Postcards from the Fjords - Seven Nights That Restored My Faith

Toes still tingling after a seven-night cruise to the Fjords of Norway - something many of you have said you would like to do - here is how she got on:

Icy waters of the Briksdal Glacier lake at the heart of the Norwegian Fjords hit my feet like an electric shock.

Walk like a Viking, we were told. My attempt at the challenge set by my tour guide was more like an Irish dance. I skipped across the clear water shrieking like a bird of prey = unsure whether the pain was greater from the glacier rocks beneath my feet or the freezing temperature.

An unforgettable highlight, nevertheless, of my 7-night cruise to the Norwegian Fjords on the Ambassador Ambition.

My friend, Marita Richardson, and myself sailed from Dundee on the July 17, all flags and fanfares and that lovely chaos of 1,200 Scots trying to find their cabins at once.

Ambassador does this brilliantly - no fuss, no flying, just walk up the gangway from Tayside. Our floating home for the week, with her 350 crew who frankly deserve medals.

The Ambition is a less overwhelming ship than many that dock at Edinburgh with just 680 cabins across 14 decks. But the experience is just as big.

What a crew! Of those 350 incredibly welcoming, hardworking staff keeping us fed, watered and upright - only 16 were British. The world works on that ship, and it works beautifully.

Day Two - oh, Day Two. If you were on social media you will have seen us. The North Sea decided to introduce herself. We literally had to hold on to our hats on deck, hold on to our gin in the bar, and hold on to each other going up the stairs. The Captain called it "lively". We called it the great Ambassador hat rescue of 2026.

And then, as if someone flicked a switch - our first stop, Stavanger.

What a jewel! And what a guide. We were met by a young woman, local school, now at university studying to be a structural engineer. Ad oh, could she talk structures. She walked us through Gamle Stavanger, those perfect 200-year-old white wooden houses down Fargegaten where every door is painted a different ice-cream colour, and all the while explaining load-bearing and timber preservation. Immediately you want to move there, until you hear the price - £1.5 million!

But what struck me most? The flags. Everywhere. Not in a brash way. Quiet pride. A red house with white trim, and there - the Norwegian flag flying from the porch. A little garden gate, a flag. A block of flats - flag. This is a country that is proud of itself, and frankly, it has every right to be.

They started with fish export. They told us that in Stavanger - how a nation built itself on cod and herring. And now? Oil. The cleverest pivot in Europe. You see the wealth, but not in a flashy way. The streets are immaculate, the museums work, the buses run on time. It is a rich country that looks rich because it invested in itself.

Eidfjord took our breath away the next day. When we opened the curtains of our cabin in looked like we had docked in a picture postcard.

The lake was as still as glass and we could have gone kayaking had we taken our waterproofs ashore. Instead we went ashore and took in the magnificent mountain views and searched for the sparkling stones we had learned about during a lecture on board the previous day.

We found a local bakery and it would have been rude not to have sampled Norwegian's sweet treats before returning to the Ambition to soak up the sun next to the pool.

Then Bergen and that funicular ride up Fløibanen, and the Hanseatic harbour with its famous fish market and more colourful wooden shops, cafes and bars. There is a Christmas market there, we were told - and we were already planning a return visit.

And then Olden. Our glacier day.

I have to mention the quarry. If you have seen the Facebook groups, you will know Ambassador has had a bit of a roasting for docking in what is essentially a working quarry at Olden when you don't book a tour, with very little there for those who stay on board. And it's true - it isn't Bergen Harbour.

But for us, it was the start of something extraordinary. The Briksdal Glacier.

Now, our paperwork said "trek". What it didn't say was that it was Norwegian for a 2.5k climb! Up and up we went, but oh my - through the most stunning waterfalls you have ever seen, thundering down the rock face beside us. And the heat! We had packed for cool, expecting to shiver by the ice. Instead temperatures soared that day. We were peeling off layers before we were halfway up.

Then there it was. Briksdal. Or what is left of it.

The guide said it quietly, but it landed hard - the glacier is retreating so fast, we were some of the last to see it like this. You could see the scars on the rock where it used to sit, hundreds of feet above where it sits now. That message I will never forget: that humanity should just try a little harder to protect this beautiful world we live in. Because if we don't, we may lose it.

At the lake edge, the water was that impossible milky-blue, full of glacier flour. We were encouraged - dared, more like - to take a paddle in the cool waters of the glacier lake. We did. It literally took our breath away. I think my toes are still tingling.

Coming down, hot and glowing, we were rewarded twice. First, a perfect, stunning rainbow thrown up by a waterfall on the way down. Our guide laughed and said that would be the last shower we'd take if we tried under it! And second, waiting for us at the base camp cafe, a full buffet of Norwegian cakes laid on just for us. Waffles, cream cakes, apple cakes, cinnamon swirls - a proper feast for our efforts. Never have cakes been so deserved.

We had our final sea day to think about it all, sailing home to Dundee.

So what did I learn from seven nights in Fjordland? That pride is a good thing when it's quiet and flown from your own house. That a country can go from fishing nets to oil rigs and still keep its soul. That a "walk" in Norway is never just a walk. And that if 334 international crew members can work that hard to give us the time of our lives, the least we can do is try a little harder for the planet they come from.

If you get the chance - go. But take good shoes and a swimming costume for your feet.

To book an adventure on the Ambassador Ambition, visit ambassadorcruisline.com. Follow Chrissie and Marita Go Wild on Facebook.