Mind if we don't?

battle on..

Mind if we don't? welcome to Norway....!!

Bog-snorkelling, seal-hunting, sub-zero naturism - it's hard to believe some breaks are advertised at all. Gavan Naden picks 10 trips you may be better off missing


Bog snorkelling
Bog snorkelling: Wales?s answer to Chernobyl tours and alpine naturism


Hunt seals
One Norwegian company, NorSafari, is offering a trip tailored to enthusiastic amateurs who enjoy a spot of blood lust. For around ?110, hunters are offered a day out in which they can shoot a seal, or for a few kroner more (?650) NorSafari offers four days' hunting and the guarantee of two seal kills. Beginners can also receive training in butchering and preserving the carcasses.

This new policy is needed, says the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, to reduce the seal stock, and to meet government quotas. Fishermen blame seals for a drop in the North Sea marine stocks, while Norwegian authorities say the animals should be governed by the same rules as other big game such as reindeer, red deer and moose. But this has caused outrage among conservation groups, who see seal-hunting as barbaric and unnecessary, and some Norwegian ministers think the practice will drive tourists away.


Nuclear chill out
For ?83, you can go on a guided tour of Chernobyl - one of the world's worst nuclear disaster sites. Using a geiger counter and breathing apparatus, visitors pass through army posts and come within yards of the reactor where tonnes of radioactive material are still contained.

A tasty lunch is then provided, after which tourists can check out the 32-acre dead-zone and the eerily empty homes, where old photographs, telephones and furniture lie abandoned. It is now nearly 20 years since the locals fled after the reactor exploded, spreading radioactive fallout across Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and northern Europe.

The day would not be complete without a talk from elderly settlers who, ignoring the health risks, have returned to the exclusion zone.


Get the hump
Any animal that snarls, bites, spits and generally refuses to do anything it's told, is best avoided. Camels are for carrying people and large weights across arid land, under the instruction of experienced handlers who know where to stand - at a safe distance.

Yet an event in central Australia actively encourages novices to ride and race these temperamental beasts. The Camel Cup purports to be "hilarious" - but that probably says more about the Aussie sense of humour, than anything else.


Rough justice
Living life in a cardboard box in a cold and windy doorway has little to recommend it. But Peacemaker Circle organise regular Street Retreats in cities all over the world. After paying a registration fee - which has to be raised by begging - participants are sent out to live on the streets, beg for sustenance and learn the workings of the inner-city. It is an initiation into the life of a street dweller.

Participants are asked not to shave or wash their hair for 10 days before the retreat starts. They should come with one piece of ID, an empty plastic bag and wear old clothes (definitely no change of outfit necessary). Organisers promise to provide a list of soup kitchens and shelters.


Spin out
There is surely nothing more unpleasant than rolling head-over-heels down the side of a steep hill. It's enough to make anybody sick and dizzy. Well, now a way has been found to make it even more unbearable - by rolling headlong down the Perthshire hills strapped inside a 12-foot plastic sphere at speeds of 35 mph, an activity known as Zorbing. There is no steering, no brakes and absolutely no point. Apparently to really liven things up, it's suggested a gallon of water is thrown inside the sphere at the same time.


Chop-chop
Where would you go to prepare for life in the

Hey? Seals has a lot of Omega 3 substances?? use it as you wish?if not..?? then get sick?

OH MY GOD where do I sign up clubing baby seals clubing baby seals I am getting a hard on just thinking about it.

Svalbard.. and you may have to test your clubing skills....

and they are not baby... stop kidding yourself....

🙂