Transportation I

I almost always use either my bicycle or public transport to move about. While out travelling over the years that has provided me with some memorable experiences. I travelled all the way up to the northernmost part of Norway on a very luxurious cruise ship. Not my usual habitat, and I did stand out a little. No cabin, but sleeping on the floor of one of the conference halls, not big meals in the dining room, but sandwiches and salad I brought with me at a table in the lobby. I vividly remember the slightly pitying looks I got from some of the real residents as they moved from one meal to the next. The ship got me to where I wanted to go though, and sailing through the fiords was beautiful.



Then there was cycling all over Shetland, bringing a bike over from Amsterdam on a couple of ferries and a couple of trains. An interesting and challenging experience. On Unst, Shetland's northernmost island I came across one of the best bus stops I've ever seen. It even had its own website at the time. It's under construction at the moment, the website, not the shelter, I think. It was decorated like a proper little house, and I felt very comfortable there. It was intriguing to get this beautifully decorated bus shelter in the middle of nowhere, close to the northernmost point of Shetland.





And then, talking about bus stops, the other great bus stop I know is on Tristan da Cunha. The island has 273 inhabitants, and one long road of just a few kilometres long. There is a bus stop on the edge of the only settlement on the island, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. There is a bus service taking people down to the Potato patches there. Unfortunately I was there on Sunday, when the bus doesn't run, so it was a long wait, and I didn't have my bicycle this time....