LIVE from Jewel May 15, 2024 - 27 nights

[twangster]

Tenors Unlimited in the theater

 

 

 

[twangster]

RCL Singers and Dancers in the Centrum

 

 

 

[twangster]

 

 

[twangster]

Live as it happens from Jewel of the Seas!

 

 

 

[twangster]

⁹

 

 

 

[twangster]

 

 

[twangster]

What happens in the elevators... probably shouldn't be posted.  But what the heck.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[twangster]

Up to 4m seas tonigjt.   

 

I should sleep well.  

 

So far minimal impact.  

[twangster]

Day Twelve - Sea Day

 

 

 

[twangster]

If we achieved 4m seas last night I slept through it.

 

Skies are getting brighter, some patches of blue here and there, sun on my balcony at times.  I think we are just ahead of the worst part.

 

[Hoopster95]

Hey twangster, I just finished catching up to all your posts from yesterday… great photos as usual! Love those 360 shots.

 

I promised I would come back to post about Stavenger (Pulpit Rock). I’ll also add a bit from yesterday, however you killed it! I did an e-bike tour which was great, saw most of what you did and a bit more in outlying areas. I’ll comment a bit on that after Stavenger. Without further ado!…..

 

i booked in independent transfer to the Pulpit Rock Trailhead and base camp through a company called Go Norway. You book a predetermined transfer return trip to “Preikestolen”, this is the base camp.

 

I will tell you right now, Norwegians are punctual and they mean business regarding schedule keeping. It’s not a joke, it’s their culture. My bus was scheduled to leave at 9am… when the click on the bus clicked over from 8:59 to 9, the driver already had engines on, pulled up the parking brake and off we went. Same with the return… 3pm on the dot he was outta there. It’s not like

North America where sometimes they “wait”,  or you complain if you miss it, or you saunter back slowly because you know you can (entitlement)… you’re screwed if you don’t keep the schedule. I LOVE IT. Timely, orderly, efficient, reliable … everything transit and many other systems in North America are not.

 

Anyhow, knowing this. I begrudgingly prepared my backpack With many layers, extra socks, snacks, water, etc… one thing I forgot was a first aid kit which I would recommend. There is absolutely NOTHING out there when you start the hike.

 

Getting off the ship I was trying to decide whether to even go or not. It was raining sideways and windy, cold, totally miserable. And likely may be that way all day long. No one was walking with me down the street past the RCL excursion buses… was I nuts?? I decided I would get to the bud and ask the driver a few questions about taking an early bus home, etc

 

So off I went for the 5 block walk into the city Center of Stavenger to the meeting point. The bus driver says no problem

Coming back early, but the weather changes constantly and to see how it

goes. So I hopped At about 8:45… only

5-6 other people in that bus and only 15 minutes to go…. I’m still questioning my decision. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

From 8:46 - 9:00am the bus filled up to at least 80%, so I wasn’t the only other nut job making this choice today. Beside me on the bus I went two couples Ontario whom I hung out with most of the way and down so that was great! Everyone was prepared for the weather and so forth, so pretty much is was a go to give it a shot regardless at this point.

 

The travel time to the base camp one way is 45min, not what is shown below, however this gives you a picture of the distance required. 
 

We went through the miles and miles of underground highway tunnels, the longest being over 14kms. Popping up out of the tunnels the weather was still

horrid, however arriving at the base camp it was just drizzling (not full on rain). So I bought a heavy duty rubber “Norway”  poncho and we prepared for our hike….

 

And the time was set right away with an immediate and steady incline to let you know the next 2 hours were not going to be a walk in the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

In the first 1.5 Kim’s, we encountered racers  doing a 65k Wilderness marathon… now THEY are totally nuts! The weather rained, drizzled, stopped, rained… etc etc. all

over the map. It was a slow and steady uphill, rocky, slippery trudge. We also

encountered workers building a new section of the trail by cutting/splitting rock to form a new path. There were also a few areas of relief whereby you have a level walk for 5 minutes until the next incline. We finally reached mile Marker 1.5kms (out of 4km) behind schedule as two of the people I was walking with were slower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

After this Point, the weather cleared with mo drizzle or rain. I was able to pack the poncho, and even at the first real high viewpoint I was comfortable and warm enough to get some Photos in my T-shirt.

 

1km to go from this first viewpoint!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

This last kilometre becomes very interesting. It’s rocky, slippery, steep in areas, and the last bit before actually reaching pulpit rock you have 10-15 feet width to walk on for about 300-400 feet on the ledge of the cliff. Those afraid of heights do not do well here. I saw people quickly doing this section as close to the wall of the mountain as possible.

Watch the short movie for sure on this one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

By the way I’ve converted a couple of movies to mp4 so That you  folks can quickly watch without downloading, however this review would take me days to post this review if I converted, saved, etc all my videos so Take a looks at the previous one and these here on this post…

 

Finally the reason why we endured this hike! This last kilometre I went ahead of my new group of friends as I did not want to wait on them and we were behind (my) schedule a little bit, and I’m almost exactly 2 hours we reached pulpit rock (I think I could’ve done it in 1.5 hours with a brisk climb.)

 

This was worth all the effort.

 

If you’re afraid of heights, you may not like the video!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

This was awesome!!! We had our lunch up there, helped other with photos, etc. we decided to leave by 1pm in order to make our 3pm bus, however at about 12:45pm we witnesses a major storm cloud making its way down the fjord directly towards us. It was at that time we also all shivered and felt a minimum 5 degree Celsius drop in temperature. 
 

We bundled up and prepared for our descent.ill have less pictures on the way down for two reasons… duplication and I wanted to protect my phone from All rain and hail that dumped on us!

 

And boy oh boy, the weather gods stormed on us for a bit … I feel so sorry for those people still up on pulpit wanting to get their once in a lifetime pictures and so forth.

 

it rained. Drizzled, hailed twice, got warm so had to shed a layer, got cold so had to put layer back on, etc etc etc …fall, winter, spring, summer all In 5 hours.

 

Within 20min of base camp, the weather cleared and we celebrated the final steps at the trailhead market. We arrived at the base camp Parking lot at about 2:40pm With a day full of memories we’ll never forget!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10 by Hoopster95

[twangster]

Wow @Hoopster95 that looks insane!

[Hoopster95]

Yesterday in Kristiansand I booked independently a 2 hour e-bike tour with Go Norway and it was a great final choice for this long and tiring trip. Truth be told if I had not booked this bike tour I would have really put a lot of thought on staying on board… which I would’ve regretted. 
 

Kristiansand is a very nice city with some history. German occupation, old quarter, beautiful parks… and of Course what would a Norwegian day be without a 5 degree Celsius drop in temperature and 15-20 minutes of driving rain! BRRRRRR 🥶

 

Finished at 1:15pm, I could’ve easily gone back to all the areas we visited on foot, but I was totally done with cold and rain, I needed a nice hit meal and some time in the sauna. So that was it for me! 
 

It’s been a wild ride the past 2 weeks… for those who remember I was on Voyager before this and b2b on Brilliance, so it’s been a long haul. Back to work reality in a couple of days.

 

Before I forget, I wish to say thank you for all the nice words many of you have expressed to both twangster and I. Hopefully we’ll meet someday… inevitably someone (this cruise also) comes up to  me and says “you’re that hoopster guy on CC” as I’m blogging away in the Schooner Bar or where ever lol! 👍😃

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

32 minutes ago, twangster said:

Wow @Hoopster95 that looks insane!

[Dawn and Steve]

Thank you both for the blogs, all the pictures and for sharing your experiences - we are on the 13 night cruise from 5th July and have picked up so many tips and hints for our Arctic Journey. 

[bobmacliberty]

3 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

By the way I’ve converted a couple of movies to mp4 so That you  folks can quickly watch without downloading, however this review would take me days to post this review if I converted, saved, etc all my videos so Take a looks at the previous one and these here on this post…

 

Finally the reason why we endured this hike! This last kilometre I went ahead of my new group of friends as I did not want to wait on them and we were behind (my) schedule a little bit, and I’m almost exactly 2 hours we reached pulpit rock (I think I could’ve done it in 1.5 hours with a brisk climb.)

 

This was worth all the effort.

 

If you’re afraid of heights, you may not like the video!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is there a chairlift to the top. 🤣  You're a better man than me!

[tomcherv]

As Dawn and Steve mentioned, thank you to taking us with you on your journey.  Your thoughts and insights have been appreciated and the spectacular photos and videos only make me more excited to following a similar journey in July.

[derorim]

4 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

If you’re afraid of heights, you may not like the video!!! 

 

The videos looking down the side of the cliff did indeed give me the heebie jeebies!

[twangster]

If at first you don't succeed...  

 

Finally hit a streak in the casino.  I had a good run on minimal investment clearing out some small bills and earned a bunch of points towards Prime for next year.