Alta day 2 – sleigh bells ring

 Holidays  1 Response »
Dec 032012
 
Alta day 2 - sleigh bells ring

My second day in Alta started with an excellent breakfast with probably the largest selection of food I’ve ever seen at a breakfast buffet. I started with muesli and vanilla yoghurt, followed by a selection of fish, pâté and cheese. After breakfast, I headed outside to find that there had been a light dusting of snow overnight, but the temperature had risen markedly and was only just below freezing. Latest webcam view of Alta town centre. Found on the Webcams in Norway website. I headed down the main street which I had seen many times in recent weeks thanks to [Read more]

Alta day 1 – goodbye Sun

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Dec 022012
 
Alta day 1 - goodbye Sun

Alta is a small town of 19,000 inhabitants, although in Norway it is classed as a city. It is also called ‘the city of the Northern Lights’. The reason for this is that Alta lies at the perfect latitude to view the Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights isn’t the main reason for my visit to the city, although it will be an added bonus if I can see them again. I previously saw them in Iceland in 2010. The main reason for my visit is to witness the Polar Night. This is a phenomena caused by the Sun staying below [Read more]

3,000 Millionaires Weekend

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Oct 262012
 
3,000 Millionaires Weekend

On Monday 22nd October 2012, Camelot announced that the National Lottery had now created 3,000 millionaires and to celebrate the fact, they organised a private party at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich for some of the lucky winners. My weekend started on the previous Thursday (18th) when I did some filming for Camelot at Brinsley Animal Rescue Centre. Last Christmas, I donated £500 to the centre, and will do so again this year. Camelot wanted to do some filming with me at the centre to show some of the good deeds Lottery winners do with their new found wealth. I [Read more]

Alta it is

 Holidays, What I do  6 Responses »
Oct 122012
 
Alta it is

After several weeks of indecision, I have finally decided that I am going to visit Alta in the far north of Norway. Having witnessed the Midnight Sun in Tromsø, I now want to see what it’s like to live in a place where the Sun stays below the horizon all day. Alta is a small town in Northern Norway with a population of just over 19,000. Its airport has daily flights to the Norwegian capital Oslo, from where you can get a flight to London Heathrow. The Sun doesn’t rise in Alta from November 26th until January 15th, but I [Read more]

The end of Spurn?

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Sep 052012
 
The end of Spurn?

On Monday 3rd September 2012, we made our first visit to Kilnsea for over two years. Kilnsea is a small village at the mouth of the Humber and is the start of a three and a half mile extension of the Holderness coastline out into the estuary. At the end of the road is Spurn Point, a base for the Humber Lifeboat crew. We have visited here regularly for over 25 years and watched the sea gradually erode the clay cliffs back towards the village. On this occasion, we made a day trip to Kilnsea, arriving around lunchtime and staying [Read more]

Return to Belle Tout

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Aug 292012
 
Return to Belle Tout

Between Monday 20th August and Thursday 23rd August 2012, Sandra and I paid a return visit to Belle Tout Lighthouse on the Beachy Head cliffs at Eastbourne. We had visited in early March this year and had vowed to return when the weather was warmer and the nights were lighter. On our first visit to the lighthouse, everything was perfect, and everything would have been so this time had we not chosen the smaller Beach Hut room. We selected this because it had views from two windows – one of the South Downs, and the other of the cliffs at [Read more]

Welcome to Paradise!

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Jul 302012
 
Welcome to Paradise!

Between Sunday July 16th 2012 and Monday July 23rd 2012, we visited the Channel Islands and stayed at the beautiful island of Herm. The words on the front of the holiday brochure said ‘Welcome to Paradise’ and they were right. We caught the daily Aurigny flight from East Midlands Airport in the early afternoon and flew to the island of Guernsey. We stayed overnight in the Duke De Normandie Hotel in St Peter Port as we didn’t have enough time to make the last ferry over to Herm. Herm harbour at low tide. The Duke De Normandie was ok to [Read more]

Tromsø day 5 – homeward bound

 Holidays  1 Response »
Jul 082012
 
Tromsø day 5 – homeward bound

After a final cold breakfast in the Clarion Collection Hotel With, it was time to catch the Flybussen back to the airport, which is on the other side of Tromsøya island. The journey took about 20 minutes. I checked in and caught the 14:00 flight to Oslo, but not before sampling my final pint of Arctic Beer in the airport bar. At NOR 92, this was the most expensive beer I had on the whole holiday – almost £10. The flight was uneventful, as was the flight to Heathrow which departed 90 minutes after I arrived in the Norwegian capital. At [Read more]

Tromsø day 4 – fjords and mountains

 Holidays  1 Response »
Jul 082012
 
Tromsø day 4 – fjords and mountains

The highlight of day four of my visit was a round trip from Tromsø to Skjervøy using buses and ferries to Skjervøy and returning via the Hurtigurten ferry.The trip cost NOK 600 and lasted for over eight hours. Before the round trip, I wandered around the shops looking for a present to take back for Sandra. I settled on a silver necklace from a local jewellers. I also sampled some Norwegian ice cream and took a trip on Tromsø’s only train. Tromsø isn’t connected to the Norwegian rail network, which doesn’t go this far north, so I had to make do with a street train [Read more]

Tromsø day 3 – the Midnight Sun

 Holidays  1 Response »
Jul 052012
 
Tromsø day 3 - the Midnight Sun

Today was the day I had set out to see the Midnight Sun. The weather forecast was good, and the rain clouds were likely to disperse around midday. I wasn’t disappointed. After breakfast from the cold buffet, I took the bus to the Botanic Gardens. These were quite impressive and included hardy plants from all over the World. There were separate sections dedicated to different areas and I had a pleasant two hours there. When I returned to the city, I freshened up and headed out for a meal at the Fiskekompani restaurant next door to my hotel. Although very [Read more]

Tromsø day 2 – beer and rainbows

 Holidays  1 Response »
Jul 032012
 
Tromsø day 2 - beer and rainbows

Day two in Tromsø started where day one left off, grey and overcast with frequent showers. It wasn’t until 17:30 that the sun made a brief appearance, and from then on, the weather showed some improvement. But, today was memorable in a number of ways. After breakfast, which was the usual affair with a Norwegian slant, I went to Tromsø’s aquarium – Polaria. Although the aquarium offered nothing I hadn’t seen before, it had a panoramic theatre which was showing a stunning video of the Northern Lights filmed in Tromsø. Music was by Per Wollen and I was so impressed [Read more]

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