MS Havila Castor

Turns out the ferry to Tromsø is a cruise ship, MS Havila Castor; it’s basically a massive hotel with lobby and everything, the cabins are essentially like hotel rooms. It’s not as big & grand as other more mainstream cruise operators but the shower was refreshing after three days, so is a nice bed. Last night’s bench-sleep wasn’t particularly high quality, but better than expected.

As I see Norway passing by from the deck, I feel an invariable tug to get on my bike and ride open roads; I keep thinking maybe I haven’t looked at the places I have been through, long enough; the hamlets, the tiny boat houses, endless curvy roads and jagged mountains. Maybe I could do some more island hopping, maybe some more pointless detours. I don’t know if I stopped and talked to people enough. Did I miss a good twilight or two?

Good thing I have not accentuated the entirety of this trip with music or any sort of audio; except the last climb to Nordkapp and at a handful of other places. Those bits of music, I think, will be associated with those places for me. I wonder if I will remember the other sounds, the sound of wind, the sound of the wheel on tarmac, the sound in the tunnels.

I visited the upper decks to look around the landscape, but I was getting too sad looking at the Finnmark landscape, rugged and green, so I came back to my tiny dark cabin and went to sleep.

Aboard MS Havila Castor, Norwegian waters