After leaving Bergen late last night and sailing in a more or less northerly direction through the fjords, the ship then turned east into Sognefjord.

Our route today would take us along this deep, wide and majestic fjord, eventually turning south towards our destination, Flåm. Before arriving there, however, we were promised a diversion to Gudvangen, where we would have a sightseeing walk, accompanied by a couple of members of the ship's expedition team.

Geoff enjoyed his breakfast pancake...

...AND his two poached eggs, with bacon!

We spent most of the morning on deck. After the rather grey and rainy day yesterday in Bergen, we were very pleased to see blue skies with lots of sunshine today.

St. Olaf's Church, also known as the English Church, is an Anglican church built in the style of a Stave church. The church was completed in 1897 as a memorial to Margaret Green, an English lady who came to the fjords as a tourist where she met, fell in love with and married Knut Kvikne. She wished for an Anglican church to be built in Balestrand, but died before its completion. Sunday services are held during the summer months, being conducted by rotating vicars from England.

For some reason, the term "rotating vicars from England" amused us!

The Kvikne's Hotel in Balestrand, owned by the Kvikne family, was built in the 19th century. It has 200 rooms and an impresseive collection of art and historical pieces, we were told. Kaiser Wilhelm II often visited there during his summer holidays, prior to World War I and the hotel still possesses the chair he used in their restaurant.

The statue of Fridtjof, who was the king of Ringerike and Sogn according to Fridtjof's Saga, a legendary tale from Iceland. The statue was commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. It is 10.5 metres high and is situated on a 12 metre high platform.

There are several smaller fjords which branch off Sognefjord.

Flåm, our final destination today, is at the end of the 29 km long Aurlandsfjord branch.

At some point (I'm not sure exactly where or when), we entered Aurlandsfjord.

Instead of sailing directly to Flåm, we turned west, after 11 kilometres, into Nærøyfjord. This 18 kilometre long fjord is only 500 metres wide in some parts and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The zodiacs were soon ferrying people from the ship to the shore. There is something exciting about going ashore this way, especially when there is a bit of a swell to deal with, which was not the case today. (Geoff does not agree with Bruce about this being exciting, by the way!)

At around this point, it was clear that the walkers were on a mission to walk quite fast, whereas Geoff was more keen to stop and take photos of the scenery and to look at the flowers at leisure. He therefore decided to walk back to the village. Bruce. on other hand, decided to try and keep up with the group.

After walking for about four kilometres, our leaders decided that we needed to pause, before beginning the walk back. I didn't know that we were actually quite close to the small village of Bakka (which we would see from the ship later), but time constraints meant that we wouldn't have been able to make it there comfortably. The group paused for ten minutes at this point to rest. We inadvertently disturbed a young Norwegian man, who had set up his tent and was enjoying the natural beauty of the area. I don't think he was too pleased to see us, judging by the speed with which he found some clothes and put them on, haha!

Arriving back on board is like coming home. The ship is always a welcome sight. Geoff came back aboard slightly earlier than me and took these photos of me arriving back (if you look carefully!)

The scenery here is stunning. The above picture and the two below were taken by one of the expedition team members, from one of the zodiacs, looking back towards the ship and the campsite/village beyond it.

At 5.00pm, we were on our way again. The voyage back along Nærøyfjord towards Aurlandsfjord seemed quite familiar now as we picked out landmarks and waterfalls that we had passed on our earlier walk.

Bakka is a tiny village located on the western shore of the Nærøyfjord, about 5 kilometres north of Gudvangen. The village is home to the Bakka Church. It was hoped that we would reach the village whilst on our walk earlier, but we had to turn back before we got there, which seems a pity, because it looked charming.

After rejoining Aurlandsfjord, we headed directly for Flåm. Shortly before we arrived, we passed the village of Unredal. We didn't know it yet, but we would be visiting the village tomorrow on an afternoon coach excursion.

After dinner, we took a stroll around the village. Judging by the size of the visitor centre, railway museum and other attractions, it looked like it could be quite a busy place. Tonight, however, it was quiet and tranquil.

This map gives an idea of the scale of the village. Our little ship was docked where the large ship is shown. The railway station is within easy walking distance of the dock area.

A map showing the route we would be taking tomorrow on what promised to be a spectacular return railway journey from Flåm to Vatnahalsen.