Land ho and what a great place to land at! We wake up this morning in Geiranger. Several people had gotten up early to see the sail in and considering sun rise as it was so scenic. We didn’t as we had an active day ahead.
Our first planned activity was to go kayaking. Our guide was a Spanish gal who obviously loved kayaking. This was her first season up in Geiranger. We were joined by a couple from Holland and a couple of young ladies from the US. The couple from Holland were on the same cruise as us and the gals were travelling about on their own. We were put in tandem kayaks which also had a rudder. I suspect because they are dealing with all sorts of skill levels (mostly beginner) at Active Geiranger, they choose these as it ultimately de-risks the ability of people to be successful. It was clear though that wile the couple from Holland were similar to us, expecting a very active trip, the gals underestimated the trials of kayaking for several hours.
Our plan was to make it out to the Seven Sisters waterfall in Geiranger, which is one of the major attractions. There were several ways to see it, but I have to admit kayaking seems to be a great way to do it as it was absolutely beautiful the whole way there and back. The only real drawback was that it was raining the whole time and while my coat was waterproof, Simon’s wasn’t, so he was getting pretty soaked through. We also had gaskets to seal us into the kayak and while they seemed to be reasonably effective, I still ended up with a wet bum. Even with these minor annoyances, it was totally wonderful experience. What a great way to see things!
By the time we got back to the ship, it was time to dry off, change and have a nice lunch. Afterwards we headed back out again, because we wanted to walk around the town and there were a couple hikes up into what was a lookout. The first hike was marked as “level 2” which meant that it was reasonable but might be a bit challenging. Level 3 meant that there was a lot of clambering up things and Level 4 was you needed specialist hiking equipment. Once we got to the first destination, it was a restaurant with a second Level 1 walk through some fields with sheep and goats grazing in them. We walked that path for a bit before turning back and hiking back down. Again, another great way to spend an afternoon, exploring. The only problem again is it was raining for at least half the journey and so by the time we got back, we now had been through two sets of clothes each! I clearly didn’t pack enough hiking clothes for this trip.
