A few weeks ago I visited Åndalsnes, it is the furthest north I have ever been on land; 62.5674° N. And yet it is only in southern Norway.

I would have had to gone a considerable way further north to visit the most northern permanent civilian settlement in the world at 78.55° N, Ny-Ålesund, also in Norway. In case you are wondering the arctic circle is currently 66.3° N, only a couple of hundred of miles or so north of Åndalsnes, and the most Northern capital is Reykjavik in Iceland at 64.15° N. Up until this trip the furthest north I had gone was Dornoch, Scotland at 57.8° N.

A murky arrival

It was dark and murky when we arrived, and whilst it did get lighter through the day it never really brightened up. Still we had a fun time exploring this small town by the Romsdalsfjord. Åndalsnes is apparently known as the “alpine village by the fjord” and has become the mountaineering capital of Norway. Not that I did any mountaineering, unless riding a gondola counts!

I joined my brother and his wife for the tender journey to shore, and we then decided to explore together for a while too. First a stroll along the banks of the fjord and then through parts of the town, trying to avoid the trolls!

That stroll was almost over before we started, and we weren’t quite ready for a coffee and so what to do next. The gondola – Romsdalsgondolen – was calling, and given it is Norway’s longest cable car it wasn’t that expensive up the mountain we went. The ride only takes seven minutes, and the views from the top – even on a cloudy day – were wonderful.

There are plenty of walks at the top, including short ones that offer glimpses of glaciers and the Troll wall.

We only did a short walk as we also wanted a hot drink and a cinnamon whirl. Fortunately there is a restaurant at the top and we arrived just in time to grab a great table and marvel at some engineers travelling on top of the cable car!

Eventually we decided to return to sea level in Åndalsnes, and I scooted off to find the cemetery I’d spotted from the mountain top. It looked interesting, and it turned out to be very interesting to an English historian. Can you spot why in the picture below?

Latitude: 62.56526, Longitude: 7.68353

If you look carefully you may have spotted a couple of Commonwealth War graves. For those who haven’t heard the CWGC do read this post that I shared a few years ago.

These five men died during an unsuccessful attempt, known as the Åndalsnes landings, by the British to support Norway following Germany’s invasion in April 1940. A combination of leadership issues, inexperienced, under-trained and under-strength troops as well as inappropriate weaponry and lack of transport meant the Germans easily stopped them from advancing inland. The failure of this and other campaigns by the British at this time in Norway is considered one of the direct causes of the Norway Debate, which resulted in the resignation of Neville Chamberlain.

It was an unexpected bit of English history to stumble across.

By now I had pretty much explored everywhere and wasn’t in the mood to shop, so I caught a tender back to the ship.

A few of you will have probably spotted something different about the ship, compared to my morning shot. Not sure – scroll back to the top of the post for that photograph and look carefully.

Returning to the QM2 on a tender reminds you just how large a ship she is. She is larger than the original Queen Mary and also the QE2 which she replaced; and is only a little bit shorter than the Empire State Building. Unlike many cruise ships, and apparently including those that are larger than her, her public areas are spacious as she is designed for bad weather and transatlantic crossings. She is a lovely ship and it was a wonderful way to travel the furthest north I have ever been, but I did think she looked out of place/scale when at anchor beside farms and small towns.

QM2 has turned around on the tide

PS Don’t forget to let me know the furthest north you have been. Perhaps you live there?

57 thoughts

  2. Pingback: An evening sail – The life of B

  3. How wonderful that this trip was a family affair. Did your mum join you? I must say that the weather hasn’t cooperated with you vey well so far. But you did manage some excellent views of the valley. My furthest north also has to be Norway but not as far north as you got. Førde which is Latitude: 61.4531° N, Longitude: 5.8509° E on a trip from where I was working in the Stalheim Hotel Latitude: 60° 50′ 3.84″ N Longitude: 6° 41′ 8.02″ E.

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      1. My mother wouldn’t travel over water either, maybe her experience as a very young child from India to Liverpool had something to do with that.

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  5. Well it might have been cloudy but you got some good views and photos, so that’s not bad. My farthest north is Umea in Sweden at 63°49′30″N, a long time ago.

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        7. 4 hours on, 8 hours off, so not too bad. When I was sailing I used to do 6 hours on, 6 hours off, which took a bit of getting used to.

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        1. I find it fascinating when I look at latitude . Reminds me that the way the world is presented in most maps distorts size and location of some many countries and cities.

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  8. Norway is such a beautiful country. The sister-in-law who used to live in France now lives not far from Stavanger and we’re hoping to get over there next spring. I think Bergen might be as far north as I’ve been.

    Have a lovely weekend.

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  9. I’m going to play my trump card, as on our recent Svalbard cruise (incidentally Ny-Ålesund is in Svalbard) we sailed way up north to reach the August sea ice at 82°24.7′N! Apparently we were only 60 miles or so from the North Pole 😀

    I love the sound of your cable car ride, as I can never resist one of those, and even in that weather the views look wonderful!

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  10. my furthest north in Britain was our most northern hotel, in northern Shetland at 60.758342

    my furthest north overall was in Arctic Circle in Sweden at around 67.5. I was there for work around 20 years ago and don’t remember the exact location. It was cold, icy, a mining area, almost exclusively male and felt very Russian.

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  12. That’s a hood way north into the fog and cold Becky. I would have gone by gondola up the mountain as well.
    My furthest north is either Stirling or Luss, the prettiest town in Scotland. Not sure which is further north

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  13. What a trip. I’ve been a bit farther north. Fairbanks, Alaska is 64 N degrees latitude. I visit my sister and her family there. In fact, I’m headed there for the holidays. Enjoy the rest of your journey.

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  16. I would love to visit Norway. I’ve always wanted to see the fjords and the northern lights.

    QM2 looks like a beautiful ship. The last true ocean liner.

    The furthest north I have travelled is Thurso, Scotland in 1990. On my recent trip the furthest north was Fort William, Scotland.

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  17. This is wonderful – what fabulous views! My initial answer to your question was Shetland, then I thought about St Petersburg. However, according to Google, they are both around 60 degrees north but St P goes further north than Shetland. Now I know for sure that we didn’t go to the north of Shetland but I can’t remember how far north we went in and around St P so I shall call it a draw!

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    1. so glad you like – my brother and I were surprised just how much we enjoyed this tiny town and its mountain.

      and oooh Russia versus Scotland for your northern excursions. A good draw to have

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  18. Aberdeen, I think, Becky, and some of west coast Scotland. I’ve never been one for the cold north but the views are beautiful, and it’s so nice to see you smiling with your brother xx

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