiously enough the sun came out for us. In fact the whole day was gloriously sunny and there was a bit of a chill in the air.

We had a visit from King Neptune and his assistant during the morning and we were all given a certificate to prove we had crossed the line (as it were) after a rather strange ceremony conducted by the king.

We docked at Bodø at 12.30, pretty much on schedule again and we disembarked for a wander around the town, still in glorioius sunshine.

There are a lot of statues and street architecture in Bodø and we had a look around the shops - and pretty much just a look, the cost of living in Norway seems to be incredibly high - and stopped off for a frothy coffee and a cake at a pavement cafe.
In the evening there was an illustrated presentation by Richard Raffan but unfortunately Richard wasn’t feeling well and the talk had to be cut short.  We found a table tennis table and had a few games with Mark Baker (editor of Woodturning magazine). Playing table tennis whilst the ship was in open sea and rolling around a bit was an interesting experience!

Day 5 - 16 August 2008

It continued to be cold on deck today and the sun had deserted us for most of the day, but the stunning scenery made braving it well worth while.

We sailed into Tromsø at midday and we went on a guided tour of the city. Tromsø is the capital of Northern Norway and a sizeable city. On the tour we went to the Polaria Centre dedicated to giving information about
the Polar Regions; there was a fascinating film and then some aquarium areas where we spent ages trying to get a picture of the seals there, who had a knack of popping up in the areas we weren’t looking at! To be honest we could have stayed there a bit longer. It was doubly a pleasure to go there as we’d seen the building from the boat and it looked like four giant dominoes that had toppled over against each other and it had us very curious to know what it was!

We continued our tour of the city, picking up various bits of information on the way, stopping next at the town museum to learn more about the local people of the area, the Sami, and their struggle to have their culture and identity recognised in Norway.

From here we went to the cathedral which boasts the largest stain glass window in Northern Europe and a rather stunning design.

 After this we went up the cable car to the top of Citymountain; again, we could have spent a little more time here but the trip in the gondola and the views from the top were spectacular.

The coach dropped us off and we wandered back into town; we were a little disappointed that the shops all closed, although to my way of thinking that’s the best time to go shopping!

Day 6 - 17 August 2008

Today, in the words of the Carpenters, we were On Top Of The World; well pretty much anyway, as we went to the North Cape, the northernmost part of mainland Europe and about 3000km from the North Pole.
After what was, it must be said, a somewhat rough night, the ship docked in Honningsvag at 10:00am and practically everyone piled off the ship to board coaches to go to the North Cape centre.
We stopped on route to see some reindeer who are kept by the Sami peoples on the island.

From here we continued on the Centre and went straight outside to the observation area to see the view; this was pretty amazing it must be said, but the air temperature and the wind were even more so; we had wrapped up expecting it to be cold but this still caught us out slightly and we didn’t spend too long outside, just long enough to take a picture of the view:

and then like all good tourists we posed under the globe there (the significance of which I’m not entirely sure of).
As ever, our guide for the day was very helpful and informative, and among the things she told us was that the average air temperature there was 11 degrees C but today it was 11 degrees so apparently we got away lightly.
Also, the reindeer don’t stay on the island all year, just before the snows hit they head for the mainland, swimming the 1.8km  across to the mainland. As there are about 6000 of them and they do this at pretty much the same time it must be an impressive sight!
We got back to the boat about 2pm and departed straight away, the next leg of our journey being a 23 hour cruise to Sortland. More impressive scenery on the way:

The captain stopped the ship for a while last night so that we could all try our hand at fishing; this wasn’t very successful, a few fish were caught (including one small one by Mark) but all we ended up gettng was a very tangled fishing line! We were rewarded with a lovely view of the moon though; it’s worth mentioning that we were looking out of the portholes at about midnight and everything was still clearly visible in the distance; we’re too late in the year for the ‘Midnight Sun’ but it certainly stays light for a long time here at the moment.

Day 7 - 18 August 2008

We sailed all morning on our way to Sortland; the workshop area was busy with demonstrations and lessons going on, plus time for passengers to keep their hand in with the lathe.
Elsewhere on the ship carving and painting lessons were taking place along with a Yoga class as well.
We arrived at Sortland at 1pm for a six hour stopover and the onboard shop opened for the locals to have a browse and watch the demonstrations.
We popped into the town for a quick look around and had a drink in a bar before heading back so that I could do a stint on the Chestnut Products demo area.
This went well and the visitors were polite and interested in what was going on and seemed to have a good knowledge of Chestnut Products already, thanks no doubt to the hard work put in by Odd Erik over the years.
We left at 7pm and had a little detour on the way to our next stop, calling in at Trollfjorden, a small but picturesque fjord which the captain took us down. Having got in there, he had to turn the ship around which was no small feat considering the size of the fjord but he managed it without any problem - he’s probably done it before.

Day 8 - 19 August 2008

We sailed through the morning again today; the demo area was busy as ever with many of the demonstrators happy to give displays to passengers, teaching new skills and techniques. Passengers were also turning on their own using the lathes set up for them to use as well, so this was a hive of activity.

It’s worth mentioning that our cabin was fairly near to the demo area and we often used it as a shortcut when going back late at night… sometimes at about one in the morning and every time we did so there was always at least one person working on a lathe or some other piece of equipment, the workshop really never did stop. Fortunately this was all behind a watertight door so none of the noise carried and disturbed us.

At 2pm on this day we docked at Mosjøen. Unlike most of the other ports we had moored at this was in a very industrial area and to be honest not very pretty.

The shop opened and we went for a walk but there wasn’t much to see here; we found a small shopping centre and had an ice cream there (in fact it was a huge ice cream - not sure why that sticks in my memory!) And a pleasant walk along the river. We were told there was an ‘old town’ area but I had to get back to relieve Mark and take a turn on the demo area so we didn’t find it.

A quiz had been organised in the evening, hosted by Dave Muckle in the Panorama Lounge. Some of the questions flummoxed us as they were about woodturning - where were the questions about which finish to use? - but it was an enjoyable evening and even when some of the answers were disputed it was all done good naturedly.

Day 9 - 20 August 2008

Once again we spent quite a long time sailing today arriving in Trondheim, Norway’s second largest city at 1pm. We had tried to book an excursion here but it was full so we wandered around the city on foot.

There was a surprise waiting for us as we arrived, arranged by Odd Erik; we were serenaded into port by a lady dressed in traditional costume playing a type of horn. Amazingly, this had no fingerholes or other apparatus for playing different notes but she made it sound very tuneful.

Unlike yesterday, you almost step off the ship into the city in Trondheim. It was a very busy and colourful place with lots of shops and interesting architecture. First we headed along by the marina and crossed a beautiful bridge with roses growing on either side. This led to a row of riverside cafes and bars with a shopping centre at the end which inevitably meant a quick stop for an ice cream.

We’d been told about the wonderful cathedral here and as it was easy to spot from a distance we headed towards it; it was indeed magnificent as the pictures show. We decided not to go inside but instead tried to find the local equivalent to the Telecom Tower which has a revolving restaurant at the top - or so we think, as we never did quite manage to find it.

We were also told about the picturesque ‘old town’ area by some other tourists and given vague directions. After climbing up some very steep hills we were rewarded with some wonderful views of the city but failed completely in our search for the ‘old town’; I’m starting to think these areas are mythical, only existing in the imagination of visitors to the area.

I took another turn in the demo room, and when the shop closed at 7pm (and after clearing everything away in case of rough seas in the night) we had a quick soak in the hot tub before going down for dinner.
We had requested another karaoke session tonight and this had been arranged; the Panorama Lounge was ominously empty when we got there, word had obviously spread. Some of the ship’s staff came along and joined in though, and Nick Agar was on hand again to show his vocal skills so the evening went very well and we even managed to tempt a few new singers into taking part.

Day 10 - 21 August 2008

We left Trondheim at 11 o’clock last night and sailed up to Ålesund, arriving at midday. I haven’t mentioned the scenery for a few days, there’s only so many pictures of mountains and waterfalls that I can show you before they all merge into one, but this whole area really is quite beautiful and needs to be seen firsthand to be fully appreciated. Pictures on a website really don’t do it justice and it is impossible to get the full sense of the scale and majesty of it all without being there.

Ålesund is a small but very pretty little town; we chose not to do the excursion here, instead we wandered around the shops for a while buying some souvenirs before returning to man the demo area again.

In the evening a charity auction was held in which many of the items made during the cruise were sold off, including some beautiful pieces by the likes of Stuart Mortimer, Jimmy Clewes, Wayne Barton, Mark Baker and Nick Agar to name but a few. A considerable sum of money was raised for the Norwegian Cancer Society. This was handed over the next day and apparently the society were shocked by quite how much was donated as they are not used to being given such large sums. Well done to all those who donated and bought!

Day 11 - 22 August 2008

Today we landed at Bergen and almost straight away went off on a guided coach tour of the city. Our guide was very knowledgeable and gave us huge amounts of information about the history of the city. Bergen is surrounded by seven mountains and we stopped off at the foot of the second highest to go up in the funicular railway. This was very impressive in many ways, not least because this railway ran on tracks rather than having a gondola suspended from a cable. This means that the gradient must be constant all the way to the top otherwise the floor in the carriage would keep changing.

The view from the top was astounding and the guide pointed out several interesting landmarks for us.The coach tour continued around the city, after which I had a quick lunch then relieved Mark in the demo area.The shop had an extended opening in Bergen and Mark wanted to do what he calls the Graveyard Shift, allowing me to walk back into Bergen to have a closer look at some of the things we’d seen from the coach.

We had a look around the market, sampling and ultimately buying some smoked whale; this has the appearance and texture of beef but an unmistakable fishy taste, very nice indeed.Bergen has a university and I’m not sure if it was rag week but there were a lot of students wandering around in strange costumes making the place very bright and noisy. Bergen is a lovely city and it’s easy to understand why it is Norway’s top tourist attraction, with lots to see, good shopping and a bustling city square with street entertainment and lots more going on besides. 

We had a late departure from Bergen, leaving at 11 o‘clock and after allowing a suitable time we went up to the ship’s bridge; there was an open invitation for all passengers to go and have a look around and somewhat belatedly we took our turn. The captain patiently showed us the GPS mapping system and the radar, the charts used for plotting the course and some of the instruments and equipment used, telling us that even with all of this electronic gizmos at hand they still relied on line-of-sight navigation first, using the equipment to confirm what they could see.
Being so late it was very dark in the bridge so we had to careful where we walked, but there were no collisions that night so we couldn’t have done any damage.

Day 12 - 23 August 2008

We docked back in Stavanger at 7:00am this morning, not that we saw it happen! Several people left the boat early to go to the airport, but many others stayed as their flights were later in the day or they had planned to stay another night in Stavanger and fly home the next day.
Last night Tom, the purser on the Gann, supplied us all with some information about our trip. During the cruise we travelled 2500 nautical miles (4630 kilometres, about 2800 miles) using 130,000 ltrs (34,320 gallons) of fuel. Some 5232 kilos of food were consumed, including 7000 eggs and 1050 tea bags.

Odd Erik and his team had already begun the task of dismantling the shop and unloading it from the ship, not an easy task. They had taken some 23 pallet loads of goods on board at the beginning, hopefully there wasn’t as much to take back.
I bumped into the ship’s engineer in the morning and he invited us to have a look around the ship’s engine room; it was very hot down there and I was pleased that the engines weren’t running. The heat must be stifling and I would imagine the noise is almost unbearable. He told me that they wear headphone style walkie-talkies when the engines are running.
The engine room itself was spotlessly clean and we chatted about the function the ship performs during the year of training 16-19 year olds.

Our minibus arrived promptly at midday and with one last look at the MS Gann we left for the airport and an easy trip home.

All in all we had a wonderful time on the cruise; the ship was comfortable, the crew pleasant and helpful and the food plentiful and tasty. Our fellow passengers were a friendly lot and the demonstrators always willing to chat and offer assistance.

As with any undertaking of this size there are bound to be a few ‘niggles’ (it was easy to miss announcements, confusion about where the ship would dock on our return) but none of these spoiled the cruise for us and from reading through the Comments Book everyone else felt the same, with many saying they were looking forward to the next one; this far ahead we don’t know if we’ll be able to make it, but we certainly echo that last sentiment.

The next cruise will be in 2011 - make a note in your diaries now!