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The journey I'll never forget
By Max Gate
Without doubt the vast majority of unforgettable journeys have a central core of joy, often excitement, and even of profit or gain. On the other hand sadness, quietness and loss can also weave an unforgettable combination.
Such a journey was mine this last summer. After the war my brother-in-law married a girl from Norway and we all enjoyed the wonderful descriptions of life in Norway the stupendous beauty of the fjords, waterfalls and plateau high above the pastures and fishing villages near the shore. It was therefore with the utmost satisfaction I was able to take my wife on a summer cruise to Norway and Spitsbergen during July to see it all for ourselves.
We sailed from Tilbury on a cruise liner owned by reputable Greek company which catered admirably for English passengers under a Greek captain and crew who continue to run the vessel in a manner similar to that which prevailed when the ship had been in British ownership.
Eight or nine years ago my wife had suffered an attack of angina but a doctor advised us that the trip should be beneficial to us without undue risk to health in spite of threescore years and 10.
The crossing to Rotterdam was quiet and after a brief visit to that busy and hard-working port we sailed north in calm weather passing oil rigs in the North Sea and reached the exquisite small port of Molde on the west coast of Norway where we saw local schoolchildren give an accomplished display of folk dancing. Then a full day at sea crossing the Arctic Circle en route to the North Cape where we glimpse that black forbidding mass ocean defying rock now viewed by us in the ample light of the midnight sun.
Then on again to the low-lying bleak Spitsbergen coast stained today by the seepage from the newly sunk oil wells near the further risk North inhabited village on earth where the oilmen are replacing the Hardy fishermen of long year city, bleak cold and oily.
Turning around we came to Ytterdal and Geiranger with its magnificent fjord where we spent a wonderful afternoon client by coach from sea level to the top of the snow capped an icebound plateau with unique glimpses of the sea 4000 feet below.
Never forget the evening of that day when my beloved wife felt tired and went to the cabin for a rest before the evening meal. We both fell asleep for a time and soon I woke to notice that we ought to be getting ready for dinner.
Tour three times I called her, then again louder. But there was no response. Her angina had reached the inevitable end.
The ship stop English Doctor and the other officers were sympathetic and more than helpful. My only consolation was that her end was so peaceful and that she had achieved her often expressed wish to discover the joy and beauty of a sister-in-law's love of native land and is everlasting beauty.
Even in old age that I imperishable memories that can never be forgotten. |
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