Monday 31 July Akureryi Iceland

 Did not seem dark at all overnight. It is 10 degrees when we get up, clear sunny skies and light wind. It is a beautiful morning. Akureryi is at the head of one of the longest fiords in Iceland. We were asleep as we sailed up, but as we leave about 5 pm we should get a good look sailing out. With no wind it does not feel cold, we plan to go ashore about noon. There are a few places to see in the town, but unless you have a tour to take you to the sights outside of the town there is not much else.

After gym and breakfast we go to our usual morning reading area. It feels warm sitting in the sun. Opposite where we are berthed is the airport and the runway is directly opposite us. There is beautiful scenery all round. The distant mountain tops have snow on them, there is a waterfall on the other side of the fiord, and an entrance to a road tunnel through the hillside. The houses all look very colourful. We are lucky to see an airliner take off and fly directly overhead. There is another ship in town, but that is anchored and using tenders to transfer people to shore. It is a Viking cruise liner.

Just after noon we head ashore. I just have a light long sleeve top over a T-shirt and Ann has a denim jacket over a T-shirt. It is 13 degrees, cool in the shade but comfortable in the sun! It is a small town but a vibrant town centre, particularly with two cruise ships in town. There are a number of troll figures around town. The shops are quite colourful. We visit the church halfway up a hill and then continue on to the botanical gardens. The gardens are very relaxing with great flower displays and there are a lot of locals about picnicking in the area.

On the way back down we decide to take a track through the woods. It is very picturesque, but steep in some places, in some areas I am forced to go down backwards as my knee will not take the stress. It is only for short distances, and it was a pleasant walk. We get back on board around 2.45.

We sail away about 5 pm. As we move out into the fiord the wind picks up and it is quite chilly. We sit out on the balcony for the sail out, it is nice in the sun but the wind is bitterly cold. The fiord is very different to the Norwegian ones. Here the sides of the fiord are gentle compared to the steep sides of the Norwegian fiords. As we leave the fiord we hit a fog bank. At 9 pm the temperature is down to 9 degrees and it is cloudy/foggy. Every now and then our fog horn will sound when the fog gets thick and the visibility is reduced. It is sounded every 60 seconds. Sunset tonight is 10.42 pm.

Sunday 30 July At Sea

 This morning is a bit better than yesterday. It is still overcast, but the wind and sea have died down and it is not raining, but it is only 9 degrees! We have slowly sailed in to the Norwegian Sea and will reach Iceland tomorrow. It will be another relaxing day at sea. 

The internet has been terrible since we left Dover with drop outs and taking ages to download anything. Trying to access accounts etc is becoming difficult as you are timing out while waiting for your login to progress. Apparently they are due to change providers and will go to star link in mid August.

When exercising this afternoon in the gym Ann spots a pod of dolphins about 150 metres off the ship. They are slowly swimming away from us. Later on in the afternoon it starts to get foggy again, not thick fog but banks of fog off in the distance. Just after 5 pm our fog horn starts up. It looks quite pleasant outside until you go outside and it is freezing, 9 degrees all day!

At 9.30 pm the light is the same as it was at 7.30 am! Sunset is at 10.41 pm.

Lovely gift from Kirk our travel agent, but don’t think we will have a balcony dinner in Greenland.

Pool area not crowded recently

Our favourite reading area

Norwegian Sea, not much of a view.

Saturday 29 July Lerwick

 Woke up during the night (1am) to the sound of the fog horn! It was being sounded every minute, eventually got back to sleep. If there is fog around means no wind, so good chance of getting ashore.

Bad news at 6.45 am, captain reports increased winds of 25 knots gusting to 30 knots, the pilot is onboard but it won’t be easy. Because of the size of the ship, and apparently the harbour has a narrow entrance and once through we have to make a sharp turn, and with the wind blowing against the ship it makes it difficult to carry out such a turn. The captain even tries a reverse entry, but it is deemed to be too dangerous. It is a miserable day anyway, 14 degrees, overcast with rain and windy. The captain makes the call and we will be bypassing the Shetland islands and we will continue on our way to Iceland. We will have another day at sea.

Pretty miserable day weather wise. Barely got over 14 degrees, overcast with passing showers and limited visibility. Sea was quite choppy with occasional movement of the ship. Still had to have my morning ice cream! It has become a regular event, after trivia we head off to the indoor pool area for reading and clearing emails and just before noon ice cream!

Another day at sea tomorrow and our clocks go back an hour so extra sleep. We have just passed the Faroe Islands on our way to Iceland.

The entrance to Lerwick harbour

Leaving the Shetlands

Friday 28 July Invergordon.

 Wake to a nice sunny morning, 16 degrees and no wind. Invergordon is a small town with pretty houses and oil rigs moored in the estuary. It won’t take long to walk around the town so we delay getting off the ship until after lunch. This port is mainly for people wanting to go to Loch Ness, and castles and scenes from outlander or to go into Inverness. Ann was interested in going to Culloden moor, but the ships excursion only provided a photo stop and the private tours were too extensive going to many other sites and expensive.  To go to Inverness was a 50 minute train or bus ride each way so we decided against it and will just have a relaxing day and amble around the town.

We walk into town around 1.30. It is quite warm when the sun comes out - 20 degrees. It is  small town and it does not take long for us to walk up and down the Main Street. Invergordon is known for its murals painted on the sides of buildings. We see most of them and then head back to the ship, there is really not much else to see. 

As we set sail we are farewelled by a lone piper, next port is Lerwick in the Shetland islands. As we sail out of Cromarty firth there are a number of oil rigs moored in the firth. These are disused rigs awaiting to be demolished and or rejuvenated, if production of oil picks up in the north sea. 

The captain reports that sunset is 9.40 pm and sunrise will be at 4 am. Getting more daylight as we continue towards the arctic circle. The captain also warned us that the temperature tomorrow is expected to be 13 and it could be windy. If the wind is above 20 to 25 kmph we may be unable to launch the tenders!

As we head up the North Sea there are numerous oil rigs and a few wind turbines.

Thursday 27 July At Sea

 After yesterday’s marathon day it is good to have a rest day at sea. We are now at day 54 which means we have passed the halfway mark! It is 16 degrees, overcast, light wind and seas but rainy with not much visibility. We sail up past the Netherlands into the North Sea and past a few wind turbines and oil rigs.  Our next port is Invergordon in Scotland. 

White cliffs of Dover from our balcony

Battle of Britain memorial 

Leeds Castle

Adventure golf

Crooked house Canterbury 

Art piece dedicated to all the horses killed in the First World War 

Wednesday 26 July Dover

 Sorry for this late posting. Big day yesterday, over 24,000 steps, then got 4 bottles of wine on board without being charged corkage! Decided to share a bottle when we got back, then too tired to write up the post.

As we look out our balcony we can see the white cliffs of Dover. It is sunny, light wind but 12 degrees! It is expected to get to 20, but expected to get windy later in the day.

We meet up at 8.30 and head off to our coach for the tour. There are 23 of us, plenty of room on the bus!

Our guide is Alex and she proves to be a wealth of information. We are on the bus by 9 am and we have a short drive to the Battle ofBritain memorial. It is set at the top of the cliffs and you can see across the channel to France and as it was explained they could see the aircraft as they left France. It is understated but very poignant. There is a wall where all the pilots who flew in the BoB are listed. The main building is in the shape of a wing and on the grounds the paths, if looked on from above, signify the propeller of a spitfire.

On the way there as we leave Dover there is a line of Semi trailers waiting to board the ferries at Dover. When I say a line, it goes on for kilometres!

We then head off for Leeds Castle. It is just over an hour’s drive, due to traffic and roadworks. On the way we learn all about the history of the castle and how the ownership changed over the years. The castle was first built in the 11th century. It changed hands many times over the centuries but the last owner a Lady Baille purchased the property in 1925. She died in 1974 but set up a charitable trust to look after the castle. She had improved and restored the castle over the years. The castle is surrounded by a moat and the grounds are enormous. It is a beautiful place and one of the most visited tourist attractions in England. The grounds include lakes, a 18 hole golf course, picnic areas, a beach for children to play, an adventure golf course, adventure park, birds of prey aviary, and beautiful lawns. The castle itself is superbly displayed with furniture and items that display how people lived at that time. It had a reputation for being a party place! As it is school holidays in UK, and it is a lovely sunny day there are young children everywhere, it is clearly a family place.

Our next stop is Canterbury Cathedral and we have a 60 minute drive to Canterbury. Along the way our guide gives us the history of the cathedral and its transformation from catholic to Anglican courtesy of Henry the 8th and his six wives. Canterbury is a mix of old buildings and new ones (as a result of the blitz during the Second World War). The cathedral towers over the city. I suppose the cathedral is the equivalent of the Vatican for Anglicans. It is an amazing building, with extremely high ceilings, magnificent stained glass windows, and  quite lengthy. It is sparsely decorated apart from the stained glass windows. It gives the appearance of being very narrow, which comes from the huge columns that hold up the roof. We visited the crypt where a number of important figures are buried including Thomas Becket.

After our visit we find a coffee shop as we both need a bit of a rest. The city is quite quirky with many narrow streets, but it is very lively.

After Canterbury we have a short stop at the cliffs of Dover and it is getting cloudy, cool and the wind is starting to pick up. We get great views of the cliffs, the harbour and the English Channel. We get back to the ship at around 6.30 and it starts to rain. It has been a great day!

Canterbury Cathedral 

Leeds Castle

I will post more photos separately.

Tuesday 25 July At Sea

 After a great sail away from Cobh last night we have now sailed through the Celtic Sea, around lands end and are now in the English Channel heading to Dover. It is a lovely sunny morning, 16 degrees, light winds and smooth seas. 

The English Channel is a very busy waterway. There are ships passing continually, and at times we can just see the French coast.

It was a little strange tonight at dinner as two of the couples we have dined with our getting off in Dover, so we had to say our farewells to Allan and Gail and Andrew and Sharon. We have been told that there are 400 getting off and 500 getting on, so there will be a lot of new faces. We expect two new couples will be added to our table. We have a tour tomorrow where we will visit Canterbury Cathedral, Leeds Castle and the White cliffs of Dover.

Monday 24 July - Cobh Ireland

 I was up at 6 am to witness the sail in to Cobh. It is a very pretty village. Took a few photos and then went backto bed, it was only 13 degrees. We are here to 9.30 pm so we have plenty of time to explore. Most people will go into Cork by train and form there visit the Blarney Castle, and other major sights around Cork. As we have already been to Cork we will stay in Cobh and look around at our leisure.

We head off just before 1 pm. The temperature is now 19 degrees and quite pleasant in the sun, while a little cool in the shade. It is an easy walk into the town and it is a lovely area. Away from the water though it is quite steep. There is a playground/park as we enter and there is a singer in a rotunda singing live with Australian  and NZ flags fluttering everywhere. It is a very festive atmosphere. The houses are all very colourful. There is a cathedral halfway up it is St Coleman’s cathedral and it is a huge building. I went to St Coleman’s in east Melb on a scholarship prior to starting secondary college, so it was interesting to visit the original St. Coleman’s. On the way up we passed a street of houses which is known as the deck of cards. It is quite steep and you can imagine one toppling all the others over.

There is great views back down over the town to the water. It is quite busy with the ship in town and the first couple of pubs we looked at were quite busy. We move further on and find a pub just outside of the city centre. It is quite small but looks very old. It is named Connie  Doolans. We have a Guinness and gin and tonic. The bar tells us he will have live music from 3 pm. As we enjoy our drinks a young mum and her two children enter and are clearly locals. She has a daughter about 4 or 5 and a son about 8. It is the daughter’s birthday and she has an enormous ice cream that is in danger of dripping everywhere. When the music starts she asks her mum if she can go outside and sing with the musician. There is no room in the pub for live music and he is set up outside the pub. 

She goes outside and sings Pride of Ireland. She is very cute and very confident. We move outside and have another drink and enjoy the music!

About 4 pm we decide to head back. The town is really rocking. There is music everywhere and everybody is enjoying the atmosphere. The town has been very welcoming. This has been a very enjoyable day.

Cobh was the last port of departure for the Titanic