MY voyage aboard the luxury passenger ferry Midnatsol, part of the world famous Hurtigruten (fast route) fleet, continues as we head south from Kirknes, on the Norway-Russia border, to Bergen.

Smoked whale meat and roast reindeer on the menu is not a meal I would choose for a day in June. But in latitude 71 degrees north, just 2,100 kilometres from the North Pole, and with the air temperature at seven degrees centigrade, an Arctic-style meal was a welcome addition to the varied lunch menu after an hour pacing deck six (six times around is a mile).

Meals on this ship are superb - catering for all tastes.

This voyage ranks as one of the most interesting I have ever experienced. It is truly the most beautiful voyage in the world. We have covered hundreds of miles since leaving Bodo from where I filed last week's In Port story in the ship's internet caf.

From Bodo, home of the U2 spy planes during the Cold War, we made our way slowly north. We crossed the cod-spawning waters of Vestafjorden in perfect weather conditions before making calls at Stamsund and Svolvaer - both important fishing towns in the Lofoten Islands.

More than 50,000 tonnes of cod is caught here every year. On the shore, gjelles (A-frames used to dry fish) are positioned around the ports. Stockfish (dried cod) is a major industry in the islands. Some 15,000 tonnes of cod is hung over the gjelles to dry between March and mid-June before being exported to Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

Leaving the Lofoten Islands in our wake, the next stop was the Trollfjord, which is two kilometres long and only 100 metres wide at its mouth.

Captain Geir Eriksen took Midnatsol into the fjord at midnight with the sun just above the horizon. At the head of Trollfjord he turned Midnatsol in her own length earning a warm round of applause from the passengers.

Further north, in the Finnmark region, the newly-built towns and villages are a living reminder of World War II. In 1945, the Germans, under the command of Austrian general Lothar Rendulic, operated a scorched-earth policy completely obliterating towns, villages and forests from the map as they made their retreat from advancing Russian troops.

Without sounding Germanophobic, military manoeuvres are far from over today. Watching the German passengers onboard Midnatsol provides some daily amusement as they act in pincer formations to secure the best seats in the lounges and on the excursion buses.

At meal times, one would think that Rommel's Afrika Korps are planning a full-blown assault of the dining room.

Hammerfest, the world's most northerly town, was playing host to our old friend the cruiseship Thomson Celebration when we arrived. The ship underwent a five-month refit at Falmouth earlier this year.

No trip to northern Norway would be complete without a visit to the North Cape, the Land's End of the country. Midnatsol docked at Honningsvag, a small fishing port dubbed the capital of North Cape. The only building to survive after the German army torched the town was the church. North Cape, mainland Europe's most northerly point, attracts some 250,000 visitors each year.

In December 1943, 90 miles from the promontory, the German battleship Scharnorst sank after being attacked by British forces. We were blessed with good weather for the voyage. Having read vivid accounts of the Arctic convoys and the PQ 17 convoy it is hard to imagine what these men went through during hostile winters as they went to and from Murmansk with vital war supplies.

Kirknes is a bleak, wild-looking port from where we took a short bus ride to the Russian border close to the Pasvikelva River. The border gates were open but there was no sign of any Russian soldiers on duty.

Just one small step through the gates onto no-man's land would have resulted in an immediate £500 fine from the Norwegian authorities. In Kirknes harbour, ships from the Murmansk fishing fleet were busy discharging fish along with boxes of the giant Kamptsjatka crab that is slowly spreading westwards into Norwegian waters from northern Russia.

Three long blasts on Midnatsol's whistle signalled the start of the southbound voyage.

The steamship Vesteraalen sailed from Trondheim on July 2 1893 for Hammerfest. Mail that once took three weeks to reach Hammerfest in summer and five months in winter could now reach its destination in a matter of days.

More than 100 years later, the Hurtigruten or Coastal Express is an important link with the outside world for many of the small fishing villages and towns. Sometimes the ship stops just long enough to pick up a handful of passengers and cargo. Eleven ships sail on an 11-day round trip from Bergen to Kirknes and back. During the 2,500-mile voyage they call at 32 ports northbound and 32 southbound.