Oldies On Tour

Northampton to Whitby

Posted on 06/12/2019 by Geoff

Early Monday morning the family went about their businesses and left us to lock up when we were ready to leave. Today was another sunny but cold day as we headed to see our accountant to complete our UK tax returns. This was followed by Christine’s spending spree at Dunelm’s buying curtains etc., by which time a spot of lunch was called for before we headed north and low and behold there was a KFC, couldn’t be better. When in UK this is the only fast food chain we will visit, and then infrequently but it has to be done as it’s nice chicken.

After a pleasant lunch we hit the M1 heading up to Derbyshire, and after a stop halfway for a cuppa, we arrived late afternoon. It’s always good to come to the Peak District but it does highlight one of the main reasons we moved to Spain; cold, wind and rain!

View first thing at Marian’s

Anyway we had a lovely evening catching up with news etc., and Martin and I chewed the cud with half a bottle of very nice malt from Orkney.

Tuesday was rather a domestic day though we did get into Bakewell and visit the “Wee Dram”, this time for gin rather than whisky and was greeted like a long lost friend; I can’t think why!!!

Tonight we were in the Hayloft, one of the holiday cottages Martin and Marian let out but fortunately for us it was empty, so in we went! After dinner we all decided an early night may be the order of the day, not only because of the previous late night but tomorrow evening we have a whisky tasting evening and anything can happen then!

Today, Wednesday, we were hoping to take Marian out for lunch but unfortunately she was waiting for a parcel containing a large suspension part for Martin’s car which was off the road and had to be signed for. So after much debate Christine and I reluctantly left Marian at home and headed to Buxton. I had been experiencing problems with my on-line accounts due to additional levels of security which prevented me getting on-line, so my priorities today were to visit Nationwide and Barclays to resolve the issues, hence Buxton as they both had branches there. Not only did we complete our mission we enjoyed a fine sandwich in the “Buxton Tap Room” washed down with an excellent pint of local beer.

Returning to Rockford House, the part still hadn’t arrived so Marian could have joined us for lunch, anyway it eventually arrived late afternoon, Martin will be pleased. Tonight was the night, Adrian from the Wee Dram had organised a whisky tasting at the “Flying Childers” in Stanton-in-Peak, fortunately Marian was driving! We tasted 6 very good single malts accompanied by factual, yet entertaining dialogue given by Adrian, supported by his wife, Allison. meanwhile ChristIne and Marian entertained themselves, no doubt getting right up to date with all the gossip, sitting in another bar ?. Six Whiskies and a

Just a few Malt whiskeys

couple of pints later and we were all back together before Marian drove us home.

Thursday, 5th December and it was Christine’s birthday but we couldn’t linger as we had to be clear of the Hayloft by 0900hrs as the cleaner arrived prior to the next paying clients.

After breakfast we left and headed to Chester for Christine’s birthday treat. Apart from “requesting” that we stay at the Chester “Crowne Plaza”, she also wanted to meet up with our friends Leisha and David for a meal. My “instructions” were clear but I added an extra twist, I also invited Martin and Marian together with Micky and Ricky to join the four of us. Everybody was under strict instructions to avoid saying anything that would give Christine cause to be suspicious. Obviously I would have struggled to complete this task from Spain so Leisha very kindly helped me. Following a previous visit, “The Architect”, a very good pub restaurant in Chester was the chosen venue whereupon Leisha went in and organised a table for eight, and in a configuration we wanted, also during this visit we also got permission to bring our own cake in. OK Leisha, please go and find a good baker to get a fruitcake with royal icing made. This was all going on in the background but being December we had no choice but to have the “Festive” menu and everything had to be pre-ordered. This could have posed a problem with Christine buzzing in and out of our office as I was trying to collate everybody’s requirements into one cohesive order on my computer: it went off without a hitch, so far so good. Leisha completed her task and sourced a cake exactly as I wanted. The wine list then arrived at a point when Christine was looking over my shoulder, oops! How I passed this off without her “smelling a rat”, I know not; Eventually all plans

Yes I was surprised!

were agreed and everything was in place for tonight.

Where the surprise could have been blown out was during our stay with Martin and Marian, I have no doubt any slip would have been pounced upon by Christine and probably the most vulnerable time was when we were saying our goodbyes, and looking forward to our next meeting in a week or two’s time. Additionally at the same time we were exchanging e mails with Micky and Ricky trying to arrange a meeting with them, all very dangerous.

We checked into the hotel mid afternoon and rested up for the evening, Christine understanding an evening with Leisha and David will be boisterous, little did she know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every time ChristIne asked what time we were meeting I said 1915hrs, I think she thought this was an odd time so I gave some sort of cock-and-bull story, the others though had 1900hrs as their deadline. We were ready, but too early to leave so I had to think fast, I decided a last minute urgent visit to the loo was called for, this did it and we arrived spot-on 1915hrs only to see Leisha and David and say our hellos. I was a little worried at this point but david said there was a drink on the

Thank you everyone I had a brilliant time

table in the small bar round the corner and pushed Christine forward whereupon the surprise was sprung. She was gobsmacked, couldn’t believe her eyes seeing the other four waiting round the corner; I think she was pleased.

We had an excellent 3 course festive meal washed down with copious bottles of wine then the cake arrived, it was superb and naturally washed down with a bottle of

Yummy fruit cake

champagne; well done and thank you Leisha. After an very jolly evening with lots of laughter we went on our separate ways, obviously we all had different hotels.

Next morning we agreed to join David and Leisha for breakfast at “Chocks Away” a cafe/diner inside the BAC factory and

Good night was had by all

airport complex. We were hoping to see the “Beluga”, An Airbus enlarged to carry the Airbus wings to Toulouse for completion of new aircraft, but we didn’t, shame. The weather was atrocious so a little shopping in Cheshire Oaks and a visit to the agents who look after my rentals was the limit of our activities. Fortunately our breakfast was so big a cuppa and a piece of birthday cake was all that was required.

Saturday we headed to Whitby but first, Christine was adamant she hadn’t been to the Anderton boat lift and was insistent we went there.

Anderton boat lift

I knew we had been there but I wasn’t

Anderton boat museum

going to win this discussion, so off we went. She as hoping to go for a ride but when we got there they were only doing a pre-booked children’s Xmas cruise but, as the lift was out of action it was only a trip along the river Weaver, oh dear what a disappointment for her. We had a wander around, a cup of coffee and then back on the road. I had already decided I didn’t want to go on the M62, I

Should we have sold the boat!

wanted to go over the Pennines via Skipton which I knew would take longer, but had we missed out the boat lift it wouldn’t have seemed so far and we would have arrived earlier!!!

Our booking was for the White House, a hotel on the cliff above Whitby and when we arrived, in the dark, we were pleasantly surprised at what we saw.

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France to Northampton

Posted on 01/12/2019 by Geoff

Thursday 29th November, and after a very enjoyable couple of days we left Sandy and Wendy’s and head to Saint Malo for the overnight ferry to Portsmouth. Arriving in Saint Malo mid afternoon, we chased around looking for a nice restaurant to eat before boarding but to no avail; everywhere was closed due to it being winter and Sunday, so finished up suffering a Mc Donald’s, still it filled a hole.

Arriving at the port we cleared the formalities very quickly and after a very short wait, we boarded, being a winter crossing the ferry was far from full so the lines were let go right on time.

The following morning, after a very comfortable night we arrived in Portsmouth and our first port of call was Tesco, fuel and a few provisions as we had a slight change of plan. Originally we were heading straight to Northampton but due to the weather the new windows being fitted to Mark’s home weren’t installed on time so plan “B” was put into place and we stayed at Jenny and Bill’s for the night. This was not all bad news, Christine managed to get up-to-date with the washing and visit her sister, Kathleen, who had recently been in hospital and was very poorly.

Saturday and we were up and away before 0700hrs, we arrived at

Outside pub on matchday

Mark’s at the appropriate hour (0900hrs) when Mark cooked us a superb English breakfast; well worth the early start. We enjoyed a leisurely morning catching up before our taxi arrived to “whisk” us to to the “Sevens pub”, outside Franklin’s Gardens where we had several

The hallowed ground

Guinness and other refreshments before heading to the ground,

Franklin gardens

though en-route we did stop at the Saints shop for a number of items.

Just to remind ourselves, Mark and I had a little bet on the total number of points scored in the 48 matches played at this year’s rugby world cup in Japan; the loser buyers the beer at today’s match. Fortunately I guessed better so I was enjoying every pint I had, and I had many!!!!

Ashleigh with Benney the mascot

In the ground the bar kept the Guinness flowing ?? as we took our seats to watch Saints play Leicester Tigers; the local derby everyone gets excited about. What a good game, many England players on both sides and end to end stuff, very exciting but the outcome was the best; Saints had a convincing 36/13 win “and” with a bonus point, very satisfying. After the match the 7 of us were joined by Jeff and Hilary for celebratory after match drinks in the Tetley bar under the Carlsberg stand along with both Saints and Tigers supporters all having a good time.

We finished off the day over the road in the Indian Brasserie for an excellent “Ruby Murray” (where we naturally we over ordered), after which, our taxis were waiting to take us home for a night cap at Mark’s before retiring. It was a superb day and I enjoyed all the banter I had, sitting between my two grownup granddaughters during the match. Of course we drank too much Guinness, but the bet was, the loser buyers the beer so naturally boots had to be filled!!!!!!

Lovely picture of Ashleigh and Tyla x

Sunday morning was a fairly leisurely affair but unfortunately Ashleigh had to return to Birmingham and would miss the family lunch. Being a hard up university student she has got herself a job in a jewellery shop and being into the run-up to Xmas, she had to go.

Jane Dave and Mia arrived midday and we all strolled to the Spencer

Spencer Arms

arms for lunch. Mark had booked the large table in a private room so the “Page gathering” could get into full flow without upsetting other customers. It was lovely to have all my family together round the table, though we did miss Ashleigh. This was the first time we have managed such a get together for several years and it was good fun. Back at the house Mia entertained us until bedtime at which time they left us.

Tomorrow we head up to visit Martin and Marian in the wilds of (cold) Derbyshire

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Home to Channel

Posted on 28/11/2019 by Geoff

After an uneventful drive through the rain we arrived in Burgos,

Burgos Cathedral

though we did stop for an excellent menu Del dia (somewhere) en-route. After checking into our hotel with good intentions of going out, we collapsed and watched television, but thanks to our EE mobile WiFi box, watched BBC.

After a leisurely breakfast we set out to explore Burgos only knowing about Black Pudding and El Cid. Our first port of call

Amazing steps with gold railings

was the obligatory Cathedral, a magnificent building in the Gothic-style; building started in 1221and from what we gleaned carried on ‘till

El CID burial stone

this day! There are a number of current building projects ongoing.

Burgos itself is quite amazing and probably a must if driving through Spain. Historically it was founded in 881AD and was the capital of the Kingdom of Castile; there is a lot of history here, (too much to write about) but the cathedral also contains the remains of Rodrigo Díaz, known better as El CID, the Spanish warlord who

El Cid

won a few battles in the 11th century.

Lunch called and we enjoyed a superb “Menu Del dia” where naturally we indulged in the local delicacy, “black pudding”, after all that was the main reason to come here!!!! After a superb

The infamous Black Pudding

lunch we wandered back to the hotel through the numerous narrow streets and piazzas for a siesta.

Later that evening we strolled out, our plan was for a tapas and a drink. This time we crossed the river but realised this area was commercial, modern and apart from some attractive, but ordinary fountains we headed back to the old town. It had been very cold today and this evening was no different, so we were both jolly glad we had our long overcoats, scarves and gloves!!

In spite of the cold, the area in old town was heaving, families strolling

One of the many statues in the town.

everywhere, bars all full, although mainly inside, only the hardy smokers were outside, as usual. After much meandering around, pontificating as to whether we were actually or hungry or not, we finally decided our lunch was so

Burgos by night

big, filling and enjoyable, that we really didn’t need anything else, so back to the hotel for us.

One comment: though the weather was mighty cold all day, we had wall to wall sunshine, not like our drive up yesterday when it rained most of the way.

Lots of tiny shops and restaurants

Sunday morning we had a leisurely breakfast, but still away for 1000hrs and headed north to Bergerac, in the wine producing area on the north bank of the Dordogne. We were originally going to head

One of the tiny streets in Bergerac

straight up to Orléans but decided for a number of reasons to break the journey up.

One issue we have is Christine’s driving licence or should I say the lack of it. Christine is in the process of replacing her U.K. licence with a

One of th many old buildings

Spanish one; this is taking up to 5 months to complete. Let’s blame Brexit because all the Brits are rushing to change before the deadline, whenever the politicians decide that is!!!! Anyway the bottom line is that during this process she only has a temporary piece of official paper that is only valid in Spain. Normally on long runs we do 2hrs on 2hrs off but as she has no licence outside of spain, she can’t drive and is furious, oh dear should have done it earlier!!!

Again our drive from Burgos to Bergerac was blighted by rain, and a diversion due to a road closure following a pileup taking us on a tortuous route through some interesting countryside, still we arrived at our hotel, still in daylight.

After a wash and brush up etc., we headed into the historic part of the town looking for a particular restaurant that we had found on line, and it was highly recommended. Fortunately it was open tonight as most were closed on winter Sunday evenings. “Le Vinquatre” was

Many unusual buildings in tiny streets

everything we expected from the comments we had read on line, probably more. The irony of it was that this “French” restaurant was owned by a couple; he was English and also the chef!, and his wife was front of house, but was French!

Monday morning was Dry fortunately, and though cold we took the opportunity to wander around the old town again, but being daylight, we could get a better look at the architecture etc. The wooden timbered buildings all looked in good condition and the old street cobbles looked new but the general ambience was good. We walked down to the mighty river Dordogne which appeared to be in full flow before returning up the hill, through another part of the old town heading for our hotel, though we did enjoy a stop for mid morning coffee.

Back in the car we headed north, planning to arrive in Orléans around 1800hrs and just as we were leaving the city limits, the rains came down, again. We experienced a most miserable trip of heave rain, heavy traffic and dark very early; three things that I’m pleased to say we don’t generally experience where we live on the Orihuela Costa and therefore we found it a very difficult drive. Waze Satalite navigation system eventually delivered us to their new house on time and we were very glad to lock the car and walk away. Though our visit was brief we enjoyed a good meal, and followed this up with a hilarious game of Phase 10.

Tuesday morning Mike and the two boys had to be out of the by 0730hrs followed by Catriona at 0900hrs which meant we also had to be away before 0900hrs so we were immediately in the tail-end of the Orléans rush hour traffic, but to be positive, it wasn’t raining, yet!

Today we decided we would do the péage motorways, I’d had enough of smaller roads and guess what, yes the rains came down again. After a reasonable, but very wet journey we arrived at Sandy and Wendy’s house in time for a nice cuppa with a slice of homemade cake.

View of the Port

Tonight they had organised a dinner party, the four of us and their friends Jane and Mike who we had met on a previous visit. We all had a great evening with lots of laughter, with Sandy and I eventually retiring to our beds around 3am after catching up following a long time, no see.

Following a lay-in and a light breakfast the four of us decided to go to Auray, a very pretty Port town with cobbled streets and timbered

The quaint little port

framed buildings. We only wandered a short way to the nearest bar for a snack and a bottle of Vino, it was raining after all!!!! Following a pleasant hour or so, there was a break in the rain so headed back to the car, then onto our hosts home. After a pleasant dinner we retired early, we were all knackered from the night before: this getting old is interfering with our partying, not too happy about this????

Tomorrow we head for the ferry to U.K.

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Our spring trip to UK

Posted on 28/03/2019 by Geoff

0500hrs on the 1^st March and our drive back to UK starts; we were going to go a day or so earlier but we were “Parrot sitting”. We were very honoured to be trusted to look after Rita’s parrot “Jack” whilst she and her whole family had headed to over to the US to visit Disneyworld.

Our first stop was Andrew’s new home in Frejus (south of France), a hectic, 12-hour journey with minimal stops using expensive toll roads all the way. We were welcomed at the “building site” by Andrew and were told his plan to have a bed “up and running” for us didn’t work out and that we were booked into a local hotel for a couple of nights. After an enjoyable French meal and catch-up we went to our hotel, exhausted.

St.Tropez buzzing as usual

We arrived back at the “building site” the following morning and took in the magnitude of the project Andrew was undertaking, converting this building from

Classic boats moored in St.Tropez

four small flats into one, very nice home for himself. Everywhere you looked there was work in progress but looking past all that, we could see a very “quirky”, “different”, and very modern living space; though not quite to our taste!!! We think, (well hope), Andrew was pleased for our visit as it gave him the excuse

Overlooking the harbour

to forget about the builders etc., and go out for a few hours. We had a very pleasant drive along the old coast road to St. Tropez where we had an enjoyable lunch and a relaxing walk around the harbour enjoying ice creams in the warm spring sunshine.

The next morning we headed north to Orleans where we spent a night with Catriona, Mike (Christine’s Nephew) and the two boys, Tobin and Max. Their apartment is right in the centre of Orleans so the buildings are not modern and their flat

Joan of Arc

was on the third floor with no lift; steep stairs and everything has to be carried up, ugh!!!! We had another enjoyable evening catching up with all the news etc., and naturally discussing the pros and cons of Brexit as we both have a vested interest.

The next morning Mike left early to go to work, the boys went to school and Catriona

Lovely square, shame about the weather

had some business to complete before she could go “out to play”. We therefore took this opportunity to wander about Orleans “in the rain and cold” to get a feel of the place before the 3 of us met for an early lunch.

Orleans is on the River Loire and has quite a history stretching back to when Julius Caesar conquered the area in 52-BC. During the reign of Charlemagne,

Cathedral

(800AD-814AD) Orleans became the intellectual capital, and in the 10^th and 11^th centuries was the second most important city in France after Paris. Of course the most commonly known historical fact is about Joan of Arc, the “girl” who led the French army against the English in 1429 and broke the 7-month siege during the 100-years war: (1337-1453). In the 16^th century Orleans was a Protestant centre until the Roman Catholics took control in 1572 when they massacred around 1,000 Protestants on St Bartholomew’s day.

The centre plaza of Orleans was very modern with trams running around it and the centerpiece is a statute of Joan of Arc. Running of

Beautiful old buildings with modern shops

this plaza is a modern street with fancy shops and at the end stands the magnificent Sainte-Croix Cathedral, started in in the 13^th century, then largely destroyed by Protestants in 1568, and reconstructed after King Henry 4^th of France made funds available to rebuild it. This cathedral is the same size as Notre Dame in Paris. Naturally much of the centre of town has been rebuilt following destruction caused by bombing etc., during WW2.

After a pleasant lunch with Catriona we headed north to Cherbourg to catch the overnight ferry. We were dreading this passage as there was a storm passing through the English Channel during this time and the wind and rain were frightening but I have to say we escaped, luckily the storm had passed us just in the nick of time, and we had a very smooth crossing.

We arrived in Poole early on the morning of Tuesday 5^th March and headed to Portsmouth where we stayed with Jenny and Bill but prior to arriving at their home we spent the day in A & E Portsmouth as Christine was suffering extreme chest pains. Fortunately, and after numerous tests and many hours sitting in corridors, she was discharged as the tests they did confirmed her heart was good. Unfortunately these tests did not find out what her problem was but she did feel better. Met up with Kathleen and Tom and went for a lovely meal in local pub.

After 2 nights at Jenny and Bill’s we headed to Essex for a night before heading to Northampton for a weekend with Mark, Paula and the family.

We had a good and relaxing time catching up with all the news, especially the girls with their studies and love life etc., and being the middle of the 6-nations, watched a couple of matches on the TV.

We headed back to Essex on the Monday and had a hectic week at Jane’s and we were taken to ballet, gymnastics, swimming, pre-school etc., with Mia.

Friday morning and we were off again, this time to Towcester near

Franklin gardens

Northampton to Visit Jeff and Hillary for a “fest of Rugby”. We had tickets for the England V Scotland under 20’s game at Franklins Gardens, (home of Northampton Saints) in the evening where England scored 45 points against Scotland’s 7, a resounding win. On the Saturday we headed down to London as we had tickets for the main event, the “Calcutta Cup”,

Twickenham

England V Scotland at Twickenham, and being a late kick off we had booked into the Crowne Plaza in Ealing. This match was the classic game of two halves. England totally dominated the first half going into the break at 31:7 ahead. After half time there was a total reversal, Scotland totally dominated the second half and after a final scramble in the 82^nd minute, George Ford managed to score a try under the posts and when he converted it, England matched Scotland’s score. A very

Before match

disappointed Scotland following their gallant effort; and naturally a disappointed England, that ruined their chances of winning the 6-nations championship. Actually it was the fairest result under the circumstances and added to the atmosphere and excitement within the stadium, all of which made this a fantastic fixture.

Back to Towcester on the Sunday morning as we were then then off to Franklins Gardens again, this time to watch Northampton Saints; they were playing Saracens in the premiership cup final. This was an extremely exciting match, which, un-expectantly Saints won 23:9 and won their first bit of silverware this season; long may winning become a habit!!! Following this game we had another superb curry at the canal side Indian “Spice of Bruerne” at Stoke Bruerne.

Monday morning and we were off again, this time to Chester to have a night out with our good friends, Dave and Leisha. We stayed on the Chester Race Course and met them around the corner at the “Architect”, a Georgian designed pub serving traditional “good pub food”. What a good night we all had; we recounted our canal experiences and stories; we laughed, I don’t think we have laughed so much for quite some time; we drank, I don’t think we have had so much drink for such a long time, and after a very congenial evening went our own ways. Fortunately we hadn’t too far to stumble back to our hotel whilst Dave and Leisha fell into a taxi outside the pub!!!!

The other reason for visiting Chester was to finalise arrangements with my decorator, carpet man and managing agent for my new rental. Once completed we headed off to the Peak District to stay with Marian and Martin. A little bit of a detour on our journey south but always good to visit them in the peak district, however, Martin was on his own as Marian had gone to visit her Mother. Whilst there Martin up-graded my laptop and it is so much faster, thank you Martin.

Wednesday 20^th March and we went South again, this time heading to Portsmouth, naturally via our usual haunt, “Ockham Bites” for our favourite double bacon baguettes. Whenever we are in the UK it is strange how we always seem to manage a visit here.

Thursday and our last full day in UK and we had a number of things to do but the two main reason for being there was to collect all our boat “things” from Tom’s loft. These were left after we sold “Megastar” at the end of last year. But firstly a quick visit to Pat, (Christine’s sister), where we met up with Marian and to check all was well following Pat’s new hip operation, then onto Tom’s. Our concern was that we had forgotten what there was in his loft and worried it wouldn’t all fit in the car, but once we arrived and lightened the burden in his loft, we were unexpectedly surprised that with Christine’s careful packing it all fitted into the car; what a result. After a superb dinner with Tom and Kathleen, but before we headed off to catch the overnight ferry to Le Havre, we made a quick, un-scheduled visit to our friends Dave and Sue who were very surprised to see us. Next stop Ferry queue, fortunately the weather was better and we were looking forward to an un-eventful crossing.

We arrived early morning in Le Havre with insufficient time for

Early morning in Honfleur

breakfast, so once we cleared the town, we headed into Honfleur. This is an old and very pretty and quaint little town situated on the southern bank of the mouth of the

View from our cafe where we had breakfast

River Seine. Historically it was a very important port, firstly during the 100-years war then later as the starting point for goods travelling to and forth to England, Canada and many other places. We enjoyed breakfast overlooking the harbour with its multi-coloured buildings all around. Later we took a walk around and decided we needed to come back here at a later date and explore it properly.

Today we were driving to stay with old pals of mine, Sandy and Wendy who live near Lorient, (Brittany), on the west coast of France. The last time we had seen them was when they stayed with us in Spain a couple of years ago, so there was much catching up to do. Again we had lots of laughs and after two nights set off, heading back to Andrew’s as we had been informed this time we would have a bed inside the building site. We had had enough of long days driving, so decided to stop half way at a place called Brive-la-Gaillarde, again quite an attractive centre to mooch about, though it was cold.

Marina near Andrews

Off again south, the weather improving as each mile went by and finally we arrived at Andrew’s, not knowing if we had a bed in the house or in the local hotel. Andrew greeted us with the good news, we were staying in the house, and looking around, it was obvious there had been a fair amount of work done since our previous visit, 3-weeks earlier. We had another good two night visit, with Andrew managing his time between his business commitments, watching his small army of builders going about their business, and looking after us: however, our opinions on this house haven’t changed, its not for us if for no other reason there are steps everywhere!!!

Leaving mid morning and not wanting a repetition of the 12 hour drive we did on the way up, we booked into a hotel in the ancient town of Tarragona with its many Roman remains. This place goes back to 2407BC and is steeped in History. In the evening we did have a little time to look around the central area of the town but not the interesting parts, so we must return someday.

After a good breakfast in a very comfortable 3* hotel that most probably should have been a 4*, we headed back home, arriving early evening and we were very happy to be back having driven 3,574 miles.

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Sea Days

Posted on 13/12/2018 by Geoff

Saturday evening and our first night on this, the last leg of our cruise heading non stop back to Southampton, it got off to an uncertain start. Eight of us met up on our new table, a retired Geography teacher from the South and his lady friend from Essex, a retired couple, both US

Our new table friends

judges from Texas and two widows from London well into their 80’s; quite a mixed bag but we kept an open mind. Looking around, it certainly looked as if the Britannia restaurant was full up, so any chance of moving table looked improbable. Oh dear, best foot forward and see what happens.

Fortunately everybody seemed to want to make it work, and after introducing ourselves managed to enjoy a light hearted conversation involving everyone throughput the meal; so far so good. One of the ladies though was concerned she may not come back as she had to negotiate a number of stairs to get to our table but after persuading her to have a glass of port, I think she was having second thoughts.

Sunday and our first of five full days at sea. Apart from round the clock eating, there were lectures, films and reading to fill our day, or so we thought. Remember the saying, “be careful what you wish for”,

Paul Debbie Geoff and me

well, walking into a lecture an Australian lady tapped me on the shoulder and said “hello Geoff” and gave me a kiss, I looked at her with surprise until it dawned on me who she was. Paul and Debbie were two of our fun dinner companions on the Queen Victoria, what a coincidence. This chance meeting re-kindled our friendship over a few beers in the Golden Lion pub on board.

Tonight is formal, it was also the captain’s cocktail party to welcome

Xmas decks in dining room

everybody on board and we enjoyed it in the company of our dinner table companions, school teacher Andrew, and his lady friend, Angela. Fortunately on this occasion we had a seat in the main “waiters” thoroughfare and champagne was flowing!!!! Like a well maintained clock, dead on 1800hrs the party ended and we had to leave for the Britannia and go to dinner.

Fortunately all of us had enjoyed the ships “complimentary fizz” before arriving at our table so we were all quite relaxed and “Sonia” let go???, probably much to Gill’s disapproval!!!! Sonia and Gill are the widows and well into their eighties so what the heck. Another sociable night followed; what a difference a change of table makes!!!!! Things were working out so well that we were the last but one table to leave; I bet we will be the last before we arrive at Southampton.

Xmas show

Monday and Tuesday followed the usual pattern, eating, lectures, films etc., but walking around the deck was not an option, well not for us as it had snowed, it was very cold and windy and the sea was beginning to get slightly uncomfortable, well for some anyway.

One thing we like about travelling this way across the Atlantic is, there is “no jet lag”, the clocks go on 1 hour at midday so no sleep lost, it just brings lunch an hour earlier!!!

Tonight we had another good night around our table and I also encouraged Sonia to enjoy a small port with her coffee.

Wednesday and again at sea, though today we had all the political disruption about Teresa May and the vote of confidence so we were pretty well glued to the TV, well in between lectures and eating that

Geoff catching me unaware!

is!!!!!! Another good evening at our table and an interesting discussion with our American judges from Texas, Keith and Elizabeth, about the variances in the laws between the States.

Tonight our entertainment was music in the guise of two classical pianists, Worbey and Farrell, playing one piano with a lot of comedy; they were very entertaining and well worth watching. After this we went to the Queens Room where the Queens Room and Royal Court bands joined up and produced “big band” music.

Thursday, another time-change at midday and the good news is the sea state has calmed down.

Today, amongst the final lectures was one on the life and “times” of Oscar Wilde, very interesting it was to but this ship is all about “extracting” as much money as they can from their guests, and continuing this theme, today we had a Christmas market. Following the lecture about Oscar Wilde, and whilst the Xmas market was taking place, I went to watch his play performed by a company of RADA, “The Importance of Being Earnest”. It was an abbreviated version and adapted to fit into the ship’s timetable but good nevertheless.

Tonight we had agreed to meet Paul and Debbie, our Ozzy friends from the Queen Victoria in the Veranda Restaurant for a farewell meal. We had a great night, lots of laughs and banter mixed with a little alcohol. Cunard are getting quite naughty these days regarding money. To enter this specialist restaurant there is a $39 pp cover charge and then if you stray off their “official” menue, there are supplements!!! Still we had a good time. Being much later than usual we went to the 2230 hrs show and as one would expect it had a Christmas theme, “Jingle Bells Rocks” performed by the Ships resident Bandmasters Singers and Dancers. To finish off an excellent evening, Christine and I went to the “Pub” and listened to the last of the “Karaoke” singers, some OK, some not so OK!!!!!! One more sea day left?????

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Last few days of the first leg

Posted on 06/12/2018 by Geoff

Lots to choose from

Thursday 6th December and the birthday party’s over, we have another couple of days at sea, so it’s business as usual; eating, lectures, eating, reading eating and trying to socialise with our table companions, not very much success there, rather like the

Birthday cake, spoilt as usual x

weather, getting colder.

Friday 7th and it’s our last day at sea for this leg of the cruise, we dock in New York early tomorrow morning. Today all the lecturer’s wind up their various talks and also they have brought the late theatre show forward, no doubt to allow everyone to pack and place their luggage outside their doors ready for collection; not for us on this occasion though!!!

New York at night

Today we kicked into touch the idea of dining in the Britannia restaurant; we couldn’t bring ourselves to join our usual table this evening and sit down and go through the “platitudes” one does with dining companions at the end of a cruise, instead we went to lunch in Britannia and made this our main meal, and very nice it was. This also meant we could go to the theatre with the late sitting diners for a change. On several occasions as I have already said, we were not on a happy, party, social, funny table, and have talked many times about

New York

our Queen Victoria cruise table. Not only did our table of 6 gel, we had an excellent waiter and sommelier, who we kept very busy, which added to the fun, if only the others were here!!!!!

Tonight we also picked up our room key-card for our new cabin, 4 decks below so we also had to pack everything ready for the transfer.

Saturday and We passed the statute of liberty around 0530 this

Statue of Liberty

morning and fortunately “El Capitain” held off the microphone, no announcement to wake us. As we weren’t interested in getting off the ship and heading into New York, our instructions today were simple and clear, wait for the call for last passengers to leave then head off, armed with our old and new key-cards and passport and head for US immigration, ugh? We’re heading straight back to UK, why go to all that time wasting trouble I ask.

We joined the queue at immigration behind the passengers leaving ship and waited. Fortunately the queue moved fairly quickly and eventually we were through and then walked round into the booking in hall. Following the usual security checks we bypassed the queue of folk waiting to check in and sat in the waiting area along with about 500 other passengers who are staying on board who also had to go through the same “meaningless” procedure. We knew our new cabin was ready, after all we had checked our luggage had arrived safely before disembarking and presumably, the vast majority of the people waiting were still in their same cabin!!!!!!

After a wasted morning and back on board it was lunch time, again. Today was all about getting another couple of thousand passengers aboard so there was nothing happening so we caught up with our reading, wondering all the time if we had done the right thing, moving to a new table of eight.

As dinner time approached and we were dressing in “smart casual”, we were still wondering what our dinner companions would be like right up to 1800hrs when all would be revealed. Continue reading →

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