When we awoke this morning, it was with a bit of relief that the boat had stopped rocking and we were safe in the sheltered waters near to Tromsø, on the island of Tromsøya.

We ate breakfast without feeling green around the gills anymore, and then went up on deck to watch the shipping being moved on and off the MS Trollfjord. We saw some really large pipes and a snowmobile being dropped off, and new linens and food provisions being loaded. According to Tina, our server in the restaurant, all of the food is picked up at Tromsø, even if it may have originated from different parts of Norway, which it often has.

At just after 11am, we were on our way to our next destination, sailing under the Tromsø Bridge, which is close to the stunning Arctic Cathedral which we visited on day 5, Wednesday 11th September. Finnsnes is opposite the island of Senja and is one of the places that had been part of the rescheduling following the bad weather that prevented us from going to the other side of the island of Senja, to Torsken. We had a few hours on the ship before our our scheduled arrival time of 15:00.

As we sailed further down the fjord, we had an announcement on the tannoy that another Hurtigruten ship, the MS Nordkapp, was travelling towards us and we would see it on the port side of the MS Trollfjord. Again, the ritual of the ships passing included lots of horn blowing and flag waving from people on the deck.

It wasn’t long before lunchtime came around. We went down to the restaurant at 13:15 and had a beautiful lunch of chanterelle and porcini mushrooms with cheese on a toasted bread square, fish soup and then an almond cake with blackcurrants and sorbet. We watched the world go by and it was lovely to see land at both sides instead of just open water.

We arrived at Finnsnes on mainland Norway at just before 15:00 and we were off the boat on the hour. It was a pleasant 12 degrees, quite windy but nice and sunny, which was better than the forecast. Finnsnes is not a big place, it is a small town with a population of less than 5000, with a growth in trade and industry. It is also a gateway to Senja, where the captain of our ship lives, so he got off the ship to be met by his wife and daughter on the quayside. He will probably be glad of the time away from the ship’s bridge after a challenging couple of days.

Hurtigruten always provide a map for the passengers to use for when we disembark, so we used this as our guide for today. We just took our time as we had plenty to kill. The ship wasn’t leaving until midnight.

We first of all did a little loop walk close to where the ship was berthed. It was windy there as it was close to the water. On the quayside, not far from the back of the ship, was a statue of a man called Ottar, who was the north Norwegian chieftain from Hålogaland in the 9th century. When he went to England to visit King Alfred in the late 800s, Ottar told Alfred that he lived furthest north of all Norwegians. Ottar was involved in trade with other nations and shared his culture and knowledge of Norway when he went abroad. He shared what he learned from other nations when he returned to Norway. Some of Ottar’s descendants settled in France and produced the famous Otard cognac. He was recognised as a great role model for initiative, enterprise and energy.

We then headed into the main part of the town which was quiet apart from the passengers who had not booked to go on any trips.

Here, we found a white modern looking church which was close to a smallish lake. We sat here in the sunshine, taking it easy, enjoying being on terra firma. When we continued back into the town we passed a Burger King and some other shops before going to a shopping centre. I might say that this is not something I would normally do, but there wasn’t much else to see or do here. We wandered around and found some really nice shops that sold lovely household items and soft furnishings. It turns out that there is still a market for this kind of stuff because there is not much Amazon online presence here, which is great for local shops.

I bought a nice blouse from a boutique, which actually sold mainly jumpers for winter. It was cheaper than expected (maybe not many ladies wear them as it is too cold).

Before heading back to the ship we called at a bar called Otto’s. We were just hoping to go somewhere half decent for a drink, and eke out our time ashore. There was very little to choose from in the bar, I think that their main focus was the food. There was a Mack pilsner on the beer front, and the white wine came from a wine box….still it was pleasant enough.

Back on the ship, we chilled in our room until meal time. Here is a rundown of what we had:

First course – scallop, celeriac, bottarga and fermented cabbage;
Second course – variations of pumpkin;
Third course – fillet of lamb (I had baked halibut), baked sweet potato, beetroot purée, Demi-glacé sauce with gremolata;
Fourth course – blueberry swirl with nidelvin and kraftkar blue cheese, port wine and blueberry syrup;
Fifth course – poached pear, chocolate ganache, pear syrup cream.

After leaving the restaurant, we decided to go for a drink in the bar. We walked into an auction that was taking place, of items such as flags and plaques, and also “experiences” on board the ship such as blowing the horn.

We watched as the events unfolded and I managed to win a bid for a Hurtigruten MS Trollfjord plaque. It is one of fifteen ever made, which were for the ship’s crew to exchange whenever they visited a new port. The ship receives a plaque from the place they have docked at in return. All proceeds from the auction went to the Hurtigruten foundation which supports the fight towards climate change, supporting local communities and stopping unsustainable mass tourism.

After my purse was suddenly a bit lighter we went to bed and had a smooth sailing until our next port of call in the morning.