Friday 30 June

We pack our bags and check out early before breakfast and enjoy our last bit of Arctic sunshine on deck. At the Farewell Meeting we are introduced to the Captain and all the staff who sing us a farewell song. We are all presented with certificates for crossing 80 degrees north and I get one for my Arctic dip at 3 degrees C. 
We leave our bags at the hotel and I manage a bit of retail therapy while Mum goes on a floral forage. We both buy aqua blue fleeces as worn by the Hurtigruten guides. Probably more expensive than at home but a lovely momento. I manage to lose my precious red bobble hat and have to run back to the shopping centre where miraculously I find it on a chair. We have booked a walking tour from the hotel which we are told involves fossil hunting by the shore with a polar dog trained to sniff out fossils. As it turns out it is inland up a steep and rocky, often snow covered valley and the dog, a gorgeous Greenland creature is just there for a walk and crashes out asleep in the sun as soon as we arrive. We are given heavy rock hammers and no other instruction. I can't do it all and in fact am not terribly excited about the prospect of finding a fossil and without my glasses I can't see much anyway. Still the sun is out and it is nice to have some fresh air and Mum is thrilled to find a Svalbard poppy. We complain to the hotel that we were misinformed and to give them their due they refund the money. We are late for supper and have to slink in with our tail between our legs. In fact we have an enjoyable meal with the 2 Alisons who are the only other English people on the tour and laugh about our disappointing afternoon. It is nice to have a room in which to shower, repack and while away the evening / night before we start our overnight journey home at 00.30am