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Oslo is served from the UK by SAS Braathens, British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.ba ), Ryanair (0871 246 0000; www.ryanair ), Norwegian Air Shuttle (00 47 21 49 00 15; www.norwegian.no) and City Star Airlines (01224 722610; www.citystarairlines ). The environmental cost of a return flight from London to Oslo, in economy class, is £2.10. To reduce the impact on the environment, you can buy an “offset” from Climate Care (01865 207 000; www.climatecare ). The writer paid £650 for a return sailing for two adults and three children, and their car, in peak season. There are frequent flight connections between Oslo and Kristiansand with SAS Braathens (0870 60 727727; www.sasbraathens.no). TRAVELLER’S GUIDEGETTING THEREDFDS (08702 520524; www.dfds.co.uk) sails between Newcastle and Kristiansand.

In true faux-cruise-ship style we booked into dinner in the ?a carte restaurant – The Blue Riband. The reason: from the large restaurant windows you get the most spectactular view while sailing out of the harbour, past the flotilla of many varied crafts and rocks and islets that characterise this southern coast.Only at that moment, as I pondered which seafood special I would decide to order, did I finally find myself in the company of other Brits. It’s a good brisk walk up to the top of the country’s oldest lighthouse, constructed in 1655. At the foot there’s a museum chronicling the lighthouse’s history and development.From here it’s just a half-hour drive to the ferry port at Kristiansand where you board the Princess Scandinavia for the trip back to Newcastle. There is, however, enough to get the gist of what life was like in southern Norway a millennium ago: you can even have a go at shooting with a bow and arrow or sailing on a Viking ship.Vikingland is so close to the lighthouse at Lindesnes that it would be a shame not to visit the beacon while you are in the area Lindesnes is Norway’s Land’s End. We spent a couple of hours riding docile Icelandic ponies – the same breed that the Vikings used.

The centre organises hacking trips to a nearby forest or, for small children, guided rides around the grounds.The historic settlement itself is still being excavated and several contemporary tourist features are in the process of being constructed. Which is why we were combing the hillsides at 10pm – dusk arrives very late during the Norwegian summer. There were a couple of sightings on our trip, and the elk were near enough to the road for us to take photographs. It was an enjoyable expedition, but what I found particularly fascinating was touring this Scandinavian hinterland at dusk, getting a good look at a very remote rural community. Each house we passed was like a lighthouse beaming brightness out across the surrounding countryside with not a curtain in sight to ruin the effect.On our last morning we visited “Vikingland”, a Viking settlement at Spangereid. He hands around pieces of elk salami for you to chew on, lest you start to get too romantic about the beast.Elks are shy, timid animals that live in forests and only venture out at dawn and dusk to feed on surrounding pasture.

However, in keeping with the contained exertion of our holiday we chose the elk safari option. This involved sitting on a minibus for a couple of hours and rushing to the relevant window when a sighting occurred.To get you in the mood, Ewen gives a short introductory talk about the elk (it’s basically the same creature as the Canadian moose, only smaller). Run by Ewen Martin – a Scot who used to be in the Army – it’s a centre for rafting, canoeing and abseiling. From the quayside we took a hire boat out and chugged around the coastline. And this is truly the essence of a Norwegian summer – bobbing around on a little craft, finding a rock or islet to picnic on, bracing the cold but oh-so-clean water, and returning home to a barbecue lasting into the long, light evenings.Some will be wanting a more challenging interaction with the elemental beauty of their surrounds than merely motoring around on a boat, and there are plenty of opportunities for hiking and trekking, cycling, serious fishing, white-water rafting, abseiling and canoeing.For a more intensive kind of interaction we drove 45km inland along the Mandal river valley to Hessa, a small settlement on the banks where Adventure Norway is to be found. Here there is a holiday centre with apartments, chalets, a shop and an outdoor pool. It was all distinctively Scandinavian: architecturally tasteful, built of wood and super clean.