Friday 2 September 2022--Richard With was born son of a shipmaster in Tromsø in 1846. He went to sea at 18, eventually becoming a shipmaster himself. In 1881, he founded Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab to operate ferry routes from Lofoten and Vesterålen to Bergen, mainly in support of the fishing industry. In 1893, with government support, the company instituted a weekly ferry route between Trondheim and Tromsø year-round, with summer service to Hammerfest. This was a great boon to a region with no road network, reducing travel time significantly. Thus it became known as Hurtigruten--the express route. Other operators got involved, and eventually there were eleven vessels running daily service on an eleven-day route from Kirkenes to Bergen, 365 days a year. Mergers culminated in 2006 with one operator left standing, renamed Hurtigruten Group, the successor to Richard With's early enterprise.

After World War II, road access to the northern regions greatly improved, and air travel followed. The ships plying the coastal route continue to serve important freight and passenger functions, but Hurtigruten started marketing to the tourist trade in the '60s, and that sector makes up more and more of its business. Shore excursions and on-board amenities are part of the draw. There is in fact a large tour group of Germans on board the Nordnorge today. The schedule has us in Ålesund at 9:45 this morning, before a side trip up the Hjørundfjord, returning to Ålesund at 6:00pm; but we are skipping the first Ålesund stop (along with a couple of the minor ports during the night) in order to make up time, after our late start. During the summer, the ships run up the Geirangerfjord, reputedly one of Norway's most spectacular. I don't know why they switch on September 1--in winter, they simply lay over in Ålesund for ten hours--and I'm mildly disappointed about it, but the Hjørundfjord is scenic enough. Anyway, I'm not as disappointed as a young couple who tell me they'd planned to get off in Ålesund this morning. They have one night there, and are unhappy to be missing their one day in town. I feel their pain...circumstances like this are why I try to book an extra night here or there. I'm lucky, I guess, that I have the time to do that. The Nordnorge anchors off the village of Urke for several hours while the Germans go on a land excursion of some kind. It's a nice enough day, at least, to nap in a deck chair in the sunshine.

We land in Ålesund on time. Win and I had a quick look around on a 45-minute midnight stop here in 2004, and managed to slam down a beer in a waterfront pub. Walking into town now, I can't figure where that pub was. My Airbnb is just uphill from the main street; I have three nights here. After settling in, I head over to Molo Brew, the local brewpub, over by the cruise ship terminal. I'm prepared for the exorbitant price of beer, but am still rather shocked to get a skimpy burger with no sides for about $17.* The beer is good, anyway.

*At the time of my trip, the Norwegian krone was worth almost exactly US$.10 (ten cents), which made conversions easy--kr170=$17. All prices noted in this journal are based on that.