1. norway |CRUISE STYLEThe Daily Telegraph
Nordicderring-dosetspulsesracing
In search of the Northern Lights, Caroline Elderfield takes Norway’s coastal “ferry” service to its remote Arctic regions
The Northern Lights are overhead —
swirling ribbons of red, green, white and
purple — and I am determined to keep
my jaw shut. The Sami people, who
inhabit an Arctic area of northern
Scandinavia encompassing parts of
Norway, Sweden and Finland, believe
that night spirits will rush in to claim
the soul of anyone who gazes with open
mouth. But it’s hard not to feel awed by
such a spectacular midnight display,
enjoyed from the deck of a Hurtigruten
ship as we edge into the harbour at
Tromsø in Norway.
The light show came at the end
of a magical journey on board the
822-passenger MS Trollfjord — a round
trip north to Kirkenes on Norway’s
border with Russia — dedicated to
hunting the aurora borealis. All eyes
and a vast array of camera kit were
trained on the heavens during this
five-day odyssey, led by astronomer
Dr John Mason.
There was time to kill while waiting
to join the ship on its outbound leg.
Luckily my visit coincided with the
reindeer-racing championships,
during which these fabulously ungainly
creatures achieve speeds in excess
of 37 miles per hour along Tromsø’s
snow-covered main street.
The racing scene is well-established
throughout Scandinavia and Russia
and the championships are held each
year in February during Sami Week,
a festival celebrating Sami culture.
The competitors exit the starting gate
in a blur of skin-tight Lycra — not riding
but being pulled along on Nordic skis
by a wild-eyed, tongue-lolling beast.
By 2pm it was already getting dark
and cold — minus 12 as I hurried up
Trollfjord’s gangway. Once inside it was
clear that this was no ordinary ferry, for
the public areas are luxurious, with
blond wood, sparkling brass, seal-hide
armchairs and original art on the walls.
In service since 2002, Trollfjord is one
of a fleet of Hurtigruten ships which,
between them, provide a daily ferry
service to the remote communities of
Norway’s west coast. The full round trip
from Bergen to Kirkenes takes 12 days,
with 34 stops on the voyage north and
33 on the return.
My cabin was functional but cosy, with
a large window framing a panorama
of snowy tundra bathed in pink winter
light. On the desk sat a telephone —
rarely used on normal voyages these
days, but vital on this trip as it could be
programmed to broadcast alerts from
the bridge whenever the earliest flickers
of the Northern Lights were spotted.
The first of these came just before
dinner as Trollfjord approached the
Arctic Circle. Grabbing hat, coat, gloves
and camera, I rushed to the observation
deck. It was surprisingly dark up there,
illuminated by a scattering of low-
voltage bulbs aimed at keeping light
pollution to a minimum.
The sky was already glowing with
static bands of green. I was faintly
disappointed until I glimpsed some of
the photographs being taken. It seems
a camera can appreciate what the eye
cannot. The information desk’s crib
sheet became essential reading: the
Northern sights:
clockwise from top,
reindeer racing; a
Hurtigruten ship; king
crab; Sami people
best results demand long exposures
(typically 10-30 seconds) and a tripod.
By setting the camera to take a
slideshow of images it is possible to
capture the movement of the lights, too.
Now in the grip of obsession, I found
myself part of a crowd of new friends
who arranged to keep watch all night
in shifts of 20 minutes each. One of
my companions had had the foresight
to download a Nasa app capable of
monitoring solar eruptions, which gave
us a fairly good idea of whether our vigil
would yield results.
It works like this: activity on the
surface of the sun releases streams of
atomic particles which, when they hit
our planet a day or two later, react with
elements in the upper atmosphere to
produce flashes of coloured light. These
tiny particles are funnelled downwards
by Earth’s magnetic field, cascading in a
ring around the poles — which is why, if
you want to see the aurora in Europe,
northern Norway is the place to go.
What the app can’t do is predict cloud.
But when it was overcast, there was the
consolation of a splendid dinner. The
menus on board reflected the culinary
specialities of the places Trollfjord
visits along the coast. Approaching
Hammerfest there was aquavit-cured
reindeer and Arctic char (a local fish) to
enjoy, while up at the North Cape we
were served a splendid seafood buffet
including king crab.
Like the rest of the Hurtigruten fleet,
Trollfjord is a working ferry rather than
a cruise ship. Many of its stops last just
15 minutes and involve a ballet of
twirling forklift trucks in a rush to
exchange beer and car spares for boxes
of stockfish. I witnessed farewells and
reunions on the quay, wreathed in
clouds of frozen breath, and imagined
histories for the protagonists.
At larger settlements, such as
Hammerfest or Kirkenes, there was
time to go ashore for dog-sledding or
even a dip in the freezing ocean —
or to do as I did and race the ship by
snowmobile across country between
Kjøllefjord and Mehamn.
Like all natural phenomena, the
Northern Lights cannot be guaranteed.
But we saw a breathtaking display
while motoring through the snowy
darkness, with ghostly coronas of
turquoise and red directly overhead.
In fact, it was repeated every night bar
one — building up to that knockout
finale in Tromsø.
Solar activity is expected to remain
at its current peak until spring 2015.
But, as I learnt on my cruise, if you want
the best chance of seeing the Northern
Lights, it’s important to be in the right
place at the right time.
£ Hurtigruten offers an 11-night Classic
Round Voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes
and back. From £999pp excluding flights
for departures in November and December
2014. For bookings made before October 31,
a Northern Lights Promise guarantees that
if your trip yields no verified sighting of the
lights you will be offered a free seven-day
Classic Voyage North or six-day Classic
Voyage South in an inside twin cabin,
between October 2015 and March 2016.
(020 3627 9535; hurtigruten.co.uk).
Reader offer
Search for the Northern
Lights with Telegraph
Travel Collection. Prices
from £749 per person
for a 14-night full-board
cruise visiting Norway
(telegraph.co.uk/
cruisenorthernlights).