Cruising in the English Channel, Bay of Biscay and Atlantic - September 2013

On 4^th September Mum and I went on another cruise, this time accompanied by Andrea, my sister in law, and her mother Lil - the last time the four of us had cruised together was in 2007 when we did a Mediterranean cruise on the Marco Polo.

For Mum and me it was our second time on the MSC Opera as we cruised to the Norwegian Fjords on her in June last year and enjoyed ourselves so much that the same weekend of our return from there we booked again, and persuaded Andrea and her Mum to join us this time.

We set off early with Colin driving us to Southampton and as per last time the procedure for getting on board was very quick and straight forward and in no time we were checking out our cabin on deck 8. I phoned Andrea and she was only 15 minutes away and soon we were meeting up and enjoying a nice lunch in the informal buffet style restaurant on deck 11. Our only disappointment was that although given practically adjoining cabins at the time of booking, we found that we had been allocated cabins on opposite sides of the ship, which meant that with so many sets of lifts we often failed to meet up at the right one until we had learned to find our way about.

At 4pm shore time (5pm ship time) we sailed. Just prior to this we had to go through the usual drill of fetching our life jackets and assembling by our allocated life boat. Once this was out of the way we were able to get up on deck 11 and see the ship sail out of Southampton which is always an enjoyable experience.

In the early evening we enjoyed a nice show in the theatre which proved to be a variety show with various events including acrobatics, strong man events, singing and dancing. In fact all the shows throughout the cruise were explosive dance events with different themes and incredible costumes.

At dinner we met the waiters who would be looking after us and enjoyed making their acquaintance - the head one being a guy from Indonesia plus two Indian guys from the Goa region. As always the food was really excellent and we were looking forward to ten such days aboard.

The following morning I was up early and up in the gym by 7 am. I find that a good session in the gym at start of day offsets all the food being consumed later on. The gym is situated right at the front of the ship and instead of looking out of the window at passing traffic as per the gym I belong to back home, it was great to see the sun rise over the sea instead and made pounding that treadmill that much more interesting!

Back at the cabin Mum was nearly ready and soon we were joining Andrea and Lil for an excellent breakfast served in the restaurant. We had the choice of waiter service and choosing from a menu or going upstairs to the buffet style restaurant and we all preferred the waiter service as it is so nice being pampered like that three times a day!

At 10.30 am we were cleared to go ashore at our first port of call - Ijmuiden, which is the closest port to Amsterdam in Holland, but with only 7 hours and it being a fair distance to Amsterdam itself we decided not to bother going ashore on this occasion. To get there on the ship’s coach and then doing Amsterdam on our own would have cost 30 euros each which seemed a high price to pay for just a few hours there, really expensive for what amounted to a 40 minute bus ride each way. It was a fine sunny day and we enjoyed ourselves up on deck, sunbathing, sessions in the Jacuzzi and we befriended a nice couple, Len from Hemel Hempstead and his wife who was in a wheelchair since her brain tumour a few years before. Before we met up with Andrea and Lil for lunch I saw him again and he said he was paying 150 euros to go to the closest town for some shopping - an 8 seater taxi with room for the wheelchair and offered for us to join him but it was arriving in 20 minutes and I knew it was impossible to gather up the others in time to join them so sadly had to decline.

That evening we enjoyed an international show with the incredible tenor voice of Stefano Rigon, Mezzo Soprano voice of Michaela Pope and pianoforte player Angrey Angelov and violinist Lora Petrova which was really beautiful - we especially enjoyed the voice of Stefano Rigon who sounded as good as any tenor voice we had heard previously. Afterwards we enjoyed another excellent dinner with lots of fun rapport with our waiters. Dinner usually ended about 10.30 pm and Mum and I retired to our cabin then but Andrea and Lil stayed up longer and enjoyed karaoke or live music in some of the bars or various dance or party events going on in the various lounges. There were cinema showings and events going on all day, notably dance lessons for everyone both in the lounges and up on deck, competitions or lectures - shopping events which varied daily, spa sessions on offer up in the beauty salon etc, cookery demonstrations; in short something going on all day for everyone.

On day 3 we sailed into St Peter Port in Guernsey at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. This was the only port where we had to get into a tender to get to shore and Mum was really apprehensive of this. The water was quite choppy as we went down the ship’s ladder and boarded the tender boat but there were men there to help and we got Mum aboard without difficulty although she was very worried about getting out of it when we reached the shore at Guernsey! It looked a high step up to the jetty but by the time everyone had got off and we were the last the boat had bobbed up much closer to the jetty and she got ashore without any difficulty. It was a glorious sunny day and we walked admiring the harbour and did some shopping, finally enjoying some ice cream milkshakes in a café before reboarding the tender and returning to the Opera. These photos can be seen on my facebook page for anyone interested in viewing them.

The following day we knew we would be at sea all day as with 610 nautical miles until our next port of call of Vigo in Spain we would not get there until the morning of 8^th September. When the ship is at sea it is too windy to sunbathe for long although we did spend some time on deck in sheltered areas and I had another session in the Jacuzzi - these were very popular as the water was very warm, a sharp comparison to the water in the swimming pools which was pretty cold and those who ventured in did not swim for long. As before I began my day in the gym and we enjoyed all that day’s meals, enjoying some fun events watching competitions in the lounges.

That evening we would all be meeting the captain and having our photo taken with him, with everyone dressing up for dinner for the first of three formal evenings during the cruise. I wore the beautiful gold embroidered black dress sent to me by Khali’s wife Lila. Khali was on holiday in England for nearly 6 weeks and I had spent some time sightseeing around London with him and his son Nadir, plus they had visited me in Bath just before the cruise. I was glad to have an opportunity so soon to wear that beautiful dress which is too ornate to wear unless at a very formal occasion. Afterwards we enjoyed another magnificent show this time on a Bollywood theme, including more acrobatics, and then another superb dinner.

We arrived at Vigo on Sunday and were warned by our waiter that most of the shops would be closed but he told us about a Sunday market worth a visit and a short chat with some nearby taxi drivers we were soon in one of them being taken to it. We really enjoyed our couple of hours spent in that market. Between the four of us we bought about 8 handbags, three of us bought Chanel perfumes and I bought a couple of cardigans as well. We took a chance paying 30 euros each for the perfumes but they did in fact later prove to be the genuine article, albeit perhaps having been stored on a shelf for a long time, hence the low price - 30 rather than about 110 euros.

Vigo is the largest city in Galicia and we enjoyed some lovely sunshine during our visit there. With our next port of call being Lisbon in Portugal we could see that the further south we went the warmer it was getting, plus we were very lucky that the whole time in the Bay of Biscay the sea was as calm as a mill pond - in sharp contrast to the terrible storm we endured there on the Marco Polo 6 years previously.

Andrea and Lil went ashore at Lisbon and Mum and I decided to stay on board having been there before - also we had spent rather a lot of euros in Vigo so had no desire to go shopping. It was the hottest day of the cruise and I had to put Mum in the shade up on deck - beside an icecream machine and I was next to her but in full sunshine. We enjoyed the warm sunshine all day, only going down to the restaurant for meals. Andrea and Lil had a great time ashore and only returned to the ship about an hour before it was due to sail again. The show that night was a Mime show and proved to be really boring, and lots of people walked out in the middle. Another excellent dinner afterwards made up for it though.

10^th September we were at sea all day again what with there being over 500 miles between Lisbon and Bilbao, our next port of call. It was another formal affair in the evening and I wore a beautiful silk Monsoon dress that I had bought some years ago intending to slim down and it is only since losing weight over the past year that I got slim enough to be able to wear it. In fact I wore it on my birthday this year for the very first time.

I remember arriving at Bilbao on the ferry boat from Portsmouth from all those times I went there camping in France with Colin and the children when they were small. Rather than drive all down through France we took the ferry which was like a mini cruise with two nights at sea and back then we’d come off the ferry at Bilbao straight into rush hour traffic before the 80 or 90 mile drive over the border into France and arriving at our campsite Le Rousseau in Bidart, near Biarritz. We had three wonderful campsite holidays down there back in the 80s.

We caught the shuttle bus into the city centre (even that cost 13 euros each! Nothing was cheap regarding shore excursions!). We were dropped in the centre and from there got a taxi to the old town and walked around a few shops there. We almost got caught up in a protest march and had to sit in the taxi until the crowd had dispersed before we could be driven there. We found a small bar and all enjoyed a cold beer before getting the taxi and then the shuttle bus back to the ship, arriving there in time to still enjoy lunch. I enjoyed actually seeing Bilbao and it seemed to be a lovely cosmopolitan city complete with metro service. I would like to go back there again one day with more time to explore. We spent the remainder of the afternoon on deck in the sunshine before the ship sailed. The show that evening was a love theme and featured the lovely tenor voice of Stefano Rigon again which we all enjoyed.

12^th September was another day at sea and there were various bazaar events thoughout the day and we bought souvenirs and enjoyed another formal affair in the evening, including the parade of the waiters with the baked alaskas and we were given a glass of sparkling wine each with our dinner

On 13^th September we arrived at our last port of call - Le Havre in France. We arrived at 9 am and had the longest time there until sailing at 9 o clock in the evening. After breakfast we went ashore as there was a regular free shuttle bus service running all day, stopping first in the centre of town, and then at a shopping mall.

We decided to stay on the bus and get off at the shopping mall. We spent ages in a beautiful garden centre buying souvenirs and before leaving went into a supermarket where I bought three different Basque cheeses (my favourite cheese) and two pots of jam (violet fig and redcurrant flavours), using up the last of my euros.

When we caught the bus back, Andrea and Lil decided to stay on it and go to the centre, but Mum and I returned to the ship. Unfortunately at almost 85 Mum cannot manage much walking these days. We arrived in time for lunch and spent part of the afternoon on deck and the latter part relaxing in our cabin as the weather had gradually got cooler since sailing away from Lisbon.

That evening we had dinner at the usual time and the show took place afterwards due to the later sailing time.
It was Lil's birthday and dinner was enlivened with the delicious cocktails Andrea had ordered for us and later on the  waiters joined up to sing Happy Birthday to her and present her with a nice cake. It made our last evening extra special. The show was a wonderful classical Italian one with our favourite tenor singing again. That night in the English Channel was the only rough weather of the cruise, as during the night it was quite choppy and kept poor Andrea awake. Rough seas never worry me; in fact I quite enjoy being rocked to sleep when snug in my bed! On Saturday 14^th September we arrived back at Southampton and had a nice breakfast and by 9.30 am Colin had arrived to collect us and we were soon on our way home having thoroughly enjoyed the holiday. That will probably be the last cruise for a while though because my plan next year is a 3-week visit to Algeria. Whilst Khali was staying in London I went with him to the Algerian embassy and we ascertained that if I go there in person next year with all the right documentation, I will definitely be granted a visa. It will be wonderful spending 3 weeks with Khali and his family who have promised to take me all over the country, including the Sahara desert. All being well I will be going there in early June next year, and after that my plan is to spend a month in China with Shumei. She lives in Zheng Zhou which is about a 2 hour flight from Beijing. By then Ben might be back living in China and they have promised to show me lots of different sights. Hopefully before that visit I can learn a bit of Mandarin. If Mum and I go cruising again it probably won’t be for a couple of years and her favourite one was the Norwegian Fjords so we’d probably go back there.

A wonderful camping excursion to the Isle of Skye

At 11 o clock last Sunday evening Ben and I set off for the Isle of Skye. We drove all night stopping only near Glasgow so that Ben could have a bit of rest before continuing to our destination. I enjoyed a large cappuccino and almond croissant while he did a bit more research on his iPad regarding the places we hoped to visit. An hour or so later we continued our journey and before long we were enjoyed the glorious scenic views of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. From this point onward the beauty of the scenery was incredibly breathtakingly beautiful and we were stopping at very frequent intervals in order to take photos.

 

 We were so glad we had travelled by night as we arrived at this point just as it was getting light and even that early knew we would enjoy a nice sunny day. Whereas we had driven fast up until here, thereafter we took our time in order to appreciate the glory of it all. Take a look at the first photo in my Skye album on face book which shows the beauty of the loch just as it is getting light! Eventually we came to Fort William which is a gateway to the highlands of Scotland and we stopped at a large Morrisons store for a good breakfast and stocked up on a few provisions. Much later we arrived at Kyle of Lochaisch and were soon crossing the Skye Bridge to reach the island itself. All the way from Loch Lomond to this point the scenery was ever changing and amazing with high mountains shrouded in mist, including Ben Nevis, and glens as well as all those fantastic lochs. The Cuillin Mountains include Black Cuillin and Red Cuillin and some mountains are flat topped and extinct volcanoes. A bit further on we came to Eilean Donan Castle which is a really picturesque castle perched on the side of a loch and much used as a backdrop in filming, on pictures of boxes of highland shortbread at Christmas etc.

 

We had already looked on the internet for a suitable campsite but ended up at a different one at Dunvegan in the early evening, close to the Castle in the Northern part of the island, in a beautiful loch side setting and with good facilities. After crossing the Skye Bridge we had noticed a distinct change in the weather and by the time we came to set up camp it felt like gale force winds and Ben had to stand on one end of my tent while I hammered in the tent pegs to hold it down. Even then I didn’t trust the pegs to hold it and weighed it down with our camping chairs and table to be on the safe side! The wind was so strong it was practically flattening the tent to the ground so I was hoping it would not rain! After such a long drive Ben was very tired so he settled down to sleep and I read my book while it was still light. After the disaster with his tent in West Wales he came better prepared this time, sleeping on the mattress of my dining room futon, in the back of his car which is long enough to sleep, with him on one side and all our stuff piled on the other.

 

Dunvegan Castle is perched on a rock by the seashore on Loch Dunvegan and Mighty Loch Bracadale, Loch Dunvegan and Loch Snizort cut their way into the landscape of north west Skye and create the most dramatic vista of land and sea to be found anywhere in the British Isles. In fact we soon discovered that spectacular scenic delights abound in North East Skye. It is an island of dramatic contrasts and includes the bizarre land formations of the Quiraing and Trotternish Ridges. About 7.30 pm I decided to settle down to sleep as well, having only had a couple of short naps on the long journey, so got changed keeping my clothes on for warmth and putting my pyjamas on top and was soon fast asleep too. I thought that was it for the night, but about 8.30 Ben awoke as he was hungry and wanted to go and look for a nice place for dinner. We drove to Portree which is probably the largest town on Skye, in the centre, and the satnav took us on a cross country route of 18 miles over moorland on single track roads with passing places and sheep everywhere. We soon realised this is a feature of island life, the sheep being allowed to roam at will. In Portree we came across an Indian restaurant first and decided to eat there although the food was nowhere near as good as in Indian restaurants back home. Back at the campsite I slept surprisingly well as I was well sheltered from the wind once the tent was zipped closed and the wind died down in the night and it luckily did not rain.

 

The following day was much calmer and dry with some sunny spells. The shower facilities were excellent, even with hair dryers, and we just had cereals for breakfast and some fruit and then Ben was keen to begin several different walks as depicted in a book loaned to him by the campsite owner. I decided to accompany him on the first walk which was about 3 miles, a circular walk, taking in a delightful coral beach, but my walking boots proved to not be waterproof and I found it quite heavy going, so thereafter decided to rest up instead while Ben did more walks over more difficult terrain. After the Coral Beach walk we drove to Portree again and ended up enjoying haddock and chips for lunch which was delicious. Then driving to different parts of the Northern part of the island Ben did two further walks while I rested up in the car doing crossword puzzles or reading my book. One of the walks began at a place called Fairy Glen which had such unusual land formations that you could easily imagine it was inhabited by fairies!

 

Back at Dunvegan in the evening we found most of the restaurants were full. One we stopped at en route I was glad they were too full because it looked very expensive! It was third time lucky when we found a bistro in Dunvegan itself where we both enjoyed a luxurious fish chowder accompanied by delicious crusty bread. Back at the campsite later it was much much calmer, the loch almost like a mill pond, and I slept really well. Ben stayed awake longer and did some star gazing. Apparently the northern part of Skye is one of the darkest places in Europe, especially at Waternish which we visited later, where an amazing amount of constellations can be seen and blessed with minimal light pollution the island is perfect for star gazing. These include Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Camelopard is (The giraffe), Perseus, Pegasus, Triangulum, Aries, Auriga, Pielades and Jupiter.

 

Wednesday was another quite calm day and dry so we paid for a 3rd night. Ben did three walks that day but I rested up as my back was aching a bit from sleeping on the hard ground (Although I had brought a different air bed with me, the pump did not fit the nozzle so I could not inflate it! I thought my camping days were over at least 6 years ago, so these things had not been used since back then.) Driving to each of these walks involved long drives all over the north part of the island, so that we probably covered a large part of it. The coastal road north from Portree to Staffin passes the Storr lochs and Lochs Fada and Leathan, which feed the island’s small hydro-electric station. The first walk took us to Neish Point where there is a light house, which is a great place to see many varieties of sea birds. It is situated at the most westerly point in Skye and has some of the most magnificent cliffs in the Hebrides towering to over 1000 feet and home to the golden eagle.

 

The weird rock formations of the Quiraing are like nothing seen anywhere else in Skye or even the whole of Scotland. After the steep and tortuous climb over the Quiraing the road winds through moorland and peat bogs before rejoining the coast road for the long drop into Uig. Ben’s second walk that day took him to a remote point and involved the long downward steep climb. We had difficult parking as it was obviously a popular walk, and some damage was done to the underneath of his car when he parked partly off road which worried me later as anytime we went over rougher roads something felt as though it was dragging on the road. We had to be so careful thereafter and I was already worrying that we would never make it all the way home to Bath without mishap.

 

He was gone ages on that walk and I was sure glad I had not accompanied him as he went wrong and ended up going a long way down and ended up miles from his car. He had to hitchhike a ride back as it was such a steep hike back. I never would have coped with that. The third walk was to the Old Man of Storr a few miles north of Portree. It is a huge pinnacle of rock standing in front of the Storr Ridge which rises to around 2300 feet. Ben climbed right to the base of this pinnacle and said the wind up there was scary and fierce and he had a struggle not to be blown away and the sound of the wind was so eerie and weird it quite unnerved him.

 

By the time he had completed all three walks which involved over 100 miles of driving in between them, it was getting dark as we headed back to Portree to look for a restaurant for dinner. We ended up at a lovely restaurant just off the main square of the town and before going in we enjoyed watching a display of Scottish band and dancers for a while until it began to rain. This restaurant was called The Granary and was excellent. I chose Moroccan lamb and he chose a rack of lamb. He enjoyed all three courses but I just had the one as it was quite expensive. We got back to the campsite around 10.30 pm and although raining and windy on the loch shore I had another comfortable night’s sleep.

 

Our plan on Thursday had been to spend the whole day exploring as much as possible of the South part of the island but sadly we woke up to rain and the forecast was bad for the rest of the day so we packed up the tent and said goodbye to our friendly campsite owner who told us even worse weather was on its way but that he could guarantee that it would be sunny once we crossed the Skye Bridge. Despite the dull cloudy weather and occasional rain we enjoyed the scenery all the way to Kyle of Lochaish, passing many mountains in the south part of the island. We parked about a mile from the Skye Bridge on the sunny side and Ben went off with his tripod and camera while I looked for a nearby coffee shop and enjoyed a large cappuccino and then went to investigate about the glass bottom boat trips.

 

We met back at the car just in time to get tickets for the 2.15 excursion and enjoyed the trip immensely. The first half was spent checking the various bird life and then the seals basking on small islands and the second half of the trip we all trooped downstairs and through glass windows could see the sea bed with huge jelly fish floating by, assorted fish, crabs and starfish and amazing plant life. It was the first time I had ever had such a close up view of the sea bed and was immensely enjoyable. Back on land afterwards we headed for a seafood delicatessen where I enjoyed a dish of langoustine tails. Ben chose whole langoustines and scallops and ate his raw! He said they were delicious raw. I made sure mine were cooked though before buying them!

 

Another nice cappuccino and I was ready to hit the road again as we were anxious to press on towards Fort William and find a campsite. As it happened we didn’t get even halfway to Fort William before finding what appeared to be a great farmland campsite where it was laid out so that each camper had good privacy and even its own camping table and bench set, under trees. The showers were really luxurious. We had a picnic for supper at that table and then proceeded to have a game of scrabble but soon had to retire to the car to continue as Ben was being bitten to death by midges. During the week he collected around 1000 midge bites all over his arms, legs, hands and neck with at least 100 on his face alone. I was lucky to escape with only 3 bites on the last day.

 

We woke to another dry day and it was sunny but by the time we packed up to leave it was already deteriorating. We headed to Fort William intending to have breakfast there but on the way came across the Corriegour Hotel which said it was open to non residents and decided to have breakfast there. The dining room faced over the loch and the breakfast was fantastic with waiter service and crisp white linen on the tables. I enjoyed some really luxurious muesli topped with juicy figs, prunes and apricots, followed by a full Scottish breakfast and warm toast. They brought the toast twice so that each time we could enjoy it warm and I had orange juice and a huge carafe of coffee. Although £15 each it was worth every bite and quite reasonable when compared to spending a night there which would have been £125.

 

At Fort William we only intended to buy antihistimine cream for Ben’s bites but as the weather was still drizzly and dull we decided to do a couple of hours shopping instead of our original plan to press on to Glenfinnan and Moraig. I bought a beautiful butterfly ring made from semi precious stones and a fleece lined tartan blanket whereas Ben bought things for future camping including a stove and mess tins which would have been really handy had we got them earlier. The things I miss most when camping is not being able to brew up a cup of coffee now and again and having light to read by before going to sleep!

 

After the shopping we started the long journey home, leaving Fort William about 2 pm in the afternoon and we drove without stopping except to fill the petrol tank for the 4th time, finally reaching Bristol about 11 pm. We went straight to the Mayflower restaurant for a late dinner which was really delicious and I am definitely going back there again for the delicious roast duck! We got back home at 12.15 and by the time we unloaded the car and got to bed it was around 1.30 in the morning. It was heaven sleeping in a bed again after a night in the car on the long drive to Scotland followed by four nights sleeping on hard ground!

 

Our trip didn’t end there as on Saturday we collected my sister at 11 o clock in the morning and drove down to Cheddar to see our friend Reggie again. It was a fine sunny day and after cold drinks on his patio enjoying the lake views we headed down to the Riverside Inn in Cheddar itself and had a fantastic pub lunch. Back at his house we sat in the garden enjoying the lake views and the bird life around his home which included a visit by two guinea fowls who belong to a neighbour and come calling regularly as Reggie keeps a tub of bird seed for them. We really enjoyed a nice afternoon there listening to jazz music and enjoying the warm sunshine until about 5 pm when we had to leave as I was meeting up with friends in the evening who are returning to Alicante this week and had arranged a last get together before they go, We went to the Inn at Freshford for a meal.

 

Today my Algerian friend Khali and his son Nadir arrived from London. I picked them up from the station and we first went to visit my sister Kathryn who enjoyed seeing them again. Then we headed into the centre of Bath to go to Jimmy Spices world grill restaurant and met up with Colin and his sister Mary and we all enjoyed a nice lunch together. Khali was especially impressed with the restaurant and wants to go there again for another good lunch before he heads back to London on Tuesday evening. Afterwards we said goodbye to Colin and Mary and drove to my Mum’s house for a nice visit with her. You will be able to see some photos from this on my face book within a day or two. Also I plan to load an album of photos from the Skye trip to my face book either tomorrow or Tuesday as well.

 

It is going to be fun having Khali and Nadir here as guests and do some sightseeing in Bristol and Bath. They arrived from Algeria on 9th August and will be here until 20th September and the week before I was in Skye I spent a week with them in London, all of us staying at my ex husband’s house, and we did lots of sight seeing around London together. I was even able to meet up with my friend Dante who is the first Peruvian person I ever met in England and who has been a lovely friend ever since. As well as all the sight seeing we also went to the Algerian embassy to find out what happened with my failed visa application last year and discovered that as long as I arrive at the embassy with all the correct paperwork within just 3 months of a proposed trip there, they will expedite my visa next time. I plan to go to Algeria for 3 weeks in either May or June of next year, followed by a trip to China later in 2014.