We are travelling a route called the Coastal Express. The ship makes 34 stops over 6 days heading north along the Norwegian coastline. The ship then repeats the same stops on the return voyage south.
Our fist night aboard, I didn’t sleep much. Here are a collection of my photos taken leaving Bergen, at the two subsequent stops: on Saturday night: Flora and Maloy, and early morning Sunday.
We had a great day walking around Bergen. Embarcation was at 6 PM and we’re now heading north.
It’s Susan here. For those of you who don’t know me,, I’m Jeff’s sister, aka Suey, a prolific amateur photographer.
The following is my recount of the memorable start to our boat trip.
We left downtown Toronto about 6 PM Wednesday March 11 bound for a coastal expedition heading north from Bergen, Norway on Saturday.
I had a great plan – we could save some money by having a one night stop over in Amsterdam which seemed perfect when Jeff said he’d never been there.
It was not a good idea. Some 38 hours later, we were finally in Bergen. Every leg of the trip was compromised.
It began on the initial flight which was cancelled 5 hours after it was supposed to depart. That time was spent in a lovely combination of siting at the gate and on the tarmac. This was a challenging time because PD makes it very difficult for me to be calm in the midst of chaos. We got through it together though.
About 5am, while at an airport hotel, we were told we had been rebooked on the first available flight to Amsterdam – on Saturday evening flight, which landed the day after the boat departed Norway. Throughout Thursday, we discussed many options but ultimately continued to try and work with Air Canada to find a solution.
Finally at about 4 pm, we had a new plan. We would fly to Frankfurt direct from Toronto, leaving at 5:40 PM , arriving Friday morning. We would take a train from Frankfurt to Amsterdam and connect to our KLM flight to Bergen, Unfortunately, our flight from Frankfurt was delayed due to “mechanical issues“. We made up the time and thought that we would catch our train, however the Frankfurt police decided to hold our plane at the tarmac for unknown security reasons. Once they left, jeff and I went as fast as we could to the train station adjacent to the airport, only to find that we missed the train by 15 minutes.
When we were redirected to Air Canada to get new train tickets, we decided to ask the AC rep whether they would put us on a flight from Frankfurt to Bergen Instead
The representative had sympathy for us and put us on a flight from Frankfurt leaving within the hour.
This meant, we had to run from terminal D to terminal A. We did this only to discover at the security checkpoint that we had two boarding passes for Jeff and none for me. Jeff had to sprint back to back to the gate. We made the flight with eight minutes to spare.
The flight to Bergen was delayed due to an apparent dispute between the luggage handlers (which I witnessed). It didn’t matter though – We were in Norway earlier than planned heading for a lovely hotel.
As always, i hope you enjoy the photos….
On Thursday afternoon past, Samantha, Sarah and I headed home, leaving Jeff and new Escapade traveller Bill in Montreal.
En route, Sam announced that Guelph’s overnight low was predicted to be 13. It seemed hard to believe, given that it was 30 in Escapade’s galley (aka my bedroom) the night before. Between the heat and local noise (2 loud alarms went off between 0230 and 0300), it made for a fitful night’s sleep.
Although the heat meant I didn’t sleep much and I sweat buckets most every day, it was another great experience aboard Escapade. I biked three days and felt more comfortable and confident each time I got on my bike. I swam pretty much every day and was most appreciative of Sarah’s purchase of floaties, and of Jeff’s consideration in finding anchorages with good swimming. Jeff even got in the water which I would not have believed without seeing it firsthand.
I had never boated or biked that part of the St. Lawrence and thought the scenery pretty spectacular. I also found it a good mix of spending time together (biking, chatting and playing cards) and apart (quiet reflection watching the sun come up)
Here are the last of my favourite photos.
We have been having a pretty great time over the past 3 days, biking, swimming and travelling down the St. Lawrence River.
Here are some of my favourite photos so far….
Susan here, back aboard Escapade, this time with Samantha and Sarah here too! We came aboard early this morning at Ganonoque. The plan is to head east with biking, swimming and card games along the way. In the meantime, here are some sunrise pictures from this morning.
I haven’t had a lot to say recently as Jeff and I travelled over semi-familiar ground through Fenny Compton and Cropredy (the site of the very last Fairport Convention concert) before picking Mallory up in Banbury on Wednesday.
Before further comment, I want to give a mini shout out to the two restaurants we ate at in Cropredy – on our initial visit, we had lunch at the charming Magnolia Cafe where ‘everyone is welcome’, and dinner this past week was at the low-beamed Red Lion, a beautiful 15th c thatched-roof pub. Jeff may or may not have entertained the locals bumping his head > once.
The three of us spent Wednesday night in the country south of Banbury. Thursday we meandered down the Oxford Canal. Although the early morning was overcast, the clouds soon gave way to sunshine, and I was reminded yet again how lucky we have been to have had such spectacular weather.
By Thursday afternoon, we had made our way to the charming Aynho Wharf, home of the beautiful sheep that were the subject of my first blog about the trip.
Along the way we stoppped near Bridge 177 to have lunch aboard the boat. After lunch, Mallory and I attempted to walk to Kings Sutton, a nearby village. I say attempted because the walk was extremely difficult on a busy road with no shoulder, We (I) gave up very quickly,; I was somewhat concerned about our safety given my limitations and risk of falls. It was this failure to visit Kings Sutton that led us to walk from the wharf to the town of Aynho. It was tough, a mix of walking on the (scary) street and on a “path” that was quite filled with brambles and overgrown. We made it, though, only to find the village was bereft of any rests or cafes. We admired some lovely properties including the “big house” before making the trek back to the wharf.
On Friday, we returned to Heyford. Saturday morning we left early on a train heading for Heathrow and home. It’s been an amazing adventure. Hope you have enjoyed the stories and the photos. The following are some of my favourite photos from the last days of the trip.
We completed the Warwickshire loop on the Grand Union Canal before re-connecting with the Oxford Canal on Sunday.
It was interesting to rejoin the Oxford after three weeks because of the dramatic change in scenery. There’s been virtually no rain during the day with most days filled with cloudless sunshine. The resulting growth and changing colour is quite incredible. I particularly noticed that hedges have grown in to obscure my view and that everything just seems incredibly lush and green.
I’m going to go back and look at some earlier photos cause I want to make sure that I’m not imagining how different it seems, it definitely seems like spring is here!
I also want to mention lunch Sunday at the Folly in Napton. Despite a very limited menu and we were told on arrival that the kitchen was closing in 10 minutes, Jeff managed to snaffle a roast beef dinner while I had a roast chestnut dinner, which was quite amazing. Took a picture for you, Beth! For dessert, Jeff had really good strawberry cheesecake and I had an amazing sticky toffee pudding with Custard sauce. it was really really good.
Monday we returned to Fenny Compton, and today we travelled back to Cropredy. Both places I really enjoyed visiting and I’m happy to be back with a little bit more time to explore. Tomorrow we meet Mallory in Banbury. Hopefully Jeff will get a new cell phone there to replace the one that went overboard a couple of days ago.
Some pictures from Sunday.
And Monday
My blog posts often tell a vignette or (try to) convey a simple message but not today.
Today was another day like most on this trip – filled with early morning exploring followed by 6+ hours of canal boating. It was a day full of sunshine, birds, wind, beautiful vistas, and of course, locks!
The only drama came when Jeff left the handle on a lock. I offered to go back thinking that the locks were fairly close together. My mistake. To retrieve the handle, I had to cross the lock by walking along the top of the gates – twice. I was due to take my medicine, so was quite “Parky” eg. unsteady and lurching. It was a bit scary. I did it though.
Interesting enough, another boater approached me while I was walking between the locks. I was pleasantly surprised to realize he was someone Jeff and I met early on. It was nice to see he and his partner again, however briefly.
Last night we moored in the Grand Union Canal close to the Hatton top lock. As usual, I got up early to walk around and look at the birds, sheep, and cattle. I was particularly hesitant to wake Jeff up as I knew that our day would begin with a flight of 21 locks.
We had a lovely breakfast at the Hatton Café – there is a picture of my veggie breakfast below for Beth. Jeff had hoped to see volunteers when we started through the first lock, but no luck. Fortunately near the fourth lock, I met a volunteer when I was returning to the boat. I took the opportunity to tell them that I wasn’t helping Jeff at all. I wondered what they would make of that comment. It turns out that the other volunteer asked Jeff whether I just didn’t like working the locks. Jeff explained that I have Parkinson’s and am not particularly comfortable driving (yet, says Jeff to me). The two volunteers gave up assisting a boat going up the locks so that they could help us go down the locks. It is incredibly efficient and fast because they leapfrog between managing the current lock and preparing the next lock (and means Jeff is not doing hard physical labour for hours!). They operated about 15 or so locks before they had to leave to deal with a flooded lock above us.
I may not have been physically helpful today, but I did manage to score us freshly made scones with clotted cream and jam at the cafe. They were a delicious treat when Jeff was done. 
It was another unbelievably gorgeous sunny day. Definitely the warmest day we’ve had. We are now moored in Warwick near a pub called the Cape of Good Hope. We continue to make our way to the Oxford Canal to meet Mallory Wednesday next week.
Some of my photos from today. Please note that the last 3 photos are in the Saltisford Canal Centre, a permanent narrow boat community.
Boating Adventures 