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Norwegian cruise: Eagles, oars and downpours on a cruise around the land of the Vikings

Inhabitants of Bergen joke about a tourist asking a boy whether it ever stops raining there. 'I don't know,' replies the boy, 'I'm only 12.'

Sure enough, it was pouring down as we entered the Norwegian port, our first on an 18-day voyage around the North Cape to Murmansk and Archangel. Bergen has been prosperous since the Middle Ages, thanks to fishing, and is proud of its status as a world heritage city.

After a tour, our ship, MV Discovery, headed north through steel-grey Arctic seas to Bodo. On nearby Kjerringoy island, I summoned up the courage to try a bottle of 'goat beer', so named because drinking it makes you feel as if a goat's kicked you in the head.

On the waterfront: Diana tried rowing replica Viking longships on Lake Bjorkedal

Bodo is called the city of sea eagles, and I was lucky enough to catch the white flash of the tail feathers of one of these magnificent birds circling above. Rounding the North Cape, we were following the route of the Second World War British Arctic convoys, which carried vital supplies to Russia.

Close to where the ill-fated PQ17 convoy was attacked 70 years ago, a remembrance service was held on board Discovery. Next morning, we approached Murmansk, Russia's only northern port free of ice all year.

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The city is home to the Museum of the Northern Fleet, which honours the Arctic convoys and the RAF men posted to Murmansk, as well as Russians. Our guide wept as she read from a letter retrieved from the doomed Russian submarine Kursk, lost in August 2000, in which an officer wrote of his fading hopes of a rescue.

Ready for action: Diana with a viking shield

From Murmansk we rounded the Kola Peninsula into the White Sea, making for the Solovetsky Islands. These islands are home to the Transfiguration Monastery, founded in the 15th Century, which became a labour camp after the Russian Revolution. Today the monks have returned, and incense and chanting fill the air.

Archangel was our final Russian destination. Although slab-like Soviet apartment blocks remain, the city has also preserved some quaint wooden houses. British connections here stretch back centuries – in 1553, explorer Richard Chancellor arrived aboard the Edward Bonaventure, seeking a northeast route to China.

Now heading for home, we called at the Norwegian port of Kirkenes, where Hitler stationed 100,000 troops as a base for his intended seizure of Murmansk. Between 1941 and 1944, the Russians bombed Kirkenes more than 300 times. I descended into the Andersgrotta, a network of tunnels blasted into the rock of an iron-ore mine as a refuge for the townspeople. It felt cold and dank but, protected by 25ft of granite, it was undoubtedly safe.

Our next stop was Hammerfest, where I sampled delicious cured salmon, smoked reindeer and yellow cloudberry jam. And there was more joy to be had when we reached Orsta. In the Bjorkedal valley, boat-building techniques haven't changed since Viking times.

I tried my hand at rowing a replica longship on Lake Bjorkedal with only limited success. Floro, with its pretty weather-boarded houses, was our final stop in Norway before Discovery headed out into the North Sea – and our 5,000-mile encounter with the beauty of the far north drew to a close.

Travel Facts

Voyages of Discovery (0843 221 8499, www.voyagesofdiscovery.com) offers a 15-day Land Of The Midnight Sun cruise from £1,499pp. The ship leaves Portsmouth on June 11 and calls at Norwegian ports including Bergen, Tromso, Molde and Honningsvag. The price includes all meals, entertainment and guest speaker programme.


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