Haugesund

We both slept well last night, but it was a little choppy now and then. We had also worked out how to switch off the lobby light, so managed to have a pitch black cabin. This, in turn, meant that I was able to kick every item of furniture in the cabin when I got up for the loo at 1:30 this morning.

We docked in Haugesund just after 8:30. It was a cool 11C and very overcast. It was not the sort of weather that encouraged me to sit on the balcony and write this journal. Trevor headed off on a full day excursion to the waterfalls the rest of us planned a quiet morning aboard ship and a tour called “Leisurely Haugesund” this afternoon.

We went up to the SkyDeck for breakfast with Jane. When finished we went to the Crow’s Nest which is a lounge/bar with panoramic windows overlooking the prow of the ship. Soon after sitting down we were provided with a pencil and an answer sheet and found ourselves participating in a trivia quiz. I am embarrassed to say that we only managed to finish 2nd. In disgust at this performance we left and headed for another bar where we could hide our heads in shame and drink a coffee.

This afternoon we met up with Jane and disembarked to await our tour bus. It gave us an opportunity to see how big Arcadia is, as we queued. The bus arrived and we loaded. Jane and Diane sat together and I ended sitting with Tracy, who was a Dawn French lookalike and even had a similar mischievous sense of humour. 

As we wound our way through Haugesund and up to the overlook we had a steady stream of banter between the four of us. It actually made the tour great fun as well as being interesting. The tour only lasted a couple of hours and took us all around the town with stops at a couple of viewpoints. The guide was very knowledgeable and gave us a running commentary throughout. Back at the ship we returned to our cabins for a quiet hour or so before meeting up for dinner.

The theatre was featuring a comedy juggler - this was not something that interested me. The Globe, however, was having a night dedicated to music for the 1960s and featured the house band “Pulse” for several live sets. This was more up our street. We wandered into this nightclub just as the first set finished. It did mean that it was moderately easy to get a booth. We settled down and listened (and bopped) to the playlist until 9 pm. Then the band started their second set. They were very good indeed with a male and female singer, keyboard player, lead guitarist, bass guitarist, and, of course, the drummer. They took us through a 40 minute set ranging from the Beatles, Stones, through the The Who, Dusty Springfield, James Brown, and even The Drifters. It was excellent (and the place was heaving by then). As the set finished, we took this as our cue to head back to the cabin and settle down for the night. We have and earlier start in the morning.